Land, police powers will divide Sri Lanka
Posted on February 6th, 2015
By Lt Col (Rtd.) A. S. Amarasekera Courtesy: Sunday Times
Point of view | Illicit immigrants from TN will settle in the north; hold referendum to defeat India’s surreptitious moves to create Eelam
Sri Lanka is a Free, Sovereign, Independent and Democratic Socialist Republic that is a Unitary State according to Article 2 of its Constitution. It is stated in Article 3 of the Constitution that the sovereignty is in the people and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the power of government, fundamental rights and franchise.
Therefore it naturally follows that all amendments to the Constitution must and should be enacted with the approval of the people. However, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was enacted by the UNP government of J. R. Jayawardena due to the pressure exerted by India amidst tremendous opposition by the people.
The 13th Amendment devolved power to Provincial Councils and the eight Provincial Councils that were subsequently established according to this Amendment have proven to be white elephants since their inception. They have only resulted in a colossal waste of public funds for their administration with the people in these provinces receiving no benefit. The ninth Provincial Council will be established once the election is held in the Northern Province in September this year and will result in a further drain of public funds that would be of no benefit to the people in the north.
The dangers of devolving political power as opposed to decentralising political power was fully explained in my article titled ‘Difference between decentralising and devolving power. The article dated April 12, 2012 was published in many websites and it is not my intention to repeat what has been said therein. However, the danger to the unity and territorial integrity of our nation if and when police and land powers are devolved to the Northern Provincial Council needs to be further explained as this is a topic that is generating much discussion with the Northern Provincial Council election scheduled for September this year.
The unity and territorial integrity of our country was protected and preserved for posterity by the security forces shedding so much blood, sweat, tears and toil and also through the sacrifice of their very life and limb. The victory thus gained after a three-decade war against separatism must not be lost during peace by establishing a Northern Provincial Council with adequate political power to ultimately work once more towards separatism. This is perhaps one of the main reasons for the Secretary of Defence to express his opinion for the need to repeal the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
When I joined the Sri Lanka Army volunteer force as a young officer in 1968, it was to perform duties with the Task Force for Illicit Immigrants that I was first mobilised.
The operations conducted by this Task Force of the Sri Lanka Army firstly made it almost impossible for illicit immigrants to freely arrive in northern parts of this island from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and secondly curtailed smuggling operations to and from Sri Lanka to Tamil Nadu. With the increase of separatist activity by the LTTE the Government gradually lost control of the Northern Province. With the war against LTTE terrorism requiring all available troops in the Sri Lanka Army, the Task Force for Illicit Immigration ceased to operate. When the LTTE began to control the beach frontage in the northern parts of Sri Lanka travelling across the Palk Strait between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu by boat intensified.
Several Tamil Nadu politicians had crossed the Palk Strait and entered this country using this illegal rout to address meetings organised by the LTTE. Therefore, it is a fact that there was much illegal movement of Tamil people between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu during the period the LTTE was active in the north and east. If 75,000 citizens of Sri Lanka had travelled across the Palk Strait to refugee camps in Tamil Nadu would it not have been possible for an influx of Tamil Nadu illicit immigrants in the opposite direction? Let me prove to the readers of this article that this did actually happen during the period that the LTTE was making an effort to establish a Tamil Eelam in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka.
Soon after the LTTE had been defeated and Tamil people were being resettled in the Vanni their medical needs had to be addressed. A team of doctors from Success Colombo travelled to the Vanni to assist the Sri Lanka Army in this endeavour by conducting medical camps. I too joined this team of doctors as a member of Success Colombo. Most doctors in this team were not conversant in Tamil. Therefore interpreters who knew both Tamil and Sinhalese were found to help the doctors. One interpreter named Subramanium who assisted the doctors at the Kanagarayankulam medical camp greatly impressed me due to his fluency in both Tamil and Sinhalese. I therefore spoke to him after the medical camp in the presence of Brig. Raj Ranawake, the then Brigade Commander of Kanagarayankulam.
Subramanium informed us that he is an Indian Tamil who had been born in Deniyaya. When he was of age he had settled in Galle to do business.
Land, police powers …
During the 1979 ethnic problem he had been among the Tamils rounded up by the Sri Lanka Army for their own safety and transported by train to Kilinochchi. I am aware that he was speaking the truth because I as a Captain in the 2nd Battalion of the Gemunu Watch was in charge of that train on its journey from Galle to Colombo. At the Fort Railway station I handed this train over to another officer who was detailed to take it to Kilinochchi.
Subramanium who thus arrived in Kilinochchi in 1979 began a small business in the town and subsequently got married and raised a family. His three sons joined the LTTE and two of them were killed while fighting for the LTTE. He said he had not been able to trace the whereabouts of his third son who joined the LTTE in the latter stages of the war. When his first two sons got killed fighting for the LTTE his family was recognised as a Mahaveera family and provided with ten acres of land in Kanagarayankulam.
