A presentation to the Select Committee of Parliament to Recommend and Report on Political and Constitutional Measures.

Mr.Neil Iddawala,

The Secretary to the Select Committee of Parliament to Recommend and Report on Political and Constitutional Measures to Empower the People of Sri Lanka to Live as One Nation
Parliament of Sri Lanka
Sri Jayawardenepura,

Kotte,

SRI LANKA

Dear Sir,

Reference to the request made by the Select Committee of Parliament on the 10^th July, 2013, to make representations with regard to (i) preserve and promote their respective identity and live with dignity and security as one Nation, (ii) enhance the unity of the people of Sri Lanka, and (iii)  empower the people and the country to promote social, economic, political and cultural development,  I make the following presentation.

The 13 Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka should be completely and wholely removed for the following reasons.

The 13 th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka could be looked at  from two different points of view.

(i)              as a part of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, without taking into account how and when it was introduced in to the Constitution, and

(ii)            as a  requirement under the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord  signed in  July,1987, to  include it  in the Constitution of Sri Lanka as the 13th Amendment in return for India to disarm the Militant groups and the LTTE terrorists, and establish peace.

Hence,  under item (i)  there is no problem in keeping or  removing the 13^th Amendment considering it only as an Amendment to the Constitution.  Sri Lanka had three Constitutions since its Independence.  The Present Constitution was promulgated in September,1978. It has 18 Amendments.  If the circumstances necessitate,  the Parliament  could remove the 13 Amendment  by a mere two third majority in the Parliament  or  seek a mandate from the people to  remove it.

All promulgations of a Constitutions,  or amendments to the Constitution of Sri Lanka could be carried out by the Parliament of Sri Lanka accept where it is necessary to  call for a referendum of the people.  No foreign country has the right to intervene and dictate in the preparation of a Constitution, promulgation or bringing in Amendments to it.

Under such circumstances what we do with the 13 Amendment to the Constitution is the business of Sri Lanka and not that of any other country in the world.  The Parliament could modify the 13 Amendment, or remove it completely from the Constitution according to the powers vested in it.

But under item (ii) referred to above, if the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka were to be considered a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord, then the question arises  as to whether there is a legal and a valuable reason to leave the 13 Amendment  in the Constitution of Sri Lanka after March, 1990, when the last IPKF contingent left Sri Lanka having lost 1155 of its cadre and having failed to settle the on going terrorism or disarm the LTTE and the  different Tamil  Militant groups under the terms of  the India Sri Lanka Peace Accord- without  giving satisfaction to the  Peace Accord by India.

The deployment of an Indian Peace Keeping Force to disarm the LTTE and the different Tamil militant Groups and establish peace by  India, in return for Sri Lanka to enter the 13 Amendment  into the Constitution of Sri Lanka  and establish Provincial Councils were the requirements  under the Peace Accord entered into by Rajiv Gandhi and JR Jayawardhana  signing the India Sri Lanka Peace Accord on the 29 July,1987.

Unfortunately when India withdrew its IPKF having failed to satisfy the  Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord, Sri Lanka had already satisfied its part of the Peace Accord by introducing the 13 Amendment in to the Constitution and establishing Provincial Councils, believing that India would be able to disarm the LTTE and the Militant  Groups to end terrorism and establish peace.

However, Sri Lanka did the mistake of not making provisions in the Peace Accord to hold the insertion of the 13 Amendment into the Constitution of Sri Lanka until the IPKF showed to the satisfaction of Sri Lanka  that it was able to carry out its promise to disarm the LTTE and the Militant Groups and establish peace.  The result of that failure was that Sri Lanka satisfied its part of the Accord well before IPKF proved not only that it was incapable of disarming the LTTE, but also that the LTTE terrorists were a force far stronger than  it  expected.   

The end result was that the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord was breached by India without giving satisfaction to the Accord , with Sri Lanka  having an unwanted 13 Amendment  left in its Constitution.

Therefore the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord entered into by Rajiv Gandhi and JR Jayawardhana was revoked in March, 1990, by one party to the Peace Accord-namely India having failed to give satisfaction. Therefore the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord signed in July,1987 is a defunct instrument without any legal value, and logically the 13^th Amendment which is an off shoot of that Accord is now an illegal instrument which has no place in the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

If in June,1987 India did not intervene by dropping relief food supplies to the terrorists held in siege   by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, the terrorists would have been defeated  and terrorism in Sri Lanka would have been terminated in 1987.

