Lanka's northern province to revive talks with Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated northern province has unanimously agreed to revive the stalled direct talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to find a political solution to the problems of the minority community.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which controls the northern province, said they were not averse to reviving talks with no pre-conditions attached.
The direct talks between TNA leader Rajavayothi Sampanthan and Rajapaksa which began in January 2011 abruptly came to an end in February 2012 when the President convened an all party representative committee (APC) to find a solution to the demand of political autonomy to the north.
The TNA had argued that agreements reached at the bilateral talks needed to be honoured before convening the APC.

They had dubbed the APC move as a stalling tactic in order to delay the process of arriving at a genuine solution acceptable to Tamils.
Yesterday the northern provincial council's ruling and opposition members agreed that talks must resume.
The move came as Sri Lanka faces a third UNHRC resolution in as many years, censuring the country on its lack of progress on human rights accountability and reconciliation with its Tamil minority after the civil war ended with the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.