Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M. Sumanthiran told parliament today that a large number of parts of the full report of the Presidential Commission to Investigate Political victimization had been omitted from its Tamil translation and that it had done a breach to the Tamil people.
He revealed that when he inquired from the Parliamentary staff that the CD given to the Members of Parliament contained the Tamil translation and that it had missed a large number of pages in its second volume in comparison with the Sinhala report MP Sumanthiran was told by parliamentary staff that this report was not prepared by them but all were done by the Presidential Secretariat. Mr. Sumanthiran requested all parties and the opposition to pay attention to this matter.
Speaking further Mr. Sumanthiran said, “During the distribution of the report of the Presidential Commission to Investigate Political Victims, the parliamentary staff asked each member on their language preference. So I asked for an English copy. But I received a printed copy in Sinhala. The accompanying CD had a Tamil translation. I used this Tamil translation with people who know Sinhala.
It was learned that a large portion of the Tamil translation had been removed. I would like to know why. When asked in Parliament it was said that it was done by the President’s Office. Is that true If so, I ask why such injustice was done to those who read in Tamil?
Tamil became the official language of the country in 1987. Even after 35 years, we still have to fight for this language in this house. It is a sad and serious situation,” he said.
Responding to Sumanthiran’s statement, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said he would look into the matter and take appropriate action.
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