{"id":26627,"date":"2013-11-16T19:46:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-16T23:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=26627"},"modified":"2013-11-16T20:13:43","modified_gmt":"2013-11-17T01:13:43","slug":"british-pm-david-cameron-talks-to-northern-tamil-idps-with-tna-mp-ma-sumanthirans-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=26627","title":{"rendered":"British PM David Cameron Talks to Northern Tamil IDP’s With TNA MP MA Sumanthiran’s Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Sabapathipillai Welfare Centre at Chunnakam, about 10 km from Jaffna town, on Friday. <\/p>\n

\"British

British Prime Minister David Cameron talks to villagers of an IDP camp in Jaffna on Friday, Nov 15-pic: The Hindu<\/p><\/div>\n

He walked into the narrow lanes with tiny homes adjacent to each other and talked to some residents. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran helped with translation.
\n
\nThe welfare centre is essentially a camp for internally displaced persons \u2013 with very basic facilities \u2013 where nearly 300 families that were forced to leave their homes during the war live.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Mr. Cameron] will take us back to our home near Kankesanthurai,\u201d said Rasaiah Rasati, 65, who seemed to be brimming with confidence after speaking to the British Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Many in the camp said they pinned their hopes on the British leader\u2019s visit, though visits by many others had not made a difference to their lives.<\/p>\n

\"Prime

Prime Minister David Cameron is the first world leader to visit the north of Sri Lanka since 1948-pic: Crown copyright<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt has been 23 years since I left my home [due to the war]. Today, they [the army] does not let us anywhere close to our own home,\u201d said Ms. Rasati.<\/p>\n

Walking towards another home, Mr. Cameron asked Mr. Sumanthiran: \u201cSo basically, the army has taken over their land. They can\u2019t go to court since the courts here won\u2019t render straight justice, right?\u201d With Mr. Sumanthiran nodding, he said: \u201cThis is where we have to apply pressure.\u201d Though the government says action is being taken, nothing has changed, Mr. Sumanthiran, also a lawyer, later told The Hindu.
\nBesides the issue of land, Mr. Cameron, according to TNA sources, discussed the process of devolution.<\/p>\n

Mr. Cameron held discussions with Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran at the Jaffna Public Library, where TNA leader Mr. Sampanthan and Mr. Sumanthiran were also present. He visited the offices of Uthayan, popular Tamil daily that periodically carries reports critical of the Sri Lankan government and which has been attacked several times.<\/p>\n

According to managing director of the publication and TNA MP E. Saravanapavan, Mr. Cameron said he would also raise the issue of freedom of speech with the \u201chigher-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a demonstration near the Jaffna Public Library, Saro Sripavan, mother of three, said she has been looking for her husband for seven years now. \u201cHe was working as manager in a cooperative society and went missing in 2006. Till date, I have no information about him,\u201d she said, looking at his photograph.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time someone important comes to Jaffna, we all assemble and try to highlight our concern, but ultimately I know only I have to look for my father,\u201d said her son Sripavan Daneesh, who works as a sales executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to know if my daughter, who went missing in 2008 when she was in her early 20s, is alive or dead. This uncertainty kills me,\u201d said Kanagasingam Hemalatha.<\/p>\n

We are here because of trust: Prince Charles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prince Charles said he was pleased to be back in Sri Lanka. At this meet, the Commonwealth was being charged to confront the many issues affecting the security and well-being of its nations and peoples. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of CHOGM at Colombo. \u201cEach one of us is here because of the hope and the trust we place in the Commonwealth to bring that \u2018touch of healing\u2019 to our troubles and deliver the very best future for our people,\u201d said Prince Charles, who represented the Queen at CHOGM.<\/p>\n

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said Sri Lanka, which took over the leadership of Commonwealth, had shown enduring energy in the global Commonwealth family. courtesy: the Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Meera Srinivasan British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Sabapathipillai Welfare Centre at Chunnakam, about 10 km from Jaffna town, on Friday. He walked into the narrow lanes with tiny homes adjacent to each other and talked to some residents. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran helped with translation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26627"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26644,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26627\/revisions\/26644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}