Unity among Tamil parties vital- Minister Devananda

by Ananth PALAKIDNAR

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is willing to settle grievances of the people in the North and East as early as possible with the overall support of the Tamil Political parties, Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Douglas Devananda said.

Minister Devananda was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation in Jaffna, on Thursday.

The Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation was first established in Jaffna in 1965. However, the institution remained defunct for several years in due to the conflict situation in the region for three decades.

Minister Devananda said that the Forum of Tamil parties had met the Tamil National Alliance and discussed the issues relating to Tamil Political aspirations.

We are hopeful that the Forum of Tamil parties and TNA could jointly work towards reaching a political settlement.President Mahinda Rajapaksa expects the Tamil political parties to work with unison to reach a political settlement. The President has said that it could be easier for him to arrive at a political solution, once the Tamil parties shed their differences Devananda said.

He also added that the problems should be sorted out through negotiations without giving room for violence and extremism.

The Government Agent of Jaffna Mrs. Imelda Sukumar said, by defeating terrorism the Northern and Eastern regions and the country at large could go forward steadily in developing the country.

The Senior Executive, Sri Lanka Insurance Mohan de Alwis speaking at the event said that the institution was doing very well in the North prior to the turbulent days, and now they were looking forward to expand its activities with more branches in the North.