Since he was an Indian Tamil the LTTE had requested him to establish contact with his relatives in Tamil Nadu and to persuade them to migrate and settle in Kanagarayankulam to cultivate the ten acres of land that had been given to him. Since he had lost contact with his relatives in Tamil Nadu he was unable to do so. However he said that many other Indian Tamils who had been given land by the LTTE as Mahaveera families had persuaded their relatives to migrate to Sri Lanka as illegal immigrants to cultivate the allotted lands. He said the Grama Niladharies who were either former members or supporters of the LTTE or due to bribery and corruption have provided these illegal immigrants with affidavits stating they were citizens of the area who had been displaced by the war. These GS affidavits will ultimately enable the Illegal immigrants to obtain a new national identity card and settle in the area. I provided this information that I had gathered to the Secretary of Defence and he gave immediate instructions to investigate this possibility.
I have no reason to disbelieve the information that Subramanium provided with regard to illicit immigrants from Tamil Nadu settling in the Vanni with impunity. If this is so what would happen once the Northern Provincial Council is established under the present 13th Amendment with police and land powers?
If the Northern Provincial Council, to which land and police powers are devolved, decides to support the Eelam ideology the central government will be unable to prevent illegal immigrants from Tamil Nadu colonising the Northern Province. If the Government allows this to happen a military strategy that defeated separatism and ushered in peace to protect and preserve the unity and territorial integrity of our nation for posterity will be once more reversed by a political strategy that will destabilise and divide the country. India’s effort to force the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution has to be understood in this context to realise its potential future danger to the unity and territorial integrity of our nation.
Indian invitation recently to Tamil National Alliance politicians for discussions amounts to interfering in the internal affairs of this country. Political leaders of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka should endeavour to integrate with the Sinhalese majority to achieve future peace and prosperity for the nation without discussing internal affairs of this country with Indian politicians.
Such discussions will only centre on how to apply pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to fully implement the 13th Amendment, which is an Indian trap to destabilise and divide Sri Lanka in the future. The Tamil minority in Sri Lanka must also understand that the separatist terrorists who were trained, armed and equipped by India that caused so much death and destruction during a three-decade war have been convincingly defeated and that the Security Forces of this country will never allow them to raise their heads again.
What Sri Lanka requires in the future is peace and prosperity through the strengthening of its unitary Constitution and not death and destruction by diluting the Constitution through the implementation of the 13th Amendment that would create avenues for separatists to work towards destabilising and dividing the country.
Therefore, since Sri Lanka’s sovereignty is in the people and is inalienable the President should listen to the voice of the people and make use of Article 86 in the Constitution for a referendum to repeal the 13th Amendment as this is now a matter of national importance to prevent Indian surreptitious efforts to support separatism in Sri Lanka.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130623/news/land-police-powers-will-divide-sri-lanka-49781.html
February 6th, 2015 at 1:53 pm
I COMPLETELY agree with Lt Col (Rtd.) A. S. Amarasekera!
There is a HUGE THREAT of a Flood of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS to Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu: Sri Lanka MUST NEVER give Land & Police Powers to AVOWED SEPARATISTS!
REPEAL the 13th Amendment, DISSOLVE the Provincial Councils, INSTITUTE a DISTRICT Administration by GOSL APPOINTED Government Agents.
February 6th, 2015 at 2:39 pm
This is what happenes when this serpents get into power. They lick indian, us, uk, etc. etc. boots
and they asked to divide our country for this 2 sets of foreigners.
One set from TN with two motherlands who have had ancient kingdoms without any buildings.
Other set from SA desert (Sri Lankan multiplying community).
These two sets breed very very fast and outnumber the native Sinhalese soon.
Only MR had a vision to save Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese. But this ungrateful Sinhalese with
this two sets of traitors stabbed him in the back.
With police and land powers it will be the end of Sri Lanka.
This treachery started by alugosu jr from UnPatriotic Party. Still pea-brained Sinhalese support this
traitor thambi mudiyanselage jr. Now the new traitors are ready to present that
on a plate to the foreigners. These traitors don’t have backbones to stand up to these bullies.
They only have to align with the Chinese. They have the money. They have the power. For the sake of being different
from UPFA this serpants align with these buillies. Then you have to dance to their tune. Stand up to them
backboneless traitors. Shame on you reptiles!
February 6th, 2015 at 2:50 pm
Well said Anil.
MR had the 2/3 but didn’t use it to SCRAP 13 amendment. Now NO ONE has 2/3. So this cannot be done by the parliament.
IF we hold a referendum, what IF ALL those who voted for My3 voted against SL? Then we lose the plot. ONLY the president can call a referendum and he will NOT.
February 6th, 2015 at 3:12 pm
None of the governments had a vision to eradicate the core issue of the “Tamil Problem” and the racism of the Tamils. Instead they acknowledged the “Tamil problem” as a problem Tamils are subjected to, not as a problem they created.
Before 1972 , 80% of the Engineering Student intake were Tamils. No government until now openly declared this as a crime and tried to bring necessary laws and punish the culprits which would in the end stop this crime.
The writer said “With the war against LTTE terrorism requiring all available troops in the Sri Lanka Army, the Task Force for Illicit Immigration ceased to operate. “. This could never have had happened.
