DPF secretary and several members attended the meeting. While the party expressed its views at the meeting, it also noted satisfaction at the initiative taken by the President to look at development and rehabilitation in the country by convening an all party meeting.
However, the party states that it did not have a clear idea about the government’s plan to go about this objective.
They say that when the people have expressed their willingness to return to their hometown on their own, the reason to keep them trapped amidst barbwire fences has to be revealed by the government.
While not accepting the claim that most of the land in the Wanni was filled with mines, the party has said the individuals who are willing to go back to their respective villages independently and build their own homes, should be permitted to do so. An independent census has to be conducted to identify the needs of the displaced persons in the camps.
According to the DPF, the development programmes to return the displaced back to their homes should be conducted in a transparent manner and the solution to the ethnic issue based on power devolution should also be implemented simultaneously.
Following the government’s announcement on the end of the war, those arrested from time to time and held in detention camps without being charged should be freed, they have said.
The party also noted that the amnesty given to those who unleashed violence claiming to be for patriotic means in the south should also be given to those who fought for patriotic needs in the north and they should be provided with the necessary rehabilitation programmes as well.
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