But because of the Indian intervention the terrorism continued its  destructive presence for 22 long years.  Therefore, the Indian Government is responsible for all those loss of  lives, wounded soldiers and civilians ,  damages to material and the economic  cost of war during that period.  Sri Lanka Government therefore has a legal right to claim compensation from India. 

It is clear that Since 1987 India had acted in bad faith vis à vis Sri Lanka with an ulterior motive.  It is an open secret that India took an active role in the defence of terrorism in Sri Lanka. It was made evident when India sent  a convoy of unarmed ships in June, 1987 to Jaffna, followed by airdropping  relief supplies to terrorists in siege.

Sri Lanka should also not forget  that in NJune,1987, the Indian External Affairs Minister K.Natwar Singh had  summoned  the Sri Lanka High Commissioner in New Delhi to inform him of India’s decision to air drop relief supplies to the rebels(terrorists) and had  threatened that if the Indian Operation was hindered in any way India would launch a full force military retaliation against Sri Lanka.  It was after that Sri Lanka was forced to sign the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord on the 29 July, 1987.

Has India changed since then ?

But Sri Lanka had always acted in good faith despites India’s hidden motives.

India fooled Sri Lanka to accept the 13^th  Amendment prepared by Indian legal Officers to facilitate the terrorist to  eventually establish a separate  Eelam State by strengthening their hold in the Provincial Council once established.  For that purpose North and the Eastern Provinces were merged into one under the so called Peace Accord.

Sri Lanka naively  included the 13^th  Amendment into the Constitution in good faith in order to get the Indian Peace Keeping Force  to disarm the LTTE and the Tamil Militant Groups and  establish peace as India had agreed under the Peace Accord.  India however failed to keep its part of the agreement and abrogated it by pulling out the IPKF in 1990.

India cannot now  claim any legal right under the defunct Peace Accord to intervene to demand Sri Lanka to implement the 13^th  Amendment.   The 13^th  Amendment is an appendage that remain from an rescinded  accord and has no legal value.  The Sri Lanka Government need not  turn to India to have its consent to remove the unnecessary vulgar appendage-a symbol of shame, the 13^th Amendment.

The government may get a legal opinion and remove it by a resolution in Parliament  failing which it may call for a referendum.

India has to stop its continued aggressive demands with regard to the 13^th  Amendment as India has lost its right to make such demands as far back as in 1990,  and implementing or not implementing the 13^th  Amendment is now a matter which has to be decided by Sri Lanka  alone, without India’s unnecessary interference.

However, Sri Lanka has the legal  right to  demand India to pay compensation for the breach of the Peace Accord through India’s failure to give satisfaction to the Accord, resulting in the loss of  human lives, disability to persons and damage to property caused from 1987 to 2009 through terrorism, plus the economic cost of the war  against terrorism to Sri Lanka which  is estimated  at USDollars 200 billion. 

The 13^th  Amendment has no relevance to Sri Lanka in its present context, therefore it has no reason to remain as an  Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The Government of Sri Lanka is making considerable effort to reconcile the Communities eliminating even  the majority and minority concept of the people.  The Tamil people have to be made to accept themselves as a part of the Sri Lankan people and unite with the other Communities in a Unitary Sri Lanka.  That would not be possible under the Provincial Council System established under the 13^th  Amendment which will only perpetuate separatism.

Sri Lanka should set up a system of Regional Administration in keeping with its own cultural and social background with a view to eliminate Communal Separatism.  Such a system of Administration should stretch  from village level to Government as the Centre.  In it  all Communities should be brought together preserving their respective identity and  assuring security from village level on wards.  Such a system will promote unity of the Communities that will be able to settle differences at village level. It will also pave the way  for the people of Sri Lanka as a whole  to promote and participate in  social, economic, political and inter cultural developments.

These positive developments will not be possible under the Provincial Council System which has created an  intermediate system of Administration which is akin to a Parliamentary System, distancing the Provincial Councillors from the ordinary mass of people , unable to integrate into the different social levels of the society because of a pseudo sense of a higher economic and social status. 

The 13^th  Amendment should therefore be removed  completely from the Constitution of Sri Lanka, which would enhance the Independence of Sri Lanka as a Sovereign State without India claiming a right to intervene in view of a breached, and  now defunct Peace Accord to which  India was a party.

Therefore, it is my opinion that in the interest of our people  who should live in dignity and in security amoung  their fellow country men in peace and harmony,  the 13^th  Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka should be removed  wholely and completely leaving no  trace of it by a  two third majority in Parliament,  or  by a referendum of the people.

