Wigneswaran says Tamils can’t expect a total power-sharing
By Zahrah Imtiaz-February 14, 2014
The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), C.V. Wigneswaran, said he would settle for the best possible solution to the ethnic issue, with a win-win situation for all, rather than expecting the government to grant them all the powers.
He was speaking at the National Conference on 'Post-war Socio-economic Development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka' organized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) held yesterday (13).
Breaking away from the somewhat rigid standpoint of the TNA, Wigneswaran said, "I admit that the Tamils cannot expect to have total power-sharing but a solution where at least the majority is shared, is good enough," and added,
"Sampanthan, when he visited India, had said that he wanted nothing short of the Federal model, but I personally am prepared to accept something less than that. We need to change the attitudes of the people and go for the best possible solution.""At this point, I would like to add that the TNA has managed to bring the Tamil people to a practical stand point. We do not want our own homeland; we only want power-sharing within a united country."
Responding to a questioned posed to him by the academia of the UGC, with regard to a lack of participation of the TNA in talks with the government, he said, "I personally think that we could go to the PSC but we need an agenda of our own before we do so. If we attend the talks at the PSC, we will meet with all the government members who view the problem in the same way and voice the same opinion. It is hard to reach a solution in such an environment."
He further asked the academia to contribute by coming up with a set of proposals that both the government and the TNA could work with. Referring to past talks held between the government and Tamil political parties, Wigneswaran said the TNA did not want to end up as failures like their predecessors, and added they would rather talk when a solution seems possible.
By Zahrah Imtiaz-February 14, 2014
The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), C.V. Wigneswaran, said he would settle for the best possible solution to the ethnic issue, with a win-win situation for all, rather than expecting the government to grant them all the powers.
He was speaking at the National Conference on 'Post-war Socio-economic Development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka' organized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) held yesterday (13).
Breaking away from the somewhat rigid standpoint of the TNA, Wigneswaran said, "I admit that the Tamils cannot expect to have total power-sharing but a solution where at least the majority is shared, is good enough," and added,
"Sampanthan, when he visited India, had said that he wanted nothing short of the Federal model, but I personally am prepared to accept something less than that. We need to change the attitudes of the people and go for the best possible solution.""At this point, I would like to add that the TNA has managed to bring the Tamil people to a practical stand point. We do not want our own homeland; we only want power-sharing within a united country."
Responding to a questioned posed to him by the academia of the UGC, with regard to a lack of participation of the TNA in talks with the government, he said, "I personally think that we could go to the PSC but we need an agenda of our own before we do so. If we attend the talks at the PSC, we will meet with all the government members who view the problem in the same way and voice the same opinion. It is hard to reach a solution in such an environment."
He further asked the academia to contribute by coming up with a set of proposals that both the government and the TNA could work with. Referring to past talks held between the government and Tamil political parties, Wigneswaran said the TNA did not want to end up as failures like their predecessors, and added they would rather talk when a solution seems possible.
