Supreme Court judgment redraws the new political landscape
Posted on October 13th, 2013
H. L. D. Mahindapala
In the latest legal battle over the ownership of land three Supreme Court judges -” one of whom is a Tamil -” delivered a landmark judgment which overturned the previously misinterpreted and misleading‚ judgments that virtually handed the state lands‚ to the Provincial Councils. Reading the separate judgments of the three judges it appears that Justice Sripavan had written his judgment first. Chief Justice Mohan Peiris and Justice Eva Wanasundera had read Justice Sripavan-â„¢s judgment subsequently and agreed with its findings and then proceeded to add their separate arguments which leads to the same conclusion -” i.e., state land does not belong‚ to Provincial Councils unless they are given by the Centre. The extended consequences of this judgment also reinforces the supremacy of‚ the Centre over the periphery. In fact, CJ Peiris buttresses his argument by citing Chef Justice Sharvananda who had pooh-poohed the concept of separate/subsidiary sovereignties, affirming the overall sovereignty of an undivided, unitary state.
The available evidence points‚ to the fact that while the Sinhala judges tended to favour the idea of separate/subsidiary sovereignties within Sri Lanka, in one‚ form or the other, two leading Tamil judges had quashed this myth. Taking off from the legal foundation laid down by CJ Sharvananda the current Chief Justice, Mohan Peiris, goes further and argues impeccably that in a unitary state, unlike in a federal state,‚ neither sovereignty nor land can be taken away from‚ the Center. He argues convincingly that in a unitary state both sovereignty and land belong to the Center and not to the periphery.
This is a radical shift from the legal and political myths built‚ around the Indian-imposed 13th Amendment. The current trend seems to be one of law and economics moving steadfastly to close the divisive ethnic gap and promote integration, reconciliation and rehabilitation. However, in the post-Nandikadal period it is the Jaffna jingoists and their pillion riders in NGOs, or‚ those who have jumped into the chrematistic NGO bandwagon, that are locked in the failed politics of the Vadukoddai Resolution and its corollary, the 13th Amendment, that ended in Nandikadal. They are shocked by the over-determining judgment of the judicial troika in the Supreme Court.
It is the solid legal foundation laid‚ by the Tamil judges‚ that has taken the‚ winds out of the political sails of the Jaffna jingoists and their pillion riders in the NGOs and Colombo University.‚ Unable to find any credible arguments M. A. Sumanthiran, the legal fugleman of TNA, has taken up cudgels with the judgment in The Hindu, (8/10/13) raising the bogey of a political conspiracy. He sees all kinds of machinations in the timing‚ of the judgment which came on the heels of TNA victory in the North. This is a puerile argument because Gomin Dayasri, the lawyer who initiated the legal challenge, did not time his challenge to coincide with the northern elections. He was challenging the misleading and misdirected interpretations of the previous judgment to set the record straight. A legal challenge of this nature could come at any time and the fact that the judgment came soon after the TNA electoral victory happens to be a sheer coincidence.
Reading sinister motives into the judgment is‚ inevitable partly because the atmosphere is charged with racist politics from all sides and partly because law and‚ politics are inextricably intertwined and inseparable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that a challenge to the previous misleading judgments was on the cards. It was only a matter‚ of time. In any case there were several other challenges to the 13th Amendment running concurrently in the Supreme Court all of which were dismissed by the judiciary. Only the legally unassailable and formidable challenge mounted by Gomin Dayasri, exposing the infirmities of‚ the previous judgments, succeeded. Besides, M. A. Sumanthiran, the TNA lawyer, who was in court and did not rise to counter Gomin-â„¢s arguments. Nor did the judgments of the three judges mention the politics he represented in their summations.
Perhaps, it is fair to conclude that Sumanthiram had no arguments to‚ challenge ‚ Gomin Dayasri. In one bold legal stroke Gomin Dayasri won, just by standing on his own two feet in courts, what all the political parties, governments and other parties failed to achieve since 1987 when the 13th Amendment was introduced.
