Bemoaning the impediments placed on his provincial administration, Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran says the Province’s Military Governor was calling all the shots despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing the Chief Minister the right to concur on major provincial appointments.
Wigneswaran
Presenting the Annual Financial Statement and Appropriation Statute to the Council for the year 2014 two days ago, Wigneswaran said no appointment is possible within the Province without the approval of the Governor. “From the Secretary to the Minor Employees, it is the Governor who holds the whip hand. Even though the law says the appointment of the Chief Secretary shall be by the President with the concurrence of the Chief Minister, the present Chief Secretary was not appointed in conformity with the Law. She did not consider it necessary to resign when the new Administration came in,” the Chief Minister said.
Wigneswaran said that in the Northern Province, it is a former Jaffna Commander of the Armed Forces who has now taken on the mantle of the Governor. “He naturally goes on unhindered as if the Army is administering the Northern Province. The officials of the Provincial Council therefore fear to cooperate with the Peoples’ Representatives. They shudder to think of the consequences of displeasing a former Northern Commander of the Army and the present Governor,” the Chief Minister explained.
He said the NPC has not been able to present a single statute the Council because his administration was lacking the required high level human resources and institutional arrangements. “It is by effluxion of time that our present cadre of senior officers got to where they are now. May be political patronage in the case of some cannot be over ruled. But we are unable to expect a high level of efficiency and proficiency in certain quarters. There is no system by which we can induct high level human resources,” Wigneswaran complained.
The former Supreme Court Judge said 20 odd years of Military Rule has trained provincial officers to act parrot like and to do things as they are told to do only. “But I do not criticize them. I feel aggrieved. There is a gap in the capacity for governance and development inside and outside the Administration,” Wigneswaran said.
He said there could be no reconciliation and regeneration in the Northern Province as long as the region was under military rule.
read the full speech here
Thiru / December 13, 2013
This shows clearly that Sri Lanka has no intention of devolving a smidgeon of power to the Tamils. International community will have to find a way to establish self rule for Tamils: May be a separate state is the only solution in view of Sri Lankan intransigence.
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J.Muthu / December 13, 2013
You are right, this sinhala budhist morons never going to change.
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Native Vedda / December 13, 2013
J.Muthu ..
You are supposed to be organizing people to rise up through out the island.
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J.Muthu / December 13, 2013
I am not interested whats happening in sinhala budhist shit land. We tamils working hard to get rid of this immoral budhist thugs from my beloved thamil ealam land. We are in right path we will eject with the help of biggest powers….thank god LTTE GONE FOREVER….just be patience vedda…
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Native Vedda / December 14, 2013
J.Muthu
What would happen the morning after declaring your Tamil Eelam? The arms merchants of death would be knocking on your doors and your neighbours doors as well.
Your air force planes may need good set of brakes.
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Anura Mendis / December 14, 2013
Dream on!!!!
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chandra / December 14, 2013
Game plan changed? Seems you’ll have to wait for ever for your ‘beloved thamil ealam land’.
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Native Vedda / December 14, 2013
chandra
J.Muthu’s cunning plan:
To keep you stupid people committed to high level of defence spending which the island can’t afford. Eventually country will go bust and disintegrate. …….
Might work.
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manisekaran / December 16, 2013
(:-)
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Subramaniam Thiagarajah / December 13, 2013
Thiru,
Thank you Colombo Telegraph.It again confirms that Tamil problem can be solved only by getting back the Tamil Kingdom from the Sinhalese.It
was handed over by the British Empire in 1940s.So Gt. Britain is responsible to get it back from the Sihalese to the Tamils.Tamils
must understand this without wasting time with the sinhalese.Tamils must make the same mistake Ponnambalam Ramanthan made.Wake up and work for getting back the Jaffna Kingdom.Thank you.
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Ben Hurling / December 14, 2013
Subramaniam Thiagarajah,
Wonder who handed over your true homeland, Tamil Nadu Kingdom to New Delhi.
Cheers!
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Anura Mendis / December 14, 2013
Yes that’s what brother Prabakaran tried.
So did Rajiv Ghandhi with his parripu drop
See where that got them. How did you escape??
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chandra / December 14, 2013
Karthigesu Indrapala says Indian chieftain called Marga was an invader from Kalinga and he deposed Sinhala King Parakrama Pandu of Polonnaruwa and set up the first Tamil dynasty in Jaffna named Aryacakravarti in 1215. It was a tribute-paying subordinate of the Chola empire until it had become fragmented. Aryacakravarti ended when Cankili 11 was killed Jaffna Kingdom fell into Portuguese hands in 1618. And most Tamils went back to their mother country as they always did.
