CaTPaD Request the President to Implement 13th Amendment

(July 30, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Canadian Tamils for Peace and Democracy (CaTPaD ) request The President of Sri Lanka, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse to implement the 13th Amendment in full and find an amicable solution to the minority issue within the frame work of the Sri Lankan constitution.

The President himself has said at numerous occasions before that once the war on Terrorism was over and the LTTE was defeated a political solution would be announced soon. But the recent statement by the President saying that he got a mandate only to defeat Terrorism and he needs a fresh mandate for a Political solution is seen as a change in the stand of the Government of Sri Lanka and by the President himself, was a very shocking news to the Tamil Diaspora, which has stood by the Government in the war on Terrorism opposing the majority of its own Tamil community. We stood by our principal stand to eradicate Terrorism from the Sri Lankan soil and hoped for a negotiated settlement to the ethnic issue.

When the LTTE controlled Tamil Diaspora is getting ready for a fresh political offensive against the Government of Sri Lanka and has created a Provisional Transnational Government, it is far more necessary to announce a political package and implement the 13th Amendment of the Constitution in full before the Tamil Diaspora and the Tamils in Sri Lanka in particular are once again carried away by their extreme policies. The extremist in the North and in the South were always trying to capitalize the situation, it’s the moral duty of the President and his Government to take a clear stand on this issue before things goes out of control as it has happened in the times of previous successive Governments.

As a matter of Principal, none of the political parties in the South has moral right to oppose the 13th Amendment of the Constitution for they themselves have contested on the same 13th Amendment that created the Provincial Councils in the South and are enjoying all the benefits of the act. Therefore we the Canadian Tamils for Peace and Democracy call on His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapakse, to implement the 13th Amendment in full without delay and carry out your Constitutional duties to look after the grievances of all communities in Sri Lanka and particularly the Tamil community, which is very badly affected by the denial of its Constitutional rights to enjoy the 13th Amendment of the Constitution in our own country and to make them feel they are equal stakeholders and also make a positive move to bring the affected community into main stream politics.

-Sri Lanka Guardian