One significant aspect of this judgment is that Sumanthiram and the pro-Prabhakaranist lobbies are deprived of decrying the judgment as a coming from the -Sinhala government-â„¢s Sinhala judiciary- because, as I said earlier, it is the leading Tamil judges that have blasted the myths of the 13th Amendment creating -subsidiary sovereignties-, including giving land power to Provincial Councils. The overwhelming significance of this judgment is‚ in deconstructing the fictions of the devolutionists which, among other claims, asserted that the 13th Amendment has created a -subsidiary sovereignty- and the Centre should keep its hand off it.
This judgment is also a double edge weapon: it not only ties the hands of the devolutionists but also that of the Centre. The judgment has clearly demarcated the boundary lines and the devolutionists, whether they come from 1. Jaffna, 2. Tamil Nadu, 3. India or 4. further north in the so-called international community (the -uthuru sathara- which my friend Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke of the Colombo University presents as the -fearsome foursome-) or from the NGOs and their allies in the Colombo University campus, are left twisting in the wind without any grounds to blame their usual bogey, ‚ the -Sinhala state-. In short, the Supreme Court has cut the Gordian Knot and released the nation to some extent from the shackles of‚ the 13th Amendment imposed by the meddlesome Indian government.
The writing on the wall before the passing of the judgment indicated that the land issue was going‚ to be explosive. Any move by the state to remove land from the grip of the Provinces, based on misleading interpretations of the Supreme Court, would have led to political turmoil with the -uthuru sathuru- (-northern enemies- and please‚ note not -uthuru sathara-) unleashing hell on earth to oppose what they would say is an anti-minority, anti-Tamil act to deprive the Tamils of their right to self-determination. But the latest Supreme Court judgment has cleared the cobwebs that clouded the politics and revealed with crystal clarity the boundary lines that define the respective territories that can be occupied by all contending parties claiming the land.
The judgment, quite unintentionally, has restored the original first principle on which the founding‚ fathers built the nation. It‚ harks back to the broad, liberal, and overarching principle laid down by Missionary Mahinda who said that the land belongs to all, including the birds, beast and sentient beings. The humans, whether they be Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese, are only temporary custodians of the land. In this sense, handing the land back to the multi-ethnic Centre is an outstanding judgment that is fair and just to all.
The TNA, which has now pledged to act non-violently within the democratic framework of a united Sri Lanka, has no reason to go back to the aggressive Vadukoddai Resolution refusing to adhere to their avowed commitment to abide by the law which now includes the 13th Amendment as defined by the Supreme Court. Most of all, the Indian government cannot now intervene and push the GOSL to violate‚ the law and hand over land to the Provinces. The law is supreme and the 13th Amendment cannot be above it even though it came with the direct interventions of the Indian government. The Courts have intervened to redefine the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement of 1987 in two critical ways: first, it delinked the north and the east and, second, it has taken the land‚ powers from the Provincial Councils. Taken together it has significantly strengthened the unitary character of the state. The Courts‚ have been moving‚ towards centralizing power as opposed to devolving power ‚ intended in the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement. The critical input of Tamil judges that consolidated this trend takes away the sting of it being a predictable outcome of a majoritarian judgment, dominated by -Sinhala judges of the Sinhala government-.
The judgment has come‚ down at the correct‚ time‚ to ease the tensions over the land issue which were threatening to come down from the -uthuru sathura-, particularly the new Northern Provincial Council ready to confront the Centre armed with a reinvigorated electoral clout. The appointment of a law abiding former judge of supreme judge as Chief Minister is conducive to uphold and act according to‚ the legal obligations. The task before‚ the Chief Minister and‚ his new council is to work within the legal boundaries and no one can be more conscious of this than the ex-Supreme Court judge. The fact that the Chief Minister has put down his wig and donned the verti does not mean he can take the law into his hands. In fact, it is obligatory on his part to obey the law laid down by the Supreme Court of which he was an outspoken member until the other day. And he must credited for having toned down‚ the Jaffna jingoistic rhetoric (up to a point only) and talking‚ in‚ terms of reconciliation and peace. All in all, the new dynamics emerging‚ in the post-judgment phase should consolidate and increase the chances of leading the Northern‚ Provincial Council to negotiate with the Centre and work‚ out reasonable and sustainable compromises.