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Native Vedda / December 14, 2013
chandra
Here we go again….
Could you sight your source.
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Native Vedda / December 13, 2013
Thiru ………. Why do you put the onus on International Community. They are part of the problem. …….. And not the solution. ….. India messed up the almost every thing since 1948. …….. When D S Senanayake ethnically cleansed up country hard working people it was Nehru who agreed to accept those stateless people. ………. It was the first mistake……… Indra and her South Block Chanakyas unnecessarily created all those stupid Tamil groups for the purpose of bringing JR into India’s orbit. This was the biggest mistake. ……. Choosing LTTE to do its dirty work in this island is the biggest biggest biggest … mistake. … Sending the IPKF was another biggest mistake. …. Ultimately aiding and abetting the Sri Lankan state to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity was biggest biggest biggest biggest biggest biggest. ……………………………. India perverted the legitimate struggle of the oppressed people for its own perceived interest and ended in a mess. …………. India has an moral obligation. ……. Lets see if it acknowledge it and act to restore it. ………
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Burning_Issue / December 13, 2013
How can India restore it? With their soft diplomacy do you think? This is why MR is cosying with the Chinese. I reckon MR is a racist and he would not do justice to Tamils; only way it can happen is by pursuing the war crimes assault on him. Once he realises that him and his brother are in serious trouble he will try to mitigate but by that time it will be too late for him.
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Native Vedda / December 13, 2013
Burning_Issue ………… There are million and one ways of bringing MR and his extended clan to their senses without resorting to mindless violence. ………… All you have do is just use your brain. …..
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J.Muthu / December 13, 2013
HOW Native ???? Sinhala veerayas nothing in their top…Tamils cant fight for sinhala veerayas….Sinhala veerayas always select thugs, rapist, drug smugglers as their leaders….look at them how many rapist, robbers, smugglers in the parliament.
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Samanthi / December 13, 2013
Thiru probably says so because there really is no power other than the international community..,if thry have been part of the problem..Tamils ate left to hone their brilliance to effectively leverage them towards the solution! Surely this is the only way a herd of water buffaloes like us can be nudged from shed to water and back!
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Senguttuvan / December 14, 2013
Dear Native V,
Please allow me to come into your intervention here. You are far well read into this issue not to make the mistake of stating “Nehru agreed to take the Stateless people” He did not, my friend. He did not even agree with the phraseology. His position was that Ceylon had already accepted them as nationals of this country and these people, exercising Universal Franchise, have already elected nearly 9-10 MPs in the 1947 Parliament. DSS’s government, illegally as it turned out, de-franchised them almost overnight by the stroke of a pen. Nehru’s steadfast position was this is Ceylon’s responsibility. It was so until 1964 post-Nehru when Mrs. B and Shastri entered into the 1964 agreement on a 625,000/375,000 basis over a period of 15 years and the residue to be settled in a similar ratio over a reasonable time.
Best wishes/Senguttuvan
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Native Vedda / December 14, 2013
Senguttuvan
I am sorry I meant to convey that Nehru was indecisive when he dealt with D S Senanayake and Kotelawala. What I gathered from my elders is he didn’t want to jeopardise Indian overall foreign policy objectives by being tough on Sinhala/Buddhist leaders. The agreement between Nehru and D S was variously interpreted by both parties. …
I may be wrong.
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manisekaran / December 16, 2013
You are dead right NV, Congress is responsible for the plight of Tamils in both TN and in SL, If at all I hate strongly onething it is that party.
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Ben Hurling / December 14, 2013
Native, With all due respect. Infusion of nearly a million Indian Tamils into heartland of the Sinhalese Kandyan Kingdom was bound to create local repurcussions. Thanks to Cameron’s forefathers. What did you think? It would have been so anywhere in the world. Infact it is so, everywhere in the world, even today. Inclduing in highly patronising western Europe. However, sad & unacceptable. Why do you measure apprehensions of Sinhalse people by a much higher standard? They are people too. They have fears about survival of their civilisation. Specially given threats from Tamil Nadu right throughout our long history. Do not northern Tamils whine loudly about Sinhalese colonisation? Whenever they notice a sizable pocket of Sinhalese or Muslims in their midst. Having said all that, let me also make clear, most Sri Lankans, including myself accept from the very bottom of our hearts, that Indian Tamils are hard workers. An indispensible pat of our economy. Today they are all citizens of Sri Lanka. Almost all political parties in Sri Lanka aggressively court them for their votes. Yes, we have had a troublesome past. But, Sinhalese and Indian Tamils have come long way. Let us build on that. Cheers!
