Need support of Tamils for developing conflict-battered north: Ranil Wickremesinghe

Colombo, February 11

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday he was committed to devolution of power within a unitary state as a solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue and underlined the need for Tamil diaspora’s engagement for the development of the conflict-battered northern region.

War destroyed economy

We have to launch major development programmes for the north alongside economic growth programmes. The war destroyed the northern economy. Ranil Wickremesinghe, SL president

Addressing state officials in Jaffna, President Wickremesinghe also expressed hope that India will contribute to the development of the eastern port of Trincomalee.

“We have to launch major development programmes for the north alongside economic growth programmes. The war destroyed the northern economy,” he said, adding that 14 years after the war has ended, the development that has taken place is not adequate.

The civil war was fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009.

On May 18, 2009, the campaign led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to establish a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces came to an end with the killing of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran by the Sri Lankan army in Mullaithviu’s Vellamulivaikkal.