Addressing the Cabinet press briefing at the auditorium of the Government Information Department yesterday, the Cabinet Spokesman and Health and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne said.that the President has decided to appoint a special Task Force to cater to the need to build a united and integrated nation, while healing the wounds of mistrust and social and cultural stress generated from extended conflicts and violence between different communities in Sri Lanka.

The Task Force will comprise of seven members appointed by the President.

The objectives of the Presidential Task Force will be to identify the immediate problems that required to be solved and recommend solutions in order to achieve reconciliation, would make recommendations to alleviate the hardships caused to citizens as a result of the conflict, would study and make recommendations with regard to persons under detention as a result of the conflict, and would study and make recommendations regarding all other matters relating to rebuilding harmony and effective reconciliation.

Reacting to the decision to appoint a PTFR, spokesman of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Suresh Premachandran has said that it is a “welcome move”.

Media quoting Premachandran as having said that the PTFR should address the following issues: Returning to their original Tamil owners, several thousand hectares of private lands acquired by the armed forces; resettlement of the thousands of refugees still living in the 30-odd camps in the North; aiding the large number of women-headed households; assisting those disabled in the war; and releasing the hundreds Tamil men and women held in jails without being charged.

“The Sirisena government should see to it that the steps suggested by the PTFR are implemented and that the PTFR does not become a devise to delay implementation of measures already agreed upon,” Premachandran said.