Sri Lanka to water down Tamil power-sharing plan

Sri Lanka plans to reduce the power of local councils before the first-ever provincial elections in the island's former war zone, a leading politician said Thursday, in a bid to deny minority Tamils greater autonomy.

The ruling coalition promised to share limited power with Tamils, pointing to elections to local councils, after the military crushed separatist Tamil rebels in May 2009 and ended 37 years of ethnic bloodshed.

President Mahinda Rajapakse's government has so far not held elections in the Tamil-dominated north.

Under pressure from India and Western governments, it has set local elections for September -- prompting a move to reduce the power of the provincial councils.

Members of the coalition met on Tuesday to discuss the plan, a senior ruling party member told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"The party leaders agreed to amend the 13th amendment," the leader said.

The 13th amendment of the constitution granted limited autonomy to provincial councils.

Sri Lanka adopted a de facto federal system in 1987 but never held elections in the northern province, which continued to be ruled directly by the president. Councils have, however, been functioning in Sinhalese-majority areas that Rajapakse's party controls.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is the president's brother, has publicly declared that holding the northern election without reducing council powers could undermine national security and territorial integrity.

The councils were established in line with an agreement with neighbouring India, which promised to rein in Tamil separatists on its soil provided Colombo shared political power with the Tamil minority.

An independent Colombo-based think-tank, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, said the government's proposed move showed it had failed to grasp the roots of the ethnic conflict.

"This unilateral act by the government to completely negate the existing devolutionary framework would be an historical mistake," the centre said in a statement.

Sri Lanka is under international pressure to promote ethnic reconciliation and investigate allegations of war crimes by its forces in the final stages of crushing Tamil Tiger rebels.

It has denied allegations that up to 40,000 civilians were killed during the bloody finale to the conflict.

Sri Lanka to water down Tamil power-sharing plan | GlobalPost

 

Sri-Lankan's are treading on dangerous grounds.

 

Lankans are masters of their own destiny. Actually I suggest SL in http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/...india-line-13th-amendment-gotabaya.html　－

and

for their democracy and reconciliation to succeed.

 

Yeah what our Indian friends do not understand is that if we keep the 13th amendment as it is the US/EU backed TNA will surely use it to manipulate it's purpose to carve out a separate Eelam for themselves.

There are so many dangerous provisions included in 13th amendment that will directly jeopardize the national security.

I do not know how will Tamil rights are violated when the central government retakes the land and police powers from provinces.

 

Spoken like a true blue (yellow?) Han.

 

Secessionist tendencies should not be tolerated under any condition & I am all against appeasement in any form.

Having said that, a proper working "grievance redressal mechanism" for minorities must exist, so that such secessionist tendencies do not find a ground to flame out in the first place. Some form of "limited autonomy+local governance" power sharing mechanism has done wonders the world over.

 

This doesn't apply to TNA. They spill hatred all over the Tamil dominated areas. They (TNA) do not want to live with us. So how do we Sinhalese win the Tamils hearts?

SL should go down to district level to do that.

 

As are the Tamils...

The issue of seperate Eelam only arose because of discrimination of Tamils, which the US/EU could exploit. It's not a US/EU created problem, but a Sri Lankan created problem. To end this problem for good, first try properly integrating the Tamils into Sri Lanka for good by assuring them and winning them over. Taking away power from the locals and centralizing it doesn't exactly help assure the local Tamils of the SL government's intentions.

Like what?

After being discriminated and exploited by the Sri Lankan government, you don't think taking power away from the locals will be seen with suspicion? Common now...

 

They are not concerned because of the inept regime in Delhi unable to show Indian power to them while China has assured them insurance on virtually everything.

So why blame them?

 

Sri Lanka ought to be able to do whatever they want in their country. What's silly is that our official position is that Tamils ought to have right for self determination and also safeguard this in the constitution which is fair. This being played out in the United Nations has made india uneasy only because of the current government in charge. This would have been dealt differently and with more conviction if a different party was in power. And somehow I think the countries and state(s) that are leading this through the system along with the focus on the civil war atrocities know that the current government deep down does not agree to the official position. Would it have better to have had a abstention with vocal support for the resolution compared to a support. But at the end of the day the congress managed it well.

 

@HeinzGud what are changes begin proposed and what was original

 

If this is the case why not put a referendum on the secession of Kashmir to Pakistan and see how far your masters of the destiny theory go in India.