Previous government did not take necessary action after the war to settle back Sinhalese in the north and take back those lands given to illicit migrants of “mahaveers”. No other government had the power and opportunity like the previous government but they neglected it.
So called “Nationalist ” in the current government should take immediate action to prevent the damage being done since 2010 to the North and East , because of the FEAR of war crimes, since this fear does not exist now.
February 6th, 2015 at 4:55 pm
Thank you, Col.Anil.
In the book “Images of Sri Lanka through American Eyes” (Edited by H.A.I. Goonetilleke) it is stated that Tamil Nadu low caste Tamils thought that they lost their low caste status merely by CROSSING SEA WATER. Crossing the Palk Sts to come to Lanka was full of meaning for them. This is how the migration of Tamils into Lanka started in the 18th century and continued into large numbers during LTTE rule of the N&E.
Safeguarding the sea fronts of Lanka imperative. I hope the new govt. understands this. Their high handed approach to governing the country through the Presidential election makes us all very uneasy. They must put the law of the land first if
Lanka is to survive the inimical forces. We hold CBK & Ranil responsible for the welfare & future of the country.
Even in the old times, Lanka’s ancient Kings had garrisons along the coastlines to safeguard the country.
February 6th, 2015 at 5:35 pm
Anil, please may I correct you. It was NOT the UNP government, it was the collusion government that agreed to the 13th amendment. Fran Diaz, you are wrong ancient kings, King Parakrama Bahu, had inside the so called Tamil Nadu. Two Generals Lankaputhra and Lankadeepa control roaming Tamils harming the other civilized tribes. Independent, this is not a government! It is an illegal entity!
February 6th, 2015 at 6:06 pm
In Ministerial Doublespeak this should be interpreted to mean: “We will remove the camps after we win the next General Election!”
They have SOLD Sri Lanka to the TNA; They CANNOT RENEGE on promises they made to SUCH GREAT BUDDIES by Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa?
TRAITORS!
………………..
No change of status or removal of camps from Sri Lanka’s North, State Defense Minister asserts
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 06, Jaffna: Sri Lanka’s State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardena today asserted that the National Security will remain the priority of the new government and there will be no changes in the security policy under any circumstances.
Undertaking his first formal visit to the North and East after assuming the post as the State Minister of Defense Wijewardena arrived at the Security Force Headquarters – Jaffna (SFHQ-J) Friday (06) afternoon, together with the commanders of the tri-forces.
Addressing the troops at SFHQ-J Minister Wijewardene explained the sensitive nature of the national security concerns as well as the importance of maintaining the status quo.
“National Security will remain the priority of our government and there is no change in that policy under any circumstances,” he affirmed.
“Members of the Armed Forces should not believe in unfounded rumors and various fabricated stories in relation to security concerns. I assure you that the government would not remove any Army formations in the peninsula, nor does the government plan to scale down security arrangements,” the Minister told the troops.
The Minister also assured the troops that all members of the Security Forces will continue to receive welfare facilities they deserve with no change and added that measure will be taken to further increase such welfare benefits with new programs.
“With the objective of enhancing your professional knowledge, more and more opportunities for various study and vocational courses would be made available while expanding possibilities for new UN openings in foreign capitals, including the one in Haiti,” the Minister disclosed.
February 6th, 2015 at 10:25 pm
Sinhala nuts for God’s sake read this gentleman’s letter and think what will happen to your beloved country if you fight each other and allow these evil leaders in the current regime to play with our future. Be prepared for the next battle because they have already started their game plan by shooting a policeman in Vaunia. There are many stories after the elections which we do not know whether true or not but not getting the true info. because of new regime’s tight control of information.
We all hope the new Defense Minister will do as promised while he was in the North to see the situation there. Although we can trust him and his words we cannot trust the others like Awamangalaya and Ranil because they are more friendlier to Tamils and Indians than anyone and also they have signed secret pacts with them before the elections which they have not explained to the citizens of Sri Lanka yet.
I hope our Opposition rather than going behind MY3 and siding with him to take a decision immediately to move away from him and start new with a new leader or with the same leader Mahinda Rajapksa to counter attack and get rid of the new regime before they bring more harm to the country with the help of Indians and the west. Already you can judge what will happen to our country in the future if you allow these western backed Govt to continue therefore please try to understand the grave situation ahead and decide whom to give your vote next time.
February 7th, 2015 at 8:38 am
All the distractions thrown at the public of Lanka, all the lies, cheat & deceit, may be mere distractions. The real agenda may be to park war boats in Trinco ?
February 7th, 2015 at 10:14 am
Implementation of 13th amendment divides Sri Lanka
a divided Sri Lanka becomes a fertile ground for the resurrection of the Tamil Tigers and the call for Elam
this in turn triggers another war but this time it extends into South India. When Jaffna burns and Colombo burns so does Chennai to Kanchipuram to Bangalore.
This will give new meaning to the term “sphere of Influence”. maybe India has to learn the hard way that term works both ways.