In conclusion I would like to remind the Select Committee of the Parliament that the President since his election, without the support of the UNP and the rest of the Opposition, had determined and carried out under immense difficulties tasks that none other political leader of Sri Lanka had dared even attempted, and achieved success. 

Therefore, in the removal of the 13^th Amendment from the Constitution too he need not depend  on the support of the UNP, the TNA and  other Political Parties which have only restricted self interests. The President should without hesitation do what has to be done in the interest of the people and the country as he has already proved he is capable of doing, and remove the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution and face boldly any consequences for which he will have the support of the people. 

I pray for the President, the people and the Country the blessings of the Triple Gem

Yours Sincerely ,

Charles.S.Perera

Sending Basil Rajapakse to Indi has srirred up a Hornet’s Nest.

In 1987 India illegally  forced into the airspace of Sri Lanka and thereafter forced Sri Lanka to enter in to an Agreement or an Accord.  An agreement , or an Accord is no different to a contract between two parties, whether it is between two persons, two Companies, or two Counties.  It has to have essential basic requirements to bind the parties legally to the agreement.  It should be voluntary.  It should have  one or more legal  obligations to be performed by one party to the other.  If any of the obligations is not performed by either one of the parties there would be a breach of the agreement and it could be rescinded without any legal effect.

India was from the beginning sympathetic towards the terrorists. They were trained by India and release in Sri Lanka to allow the Terrorists to form a separate Eelam State. The Indian Government has not denied the fact, as it cannot do so as there are enough evidence of their close involvements with the terrorists of Sri Lanka. In June,1987 when the terrorists were sieged in Jaffna and were about to be eliminated by the  Operation Liberation of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, India sent  a convoy of armed battle ships to North of Sri Lanka for “humanitarian Assistant”. The Sri Lanka Navy intercepted the Indian convoy of armed ships and forced it to turn back. 

India then decided to air drop of relief supplies to the terrorists besieged  in Jaffna, and the Indian Minister of External Affairs K.Natwar Singh summoned the Sri Lanka Ambassador in New Delhi to inform of the India’s decision to air drop relief supplies to the terrorists, and had threatened  if the Indian Operation was hindered in any way  that “India would launch a full-force military retaliation against Sri Lanka”.

It was after  that threat of the Indian  External Affairs Minister K.Natwar Singh the  militarily powerful India forced upon militarily powerless Sri Lanka to accept a Peace Accord on the understanding that  Sri Lanka would not proceed with its military offensive against  the terrorists.  The Accord was not among equally powerful parties and was not voluntary on the Part of Sri Lanka.

Now the Pact  entered into by JR Jayawardhana on behalf of Sri Lanka and Rajiv Gandhi on behalf Indian on the 29 July, 1987 was called Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord. It was an accord of necessity. 

However the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was entered into on the acceptance by both parties, for India: (i) to resolve the on going terrorism, and (ii) to get the Tamil terrorists to surrender Arms and establish peace.

and  for Sri Lanka, (i)  to devolve power to the Provinces, and (ii) to withdraw its  troops to their barracks.

The Sri Lanka readily performed its part of the Accord by introducing the13Amendment prepared and demanded by India  to be included in the Constitution of Sri Lanka in terms of item (i) of its agreement under the Peace Accord to devolve power to the Provinces.  Sri Lanka also withdrew its armies to the Barracks under item (ii) of its agreement under the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord.

That means Sri Lanka had performed its obligations under the Indo Lanka Peace Accord.

Now for this Peace Accord to be legally binding India had to performs the two items it had agreed to perform under the Pact.

Now to make the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord legally binding on the two parties, India had to perform its part of the Agreement under the Peace accord to the satisfaction of Sri Lanka the second party to the Peace Accord, which was to (i) to resolve the on going terrorism.

Did India perform  its part of the Agreement ?

No India failed in both counts, (i) to resolve the on going terrorism or, (ii) to get the terrorists to surrender their Arms. The terrorists initially agreed to surrender their arms, but later  declared they will continue their struggle until they set up an independent Eelam State and refused to surrender Arms. 

In 1990 the Indian Army left with 1155 of its cadre lost,  without having performed either  part of their agreement under the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord, leaving Sri Lanka which had already performed its part of the Agreement, with the terrorists problem more aggravated after the Indian intervention with its Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord. And to make matters worse with a 13 Amendment which Sri Lanka had included post haste in to the Constitution in good faith.

