Tamil prisoners might be freed to tilt parl scales

Mahinda Rajpaksa

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's legislator son Namal on Sunday indicated that the long held demand of the Tamil minority community to release all Tamil prisoners may be fulfilled soon, a move aimed at persuading the Tamil legislators to support Rajapaksa.

"President (Maithripala) Sirisena and Prime Minister Rajapaksa would make a decision (on the issue) very soon," Namal tweeted in Tamil language. Since the war with the LTTE ended in 2009, the Sri Lankan government has denied that the imprisoned LTTE members are political prisoners. Tamils say some of the prisoners have been held over a long time under anti-terrorism law without even being formally charged.

Namal's comments are aimed at persuading the legislators in the Sri Lanka's main Tamil party - Tamil National Alliance (TNA) - to switch their allegiance to Rajapaksa in his bid to prove majority in the parliament.

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