Sri Lanka: Debt, Development, and Democracy? Tamil National Alliance MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam on Post-War Reconciliation and Political Enfranchisement

In the third installment of our miniseries "Sri Lanka: Debt, Development, and Democracy?", we speak with Tamil National Alliance MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam about the state of Sri Lanka's minority heavy North and East regions, areas facing the lingering effects of Sri Lanka's Civil War that ended in 2009. Rasamanickam asserts that the Tamil people have been left in a 'much worse' position since the war than they were at Sri Lanka's independence in 1948, and that the Tamil-majority areas have seen virtually no progress with regards to political rights. Rasamanickam, one of Sri Lanka's youngest members of Parliament, discusses his disappointment with a lack of sustainable development (which he distinguishes from 'basic infrastructure') in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka, criticizing Chinese-linked 'vanity' projects and questioning China's desire for certain pieces of land.  Considered a rising star within the Tamil National Alliance, Rasamanickam states that he and many of his constituents do desire that the United States does emphasize human rights in its approach to Sri Lanka, as he continues to advocate for a federal approach to governance domestically. We close out the conversation with an in-depth discussion of Sri Lanka's economic crises, and Rasamanickam's take on the state of Sri Lanka's fragmented political opposition to the Rajapaksa Government.