That is only one end of the political spectrum. From the other end it is quite clear that my friend Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke has been discombobulated by the unexpected consequences of a far-reaching judgment. He had rushed to print denouncing the media for having got the story wrong, meaning that only he has got it right. To summarize his argument roughly, he contends that the Provincial Councils have not lost the ownership of the land. -Luckily-, he says, the Indians and the TNA have nothing to worry about because the judgment has not changed anything. He is‚ jubilant that the status quo of the 13th Amendment, with powers of land devolved to the Provincial Councils,‚ remains intact.‚ Well, in all sincerity, I wish my friend Dayan many more successes like this not only for himself but also for the TNA and his NGO cohorts.
He hails the silence of the TNA and India as a confirmation of his theory that the land, as defined‚ in the 13th Amendment, India-â„¢s ill-fated baby, remains devolved to the Provincial Councils even after the latest Supreme Court has categorically stated that the so-called -subsidiary sovereignties- do not have rights over land‚ that is not devolved to them. His statement, however, is contradicted by M. A. Sumanthiram, who appeared on behalf of the TNA in the Supreme Court and‚ hardly said a word in defence. If he had any counter argument he certainly would not have hesitated to use them as so much was stake in this case.
The silence of the TNA during the case and after the case (for a brief while) is not because of some smug satisfaction arising from their belief that they have -luckily- (Dr. DJ) won. It is the grim silence of losers and not winners. The time to speak was in the courts when Sumanthiram knew that the TNA political agenda was heading for another Nandikadal. The TNA-â„¢s task is not only to preserve the 13th Amendment intact but also to accumulate more powers to make it 13+. ‚ With a legal Nandikadal staring in his face why was he tongue- tied in Courts? Quite late, after the horses have bolted, Sumanthiram is now crying his eyes‚ out‚ saying that the judgment has undermined the cardinal principles‚ of the 13th Amendment. He sees it as legal explosive while Dr. DJ sees it as rose without any thorns. In his attempt to spin the judgment in favour of the TNA‚ Dr. DJ is exhibiting distressing symptoms of withdrawal into a state of denial, not knowing what had hit him. Luckily, the TNA knows that his judgment is not worth the paper on which it is written. They know that it is the judgment of the Supreme Court that will prevail. .
October 13th, 2013 at 6:13 am
Thank you HLD for this clarification. We are all now entitled to a sigh of relief. But we need to keep a sharp eye on these legalities in the future. If we did so we would perhaps not be in this situation and would have saved a lot of time, money and anguish. So let this be a sharp lesson for the future. The original sin on the 13A is with the forefathers of RW and no atonement from RW either – Shameless if he has no shame!! – S de Silva
October 13th, 2013 at 9:11 am
Very happy to hear from Mr. H.L.D.Mahindapala……YES now many Sri Lankans can sleep peacefully. 13 or 13A or any form of amendment was thrown down our throats & JRJ had to declare a curfew. Many ministers left JRJ due to this.
I blame southern political laeders who ATTEMPTED to choke then President by aggravating the situation & making it difficult for JRJ to govern. North was already anti-govt. & southern leaders joined & made a mokery of democracy.
So India chose the oppotune TIME TO INTERVENE. 13 ammendment should go, in any form is NOT acceptable to large majority of Sri Lankans.
OUR next battle is with this attrociuos amendment & all legal & constitutioal experts must join hands & present our HE President a way out of this impasse.
Thank you all…… Another expat from Canada.. babbling away as usual……May GOD BLESS LANKA ~ J
October 13th, 2013 at 12:17 pm
the more pressure the Tamil National Alliance places on the issue of Self determination for the Tamils the stronger will be the backlash to see that not realized. The TNA are now in that unenviable position of being between the devil and the deep blue seas. If they stay silent then they give consent by their silence, If they continue to harp on self determination then the majority will react against it.
The days when minorities dictated the path of Sri Lanka died with the Civil war. Now the normal is the case and that being that the voice of the majority be the voice that dictates the path of Sri Lanka
October 13th, 2013 at 12:59 pm
I love it when they LOSE.
