By Gamini Gunawardane

We have to be thankful to the Supreme Court for their determination on the proposed ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Divineguma BillƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. It exposed further inherent dangers of the 13^th Amendment other than police and land powers. If only the Supreme Court had in 1987 taken such a stand when this draconian Amendment forced on us by India quite unasked by the Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims, that it required the approval of the whole country through a Referendum, we may not have been in this pass today.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  On another occasion the Supreme Court took a similar independent stand which facilitated the de-merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. This again underscores the importance of independence of the Judiciary, if any proof is required.

In hindsight, one is tempted to think whether this country missed a golden opportunity in its omission to follow up on the immediate aftermath of the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, to take steps to abolish the 13^th Amendment before our adversaries could recover from the shock of defeat. Had this been done, after wiping out Terrorism 3 years ago this country would not have been under pressure from India, TNA and other interested parties elsewhere in the world saying that it should now fully implement the 13^th Amendment to complete the process of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”devolutionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ as a possible ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”political solutionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to the so called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”national problemƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. It has deprived us of the opportunity to examine with clarity whether this is the best form of devolution that fits this country. It has further denied us the opportunity to re-examine whether the implementation of this amendment does not undermine the basic concept of a unitary state violating our Constitution.

The government may get away this time, by managing to get a kind of approval of all the Provincial Councils except of the Northern Provincial Council which is non-existent, because they command the majorities in all the other functioning Provincial Councils, for the moment. The TNA has already stated that they would oppose the adoption of this Bill in the Eastern Province. If the Northern Provincial Council was functioning and if the TNA was in power there (which is most likely) this Bill would not receive their approval. And the implication is that the Bill if passed,( not withstanding sec. 154(G) of the Constitution) ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ might be inoperable in the Northern Province unless/or even if it is passed with 2/3 majority in Parliament. What does it in effect mean? That the mandate of the Center will not cover the whole country.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Can a small country afford this? What if some other Provincial Council which had captured power (for instance by the UNP) also take up such a position? Could not this be a temptation to look for cessation by other parties? Thus, there is lurking danger of a possible dismemberment of this unitary state which is the most fundamental feature of our Constitution. It is also a threat to Territorial integrity of this country.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

The government may be able to get away this time because it so happens that they enjoy a 2/3^rd majority and because it has managed to have majorities in most provincial Councils. This is too much of a coincidence to be treated as a likely regular arrangement in the future too. There is no guarantee that all future governments would enjoy similar luxury or that there will be a shrewd political manipulator as the present incumbent at the helm all the time.

One has to bear in mind how tenuous it is even with governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s own majority and despite their shrewd moves, it could still be out smarted by even a section of their own group who are not happy with the dictates of the Party. This was demonstrated by what happened in the North Central Province in electing a president for that council.

The Provincial Councils were introduced in the 13^th Amendment by India based on its own constitutional model, despite the fact that Sri Lanka is 61 times smaller than India in terms of geographical size and many times more in terms of population. Besides India had never been a unitary state until it came under the British as British India. Thus it is a poor model in many ways, unsuitable for this country. The British colonial government in their pragmatic wisdom retained Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s unitary character as the best form of governance for this country. They improved it further with an effective network of roads, railways and telecommunications.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Now it is further enhanced with radio communication, mobile phones and internet facilities. These facilities have made this country shrink still further helping it further effective in governance, trade and general co-ordination making Provincial Councils superfluous and more an obstruction to efficient de-centralized control and achieving cohesion in governance and inter-community relations.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

It is also necessary to look at the latest developments in the political scene in India. It would appear that West BengalƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Mammata Banerjee has withdrawn her support to the Union government making it unstable. Earlier she undermined Central government in regard to the arrangement with Bangladesh to share the waters of river Ganges. Similarly, Tamil Nadu government has been bringing significant pressure on the central government owing to their sympathy towards the LTTE and latterly towards secessionist tendencies in Sri Lanka. It is alleged in some quarters that Tamil Nadu government was able to effectively twist the arm of the Union government to vote against Sri Lanka at the last session of the UNHRC at Geneva which no doubt damaged its image as the leader of SAARC countries. The dominant feature is that latterly the state governments India are asserting more power in that country to reduce the power of the center and thereby effectively weaken the authority of the Central government which could potentially weaken IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s political integrity as a whole. This is not in the best interest of IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s strength as a nation especially in the face of threats of possible balkanization of India in order to prevent it from emerging as a strong power. There are lessons that we have to learn from these developments. We need to recognize the potential of the provincial councils arrangement in weakening the political strength of this country one day.

Also we have to take into account the close proximity of the 60 million strong Tamil Nadu state to especially the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and the ethnic affinity between that state and the Northern Province where the cessesionist forces are looming large. What if Tamil Nadu state one day succeeds in breaking away from the Indian Union and directly interfere with Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s territorial integrity by moving to annex Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Northern Province to it? There is nothing to stop them if they decide to do this. The violence generated there on Sri Lankan visitors to that State is only an indication of their strong sentiments and desire to control events and politics in this country. In fact, before the advent of the Western Powers, down the ages this country has been plagued by invasions from South India from time to time. Thus, a resumption of this threat again is not quite impossible. Also we need to take into account that judging by the writings appearing in journals and newspapers of India, the impression there seems to be that India is able to dictate terms to Sri Lankan governments and that Sri Lanka should simply bow down to their dictates! Hence I think Sri Lanka has to bear in mind this threat to its security and territorial integrity which is looming large, in dealing with the threat of 13^th Amendment. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

This is perhaps the last opportunity for Sri Lanka to remedy this great error, though of course it is not the present government that created it. As much as this government was responsible for the dismantling of the 30 years old LTTE Terrorist ensemble and save this country from disaster, it is left to them to courageously act now to eliminate the final obstacle to national unity. But let us identify the real enemy. The real enemy is not the Judiciary but the 13^th Amendment. Let us shoot the enemy, instead of trying to shoot the messenger. That is why we should be thankful to the Judiciary for providing this opportunity. Perhaps this alone may ensure another term in office for this government whatever its faults may be. And District Council may be the optimum level of devolution for effective national re-integration. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