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Palmsquirrell / December 14, 2013
Those Tamils were the single biggest block of workers in the Tea Estates, a crucial part of the Lankan economy. Sinhala Nationalist ethnically cleansed the people who play a pivotal role in building the country.
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Ben Hurling / December 14, 2013
Palmsquirrell,
Your response begs the question how would our Tamil brethren would have responded to an infusion of 1 million Sinhalese workers into Vanni & Jaffna peninsula? I think we all know the answer. Cheers!
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Native Vedda / December 14, 2013
Ben Hurling
1. Kandyan kingdom was built on Veddah land. The last battle against Cameron’s forefathers were fought by my people while Sinhalese bent on betraying their own people.
2. Since 1971 Bangladesh war according to reports nearly 10 Million Bangladeshis have illegally migrated to India. What is your problem with migration?
3. If not for the hard working up country people there wouldn’t be an economy you call yours. Both Tamils and Sinhalese migrate to West and demand citizenship within few years of their arrival.
4. The first ethnic cleansing was “legally” carried out by Sinhala/Buddhists who themselves were the descendants of migrants from North/South India, and they were and are proud of their Vijaya heritage. Isn’t hypocrisy gone mad? The standards are always set by the Majoritarian Aryan Sinhala/Buddhists.
5. Any civilisation cannot survive on its own without fusion. Sinhala/Buddhists cannot claim to have a unique heritage while it has been and still is borrowing elements of other cultures from through out the world. Apprehension and fear are self made. If they suffer from mass fear psychosis then the only treatment is meditation. They need to find Buddhist monks outside the island to learn proper meditation. Sinhala/Buddhist monks cause fear and state of psychosis.
6. The Tamils whine all the time. They too suffer from identity crisis just as the their Sinhala/Buddhist brethren do. All the legal and illegal measures imposed on minorities by sheer majoritarian misrule make all of them to whine from 1948 Citizen Act to many riots, language policies, to resource allocation, accountability, military rule, ………..
7. It is the responsibility of the Majority people to make life easy for the minorities, without fear or favour. Equal opportunity is the key word, or being magnanimous. Ben go buy a piece of land in Tamil area with your own hard earned money, but not on the back of the the army contingent.
8. With your parochial Mahawamsa mindset your people will never build a prosperous island. You will continue to destroy this island by electing thieves to rule the people. While focussing on minority demands and keeping them under iron boots you are letting the murderous, thieves, rapists, drug smugglers, war criminals scot free.
9. Wish you happy holidays.
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Ben Hurling / December 14, 2013
Thiru,
Utter stupidy of Rajapassa clan & serious hindrances elected CM Wigneswaran is facing as a result must be like a dream come true for you. Your blood soaked Ealam dream might be within reach, after all. Please do pray for survival of Rajapassa hegemony over Sri Lanka. It could be your only ticket to Ealam. Cheers!
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Max Silva / December 15, 2013
Wigneswarn the court fixer!A bloody joker!
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Native Vedda / December 16, 2013
Max Silva
“Wigneswarn the court fixer!A bloody joker!”
Is he a stand up comedian?
Please, please, please tell us his best joke.
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james / December 13, 2013
Thiru I disagree with you… it is important that NPC fights this out only then whole of Sri Lanka can be free for all its citizens…
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Ajith / December 13, 2013
No body in the South prepared to talk about what is written in the constitution and who is right and who is wrong. The legal system and justice system is completely collapsed and rule of law has become rule of Governor. There is a conflict between Governor and Northern Provincial administration. What is our President doing? What is his role in resolving matters? I am sure there are well established constitutional experts in this country and around the world who can put their voice up and louder. If President and the Governor is not capable of understanding the constitutional matters it is time for people of Sri Lanka to give a lesson to these dump power hungry criminals.
