The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, CV Wigneswaran has told the BBC in an interview that the Tamil people feel very strongly about accountability and that’s why the NPC passed a motion calling for an international probe into war crimes.
Asked by Charles Haviland on his views about the president, the Chief Minister was reluctant to answer, but said that the perception the Tamil people have is that the "majority community" does not want the NPC to work due to “a far more deep-seated attitude”.
See below for response given by Wigneswaran when asked for his view on the NPC resolution passed last month, and the rest of the interview.
CVW: You see that is the feeling of the people. Every person who has lost somebody in that war feels very strongly about it. There must be some sort of a judicial inquiry into this and those who have done wrong must be brought to book. So it is easy to say, "well, it is all in the past why are you worried about the past". No. everything that has been done, if it has been done deliberately, you can’t say, a person can’t be heard to say, "well I murdered somebody, but then now that is of the past let’s forget about it", no you can’t. So it’s in that spirit that the people, people’s representatives, wanted a resolution to be passed.
CH: Obviously you meet the president regularly, how is your relationship with the president and to what extent do you see him as a man that wants you to have appropriate powers or do you feel he is really representative of a government that just wants to keep all the powers for itself and mistrusts the idea of devolving power to the north?
CVW: You are trying to put me against the president..
CH: No I’m asking…