In ordinary circumstances as it would happen in an ordinary contract the Party to the Agreement or Contract who fails to perform his part of the contract is legally bound to pay compensation to the other party,  who had in good faith performed his part of the contract.

But what is happening to-day with regard to the Indo Sri Lanka Peace Accord is not normal ?

India which is legally responsible for the breach of the Peace Accord still remains the  Party that is dictating terms to Sri Lanka, which was made to suffer not only materially but  with the deaths of tens of thousands of its youthful soldiers and  even more wounded, and large numbers of dead and wounded civilians.

But India which lost only 1155 of its soldiers cannot demand any thing from Sri Lanka, sighting the Indo Sri Lanka which had been legally rescinded by India itself as a Party to the Peace Accord having failed to perform its part of the Accord.

Now it is for Sri Lanka to demand India to pay compensation, and India to accept that the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord  has failed and that Sri Lanka is not bound any more by the Peace Accord to  respect the inclusion of the 13Amendment forced into the Constitution of Sri  Lanka,  which Sri Lanka had  accepted to do in good faith, expecting India to honour its part of the Accord.

Sri Lanka political leadership now  behaves  like thieves who have been caught stealing some thing from India and indebted to it.

Sri Lanka has one thing to do , and that is to remove the 13Amendment without consulting or informing India as if Sri Lanka is a Vassal State of India.       

There was no necessity for Sri Lanka to have sent the Minister Basil Rajapakse to India to inform India of its proposal to hold the PSC with regard to removing certain parts of the 13Amerndment and requesting that the TNA be requested to be a part of the PSC.

The removal or keeping of the 13 Amendment is a matter for Sri Lanka.  The Indo Sri Lanka Pact through which the 13Amendment had been introduced  has been rescinded by India’s failure to abide by its  promise to perform its part of the Agreement.   India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord has no legal value any more, no  court would  deny it.

It is the Sri Lanka Government Leadership that is keeping the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord alive binding Sri Lanka to honour its pledge (which it had already done). It is India that has not honoured its pledge. 

It is time that the President Mahinda Rajapakse awakens to that fact and go ahead with the removal of the 13 Amendment and be bold to face consequences.   If  the President cannot get the 13 Amendment Removed by PSC or using his executive powers, he should then go to the people, to have the 13 Amendment removed by a referendum of the people.

The Minister Basisl Rajapakse, the emissary of the President who was sent to inform the Indian Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid and the  Indian National Security  Adviser Shiv Sankar Menon that  the Government of Sri Lanka is proposing small changes to the 13 Amendment, came back like a  kicked dog lapping his wounds  having achieved nothing and keeping mum about his visit.

Only thing  Basil Rajapakse’s visit to India has done is that Sri Lanka has made giants of not only Salman Kurshid and Shiv Sankar Menon, but also TNA which is now asking the Government of Sri Lanka  to confine the soldiers to their barracks.  And the Government of Sri Lanka seems to be acting as if it cannot to do any thing without the assent of TNA.

It is a shame that Sri Lanka is unable to assert its right to do what it thinks is the best by its country and by its people.  We are not at all indebted to India.  India had always been an enemy of Sri Lanka and will continue to be so.  It is only the President and his Government that seem to be assiduously licking the posterior of India. 

It was reported that the the President  Mahinda Rajapaksa had told visiting Indian National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon, “……. that most of the points in the 13^th Amendment will be implemented”.  And , “…that there were issues in the clause dealing with land and police powers to the provinces and that needs to be addressed by the Parliament Select Committee.”

The President had also requested Menon to “….Convince the TNA to join the Committee.”
Is it really necessary that  India be informed that only small things in the 13Amendment will be removed ?  
Why does not the President realise that we have nothing to ask  India about what we are doing with our constitution ? 
Does it really matter whether TNA joins the PSC or not ? 
It is a Parliamentary requirement that every member of the Parliament should respect the Parliamentary procedures, if any member fails to respect those democratic Parliamentary procedures they are in breach of the constitution and should be impeached.
Basil Rajapakse’s visit to India to inform the affairs of our country to the Indian Leader Ship has only stirred a hornet’s nest.  Only statement Basil Rajapakse had made since his return from India is that , “Some things can be said openly and some things cannot be said openly in diplomatic business between governments. They [India] gave us some of their views, we expressed our views. That is what usually happens .”
If that is any thing to go by, both the Government of Sri Lanka and that of India, share secrets of which the people are allowed only the right to guess hoping that such secrets are in their interest and that of the country.

