TNA wants detained Tamil youth issue addressed soon

(June 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said today it would meet with the Attorney General (AG) to discuss the plight of around 10,000 Tamil youth who are believed to be in detention since the end of the war with the LTTE.

TNA Parliamentary group leader R.Sampanthan said that not everyone in the Wanni was a member of a k militant group and there was no legal ground on which they could be held in detention.

“Many of them had surrendered in good faith on being told that they would be released after being questioned. A distinction should be drawn between those against whom there is no evidence or whose involvement was purely peripheral and others against whom there is evidence or who were seriously involved,” he told reporters at a press briefing.

The TNA MP said he had raised the issue with President Mahinda Rajapaksa when they met with him last Monday.