SLMC harms interests of Tamil speaking people by joining UPFA in EPC: Sampanthan
[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 September 2012, 21:44 GMT]
The decision of the SLMC to support the UPFA to the government at the
provincial level in the East, is clearly in violation of the mandate
given to it, by the voters, and is unprincipled and opportunistic, said
R. Sampanthan, the president of the Ilangkai Tamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK)
and the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance
(TNA). The decision made by the SLMC gravely harms the short term
safeguards and the long term interests that the Tamil speaking people -
the Tamil and Muslim peoples need to secure in order to live with
dignity and security in the territories that they have historically
inhabited, Mr Sampanthan said in his statement on Sunday.
Full text of the statement issued following the Working Committee meeting of the ITAK held in Vavuniyaa on Saturday follows:
The Working Committee of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (I.T.A.K.) met at Vavuniya on 22 nd September 2012.
The Elections to the Eastern provincial Council held on 8th September 2012 and its’ results were carefully analysed.
It
was the unanimous view, that numerous illegal and corrupt practices,
such as intimidation of candidates, workers and voters, undue influence
and bribery of voters, misuse of government resources, and officials,
and misrepresentation were indulged in freely, by the United Peoples’
Freedom Alliance (U.P.F.A.). In the circumstances the elections were
neither free nor fair.
The repeal of the 17th Amendment to the
Constitution and the absence of independent Elections, Public Services,
and Police Services Commissions w as exploited fully by the Government
to steal a victory at the Eastern Council Elections, the first major
election held after the repeal of the 17 th Amendment to the
Constitution.
Despite the above, out of a total of over 633,000
votes cast at the election, the majority claimed by the ruling party was
a mere 6217, a majority clearly obtained by reason of the aforesaid
illegal and corrupt practices. It was this slim illegally obtained
majority that enabled the U.P.F.A to obtain the 2 bonus seats.
In
all, only 15 seats were obtained by the U.P.F.A. and it’s partner the
National Freedom Front. The parties that campaigned against the U.P.F.A
at the elections secured 22 seats- the I.T.A.K.-11 seats, the Sri Lanka
Muslim Congress (S.L.M.C.) 7 seats, U.N.P. - 4 seats. These parties were
given a clear mandate by the overwhelming majority of the voters to
function against the U.P.F.A. The S.L.M.C was strongly critical of the
U.P.F.A and obtained it’s votes, on the basis that it opposed the
U.P.F.A. The I.T.A.K. spoke to the leadership of the both the S.L.M.C.
and the U.N.P. and offered the Chief Ministership to the S.L.M.C. to
form the Government. The U.N.P. agreed to support these initiatives of
the I.T.A.K.
The decision of the S.L.M.C to support the U.P.F.A
to the Government at the provincial level, is clearly in violation of
the mandate given to it, by the voters, and is unprincipled and
opportunistic. It gravely harms the short term safeguards and the long
term interests that the Tamil speaking people- the Tamil and Muslim
peoples need to secure in order to live with dignity and security in the
territories that they have historically inhabited.
The I.T.A.K.
strongly condemns the betrayal and undermining of the democratic verdict
of the voters by the S.L.M.C. The I.T.A.K however remains firmly
committed to the evolution of an honorably political solution that is
also acceptable to the Muslim people and the I.T.A.K. will not abandon
the future well- being of the Tamil speaking people- the Tamil and
Muslim peoples - as the S.L.M.C has done.
Of the 12 Tamil members
elected to the Provincial Council 11 members were from the I.T.A.K. the
12th Tamil member was the highly questionable election of the former
Chief Minister on the U.P.F.A ticket. He is alleged to have received the
highest preference vote on the U.P.F.A. list, but no other Tamil
candidate
on the U.P.F.A list came close to the winning. It is the belief of the
voters in the Batticaloa district, that the alleged vote in favour of
the former Chief Minister was manipulated to ensure his victory, and
also show that at least one Tamil member was elected on the U.P.F.A
ticket. The repeal of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution facilitated
this fraudulent process. As a party that strongly opposed the repeal of
the 17th Amendment we consider it our duty to point out that such
malpractices will continue at future elections.
The I.T.A.K. will
take steps to facilitate the eleven members elected to the Eastern
Provincial Council from the I.T.A.K. to function as an effective unit in
the Provincial Council.
We have already made public and brought
to the notice of the President, the harassment meted out to members
elected through the I.T.A.K., by forces linked to the Government, to
cross over and join the U.P.F.A. The I.T.A.K. looks forward to firm
action by the Government to bring such harassment to an end.
R.Sampanthan,
President,
I.T.A.K
Parliamentary Group Leader,
Tamil National Alliance (T.N.A.)
Related Articles:18.09.12
TNA’s PSC participation will be pursued when Rajapaksa retur.. 13.09.12
Blake greets Sampanthan in Colombo 10.09.12
SLMC gets chance of showing political statesmanship 15.07.12
TNA should reject PC model, field independents in East elect..
இமெயில்
பிரதி
உங்கள் கருத்தை முதலாவதாகப் பதிவு செய்யுங்கள்