Speaking at the event along side the chief minister of the northern province, C V Wigneswaran, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, S Sritharan said Kilinochchi was under military rule which was preventing the development of the area into a true city.
"The military is selling black lentils, selling pulses, selling rice, selling white flour. The military is leasing land. It's the military that's building schools here. Do you know what the military is doing? It's doing everything. It's running pre-school. The military has everything. So what then, it is military rule that is happening here," Mr Sritharan said.
A transcript of his address follows:
"Then how can we lie and say the military is not doing anything, good governance is happening and a civil administration takes place? So we need to collectively conclude that this is not a civil administration or good governance. In Kilinochchi full military rule is taking place. There has been no change in this."
"When will the military leave 40% of the land in Kilinochchi? If you look at the lands from Eranaimadu junction to the Eranaimadu tank, all the land is militarised. If you go to Malayalapuram - military. If you go behind the old government secretariat office - military. If you go behind the new government secretariat office - military. If you go to Paranthan - military. Look here, YMC's land has still not been released. The YMC building in Paranthan has still not been released, and all the rest of it the police has. So how can Kilinochchi become a true city?"