They stay silent as if nothing happened!!
October 13th, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Our supreme court has 8 judges. Only 4 are Buddhists. That is only 50% in a country 70% are Buddhists.
This is a joke. But I must admit Sripavan (Tamil) is LESS of a traitor than Shitrani. Thank g~d we got rid of Shitrani. Otherwise this GOOD verdict would NEVER have come.
The end justifies the means.
October 14th, 2013 at 2:27 am
I love it when they LOSE. They stay silent as if nothing happened!!
as long as We Tamil have TNA & AICTNA (Suresh group) Govern NP We are Happy !!!
Like DMK & AIADNK govern TN !!!
TNA support UNP & AICTNA support SLFP Central (Colombo) Govern
Land power &police power who want them as long as We govern Our Land NP !!!
October 14th, 2013 at 2:29 am
AICTNA means All Ceylon Chelva TNA ( Akila Ilankai Chelva TNA ) !
October 14th, 2013 at 10:48 am
Gomin Dayasiri will definitely go down in our history as a national hero.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:40 pm
Foolish Tamils have been fooled yet again by ITAK!
Now they realize there is no use of PCs without land powers. Slow learners.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:05 pm
HLD, thank you for wrapping up the entire case re Land in the 13-A. Yes, Mr Gomin Dayasiri is our hero.
Lest we forget, here’s our history once more :
Sri Lanka still paying dearly for Colonisation and excessive number of Tamil folk (1 1/2 Million) brought in by Colonists along with their Tamil Caste Issues. Next, the Cold War brought in the 13-A, imposed under Duress by then pro-Soviet India, as JRJ ran with the west at that time. Tamil Caste wars rode on the back of the Cold War. Are they now trying to ride the Caste Wars on the back of the 13-A ? We say : No thank you. Let unified Development sink the Caste issues. Divisions and ‘divide & rule’ days are finished.
So here we are : We have to next get rid of the rock around our necks, the 13-A.
Question: Where do the TNA members belong ? In Sri Lanka or half way up the Palk Sts ? Their Pay, Pension & Perks come from GoSL. At least some Loyalty to the Nation that nurtures you is a time honored human trait.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:11 pm
From Tamilnet.
“But, on the stage the TNA was only stressing on the Right to Self Determination.
The TNA even went to the extent of claiming that LTTE leader Pirpaharan as a Great Hero and singing the songs of the movement during the election campaign.
They were only talking of Right to Self Determination at the stage.”
This was how TNA won the election. But they can’t deliver any of these promises.
October 14th, 2013 at 8:42 pm
“…M. A. Sumanthiram, who appeared on behalf of the TNA in the Supreme Court and hardly said a word in defence.”
Sumanthiran was not only reduced to silence for lack of legal argument, but was also struck dumb and mesmerized by Mr.Gomin Dayasiri’s brilliant mastery of the English language. Sumanthiran once again became a law student in rapt attention at the outpourings of a super-endowed law professor.
Sumanthiran is trying to pose as the one who has inherited G.G.Ponnambalam’s mantle. G.G.did the whole circle and ended as a member, even a Minister, of a national government. What he spat in the air had finally landed squarely on his face. Sumanthiran who is not worth a hair on any part of G.G.’s body will not go one hundredth of the distance G.G.went, which in simple terms means that Sumanthiran’s journey is from nowhere to nowhere. His stony deafening silence that fateful day in the court room is the writing on the wall for him.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
October 14th, 2013 at 11:08 pm
TNA’s demands will NEVER END. Provincial Council now, Land and Police Powers next, then Federal System to replace the Unitary System, onwards to Secession to form the SunGod’s Separate State of Eelam!
The GOSL that sat by and presided over this DEBACLE must be held responsible for the FOLLY of not REVOKING the 13th Amendment imposed by INdia agaist SRi Lanka’s will, and not DEMOLISHING the Provincial Council system totally by leaf, branch, trunk and root.
Every day, in every way, the INTEGRITY of Sovereign Unitary Nation of Sri Lanka subjected to GREATER risk of DISMEMBERMENT!
