MR-Regime hadn’t provided relief to TAMIL people, particularly those living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, even three years after the conclusion of the conflict.!!! SINHALA GOVT was continuing to hold Tamil political prisoners.!!!

SL vulnerable to external intervention due to govt.’s blunders – JVP May 17, 2012, 10:56 pm By Shamindra Ferdinando Alleging that the Rajapaksa regime hadn’t provided relief to people, particularly those living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, even three years after the conclusion of the conflict, the Socialist Youth Union (SYU) yesterday alleged that the government was continuing to hold Tamil political prisoners. The SYU, affiliated to the JVP, urged the government to release all political prisoners, including those taken in during the war and after. SYU’s National Organiser, former JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake emphasised the need to help those displaced during the war to return to their villages. He alleged an attempt was being made to deny land to their rightful owners and pave the way for outsiders, including foreigners, to take over land. The denial of land would effectively prevent them from contributing to post-war national agricultural development process, he said. The government celebrates the third anniversary of Sri Lanka’s war victory over the LTTE tomorrow (May 19), the day troops killed LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon three years ago. Ratnayake accused President Mahinda Rajapaksa of portraying the LTTE’s battlefield defeat as a personal victory for him and a few other individuals, whereas the need was for a cohesive action plan to promote national reconciliation. The former Kurunegala District MP said that the government wouldn’t have been under fire on the human rights front had it implemented a JVP formula aimed at addressing post-war issues. Instead of taking tangible measures to address the grievances of the people, the government had been running a semi-military rule in the North and the East at the expense of ongoing reconciliation efforts, Ratnayake said. The JVP urged the government to take immediate action to prevent those who had lost their husbands during the war, from joining the growing ranks of prostitutes in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The JVP also blamed the government for spreading the consumption of liquor among children and the young by organising carnivals at schools in the region. The failure on the part of the government to address long standing contentious issues even after the conclusion of the conflict would provide space for external intervention, particularly by India. The government should take the responsibility for its lapses, which, the JVP said, was the cause of the current crisis, now threatening to cause political chaos. www island.lk