TNA says Tamil people do not want an Eelam

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M.A.Sumanthiran has said that Tamil people did not want a Tamil Eelam as a solution to their political aspirations.

Sumanthiran has made these observations while speaking at a seminar in Jaffna and he has said that the TNA had not included the demand for a separate state in the party's manifesto at the last General Election.

He has observed that the TNA was not supportive of a separate state, but wanted to win the rights of the Tamil people through democratic means. He has said that they expected a genuine political solution from the government and any failure would result in the international community interfering to protect the rights of the Tamil people.

Referring to the LLRC report, Sumanthiran has said that though the TNA was not fully satisfied with the report, it felt that certain suggestions in the report could be implemented.

Meanwhile, the Indian opposition leader Mrs. Shushma Swaraj, who led the recent Indian multi-party parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka, addressing a meeting in the Tamil Nadu town of Madurai last week said that the TNA leader, R. Sampanthan, whom she met during their visit emphasised that they wanted the Tamils to remain within a united Sri Lanka, and insisted only for a genuine political settlement.

Earlier, the Member of Parliament of the Indian Communist Party Mr. T.K. Rangarajan, who was a member of the Indian delegation, told the Indian media on his return that Tamil National Alliance leader R.Sambanthan told him that “I was born as a Sri Lankan. I will die as a Sri Lankan and I do not need an Elam.”(niz)