{"id":105842,"date":"2020-08-24T14:54:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T21:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=105842"},"modified":"2020-08-24T14:54:28","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T21:54:28","slug":"13th-amendment-is-a-federal-instrument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/08\/24\/13th-amendment-is-a-federal-instrument\/","title":{"rendered":"13th Amendment is a Federal Instrument"},"content":{"rendered":"

N.A.de S. Amaratunga<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Our hapless people battered and bruised by four years\nof ‘yahapalana’ , the two bank robberies, foreign interference, UNHRC\nResolutions, separatism, Easter bombs and Covid have finally crawled to polling\nbooths and stuffed the ballot boxes with lotus buds. Even the creators of the\nlotus bud may have been overwhelmed and shaken to the core for even they could\nnot fathom the phenomenon.  Do they\nunderstand  its cause, its power, its\nanger, its desperateness,  and its expectations.\nThose on whom so much trust, faith and confidence have been placed must realize\nthe gravity of this phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People’s concern<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If we know the agony the people went through during the\nlast four and half years we could understand this phenomenon. Wasn’t the agony\nthe same as that which plagued the country during the 30 year long separatist\nwar. The country was in danger of being fragmented along ethnic lines during\nthe last four years as it was during the war. The 2015 regime change was the\nculmination of a confluence of agendas comprising those of the western powers,\ntheir local collaborators and Tamil separatists. A destabilized, fragmented Sri\nLanka would suit their agendas quite well. The imperialists would like to have\na hegemonic grip on Sri Lanka with its strategic location in the Indian Ocean.\nTamil separatists would want their ‘homeland’ \nand the local opportunist politicians would want political power. Those\nwho plotted the regime change in 2015 had these as their goals.  And they worked towards their goal\nrelentlessly. The Western powers took control, got the UNHRC to adopt the\nResolution 30\/1 and pushed hard for constitutional reforms. A federal\nconstitution was presented to the parliament and it was a close call. People\nbecame desperate. Presidential election in 2019 and then the general election\ngave the people the opportunity to have their say and they have spoken loud and\nclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our poor people should not be made to suffer this agony\never again, worry about their land, their independence and sovereignty, people\nwho have laid down their life for the country. Should they always live in fear\nof being made landless, and their country fragmented and occupied by foreign\npowers. As long as the13th<\/sup> A is part of our constitution these fears\nwill continue to haunt them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil separatism is still alive<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The 13th<\/sup> A become crucial when we see that\nTamil separatists have not given up their plan. This is evident in what CV\nVigneshvaran and G Ponnambalam<\/p>\n\n\n\n

