One year of Lanka NPP presidency, Tamils urge talks

Colombo, Sep 24 (PTI) On the first anniversary of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assuming office, the main Tamil party in Sri Lanka has written to him urging for talks to address the “Tamil national question.” Dissanayake took oath on September 23 last year following a landslide win. His party, the National People's Power (NPP), had promised devolution of power to local governments in its manifesto.

“It is now one year since you took office as the president of the country. In your election manifesto and in several announcements you have promised to resolve this most pressing issue. However no action seems to have been taken in respect of this matter in last one year,” the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), the principal Tamil party in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), said in its letter dated September 22 to Dissanayake.

The ITAK letter added that an eight-member committee has been appointed by the party to start a dialogue with Dissanayake on the issue.

The NPP manifesto for the September 2024 presidential election had stated, among other things, “(to) introduce a new constitution…..the proposed constitutional reforms will guarantee equality and democracy and the devolution of political and administrative power to every local government.” Commenting on the progress made by the NPP government on the pledge to formulate a new constitution, the government spokesman and minister Nalinda Jayathissa admitted to reporters on Tuesday that no action had been taken for constitutional reform.

Despite a pledge to hold the postponed provincial council election within a year, the government recently announced that there will be a further delay.

The 13A Amendment to the Constitution which introduced councils to the nine provinces of Sri Lanka was a result of direct Indian intervention on behalf of the Tamil minority in 1987.

The ruling NPP's dominant partner Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had then led a bloody rebellion against the Indo-Lanka Accord between the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J R Jayewardene.

Sri Lanka has a mixed demography and Tamils, both ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils and Indian-origin Tamils; mostly in north and eastern Sri Lanka.

LTTE, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan army killed its supreme leader V Prabhakaran. PTI CORR NPK NPK