Wiggy asks TNA to lay down conditions

Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran has suggested the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to make the release of the Tamil prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) a condition for the party's support for the next year's national budget.

He expressed these views to the media after a meeting with the representatives of the Northern Provincial Council and the civil society organisations on Saturday.

He argued that those former top-level leaders of the LTTE such as Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman who gave orders to the ordinary LTTE cadres were at large while those youth implemented their orders were languishing in prisons for nearly 20 years. "We must take this point to the people" he stated.

We have decided during the discussion today to suggest the TNA to make the political prisoners' issue a condition to vote in support of the national budget, Wigneswaran said.

The National Convenor of the Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners, Fr. M. Shakthivel and Leader of the Peoples' Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Parliamentarian Dharmalingam Siddharthan also participated in the discussion. (Romesh Madushanka)