RISE UP …. O Patriots of Sri Lanka … Rise up in yoru MILLIONS to defend and protect the safety and unity of your Motherland! Do NOT WAIT …. Until it is TOO LATE!
……………………..
Tamils Get Some Symbolic Power
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 14 (IPS) DHARMAPURAM, Sri Lanka- True democracy at last or a toothless tiger propped up to appease unfavourable international opinion? As Sri Lanka�s Northern Province got its first council after an election last month, many in this South Asian island nation were mulling this conundrum.
For Tamil people long demanding a say in their affairs and emerging from a bitter and bloody 26-year war where the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fought the government, the victory of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is an encouraging start. The five-party combine won an overwhelming 30 seats in the 38-member Northern Provincial Council (NPC) in the Sep. 21 election.
“We need to live with our rights,” Christine, a voter from Dharmapuram in Kilinochchi district told IPS. “That was the only thing on my mind when I went to cast my vote.”
How desperate the people are for democracy and normalcy was reflected in the 68 percent turnout among the 719,000 registered voters in the area. But will the NPC live up to Tamil expectations?
Sri Lanka’s existing councils are widely considered to be a drain on its national resources. The government spent 17 percent or about 1.03 billion dollars of its GDP of 5.9 billion dollars on the maintenance of provincial councils in 2012, according to central bank figures.
“Provincial councils have not achieved anything anywhere in this country,” Subramanium Sudhaharan, a voter from Dharmapuram, told IPS as he walked out of the polling booth. “To me all this voting is symbolic.”
“It is no secret that most become provincial council members to use their position as a stepping stone to enter parliament and hence they hardly get involved in development activities,” an editorial in the journal of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka stated.
The NPC could turn out to be different, as it is the only council which is held by the opposition. “For the Tamils, the election means the full implementation of the 13th Amendment,” declared Abraham Sumanthiran, a TNA parliamentarian.
Sri Lanka’s provincial councils were a result of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan accord which led to the 13th Amendment to the constitution providing for devolution of power to provincial councils. While they came into existence in seven of Sri Lanka’s other provinces, the Northeastern council for the merged Eastern and the predominantly Tamil Northern Province proved to be a short-lived experiment.
On their part, the TNA leaders have said they will seek maximum devolution of powers, among them control over land and the police. Though included in the 13th Amendment, the Centre has never really parted with these functions. And President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has maintained it is unwilling to do so now.
“Security and land powers must remain with the Centre given the delicate political situation in the NPC,” defeated government candidate Sinnathurai Thavarajah told IPS.
The office of the governor is another curb on the council’s powers. Appointed by the president and the only official with executive powers, the governor can exercise his power through the council’s ministers, but can sidestep them and act through “officers subordinate to him” if he so wishes.
Without the governor’s approval, the council will be ineffective. Kumaravadivel Guruparan, a lecturer at the department of law in the University of Jaffna, told IPS, “The new chief minister has no significant fiscal powers to initiate any resettlement or livelihood programmes of his own. He will not even have control over the provincial public service which is legally firmly under the governor.”
The TNA’s avowed desire to go beyond the 13th Amendment is also likely to be opposed by India, which faces an election in 2014. Any compromise on the issue, Ramani Hariharan, a former intelligence head with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka told IPS, will be perceived there as a sign of weakness. The IPKF was stationed in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1991.
In any case, Hariharan asks, “What is the guarantee that [a new amendment] will be more liberal than the 13th Amendment? Logically, the TNA should play down devolution beyond the 13th Amendment.”
Sudhaharan too feels that the TNA is unlikely to get anywhere with its demand for more devolution, and should focus instead on trying to improve living conditions in the province.
The Northern Province remains one of the poorest, despite four years of peace and massive development projects estimated by the central bank to be worth over three billion dollars.
An evaluation of the province carried out by the office of the U.N. Refugee Agency in July this year found that over 40 percent of the 917 households surveyed in the province’s five districts had a monthly household income of 9,010 rupees (70 dollars), only about a quarter of the national average monthly income of 36,000 rupees (275 dollars).
