Wigneswaran wants Governor Chandrasiri removed

by Ananth Palakidnar-Saturday, 05 Oct 2013

The Chief Minister designate of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), C.V. Wigneswaran, while expressing his willingness to talk with the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government about devolution of powers to the Northern Province, said he would give priority to the reduction of military presence in the North and the removal of the military official currently serving as the Governor of the Northern Province.

Wigneswaran told Ceylon Today, the people in the North have given the mandate to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to ensure their self-determination. Therefore, the TNA is now obliged to fulfil the political aspirations of the Northerners. "Whenever the people in the North and East agitate for their political rights, they have been identified with the LTTE. However, the political problems of the Tamils remained even much before the emergence of the LTTE. Therefore, the government must not misinterpret the political aspirations of Tamils to be in line with the LTTE or any other," Wigneswaran said.

He added that the democratically elected, new Northern Provincial Council, was prepared to talk to the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government over the devolution of powers to the Province.

Commenting on the new NPC administration, he said that while devolving powers – especially the land and police powers – the government must assist the new Council to stabilize the human rights situation and enhance development activities. "We will support all the good efforts of the government in developing the North, while maintaining our integrity, as well as our identity," Wigneswaran said.

The new Chief Minister-elect also appealed to the members of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) to play a supportive role instead of adopting a confrontational approach towards the governance of the NPC.

Referring to Tamil Nadu, Wigneswaran said, he was looking forward to meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa Jeyaram, which will be his first overseas meeting.