Move to allow Western powers to plunder country's resources:

Leaders deplore Fonseka - TNA pact to re-merge NE

by a special correspondent

Sarath Fonseka and his colleagues have drawn up plans to re-merge the North and the East and allow Western powers to plunder our country's resources after signing an agreement with the TNA led by R. Sampanthan, said JHU leader Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera.

The R. Sampanthan led TNA represented Vellupillai Prabhakaran's LTTE and that was well known. LTTE attacks on the Jayasri Mahabodhi premises and the Sri Dalada Maligawa killed thousands of innocent people. An agreement with the TNA will be a threat to the sovereignty and national integrity of the country Ven. Ellawala Medhananda Thera said.

National Patriotic Movement (NPM) President Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera said that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had agreed to support Sarath Fonseka at the presidential election subject to re-merging the North and East regions, releasing all LTTE suspects and abolishing High Security Zones (HSZs).

"The TNA had presented the same conditions to President Mahinda Rajapaksa but he turned them down," he said.

Mass Media and Information, Investment Promotion Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said that the Government had clearly identified the aspirations of the Tamils. The TNA or Sampanthan never ever tried to give ear to the cry for democracy of the Tamil people and instead they supported the LTTE's separatists' agenda, he said. Commenting on the Sarath Fonseka-TNA pact, the minister said the direction pursued by the Government towards fulfilling the aspirations of the Tamil people is vastly different to that which is being followed by TNA Leader R. Sampanthan who always tried to drive Tamil people towards the separatist LTTE goals.

All Ceylon Tamil Congress leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said that the TNA Leader R. Sampanthan was handling the party affairs arbitrarily. TNA Parliamentarian S. Kishore alleged that Sampanthan was suppressing certain matters that transpired at the meeting with the presidential candidates.