“Even with its limited financial resources, the NPC can do quite a lot in terms of economic and social development, governance, establishing institutions that promote equal opportunities,” Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, who heads the Point Pedro Institute of Development based in northern Jaffna, told IPS.
The councils collectively received 1.1 billion dollars as funds from the central government in 2012, according to central bank data.
TNA stalwarts like Rajavarotiam Sampanthan have indicated that they will try to raise funds from the global Tamil diaspora. But even if they manage to do so, it is unclear how the TNA can spend such money bypassing the central government which controls all development and reconstruction work here through a special presidential task force set up in 2009.
All that the people of the province now want is for the council to help develop traditional income sources like agriculture, build new houses, and create new jobs. “We have suffered so long and got so little,” Janoshini Kadrigamapillai, a young woman from Kilinochchi, told IPS. “First let’s get the people to live a better life, and then we can talk of other things like devolution. We deserve to live better.”
October 14th, 2013 at 11:18 pm
I would rather have President Man Mohan Singh of India NOT ATTEND the CHOGM … if only to IMPRESS UPON THE GOSL that all the sacrifices we have made … throwing Sri Lanka’s Long Term National Security to the winds … empowering the SEPARATIST Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA in the Northern Province … without REVOKING the 13th Amendment and DISMANTLING the Provincial Council System forced by India down UNWILLING Sri Lanka’s throat … was ALL IN VAIN!
Perhaps at least then, the GOSL will COME TO IS SENSES and ABANDON this SERVILITY to India, REVERT to its INNATE PATRIOTISM, and do what is necessary to DEFEND and PROTECT the INTEGRITY of our Motherland PERMANENTLY!
…………………………….
PM under pressure to give Lanka visit a miss
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 14 (HT) The pressure from major political parties in Tamil Nadu is likely to cast a shadow on the decision to be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on participating in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka next month.
Not just chief minister Jayalalithaa or DMK chief M Karunanidhi, even local Congress leaders – including some Union ministers from Tamil Nadu – have urged the PM to exercise his options carefully lest India’s participation snowballs into a major political row in the state ahead of the 2014 polls.
With the Congress keen on cobbling a winning alliance, the issue of attacks on Indian fishermen and resettlement of Sri Lankan Tamils are seen as “sensitive” subjects that can be played up by rivals to corner the UPA government, according to local party leaders.
Union ministers GK Vasan and V Narayanasamy, are known have to appealed to the PM to avoid participating in the CHOGM from November 15 to 17.
They do not think that the successful completion of provincial elections in the north, which saw the victory of the Tamil National Alliance, has softened the stand of the TN parties. Therefore, they do not want the UPA government to annoy any of its potential allies.
Last week, when external affairs minister Salman Khurshid visited Colombo, he refrained from giving any commitment on the question of the PM’s participation. Khurshid, however, said he would attend the CHOGM Foreign Ministers’ meet, held ahead of the summit.
The preparations for CHOGM, which is a matter of prestige for Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse, has seen active campaign by bodies, including the Amnesty International calling for not holding the summit until an investigation is carried out into alleged human rights abuses in the 2009 civil war.
Even as Britain is facing pressure to lead a boycott, and with Canada indicating that it will not attend unless specific criteria are met, India’s Sri Lanka experts have warned that New Delhi would have to weigh pros and cons of the PM’s non-participation.
The dangers of pushing Sri Lanka into a corner, especially in a situation where China is establishing a big presence in the island, cannot be ignored.
October 15th, 2013 at 4:45 am
Where do the TNA members belong ? Cinnamon Garden , Colombo 7?
October 15th, 2013 at 11:24 am
Government ally accuses Sri Lanka Tamil party of establishing a provincial council based on a separatist agenda
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 15, Colombo: An ally of Sri Lanka’s governing party, the National Freedom Front (NFF) says that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has established a provincial council in the North based on a separatist agenda.
NFF Spokesperson, Mohammad Muzammil told a news conference today that the TNA was continuing with the agenda of forming an Eelam through a new programme.
He noted that the TNA’s victory at the Northern Provincial Council will be used to push the separatist agenda once again.
