People of the North are disillusioned and deeply disappointed in the current government, according to Northern politician and leader of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Suresh Premachandran.
“There have been no concrete proposals to resolve the Tamil issue and therefore, the people now feel they have been let down,” he told the Sunday Observer.
According to Premachandran, three years on since the current government swept into power, citizens in the North who supported them feel cheated and misled, with the government appearing to treat the Tamil issue as a secondary matter.
However, he said this does not mean the people now support the former regime. “They were very much against the Rajapaksa government but now they feel mistreated by the current government in the same manner,” he claimed.
Premachandran pointed out that the government has not addressed several key issues in the North while being unable to fully resolve the land issues of the people.
“The people in Iranativu, for example, has had to return forcefully and currently they are without any provisions or facilities,” he said adding that the government has failed to provide them with even the basic facilities. “Even after a decade since the war ended the people continue to struggle,” he said claiming that therefore the current sentiments towards those in power should be expected.