{"id":84964,"date":"2019-01-19T19:09:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T02:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=84964"},"modified":"2019-01-19T19:09:22","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T02:09:22","slug":"any-more-devolution-is-federal-plus-confederated-country-like-yugoslavia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/01\/19\/any-more-devolution-is-federal-plus-confederated-country-like-yugoslavia\/","title":{"rendered":"Any More Devolution is Federal Plus Confederated Country Like Yugoslavia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth – Plato<\/span><\/p>\n

Think only TNA, UNP, JVP and SLFP support more devolution? Think again! SLPP Convener Basil recently stated that more devolution is needed to resolve problems affecting the minorities. In an interview with Anidda\u201d he stated that minorities have problems and devolution must not be done for a particular ethnic group. Instead more devolution is needed to help people resolve their problems better. SLPP Chairman GL Pieris is also no stranger to more devolution! In fact, he was behind four spirited attempts to devolve more power in 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2002. In 2005 Mahinda\u2019s manifesto included maximum devolution within a unitary country\u201d. LLRC Report 2011 and 2013 Wijerama Resolution also called for more devolution. This is the grim reality faced by Sri Lanka. Every political party wants to take the nation further along the federal path into a confederated country like Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, Sinhala elements are fighting over who is least bad not knowing they all want the nation to become a confederate country while retaining the sham word unitary only to fool Sinhala people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is Already Federal Plus<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s Constitution has so many contradictions thanks to plastered amendments. In one Article it says the President can dissolve parliament at will but another says he cannot. Articles specify inalienable fundamental rights but a subsequent article reintroduces feudal and discriminatory ancient laws. Although it is stated that Sri Lanka is a unitary country subsequent articles introduce federal powers to provinces. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some key features of federalism plus are as follows. There is an elected Chief Ministers for each province. Provincial powers are clearly stated in the Constitution. Land powers and police powers are already vested in the province by the Constitution. Provincial powers cannot be withdrawn by the parliament! This makes Sri Lanka an extreme federal country far beyond India. If provincial powers are to be assumed by parliament or another body, it must be approved by two thirds of parliament and by all provincial councils. The President has no power over provinces except for the appointment of the ceremonial Governor and dissolution of provincial councils. However, dissolution achieves nothing in the Northern and Eastern Provinces post-war. Same parties win the following election.<\/span><\/p>\n

After introducing 13A Rajiv Gandhi corrected noted in Tamil Nadu that Sri Lanka is more federal than India in terms of devolution of power to Tamils.<\/span><\/p>\n

Divi Neguma and Super Ministry Bills failed as they went against the federal model of Sri Lanka. Centre\u2019s powers are constitutionally restricted. Unlike India, Sri Lanka\u2019s parliament cannot subdivide a province to lessen its ability to assert itself. In essence Sri Lanka is already an extreme federal country. Any more devolution means the nation will become a confederated country like Yugoslavia.<\/span><\/p>\n

All Powerful Countries Support Sri Lanka\u2019s Division<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Not just all local political parties, all major world powers \u2013 NATO, Russia, China, India and Japan support the division of Sri Lanka for their own geopolitical gains. Each group can have their military bases at the heart of the Indian Ocean cheaply. They have their local agents in all parties. <\/span><\/p>\n

The collapse of the unitary camp in Sri Lanka has been tragic and driven by greed. UNP, SLMP, SLMC, EPRLF and TULF accepted the 13A federal model by 1988. SLFP took a bit longer. By 1993 the SLFP has also embraced it. By 1999 JVP stopped resisting it and by 2011 JHU has also embraced federalism.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is the politicians that changed not the definition of federalism from 1987 to 1993.<\/span><\/p>\n

Confederation Attempts to Continue No Matter Who Wins the 2019 and 2020 Elections<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Given this background, attempts to further divide Sri Lanka will continue no matter who wins the 2019 and 2020 elections. Those who want to stop this must reject all current political groups unless they drop further devolution. Voting like fools into various political clans only accelerates the division of the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dilrook Kannangara No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth – Plato Think only TNA, UNP, JVP and SLFP support more devolution? Think again! SLPP Convener Basil recently stated that more devolution is needed to resolve problems affecting the minorities. In an interview with Anidda\u201d he stated that minorities have problems and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dilrook-kannangara"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84964","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=84964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}