According to Muzammil, new Northern Chief Minister C.V. Vigneswaran’s comments indicated that the Northern Province would join with the Eastern Province as the first step in forming the Eelam. He added that the TNA was using its manufactured internal battles to carry out its agenda.
October 15th, 2013 at 11:49 am
Political Blackmail in FULL SWING!
Tamil Nadu Blackmails the Union Govt of India with Lok Sabha Elections in the offing,
India Blackmails Sri Lanka to DISMEMBER ITSELF on the eve of the CHOGM,
Poor Sri Lanka FAILS to return the Favor. Are we HELPLESS victims?
On the Contrary … WE ARE NOT HELPLESS!
1. To SINGE the Beard of Tamil Nadu, a NATIONWIDE REFERENDUM should IMMEDIATELY be held to REVOKE the 13th Amendment, DISSOLVE the Provincial Councils and REPLACE them with Government Agent administered Districts.
2. To get India off Sri Lanka’s back and render it IMPOTENT, the GOSL should CANCEL ALL Commercial Agreements with India including the Sampur Power Plant Agreement and grant them to China. Furthermore, Sri Lanka should grant China the Role of Developing Trincomalee into the Most Powerful Heavy Industrial and Naval Port in the entire region. IT IS TIME to get out of India’s DEADLY EMBRACE!
The BLACKMAIL exerted by Tamil Nadu on the Central Government of India WILL NEVER GO AWAY. It can only be RENDERED IMPOTENT by INSULATING and MAKING Sri Lanka IMPERVIOUS to ANY & ALL actions of India & its Tamil Population. Begin the Process NOW!
THE TIME has ARRIVED for Sri Lanka to UNAMBIGUOUSLY ASSERT her Sovereignty!
STAND UP straight and FIGHT for our DAY in the SUN now, or WITHER AWAY into the woodwork without a whimper! We MUST DECIDE NOW
………………………………
Indian PM to consider all factors before deciding to attend CHOGM in Sri Lanka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 15, Colombo: India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has said that he would decide on whether to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo next month only after considering all relevant factors, including sentiments of Tamil people.
Indian PM has said this in a letter to M. Karunanidhi the leader of the Dravida Munnethra Kaagam (DMK), a Tamil political party in Tamil Nadu.
“I wish to inform you that a decision on the issue of my participation in the CHOGM conference will be taken only after considering all relevant factors, including the sentiments of your party and the Tamil people,” Indian media quoted Dr. Singh as saying in his letter to the DMK chief.
PM’s statement comes after he was informed of the deteriorating health of a pro-Tamil activist K Thiagarajan, who is on an indefinite fast in Chennai since October 1 demanding that India boycott the CHOGM.
PM in his letter asked the DMK chief to persuade the activist to call off his fast.
The Indian Prime Minister is under immense pressure from the pro-Eelam political parties in Tamil Nadu to boycott the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka on the issues of alleged attacks on Indian fishermen and resettlement of Sri Lankan Tamils.
The DMK has demanded that India must not attend the summit in Sri Lanka and assured that if the central government fails to heed their demand they will stage state-wide protests.
October 18th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
Thanks HLDM for drawing our attention the excellent landmark judgment, made unanimously by the Supreme Judicial Body has delivered after presentations from the untiring services of the learned legal counsel Gomin Diasiri.
I recently heard in the BBC how Nehru dealt with a vestige of Imperialism in the immediate post-independence year clipping the wings of the richest man on earth at the time, Nizham of Hyderabad and his feared police, who tried to form an autonomous state.
Death toll in the ensuing episode tat took place in the year following Independence was said to be in tens of thousands as bared in the Sunderlal commission report. But that is not still publicised yet though well over 60 years since submission.
Indians know well that Democracy is a delicate plant that has to be nurtured and hopefully the stranglehold of the LTTE & TNA will be a thing of the past before long. Indian ruling classes know well that any resurgence of terrorism will bode ill for India even more than the tiny Sri Lanka and it is extremely unlikely that they will bend to Chennai whatever the pose they may adopt in public.