A Tamil National Alliance delegation led by R. Sampanthan yesterday complained to visiting UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffery Feltman about a series of issues they had with the state at the world body   

Following is a text of a statement issued by the TNA in that regard: Sampanthan raised concerns related to matters that affect the day to day life of the Tamil people living in the North and the East. He highlighted that lands belonging to people must be returned to people. "there is no justification for the Government not to release these lands even after 8 years since the war came to an end" he noted. Speaking further on the land issues Sampanthan pointed out that the armed forces are engaged in cultivation activities in these lands that severely affects the livelihood of our people.

Speaking of the Missing persons Sampanthan noted that there had been over 20,000 people who went missing as per the submissions given to several commissions. And he further clarified not all of them belong to the armed group. People want to know the truth as to what happened to their loved ones, people are living in trauma, and this must come to an end he added. "The Office of the Missing Persons should be established soon to give some relief to these people" Sampanthan noted.

Speaking on the Prevention of Terrorism Act Sampanthan noted that it was an undertaking given by the government to the International Community to repeal this law. Yet very little progress has been made in this regard he added. Sumanthiran pointed out that Government has made an explicit promise on this to the UN. Yet Ministers in Government make statements that are contradicting the very same promise. The TNA leader pointed out that the government cannot afford to go backward and that it is the responsibility of the International Community to ensure that these promises are met without delay.

Speaking on the framing of a new Constitution Sampanthan said, over a period of 30 years so much of work has been done regarding this matter and every successive Government wanted to change the constitution including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. After the change in the Government in 2015 moves were made to make this a reality, and our people had many expectations on this matter. But there seems to be a certain degree of uncertainty especially among the SLFP members who are in the Government he added. They seem to be thinking of their own political agendas and not the overall interest of the country. They must come together and give their cooperation to this matter.

"We cannot indefinitely wait on these matters, we are prepared to work on these matters", he said. TNA Leader stressed that TNA

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