Why have we got to inform every thing we do to India ?

Buddhist Monks Protesting against the 13 Amendment

 The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse has rightly said , “Sri Lanka should not listen to India with regard to the implementation of the 13th Amendment as the national problem was inherently one that should be solved by Sri Lankans.” And added, “We should not listen to India on this; this doesn’t meant that we lose the relationship we have with India. But if there is a problem it should only be solved by Sri Lankans and not India,”

Perhaps as the big neighbour next door we should tell India what we are doing .  But India is not a friendly neighbour though we try to make it look like it is our best friend.  It was India’s manipulation into our internal affairs that has  allowed it to leave us with a sword of the Damocles. The time has come for us to remove it before it would fall on our heads.

How can we make India wise to look after it own business, when it is shivering with fear not wanting to invoke the wrath of a foolish woman  Jayalalitha of  Tamil Nadu.  The great India is dancing to the tune of  a politically inept Jayalalitha despite its claim to leadership in Asia.

In the meantime we have our own foolish politicians who vow to take revenge from Sri Lanka if the 13Amenment is removed.  

 How can one understand  Vasudeva Nanyakkara’s determination even to leave the Government if the 13 Amendment is removed ?  The only reasonable explanation is that he wants to please his son-in-law who is apparently a Tamil-the Judge Wigneswaran’s son. 

That  is the explanation that could be drawn from his subsequent  statement:

“We have taken an oath to accept the Constitution and although there may be diverse views regarding the 13^th Amendment we have to accept it. It is the democratic right of the people to hold such views as the complete repealing of the 13^th amendment or curtailing of its powers”

He is sitting between two chairs, not wanting to sit lest he would fall.  Vasudeva, or  Rajitha Senaratne  leaving the Government would be no great loss provided the government is able to  remove the  unwanted mole sticking out from the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

However, a wise advice to the government comes from an unlikely person , from an unlikely party.   
Ravi Karunanayake from the UNP had said:
 “If, the government is really committed as it says to diluting or scrapping devolution, do it now without looking for scapegoats and adopting time wasting exercises such as Parliamentary Select Committees. The ethnic conflict has been discussed for decades and all the issues and solutions have been identified. “

And how true is what Ravi Karunanayake says without mincing words: “The only thing left to do is implementation which is not forthcoming obviously due to the lack of guts in matching words with action.’’

When can we expect the Government to develop its guts strong enough to do what is necessary, when its pride in elimination of terrorism seems to be waning as time passes by. 

In the meantime the Government sends an emissary to India-Basil Rajapakse to meet Salman Kurshid the External Affairs Minister of India , and its National Security Advisor Shivasankar Menon, to  " ….brief them on the political situation including matters relating to the proposed amendments to the thirteenth amendment." 

Basil Rajapakse is unfortunately not meeting the correct people in India , he should have met Jayalalith instead as she is to-day the most politically important person in India, Manmohan Singh playing second fiddle to her.

Who have become the most vociferous people in Sri Lanka ro-day ? 

It is the MPs of the LTTE proxi Party TNA.  TNA MP Premachandran says, “The aim of the PSC is to dilute the powers of the 13A. We can't agree to that. We want 13 plus ”.   Sampathan the leader of the TNA has said, “….the attempt by the Government to weaken the 13^th Amendment comes despite its continued commitment to India and the UN to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in full, and go beyond and build upon it so as to achieve meaningful devolution.”

Sampanthan has added, that, “……. in the absence of any Opposition member of Parliament, this PSC will be nothing but a sub-committee of the Government Parliamentary Group and not a Parliamentary Select Committee and will have no credibility whatsoever,”

In that case only thing Sampanthan has to do  to make the PSC credible is to join it.  If he does not accept to participate in the PSC deliberations which is the most democratic thing to do, then he has to accept the decisions of the PSC taken in their absence.

In the mean time Rauf Hakeem who had been trusted  by the government to make him the Minister of Justice of Sri Lanka had said, “ The PSC must be put in the dust bin. There will be no main opposition, no TNA, no SLMC",  showing that he is the most unfit person to be a trusted Minster of Justice of Sri Lanka.   

As the Minister of Justice he should understand that PSC is a democratic Parliamentary procedure in keeping with the Constitution and it is the “duty” of every parliamentarian to respect it and join its deliberations, and more so Rauf Hakeem the Minister of Justice.

Sarath Fonseka whose party is to contest the three PC elections has said, “… amending the 13th Amendment to the Constitution at this juncture would disrupt the ethnic harmony in the country.”