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gamini / December 13, 2013
I do not know how much the Indians, the Americans or the International Community will help the Tamils in Sri Lanka going by what happened in the recent past. Today what is publicized is how MR using the Forces defeated the LTTE and annihilated them. The truth is far from this. Ben Hurling type who believes so, is unable to explain why the LTTE buried all their heavy artillery during the War and abandoned their Fortress Kilinochchi and exposed themselves on a beach front with no cover and an armoury to fight. I believe all remember how the MR govt speculated that there were ships berthed off the East Coast and how these very countries were trying to stop the War and ferry VP out. It is established now that there have been Ships berthed outside the Eastern Coast to send the message to VP that he was to be provided sanctuary till the rest of the LTTE surrendered and a settlement to the war as promised, with devolution. The presence of ships has been only a ruse to lure VP out from Kilinochchi by the Indians and the Americans. After VP left Kilinochchi the whole lot of the LTTE were massacred numbering over forty thousand and the bodies have been taken by these same ships and dumped in the high seas to leave no traces of mass graves on land, otherwise. So how can the Tamils rely for Justice from such countries who helped a War Criminal MR to commit such a ghastly crime?
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S.Thiagarajah / December 14, 2013
To Bro.Gamini:
Thank you Gamini,you are right,India Cannot be relied on any thing.Sinhalese also cannot trust them,Tamils also should not trust.Actually Tamils are deceived by the Indian Govt. several times and I dont know why TNA is going after them.They should not go after them but they should not annoy them.TNA can learn a lesson from India.During the War and the conflict,India did not open its month,this may be there diplomacy.TNA also must follow that and keep their mouths closed when something is said against India.But I will not
agree that USA is like India.They are the people,Jews mostly affected by Human Rights violations,so they are straight forward and TNA must go after them.They may have given armaments to Sri Lanka,that is different.They don’t like terrorists,and Indians have advised USA about it ,mostly giving wrong informations,so they acted that way,but they respect humans and their equality.So TNA must get close to USA and the WEST.
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raja / December 14, 2013
Your”great” eelam leader prabhakaran was greedy and missed all the chances and now you expect the present government to simplly give you the power after winning a war which no country in the modern world could.No country on earth ever won a guerrilla except Sri lanka
1.Jayawardene offered to make Prabhakaran the chief administrator of the north-eastern provinces. But once again the terrorist leader refused.
2.Ranasinghe Premadasa again presented Prabhakaran with power sharing opportunities with loads of arms and money
3.Chandrika Kumaratunga‚who offered the entire Northern Province to him without elections for a period of ten years. Prabhakaran spurned that suggestion too
4.Then in 2000, even after the LTTE tried to assassinate her, Kumaratunga offered Prabhakaran Regional Councils, which went beyond the Provincial Councils in terms of devolution. Prabhakaran once again, rejected it entirely.
Mr.CM,just cooperate with the Governor for the future of a united Sri Lanka and not just concentrate on the future of the Tamils and my last humble advice will be…DO NOT LISTEN TO THE WORTHLESS WORDS OF THE TAMILNADU AND INDIAN LEADERS.
selva@Malaysia
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Native Vedda / December 14, 2013
raja
“Jayawardene offered to make Prabhakaran the chief administrator of the north-eastern provinces”
When did JR make this offer to VP?
“Kumaratunga offered Prabhakaran Regional Councils, which went beyond the Provincial Councils in terms of devolution.”
What did happen to the draft constitution at the parliamentary select committee?
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Paul / December 14, 2013
Of course he holds the whip hand. Do you think he will trust the TNA or the idiot J Muthu?
Chelvanayagam before independence: ‘If Ceylon is fighting to secede from the British Empire, why should not the Tamil people, if they feel like it, secede from the rest of the country?’ (House of Representatives 26.11.47)
The TULF in their 1977 manifesto: ‘The territory from Chilaw through Puttalam to Mannar and thence to the North and from there covering the East stretching to Kumana in the South through Trincomalee and Batticaloa was firmly established as the EXCLUSIVE homeland of the Tamils.’
As someone has said before, a minority claim a third of the land and two thirds of the coastline! What jokers.
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Native Vedda / December 14, 2013
Paul
“As someone has said before, a minority claim a third of the land and two thirds of the coastline! What jokers”
Why this was a joke?
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Sengodan. M / December 14, 2013
The adamant attitude of the GoSL will prove to the world that VP was right in his stand that only a separate State could be solution to the continuing Tamil grievances. Let us hope the I. C will wake up to the situation without delay and exert sufficient pressure on the government, even using extreme measures such as sanctions to make a good alternate solution possible.
