Pro-LTTE TNA say Sri Lanka slow to release prisoners, land

Ethnic Tamil leaders told a visiting U.S. diplomat on Tuesday that Sri Lanka’s new government is not moving fast enough to free prisoners detained without trial and return private land seized by the military during a decades-long civil war.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal met with Tamil National Alliance leaders as part of her two-day visit to Sri Lanka.

Lawmaker M.A. Sumanthiran said the party had hoped the government would release some prisoners before the country’s independence day on Wednesday and would quickly hand back land to its owners.

The surprise election victory of President Maithripala Sirisena last month and his government’s early steps to end repression have stirred hopes in Washington that Sri Lanka and the U.S. can revive strained ties.

After meeting with Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Monday, Biswal said Sri Lanka could count on the U.S. “to be a partner and a friend in the way forward.” Samaraweera is scheduled to visit Washington next week.

Sirisena’s government has promised to take steps to achieve reconciliation between minority Tamils and majority Sinhalese.

“We see some lethargy, some delay,” Sumanthiran told The Associated Press. “We told the U.S. to encourage the government to (move) fairly quickly.”

Sumanthiran also said his party discussed power sharing as a political solution with the federalism champion present Prime Minister Ranil Wickramsinghe to the long ethnic conflict on the island.