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TNA to boycott Parliament

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Protest against verdict on merger

COLOMBO: The Pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians on Thursday walked out of Parliament in protest against the Supreme Court ruling that the temporary merger of the north and east provinces was illegal.

Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, MP, in a statement in the form of a point of order said his party would boycott the session until the Government announced its stand.

Mr. Ponnambalam said the verdict had scuttled the opportunity to find a political solution to the Tamil national problem within a united Sri Lanka.

He demanded the Government reveal its stand before November 7. Indications are the other political parties are expected to make their stand known in Parliament.

A senior Minister told The Hindu earlier that the Government intended to refer the verdict to experts for an opinion.

The TNA said the verdict was based on a "technical reason pertaining to the procedure related to the merger" and no further legal measure is available under the judicial system to reverse it.

Historical habitation

It said the India-Sri Lanka Agreement of 1987 acknowledged that the provinces were the areas of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking people, and the merger was effected on the said factual basis.

"Three Tamil-speaking citizens representing the historical inhabitants of the eastern province, who sought to intervene in the three petitions challenging the merger, were denied the right to intervene. They were thus prevented from stating their case justifying the merger fully and effectively before the court."

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