By Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today

Last week, two vocal representatives of Tamil political opinion, Abraham Sumanthiran and C.V. Wigneswaran made statements rejecting implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution under the unitary system of government and demanded a federal system.

Sumanthiran claimed that all the Tamil parties agree on a meaningful power-sharing arrangement on a federal basis and added that his party would not have talks with the Government until that issue is resolved. Wigneswaran, using stronger words, said Sri Lanka’s position is internationally weakening and the Tamils could get federal powers with the support of foreign powers.

These two positions are contradictory to the Indian position, which calls for full implementation of the 13th Amendment, which was introduced under the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement (ISLA) of 1987.

The ISLA was signed between President J.R. Jayewardene and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi amidst islandwide protests spearheaded by opposition parties. The then Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) Leader Dinesh Gunawardena and leading monks and politicians sat in Satyagraha under the Bo tree in Pettah in protest against the ISLA.

MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, who is now the numero two in the Government as Prime Minister, declared in Parliament that his party will always be committed to secure a unitary Sri Lanka. He pointed out that MEP has always supported an administrative procedure focusing on districts. The focus on the provincial level was brought by the 13th Amendment.

Although the 13th Amendment was introduced to create provincial councils as a follow-up action on Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement to devolve powers to the Tamil majority North and East, the then President J.R. Jayewardene’s government, decided to set up 9 provincial councils for the entire country to scuttle the mounting opposition to devolution of powers to Tamil areas. While the main opposition, including the SLFP and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) decided to boycott the first Provincial Council Elections in 1989, they later entered the fray after realising that the United National Party succeeded in building up a powerful second level political power structure through provincial councils.

Although Sri Lanka gave an assurance to India during Mahinda Rajapaksa-Manmohan Singh talks in July 2010 and subsequently to then United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the Government would go beyond the 13th Amendment to devolve substantial powers to Tamil majority areas, neither India nor the UNSG asked Colombo to specify the meaning of 13 Plus. During one of the Indo-Lanka discussions in New Delhi, when Rajapaksa evaded the elaboration of his ‘13 Plus’ promise, Shivshankar Menon, who was the Foreign Secretary, who later became National Security Advisor, asked if it was to establish an Upper House to the Parliament to ensure more minority participation and Rajapaksa nodded in affirmation. He did not specifically mention either the Police or land powers during the talks.

After several All Party Conferences (APCs) and Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) discussions on constitutional reforms that did not produce any result, the focus on devolution of powers resumed with recent talks between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the leaders of Tamil parties.

Until then all previous governments have been stressing the difficulties in devolving land and Police powers to provinces. The opponents of Police powers argue that creating nine separate Police services could create a mess, leading to a chaotic situation in maintaining law and order. This was in the backdrop of mounting opposition in the country over the provincial council powers. The vast majority of the people believe that the provincial council system is a ‘white elephant.’ The Provincial Council members enjoyed all the privileges enjoyed by central ministers, deputies and parliamentarians including duty-free car permits, free fuel and various subsidies and benefits and gradually expanded their power bases to become a major asset to the party. First the SLFP and then JVP too realised their folly of boycott, and contested the subsequent PC Elections and later the SLFP-led alliance wrested power of all the seven provincial councils in the South. Subsequently, the SLPP alliance swept home easily. Although the central government did not devolve land and Police powers to the provinces, the councillors were given all the perks enjoyed by the central parliamentarians, thus giving a clear impression to the masses that the PCs are nothing but ‘white elephants.’

India too did not press for full implementation of 13th Amendment until recently. Even at the height of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, India was aware that it would not be prudent to expect President Mahinda Rajapaksa to keep his promise on 13 Plus. A WikiLeaks cabal revealed that the US sought a bigger role in pushing a political solution for Tamils, but was kept at bay by India. According to the cable, (then) Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told the US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Peter Burleigh on 15 May 2009 that the Sri Lankan Government had reassured India that the Government would focus on the implementation of the 13th Amendment Plus as soon as possible, but Menon was sceptical.” (207268: confidential, 15 May 2009).

The Sinhalese majority is opposed to the devolving of land and Police powers to the Northern Province, mainly because of the bitter experience of 1990 when the first and only elected Chief Minister of temporarily amalgamated North and East Provinces, Varadaraja Perumal made a Declaration of Unilateral Independence. It was made worse by the visible Indian hand in the episode as Perumal left the country with the returning Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and sought political asylum in India.

However, there is a universal acceptance that the Tamil majority provinces should have the right to manage their affairs under a substantial devolution package. In the circumstances it is essential to find a solution acceptable to a substantial section – if not the majority – of all the communities. Hence, a consensus through Parliament, based on the proposals emerging at the talks, will go a long way to allay fears – unfounded or real – in the majority community. The TNA argues that there was no point in another PSC as the issue has already been thrashed out at several APCs during the last 30 years. However, one should not forget that for a long-lasting solution it is essential to find consensus among major parties representing different communities. There is a crucial role for the TNA as well as the main opposition, in this national issue of paramount importance.

The support for a reasonable devolution package will not be impossible as Rajitha Senaratne (SLPP), Vasudeva Nanayakkara (New Left Front), Tissa Vitharana (Sama Samaja Party – Socialist) and D.E.W. Gunasekera (Communist) have openly stated that the 13th Amendment should be implemented in full. There will be sizeable support from the Treasury benches for a consensus formula. Hence, the Tamil parties must drop the demand for a federal system and accept a consensual package within the unitary system.

(The views expressed in this article are personal).

By Sugeeswara Senadhira