Sengodan. M
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R. Varathan / December 14, 2013
Raja,
1. JRJ agreed to give the LTTE the dominant position in the NEPC but
VP, in different ways, scuttled it. Dayan J knows better. He was
there.
2. The talks with Premadasa broke down because VP suspected RP, while
giving him hopes was also conspiring to bring him down – the same
strategy that RP and Maru Sira employed dealing with the JVP.
3. When Thondaman suggested to give a try for 5 years and Sinhala
supremacists, lead by the Mahanayakas, almost destroyed him.
VP may have wondered if 5 years was refused CBK could not possibly
control a combined Sinhala supremacist opposition.
4. As to your comments here, the LTTE had infiltrated into the higher
levels of the army by that time and were informed the morale of the
army is down with the rank and file disappointed with some of the
high-ups bent more in prolonging “the war a business” Elephant Pass
debacle took place around this time (April 2000). One cannot blame
VP for not
giving in while he clearly had the upper hand then. Unfortunately
for him his major mistakes began with Mavil Aru. I am not sure about
Regional Councils but CBK was considering ISGA – and was shot down
by the Sinhala supremacist cabal within her fold.
Since you appear to be practical, may I suggest you use your influences to ask the Rajapakse Family to gracefully move out the ex-Army man Governor. He is now redundant as the Tamil Nation has since elected the NPC by a massive mandate. This was despite much threats, intimidation and violence by the army against peaceful civilians during the last days of the election campaign and on election day itself. I have a feeling Lalith Weeratunga will get this message strongly when he goes to Geneva.
R. Varathan
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A.T.Kumar / December 14, 2013
The N.P.C. should get rid of this political stooge The brawn man with no brains.
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RS / December 14, 2013
Can all the serious commenters on this thread (and indeed on CT) please ignore the idiotic comments made by the delusional Tamil Diaspora and the right-wing Sinhala ‘patriots’ and continue with the intelligent discussion. Responding to these trolls just detracts from some intelligent debate that I’ve seen on these forums and it all descends into name calling.
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R.Dias / December 14, 2013
The Governor of the Northern Province has no choice but to behave in this obnoxious manner for his survival.. He is making noise for the master to hear…He cannot just go home having enjoyed so much of Authority…!!!
what the hell is he going to do in Colombo…?
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Native Vedda / December 15, 2013
R.Dias
“what the hell is he going to do in Colombo…?”
There were two vacancies for hangman.
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JimSofty / December 15, 2013
WIGneswarn is whiner and is the mouth piece of TNA.
See how even how the uneducated Pillayan did it.
“Dr K Vigneswaran, who was advisor to two Sri Lankan Tamil Chief Ministers, A Varadarajaperumal and S Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, has urged the Northern Province Chief Minister, C V Wignewaran, and the provincial Governor, Maj Gen G A Chandrasiri, to have a dialogue, instead of going on the path of confrontation which may end in the collapse of the fledgling Tamil National Alliance (TNA) government there.
“When I was with Varadarajaperumal, I was able to get many things done by meeting the then Governor of the North Eastern Province, Gen Nalin Seneviratne. Likewise in the Eastern Province, Chief Minister Pillayan was able to do much because he kept meeting the military Governor, Vice Adm Mohan Wijewickrama,” Dr Vigneswaran told Express.
“The Provincial Councils Act 42 of 1987, which gives flesh and blood to the 13th Amendment (13A) of the Constitution, clearly states that civil servants are under the control of the Governor. However, by having regular meetings with the Governor, a CM can have his way in this regard. In the Eastern province, the CM had even set up departments, simply by engaging the Governor and making use of the silence of the Act on who is authorised to establish departments,” Dr Vigneswaran said.
But the Northern CM and the TNA, egged on by the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora, were heading towards a confrontation with the Governor and Colombo, he rued.
However, the CM says the Governor had stalled his move to establish “departments” for Transport and Housing on the grounds that the 13A allowed him to establish only “authorities” and not “departments”. “
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email / December 17, 2013
Governor Holds The Whip-Hand In The North Says Wigneswaran- This is true.. Governor wants all Tamils to be treated equal. Under you, all low caste Tamils will be suppressed and treated like garbage.
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V.Vic / December 20, 2013
There are more evidence going to crop up all over the net regarding the heinous crimes committed by the Srilankan forces and even the staunchest friends are going to drop Srilanka like hot potato.
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