By PK Balachandran | Express Buzz
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On Sunday, Hassan Ali, a top leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), had suggested that the Tamil parties should include the Muslim parties in the joint committee they had set up to formulate a political solution to the ethnic question.
When asked for a reaction to this suggestion, M.A.Sumanthiran, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP and a member of the joint committee, said that it was a “positive move” and added that any request for admission would be considered.
When the TNA met the SLMC earlier to discuss political cooperation on common issues, the SLMC had not made any such request. The Tamil parties would have to see how they could accommodate the Muslim parties in the committee, Sumanthiran told Express here on Monday.
COMMON PROBLEMS
Sri Lankan Muslims are Tamil-speaking, but consider themselves ethnically and also politically separate from the Tamils. However, like the Tamils, the Muslims too have inter-ethnic issues to be sorted out. Generally, these relate to land and the use of the Tamil language. The Muslims have problems with the Tamils as well as the Sinhalese. They have been asking for a separate Muslim unit in the South East, were they form a very significant proportion of the population.
Being minorities, the Muslims and Tamils face some common problems vis-à-vis the majority Sinhalese and the Lankan state dominated by the majority community.
PANEL ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
Last week, the TNA and the Tamil Parties Forum (TPF) had formed a six-man committee to go into the question of devolution and come up with joint set of demands to be presented to Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The members of the joint TNA-TPF committee are: Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran and M.A.Sumanthiran (all from the TNA); V.Anandasangaree (Tamil United Liberation Front), D.Siddharthan (Peoples’ Liberation Organisation of Tamileelam) and A.Rasamanickam (Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Front).
While the TNA was pro-LTTE so long as the LTTE existed, most of the parties in the TPF have been pro-government or anti-LTTE. But all Tamil parties, whether pro or anti government, want devolution of power to the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern provinces. They have now seen the need for a united Tamil front.
INDIA’S ADVICE
India has been one of the catalysts for this move towards unity. New Delhi has been urging the Tamil parties to come together on a common programme on devolution and other questions agitating the Tamils. India has reportedly told the Tamil parties that they will have to negotiate a political deal with the Sri Lankan state and not depend on outside powers, which could, at best, give only moral support to any just demand.
© Express Buzz
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