It is not a correct evaluation of the 13Amendment. The  removal of the 13 Amendment  and  drawing  up a more representative system of regional administration will give a voice to ordinary Tamil People, who are now dominated by the high caste Tamil politicians who work for the separation of the Tamil people from the rest of the Communities. 

The 13 Amendment left as it is will give power not to the local Tamil people at the grass root level but to those English speaking Vellalas from the diaspora and proxi terrorist TNA MPs.

Perhaps it would have been more appropriate to go to the people and remove the 13Amendment by a referendum, instead of loosing  further time removing  clauses from here and there to water down the effect of the 13 Amendment. 

It is not a watered down 13 Amendment that is necessary for Sri Lanka but the complete removal of it.

13 Amendment should be removed, and replace PCs with a people friendly Regional Administration.

Those who have a personal agenda are against the removal of the 13th Amendment.  The 13th Amendment is now an anti dated legislature.  It was introduced for another purpose at another time.  Even at the time it was introduced into the Constitution the 13 Amendment did not serve the purpose for which it was introduced. 

The India Lanka pact that introduced the 13^th Amendment  was a failure from the start.  The IPKF with a starting force of 10000 men had 80000 men at its peak, yet it was unable to stop terrorism.

The disaster caused with the Indo Lanka pact that  introduced the 13the Amendement  was immense. “ The IPKF suffered around 1,200 killed in action and several thousand wounded. The LTTE casualties are not known reliably but it is assumed that approximately 8000-11000 were killed and several thousand were injured.”  (wikipedia)

Finally the Indian Army left without solving any of the problem they came to solve. And the aftermath was the assassination of the man who planned the intervention  of Indian Army in Sri Lanka which served no purpose,  but managed to left behind the “hated” 13th Amendment which has become the  bone of contention of every one.

The 13 Amendment was to facilitate  the Indian army to bring the LTTE under control and establish peace.  The Indian Army left making the problem worse than it was before they came.   

In Sinhala there is a saying, “ what is the use of the sword which was not there for the war; is it  to  cut jak fruits ( yuddeta neti kaduw kos kotantada ) ? ”

We could hence  ask of what use is the 13^th Amendment which served no purpose to end terrorism and establish peace.  The wisest possible action Sri Lanka can do with it now  is to just dump it and prepare another system of regional administration which suits the country.

Has the PC system organised under the 13^th Amendment done any good ?  

The PCs are another set of bureaucratic administrations  out of reach of the people.   It has created another set of,   a sort of Ministers and Parliamentarians.  Once elected as Provincial Council Members  they become “panjandrums”  of the villages and the Province.   They get distanced from the people and act as they have special social status that require respect and  obedience of the petty government officials and the villagers. 

The incidence of  Ananda Sarath Kumara the North Western Province,  Provincial Councillor  who force  kneeled a teacher before the pupils is an example of what becomes of the PC Members.  He just imitated what a Minister in the Parliament did by tying a Government Official to a tree. 

The Provincial Council Member  Sarath Kumara posed as  a great personality, with  his own henchmen acting as his security officers. He could  make any one  stop speaking against him through fear of reprisal.  That is how the PCs have created small time village mafias able to keep the people silent with blind acceptance of all their unscrupulous activities.  Do we want to perpetrate that system ?

The 13 Amendment introduced by India though it has served no great purpose in Sri Lanka, serves India which still to keeps the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka at bay, giving instructions from far and also calling obedience to the whims and fancies of its Chief Minister Jayalalitha. With the 13th Amendment Sri Lanka has become a “political laughing stock”.  Any one in Tamil Nadu can dictate terms to Sri Lanka.

Vaiko of MDMK-the joker who was ready to come to Sri Lanka to fight along side Prabhakaran  is reported to have said, 

 “Sri Lankan officials should not be accommodated anywhere in the country”   It was reported  that he had said that the, “ Political parties and Tamil outfits will stage protests if the Centre continues to impart training to officials of the Sri Lankan defence forces at Defence Services Staff College at Wellington in the Nilgiris. “

All those insults by nincompoops  are because Sri Lanka is unable to decide to do  away with the 13th Amendment.  Whether we will remove it or not neither India nor the International community will change their attitude towards  Sri Lanka. 

India will always play the role of the “big brother” issuing dictates and pampering anti government elements and harbour the desire  given the opportunity to divide Sri Lanka between the Tamils and the Sinhala just to please Tamil Nadu jokers.  All that is because India has the handle- the 13th Amendment left behind by its erstwhile leader Rajiv Ghandhi.

