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Negotiate with real leaders of the Tamils!
By Sri Lanka Guardian • July 15, 2008 • • Comments : 2
- The Sudar Oli Editorial
(July 15, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardain) Minister Tissa Witharana, the Leader of All Party Representative Committee, has stated that Sri Lanka is moving towards formulating a new constitution without being tied down to a rigid stand either for Federal system or a unitary system and following a flexible position of finding devolution of power in a unitary set up. He has also revealed that there are moves to accommodate the TNA, too, in the deliberation. Let us dwell on this!
After the declaration of the independence from the British in 1948, there had been two constitutions enacted in 1972 and in 1978. The 1972 constitution was referred to as the Republican constitution, while the 1978 constitution was enacted to pave the way for an executive presidential system of government.
Both constitutions were enacted and passed without the participation of the Tamil people, without their support, without their consent. That is the truth of the matter. Those two constitutions were thrust upon the unwilling Tamil people. They were communal in character. When the Tamil people staged demonstrations against them, their struggles were put down with the might of the government.
1972 constitution deprived the minorities of an entrenched provisions section 29, which was a safeguard for them and made the Tamil people second rate citizens in the country. It recognized the Sinhala language as the official language and gave a place of significance to Buddhism. The Constituent Assembly rejected all amendments and the federal solution put forward by the Federal Party. It was this that led to an armed struggle.
It is therefore obvious that any solution reached without any consultation with the affected people, the minorities, can be of no use. The country has paid dearly for enacting constitutions without being accommodative to the legitimate aspirations of these people.
Therefore, need of the hour is deliberations with real representatives of the Tamil people!
(An English translation of the Editorial in The Sudar Oli, a Tamil daily based in Colombo)
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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Revisions to the constitution by all Political Parties, have been carried out to take care of the requirements of the Politicians; not the nation or the country....
..Moreover, the 1972 version was meant primarily for Sirimavo B to rule the country for 7 years with the Communists and Socilialists. That era brought the country to the point of starvation..
Then, JR introduced the 1978 revision primarily for him, his family and his strong supporters to manage the country for generations. .. now the SLFP, JVP and others also benefit from it.
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