Tamil chief minister CV Wigneswaran: 'We're not terrorists'

20 February 2014  Last updated at 20:05 GMT

The first ever chief minister for Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated Northern Province has told the BBC that the central government should stop viewing the north as a "terrorist area", and must give the province meaningful political powers.

CV Wigneswaran's Tamil National Alliance swept to power in September.

Last month, the Northern Provincial Council passed a motion calling for an international probe into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

The BBC's Charles Haviland asked Mr Wigneswaran - who is himself Tamil - for his view of the controversial resolution.

Tamils ​​can not Forget the past - Wigneswaran

Tamil Guardian 21 February 2014

The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, CV Wigneswaran has told the  BBC in an interview  that the Tamil people feel very strongly about and that's Accountability Why the NPC passed a Motion calling for an International War crimes probe into.

Asked by Charles Haviland On his views about the President, the Chief Minister was reluctant to answer, but said that the Tamil people have the perception is that the "majority Community"  Level does not Work due to the NPC to  "a far More deep- seated attitude " .

See below for When Asked for his view Wigneswaran On response given by the  NPC resolution  Last month passed, and the rest of the interview.

CVW:   You see that is the feeling of the people. Every person who has lost somebody in that war feels very strongly about it. There must be some sort of a judicial inquiry into this and  those who have done wrong must be Brought to book . So it is easy to say, "well, it is all in the past why are you worried about the past". No. everything that has been done, if it has been done deliberately, you can't say, a person can't be heard to say, "well I murdered somebody, but then now that is of the past let's forget about it", no Can not you.  So in that IT's Spirit that the people, people's representatives, wanted a resolution to be passed.

CH:   obviously you regularly meet the President, How is Your Relationship with the President and to what extent do you see him Wants As a man that you have appropriate powers to do or you just feel that he is really representative of a Government Wants to Keep all the powers for itself and mistrusts the idea of devolving power to the north?

CVW:   You are trying to put ME against the President ..

CH:   No I'm asking ...

CVW:   Well I would say only the President has his own Problems in the interests of trying to Look into VARIOUS Groups,  but there is a perception that there is a far Among the Tamil people More deep-seated attitude  which comes not As From the President From such but the majority Community As such, IT Therefore so  is that they do not Felt Level Work to the Northern Provincial Council .

We are for the first time completely different from the government in power, from the people in power, from the community in power, from the language in power, so we have everything completely different. Our language is different, our people are different, our religions are different, our terrain is different and our party is different, so this needs to be understood by the government.

CH:   There is a Lot of land in northern Sri Lanka including Jaffna that is still occupied by the Military, which means the Owners can not return home. What's your view of that?

CVW:   The Truth is in every Way army is in Control of the Northern Province, IT's almost like an  occupational army . Only thing is they would not show it out in that fashion. Now Mr Udaya Perera, who is the commander-in-chief, he was here, very nice man, very professional person, he said I have been able to get rid of 230-40 checkpoints and I have withdrawn them which is a very great thing and a good thing. But at the same Time We Found the soldiers in those Areas Go by [Bicycle] Intelligence Work Their doing, so  they are still in Command . So this is because of the mindset that this is a terrorist area and you must keep your intelligence working in a terrorist area and so on and so forth. See, we are not terrorists.