Global Tamil Forum Praises Passing Of 19th Amendment

UK-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) praised all Sri Lankan political parties and parliamentarians for supporting the 19th amendment to the Constitution.
 
Issuing a statement on recent political changes in Sri Lanka, GTF described the political culture ushered by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe as ‘breathtakingly fresh’.
 
“Passing the 19th amendment along with other steps taken to democratize the State and its institutions has significantly altered the unfortunate political culture and practices adopted in Sri Lanka in the recent past” the statement said.
 
GTF further said that it could recognize some positive steps taken by the government in order to address certain concerns of Tamil people.
 
“These include removing of military Governors and appointing civilians as Governors for the Northern and Eastern Provinces, transferring of small sections of land back to the rightful owners, releasing of a few Tamil political detainees and the review of the proscription of Tamil Diaspora individuals and entities. Though limited in scope they are still significant,” it added.
 
However through the statement GTF listed few ‘unfinished tasks before the Lankan government.’
 
“Large swathes of private land are still illegally occupied by the military, disproportionate number of military personnel still remain in the North and East, intimidation and arbitrary arrests still continue, military remains engaged in day to day life of Tamils in North and East, sexual violence continue against the tens of thousands of war widows and others, Tamil men and women still live in fear even more so in the Northern and Eastern provinces, several hundreds of political prisoners still remain in custody without being charged, the Prevention of Terrorism Act still not repealed, above all the Tamil National Question remains unresolved”  GTF said.