did recently. They took a vow before the LTTE memorial\nto fight for the Tamil aspirations. Tamil aspirations as far as the LTTE is\nconcerned is a separate state and nothing less. This they did before they took\ntheir oaths in the Sri Lankan Parliament. They apparently have allegiance to\nwhat the LTTE stood for and not to the Sri Lankan sovereignty or  its parliament. When CV was the chief\nminister in the Northern PC he used his position to campaign for a federal\nstate. He had no qualms about eulogizing the achievements of the LTTE. He may\nhave already started his campaign if his maiden speech in Parliament is\nanything to go by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this regard what we must not forget is that the 13th<\/sup>\nA is a federal instrument and it happens to be part of the law of the country.\nWhen it is fully implemented with the granting of land and police powers to the\nprovincial councils the latter would have more powers than the states in India\nwhich is a federal country. Therefore Sri Lankan constitution as it stands\ntoday could be deemed to be federal in content. The fact that these powers have\nso far not been granted is immaterial from a legal point of view. One may argue\nthat not granting them is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The burden of the Provincial Councils<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Several\nProvinces have existed without their Councils with no breakdown of essential\nservices to the people for more than one year due to elections not being held.\nThough it is argued that not holding elections on time is a denial of\ndemocratic rights not holding elections for redundant institutions which in\nfact are a white elephant and a burden on the tax paying poor people could be\nconsidered a blessing in disguise. PCs were created as a solution to the so\ncalled ethnic Tamil problem but the silence of Tamil politicians on the issue\nof delay in elections to the Northern PC is deafening to say the least. If they\ncan do without their PC there cannot be an ethnic problem of enormous magnitude\nwhich necessitated  the introduction by\nforce of the 13th A by India. People of this country did not ask for the 13th\nA, it was forced on us by a hegemonic imperialist India partly to pacify Tamil\nNadu politicians, and to prevent other interested global powers getting into\nthe fray for geopolitical reasons. Our poor people have to pay for global\ngeopolitical vagaries and local communal dubious ‘aspirations’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Provincial Councils do not serve any useful\npurpose. Instead it is another bureaucratic barrier to the people that increase\nthe red tape, inconvenience, waste of time, money and energy of the people.\nFurther it has increased the number of corrupt politicians that people have to\nbribe to get any official work done. The devolution of power via these PCs is\ntotally redundant as shown by the inability of the Northern PC, which was\nformed for the very purpose of solving the Tamil problem, to make use of the\nopportunity to serve the people. The work done by these PCs could easily be\ncarried out by the GA and the kachcheri system we had previously without the\ninvolvement of politicians. Similarly administrative power could be devolved to\nthe North through the local government institutions. The 13th<\/sup> A with\nits Land and Police powers hangs over us like a Sword of Damocles which could\neventually pave the way for a separate state. Thus the 13th<\/sup> A and\nits offspring the provincial councils could be done away with bringing great\nbenefit to the people including Tamils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil problem<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

One may ask what about the Tamil problem. Firstly this\nhas not been clearly explained. As far as any fair minded person could see\nTamils in Sri Lanka are better off than Tamils in India. In Tamil Nadu for\ninstance, Tamils cannot represent a case in courts in the Tamil language, leave\nalone anywhere else in India, where as Tamils in Sri Lanka could do so anywhere\nin the country. Tamils in the North and the East have no issues that other\ncommunities do not have regarding the use of language, education, employment,\neconomy, household income, culture, sports etc. The house hold income in\nVavuniya is better than that in Kandy, so are the roads. They have excelled in education.\nThey have no special problems that arise due to their ethnicity. If Tamils\nare  discriminated they would not be able\nto achieve what they have. As for their political rights, these could easily be\naddressed at the centre of political power instead of at the periphery as the\ncountry is very small. Tamil representation at the centre should be made more\nmeaningful particularly on matters related to minorities. The money saved by\nthe removal of the  PCs and 13th<\/sup>\nA  could be used for the benefit of everybody.\nTamils and other minorities should be made to develop a sense of belonging in\nthe country of their berth. A federal state is not necessary for this, in fact\na federal state based on ethnicity would result in the hardening of ethnic\nidentity and lead to a tendency for secession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2\/3rd<\/sup> Majority<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

People have given a 2\/3rd<\/sup> majority to the\npresent government not just to provide for a stable government. In the process\nthey had completely wiped out a giant of a political party which they thought\nwas the cause of their agony and worry. They were worried about their land and\ntheir 2500 year old civilization they had built on that land. They gave a 2\/3rd<\/sup>\nmajority overcoming all obstacles and constrains of a proportional\nrepresentation system of election. They are hoping for a permanent solution to\nthis problem and not a piece meal adhoc arrangement. A 2\/3rd<\/sup>\nmajority is not a privilege that the politicians deserve at this juncture but a\nnecessary evil and perhaps an imperative need that should be put to best use\nwith responsibility. It is an opportunity that may never come in the future and\nthe present government would do well to heed its message if it is to do its\nduty by the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

N.A.de S. Amaratunga<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

N.A.de S. Amaratunga Our hapless people battered and bruised by four years of ‘yahapalana’ , the two bank robberies, foreign interference, UNHRC Resolutions, separatism, Easter bombs and Covid have finally crawled to polling booths and stuffed the ballot boxes with lotus buds. Even the creators of the lotus bud may have been overwhelmed and shaken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-n-a-de-s-amaratunga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105842\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}