Courtesy: Sunday Leader
Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) President V. Anandasangaree has called for the repealing of the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and to work towards a solution based on either the federal constitution or one similar to the Indian model, which will ensure the rights of all minorities in Sri Lanka.
“When hard-core LTTE cadre had escaped from the grip of the Government and from the IDP Camps, it is unfair to keep in detention, youths who are arrested and detained for very trivial offences that cannot be classified as offences in the proper sense. All of them should be released under a general amnesty and the PTA also should be repealed,” Anandasangaree requested from the presidential candidates in a proposal which outlined 15 demands.
The TULF leader also urged for quick action to be taken to compile a list of missing and dead persons and other relevant details of those people who lived in Wanni during the war.
“Now that the war is over and without even the slightest chance of the LTTE reviving, the High Security Zones (HSZ) should be disbanded and the houses within the HSZ handed over to the owners. Immediate action should be taken to compel the armed groups, now occupying houses forcibly, to return them to the owners or their heirs,” Anandasangaree said.
He also stressed that action should be immediately taken to relieve armed groups from any weapons in their possessions as these groups were instrumental in disturbing the peaceful life of the civilians.
“Two special units should be set up, one to take charge of the re-settlement of the Muslims of the North who were displaced in 1992 and the other to re-settle the Tamils of Indian Origin who had migrated to Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, more particularly between 1958 and 1983 from the Up Country region and from many other areas in the Country,” he said.
He also urged for the introduction in the statute book a strong chapter on fundamental rights with very severe penalties for violations.
“The activities of the Human Rights Commission should be extended to the North to investigate the abductions and killings of innocent people. Many are willing to give evidence to trace the culprits,” Anandasangaree said.
According to the TULF President, action should be taken to hand over the 10,000 odd children detained in rehabilitation camps, wrongfully branded as Tiger Cadre. “There may be a few of them who had joined the tigers voluntarily but all the others were forcibly recruited,” he said.
Anandasangaree also urged for the speedy resettlement of the IDPs.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2010/01/03/anandasangaree-wants-pta-repealed-hsz-disbanded/
