International

TNA MP hails resettlement

COLOMBO: In a clear signal that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has succeeded in garnering support from a section of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA), a parliamentarian of the group came out openly in support of the government in Parliament.

During the debate on the government motion for extension of emergency on Thursday, TNA’s N. Sri Kantha was all praise for Basil Rajapaksa, MP and senior adviser to the President, for his contribution in resettling the war displaced “quite early” in the Northern Province.

Mr. Basil Rajapaksa is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and heads the Presidential Task Force over relief, rehabilitation and resettlement in the north.

Meanwhile, the President on Friday appointed a five-member “independent committee” to comprehensively study and formulate recommendations for his consideration on 170 allegations of human rights violation during the last phase of the Eelam war IV as stated in a U.S. State Department Report to Congress on October 22.

The group was constituted a day after the U.S. House of Representatives in an unusual move approved a non-binding resolution urging Colombo to guarantee the safety and quick release of the Tamils and other war-displaced people currently housed in government-run camps in the north.

The 68-page report details “atrocities” by both the military and Tigers during the final stages of the war in May.

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