Every nut in India shows a lot of sympathy to humanity in Sri Lanka but when it comes to there interests the same sympathy goes down the drain.

Mark my word. Now you people are nurturing Tamilnadu on separatism and Tamilnadu has taken your central government hostage. Mark my word if there will be a separate eelam in Sri Lanka it will be the begin on the end of Indian union.

You can wake someone in a slumber but you cannot wake someone who pretends it. Period.

The 13A clearly dictate that the central has no power over the laws passed by the provinces. Center cannot do anything other than be a mere specter, even if the center wants to change the laws they have to "consult" the province. That is not way of ruling the country.

They didn't have any trouble with land and police powers when British ruled them over. Moreover they never had land and police powers to themselves before so what is this nonsense about taking power away?

 

Currently the SLG is discussing the possibility of removing the land/police powers and the abolishment of the right to merge provinces together.

 

Do not equate the two. Srilankan tamils are not asking to be part of India.

That fear is over in 1960. The most that can happen is that Northern and Eastern Srilanka may become part of India.

False argument verging on Stupidity. Under the British Sinhala also had nothing. You mean to say only Sinhala gained freedom and Tamils changed their masters from the British to Sinhala !!

What ever the Sinhala may do, Go to China or Isreal and USA as in past, India would continue to have stake on half of Srilanka. Srilanka can not change her geography and merge with African continent again. It may inch Northward and merge with India one day.

 

Give it a break... I never said India is not an authoritarian country, but it's the least authoritarian country in the region.. I would also like to see India improve and become a bigger democracy, rather than having the hundreds of thousands of Indians dead in internal wars..

No clue what that is suppose to mean.. Elaborate.

That's called true democracy, and how most decentralized democracies work, from the United States to India.. although India is still a lot less decentralized than the States..

Maybe because of the fact that after independence, the Tamils were the most educated group on the island and made up a significant portion of the Sri Lankan judiciary. You drove them out of their positions, discriminated and segregated them, and now you're asking why you don't have a right to rule over them? Seriously...

I always had a heavy dislike for the LTTE and supported the SL government, but now with the LTTE gone, and the way the Sri Lankans are acting, I'm finally starting to see the root of the problem. You do not wish to live shoulder to shoulder with the Tamils, rather, you seem to want to rule over them..

 

No they want a part of India.

Oh yeah. Rules are made to be bent. What India can do if Tamilnadu lobby for independence with help of US and EU? Tell me clearly what India will do then.

They do not have call Sinhalese masters. But they have to accept the majority and try to co-exist rather than going for live separately.

So India cannot change its geography as well. The more India threaten us the more we align our self with China and Pakistan.

 

There is no bigger democracy. Every country has a limit to go in the democracy. Beyond that limit one has to sacrifice its sovereignty. No sane country in the world wants to be that bigger democracy.

SLG gives them every thing with in the governments capacity and Sinhalese too. But if Tamils (brainwashed by TNA. There is no democracy in Jaffna peninsula for politics either you have to be with TNA or you should shut yourself up.) wants separate eelam what can we do?

Even in India or in USA the province/state cannot do everything. But in 13 A of Sri Lanka the province can and center cannot question it or nullify it.

Tamils wasn't smarter than Sinhalese. Tamils were merely favored by the British because they were the minority. That's why Tamils held high position in the government offices.

Do tell me one thing is it fair that minority officials to govern the majority people? Isn't it a discrimination? Isn't it wrong that majority appointed there own to the same positions? Is it call discrimination? and against whom?

Tamils should learn first the reality of the situation. Tamils are living in a fairly land. Period.

Oh.... you never supported SLG. You tell this that you hate LTTE to avoid all the atrocities done by the LTTE. You and your country men always believed we Sinhalese are discriminating the Tamils despite our protests. There fore how much we protest, plead or reason you and your people will never listen to us. So do not expect any thing from us again. We do what is best for our country and either your country can watch it or take some actions. We are ready for anything.

 

Any Indian answer!

In a “Sinhala” state – how is it that Muslims and Tamils make up more than 2/3 the population in Colombo?

In a “Sinhala” state – how is it that the main wholesale trading is virtually run by either Muslims or Tamils?

If Buddhists run Sri Lanka why is the commercial activity of Sri Lanka in the hands of non-Buddhists and in the capital itself the Sinhalese remain the minority populace?