Jomo Kinyata  had once said with regard to the poverty of Kenya  that,  when the British came to Kenya they had the Bible in their hands, and the Kenyans’ had the land, and when they left the Kenyans’ had the Bible in their hands and the British had the land.

Similarly (if not exactly) the Indians came with their military power promising to settle terrorism and bring peace, but when they left after failure to settle neither  terrorism nor establish peace, they left behind the 13 Amendment, which is worse than the terrorism.  The terrorism Sri Lanka settled with its own force , but the 13Amendment is still their to fulfil indirectly what the terrorist failed to do.  And Sri Lanka appears unable to remove the distasteful Amendment .

SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem,   

who signed a MoU with Prabhakaran, to have his own Muslim Eelam under the protection of Prabhakaran’s Tamil  Eelam, is said to be  infuriated over his party's non-inclusion in the PSC.  He had said addressing a meeting at Maon Street, Kalmunai, on Saturday, it was important for the SLMC to have a nominee on the PSC as the 13th Amendment is all to do with minority rights. He had also accused the government of amending the 13th Amendment to suit some parties within the ruling coalition.”

What Hakeem is up to  being in the Government as the Minister of Justice is any body’s guess ?


In the mean time Lakshman Kiriella, 

is worried about the government not satisfying  the International Community, and says “…. the government has promised the international community that it will provide a solution beyond the 13th amendment but has so far failed to do so. He pointed out that minority communities and their constituent parties were caught between protecting their Ministerial roles and protecting its community…”  The UNP is always at the beck and call of the International Community as the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse is at the beck and call of India.

The Government Ministers  and MPs who are vehemently against the removal of the 13 th Amendment,   have no  reason to  fight to keep the 13^th Amendment other than to exercise their influence in the Administration of the Provincial Councils and preserve  their vote base. 
The periodical issues of  job quotas to Provincial councils are a means to help  the  henchmen of the Provincial Councillors, leaving out the deserved eve if they have the correct qualifications.  These abuses could  be stopped by changing the PC system and establishing a more progressive form of Regional Administration.

The demand of the old LSSP and the CP Ministers are not understandable other than that they prefer attachment to India, and lack  progressive thinking.  They have in their mind the future of a united Sri Lanka with  the Communal difference, when the need is to have a united Sri Lanka without Communal differences.  Other than that there is no logical reason for the LSSP and CP Parliamentarians and Ministers to yearn to keep the 13Amendment intact.

The 13 Amendment should be removed, to enable the introduction of another System of Regional Administration to integrate the  peasants and villagers as partners in the Governance of the Country.   

It would help to reduce,  if not stop corruption at all levels, as the villagers themselves will be able to keep watch over  malpractices taking place at the  lower levels which often go unnoticed, and alert those responsible in the  Government and awaken the government  from its  lethargy.  It would also help dampen criminality, and would be an asset for the police to carry out their duties more efficiently.

Therefore, instead of amending the 13^th Amendment in bits and pieces it should be jettisoned to clean the Constitution, which has been contaminated by this piece of Indian  legislation introduced into it.

DEW Gunasekara, Tissa Vitharana, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Reginald Cooray and Rajitha Senaratne in support of 13Amendment.

Vasudeva Nanayakkara, DEW Gunasekara and Tissa Vitarana at Socialist Alliance May Day stage 

It is a shame to see these Senior Ministers of the Government of the  left and the old UNP defending the 13A.  LSSP always fought for loss causes without gaining any thing in return.  Dew Gunasekara spoke of their canvassing Jaffna for elections, which they said proudly that the JVP and the JHU were unable to do. But they did not say that though they stood for both  Communities neither the Tamils in Jaffna nor the Estate Tamils supported them at elections. Only in 1956 CP had one candidate  P. Kandiah elected from a constituency in Point Pedro.  That was an exception, nothing to cry to high heavens about.  They were never supported by the Tamils in the North and later they were shunned in the South as well.

The  leftist Ministers should realise that if they had been  more intelligent and supported other parties without being self seeking the situation of the LSSP  political movement would have been different.  In an article tracing the History of the Left movement  Leslie Gunawadhane wrote,

“…The question may well be asked as to what the position would have been if the LSSP had joined the MEP in 1956 in putting forward the demand for Sinhala Only. There is little doubt that the LSSP would have played a leading role in the movement for Sinhala Only. It is also very likely that the position of the Left in general and of the LSSP in particular would have been much stronger today among the Sinhalese masses. Also the position of the SLFP would have been significantly weaker. However, it is a moot question how much closer Sri Lanka would have been to socialism.”

