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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 6981465" data-attributes="member: 92282">Sri Lanka's main ethnic Tamil party on Friday dropped its demand for  an independent state and said it is ready to accept regional self-rule,  following the defeat of separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in a 25-year civil  war.The Tamil National Alliance, which backed the rebels, said  in its platform for April 8 parliamentary elections that it would accept  a "federal structure" in the north and east provinces with power over  land, finance, and law and order. The platform was released Friday.Since  its inception in 2001, the alliance has acted as a proxy for the Tamil  Tigers until their military defeat by government forces last year.  Between 80,000 and 100,000 people were killed in the fighting.Tamils  have long complained of discrimination at the hands of the island's  majority Sinhalese, but Sri Lankan authorities have rejected any  self-rule for them, saying it would be a prelude to secession.The  alliance has 22 members in the outgoing 225-seat Parliament.President  Mahinda Rajapaksa called the April parliamentary vote after winning  re-election in January — in a presidential vote called two years ahead  of schedule — in an apparent attempt to consolidate his political  dominance. The opposition leader, former army chief Sarath Fonseka, has  been detained on sedition allegations.The Tamil alliance, which  supported Fonseka in the presidential election but plans to contest the  parliamentary vote on an independent platform, also demanded  resettlement, housing and livelihood programs for the nearly 300,000  Tamil civilians displaced in the last stages of the civil war, about  100,000 of whom are still in refugee camps.Some of the displaced  civilians live with relatives and friends while others have been sent  back to their villages without proper shelter or means to make a living.The  alliance also asked the government to permit the return of nearly 1  million Tamils who fled to Europe and India as refugees over the years.  It further wants the government to demilitarize former rebel-held areas  and dismantle high security zones where troops occupy thousands of acres  (hectares) of private land and houses.<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSHzhjNFO118ZH7MMuqP6F_uO_HAD9EDPGM80" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/img/ap_logo.gif?hl=en" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></blockquote>

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