In a “Sinhala” state – how is it that Tamils and Muslims can purchase property, land and live wherever they like but when a Sinhalese want to live in the North it is termed as “colonization”?

In a “Sinhala” state – how is it that no Tamil, Muslim child is denied education in any school be it national, international, semi-private etc?

 

Sri Lanka is not even a quarter of the way towards the example of democracy followed by your "sane countries", so talking about "sacrificing sovereignty" to the people, is a long shot.

TNA had already offered to reconcile with the SLG several times, and the Sri Lankans reacted by assassinating TNA politicians...

Let me call Bullshit on this one, because the 13th amendment has existed since 1987, during times with a full fledged Tamil insurgency, yet it could never be invoked to claim independence. This obviously means that the devolution of powers to the Provinces are not total, as you claim them to be.

It is quite obvious that the real intentions for repealing the amendment are to further dilute whatever little political power the Tamils hold in Sri Lanka.

There's a big difference between 'being smarter' and being 'better educated'. Tamils held higher positions in bureaucracy because they were better educated than the Sinhalese.

As for the British, their laws clearly favoured the Sinhalese, especially the Donoughmore Constitution.

Reading this is appalling and shows your own discriminatory views.. Ofcourse it is fair for the educated elite to hold administrative positions, regardless if they are Tamil or Sinhalese... but it is due to the fact that you chaps could not stomach educated Tamils in the bureaucracy, that you ended up segregating them. No wonder Tamil Eelam became so important for them.

On the contrary...

Bullshit.. You don't know me, I've wasted enough time arguing in favour of the SLG over here and especially on WAB over so many years. Something I very much regret now.

You do discriminate them.

No worries, the Indian government has gained another supporter in me, for when they feel the need to intervene in Sri Lanka again.

 

There is some nonsense on a Tamil separatism in India. That as a fact was true until late 1960's.

The root of this problem was that We saw ourselves a little different from the Northern brothers and were in the mindset that Tamils need a separate nation for nurturing the Tamil Culture.

But we later realized that any progress is through Indian Union. Also the false arguments of the SL politicians on sharing the power with the provincial councils is that the national integrity will be questioned and they show Tamil Nadu taking the govt in Delhi a hostage in the SL issue. This is the progressive way of integration. You cannot suppress the states feelings. You cannot live under the shadows of a majority, You should live as equals to them...

When even a small issue can bring up discomfort between two different groups, India has survived many sensitive issues that would have disintegrated the country. This is what should have happened in SL. autonomy/enough powers for the provincial govts to look into their governance, like regional policing, implementation policies etc, with a strong federal systems that will govern the disputes between the central govt and the provincial govts and between the provincial govts and a universal Adult suffrage, right to live in any part of the country with right to property in any part of the country, Right to do trade and business in any part of the country (governed by the provincial laws)... This will enable Tamils and Sinhalese to live equally and the nation to progress.

Now going by the Rajabakhsa Brothers arguments on the Potential disasters of the undiluted 13th amendment to the Constitution, as exampled on Tamil Nadu taking hostage of the Central govt, I have some questions which they will find it difficult to answer.

1) how the same Tamil Nadu is still under the radar of the Article 356 of Indian Constitution.
2) How does you see the powers of the Indian Supreme court to Nullify any law enacted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
3) How do you see a Indian Citizen From Tamil Nadu as the CJI.
4) How do You a see the INC (a pan India Political party) winning seats in Tamil Nadu Assembly and has Tamils as cabinet Ministers.

SL should treat all its citizens as equals and this can be achieved only through more federal setup with the Regional governments enjoying more freedom within their geographical boundaries (with federal set ups that ensure smooth functioning and integrity of the nation.) The Chinese are playing their best in Converting the SL into authoritarian client state on contrary, when India is striving to make the SL a progressive democratic republic with equal opportunity to all.

There is no majority or minority in a democratic set up. All are Equal. If some majority minded person doesn't want a minority official in the government I will ask him to grant independence to the minority. For example, the Indian Government institutions are based on qualification and equal opportunity. Thats why a Muslim IAS officer can become the District Collector in a Kashi and a Hindu IAS officer can become the Collector in Ajmir. This is how the democracy functions in a union. If this is not the case in SL, then for sure the Country is on path to disintegrate.

And as of the Pakistan and China are there to help SL, That itself shows what path they are choosing forward...