In the same article Leslie Gunawardhana prophetically wrote, “….., the movement for a separate state has grown with leaps and bounds among the Tamils of the North. The situation may develop to a point when it is only Sinhalese domination by military rule in the North that will be able to preserve the unity of the country. And even such a unity maintained by force may not be able to continue for long if an imperialist power decides in its own interest to back the movement for secession by a supply of military aid.”

Rajitha Senaratne is with one foot in the Government  and with the other foot still awaiting a chance to step out into his former fold with whom he will be more at home.  Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Tissa Vitharana, Dew Gunasekara and Reginald Cooray are waging a war against the JHU, JVP and Wimal Weerawansa to have a greater say within the cabinet of the President Mahinda Rajapakse..

DEW Gunasekara seems to be in  a secret pact with the TNA going all out to retain the 13 A knowing very  well that it has no place in the Constitution of Sri Lanka.  DEW Gunasekara says that there is a silent majority in the government who wants to retain the 13Amendment at all cost.

It may be so as the PCs are jammed with  relatives and political henchmen  of the Ministers and SLFP supporters, some of them of doubtful character, and a “gold mine” for others, making money by sale of  Timber, shifting of sand from river beds, offering contracts  for transport, supply of material etc. to different road construction projects.  They may not like the PC System coming to an end with the removal of the 13 Amendment for their own personal reasons.

DEW Gunasekara should be sure even if he finds a silent majority  in the Government in support of the 13Amendment, the mass of the people are against it, and the LSSP and CP will be despised by the people as the they were despised both by the Tamils and the Sinhala in the past.  In 1946 LSSP voted against the Bill for disenfranchisement  of plantation workers and earned the wrath of the Sinhala, and the Plantation Workers who  in their turn preferred the Indian Tamil Congress of Thondaman to LSSP.

It was reported  that DEW Gunasekara  had given  a new respectability to the India enforced 13 Amendment.  “..Speaking on the argument relating to the Indian involvement in the making of the 13th Amendment, Minister D.E.W Gunasekara said the Indo Lanka accord was a culmination of debates that began in the 1920’s and rejected the notion that it was forced upon the country by India.” 

He must be dreaming. This man should not continue to be a Minister of the Government of the President Mahinda Rajapakse. 

It was reported recently in an Internet gmail forum that Rajiv Ghandhi when he came to sign the India Lanka pact with the President JR Jayawardhana , he had already selected a man to be the Governor of Sri Lanka in case JR Jayawardhana refused to sign the  Pact and had arranged to have the Indian Army flown in  to Sri Lanka. 

These  four are naïve politicians with no foresight of what anti Sri Lanka forces are capable of doing to Sri Lanka.  They are only inviting intervention for foreign forces  to break away Sri Lanka perhaps to prove to Wimal Weerawansa, JHU, and  JVP what would happen if the 13 Amendment is removed.

Reginald Cooray too does not speak for the people as they do not care what the mass of the people of Sri Lanka think of the 13 Amendment.  They are taken up by their own selfish motives to even go against the people of the country  if they can teach a lesson to Wimal Weerawansa, JHU, and JVP.

Reginald Cooray had said , “With the end of the war there was euphoria all around and everyone ignored the root of the problem moving away from the need to address the political problem. Racism, extremis, and the tribal mentality is the best tape to be playing and is the oldest tape that has been played. We have to learn from our past mistakes.”

Reginald Cooray speaks as a politician well versed in International Politics and  had said “ Citing international examples, Cooray said that every nation which had diverse populations and cultures had devolved power enabling them to become powerful nations.
 

“These heroes who scream against the international community within this country don’t know an atom about how political systems work. Every country in this world has devolved power to a certain extent and that is a must,”

But Reginald Cooray has failed to say which  are the countries in the world that have devolved power to the minorities.  Reginald Cooray thinks the people are gullible to swallow every thing he says.   But he does not realise what is at stake is a worse situation, which is a possible setting up of a Eelam State if the 13 Amendment is allowed to remain in the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

The four misled politicians of the left and the exUNP Rajitha Seanaratne say that they want the country to go forward , but little they realise that they are the one’s that are  being  barriers to the forward march of the country.

The LSSP and the CP are in a process of slow death and perhaps their support of the 13Amendment will  see their final demise.