Ranil Wickramasinghe becomes the first Sri Lankan prime minister to visit Jaffna since the conflict began in 1983. Large crowds gather to meet him.
Sources
A Prime Minister in Jaffna, Front Line Magazine, Volume 19 – Issue 07, Mar. 30 – Apr. 12, 2002; Sri Lanka PM visits troubled north, BBC, 14 March 2002.
Quotations
“We have gone further down the road for peace than on earlier occasions.” Ranil Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan Prime Minsiter.
“I congratulate you for the courage to make the decision to visit Jaffna so soon after your election.” Thomas Sauvenderanayagam, Bishop of Jaffna.
“Year by year, if others had come here regularly, they could have improved the relationship. This isolation that the Tamil people feel now from the rest of Sri Lanka would not have grown.” V. Anandasangaree, vice-president of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and a Member of Parliament from Jaffna representing the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
