Sri Lankan Tamil party to adopt Gandhi-style campaign for equal rights

Colombo, Mar 15(ANI): Sri Lanka's main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has vowed to launch a Gandhi-style civil disobedience campaign to press for equal rights for the community.

In a manifesto for parliamentary elections on April 8, the TNA also pledged to lobby the international community to help the islands' Tamil ethnic minority following the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last year.

The TNA used to be the political wing of the LTTE, but has been forced to alter its ideology since the end of the 26-year civil war.

"If the Sri Lankan state continues its present style of governance without due regard to the rights of the Tamil-speaking peoples, the TNA will launch a peaceful, non-violent campaign of civil disobedience on the Gandhian model," The Times quoted the party, as saying.

"Power sharing arrangements must be established... based on a federal structure in a manner also acceptable to the Tamil-speaking Muslim people," it said. (ANI)