Implementation of the 13th amendment may create separate ethnic provinces

By Dr. Sellakapu S Upasiri de Silva

President’s opinion.

(July 22, Sydny, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Mahinda Rajapakse very wisely ruled out separate ethnic provinces in Sri Lanka. As the supreme ruler of the country he is in a very good position to judge, what is best for the country, in creating a peaceful environment for all Sri Lankans after the LTTE is defeated. The President may have taken this wise decision after much deliberation and consideration of the opinions of the wider public debating about the Amendment 13. President is well aware that the implementation of the 13th Amendment may create Ethnic provinces and it may lead to more unrest among the general public and the chances of another terror campaign by ill-informed and disgruntled people.

Further he has ruled out any demographic changes in the North but informed the reporter who was interviewing him that demographic changes are taking place in the Sinhala majority Colombo. He said he is not going to stop any migration of Eastern Muslims or Northern Tamils coming to Colombo as every one has a right to live in any part of the country during his interview with the American magazine Time.

Should we divide the country on ethnic lines?

Sri Lanka should not be divided along the ethnic lines as forced by India in 1987 by introducing the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord signed under military threats to the then President J.R.Jayawardena. In 1987, Sri Lankan government with our efficient Tri-service personnel’s, that included the present Secretary of Defence Lt. Col (Retd) Gotabaya Rajapakse and the Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka was at the verge of capturing LTTE leader (late) Prabakaran. As Indian Government who trained and armed the LTTE tried to settle a “personal feud” with the then Sri Lankan President, and intervene in Sri Lankan affairs by force. They dropped “Parippu” after ordering the Sri Lankan government to stop the Armed Forces advance against the LTTE and forced this Accord on the then GOSL according to General Ranatunga.

Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.

The Indo –Sri Lanka Accord signed on July 29, 1987 is now seems to be VOID due to the fundamental breaches created by the Indian government in a forceful and deliberate manner. “Fundamental breach is the failure by one party to perform a primary obligation under the contract so that the other party is deprived of substantially the whole benefit that he or she was to have received under the contract”. Indian government purposely failed to up-hold and breach many other clauses but their failure to uphold the Cl. 2.16 (a) to (e) to take necessary steps to ensure that Indian Territory is not used for activities prejudicial to the unity, integrity and security of Sri Lanka. Since the signing of this agreement and the Indian forces were forced out by the LTTE, and for the last 20 years of the 22 years they provided material help to LTTE by supplying fuel, arms and medicine and also allowing those Tamil Politicians of the TNA to denounce Sri lanka and support the LTTE to continue their Terror activities.

Now this Accord is not worth the paper it has written, and there are no legal or other considerations to implement the Amendment 13 after we completely annihilated the LTTE terror outfit, which was a major requirement at the time of signing the Accord. In 1987, Indian government took this decision to force Sri Lanka to submission as the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was trying to take his revenge for insulting his mother Mrs.Srimathi Gandhi by then President J.R.Jayawardena, of Sri Lanka, according to very reliable sources.

“Which was to humiliate the Junius Richard Jayewardene government in Sri Lanka and teach it a hard lesson about the dangers of being disrespectful to India’s status as the pre-eminent power in the Indian Ocean? Jayewardene was too Western-oriented and behaved as if he never read about the Monroe Doctrine when he read history in Oxford. We didn't like at all his dalliance with the Israelis and the Americans in our very backyard. So, we fostered Prabhakaran and built him up as a prick on Jayewardene's vanities - like Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale of the Deccans”. (Rise and Fall of Prabakaran, 05-07-2009 by Indian Ambassador M.K.Bhadrakumar, national Express Malaysia)

Why India invaded Sri Lanka.

This reliable source, a very senior diplomat from the Indian High Commission in Kenya, closely related to Gandhi family, said somewhere in August 1979, that the Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Srimathi Gandhi and the Sri Lankan President J.R.Jayawardena had a very serious discussion where the Sri Lankan President was very rude to the Indian PM. The Sri Lankan President’s undiplomatic manner in treating Mrs. Gandhi, the then Indian Prime Minister and the Leader of the largest democracy in Asia, created a very bad dent in the Indo Sri Lanka friendship. According to the information (late) Prime Minister of India Mrs. Indira Gandhi, has tried to intervene and prevent the removal of (late) Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s (former PM of Sri Lanka and her friend of many years) civil rights by the Jayawardena government. Mrs Gandhi, has telephoned (not once but three times) to President Jayawardena and has requested him not to remove the civil rights of Mrs. Bandaranayaike. The Sri Lankan President was very rude and spoken to her in an unpleasant manner asking her to mind her own business and not to interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.

This strong verbal accusation leads to Mrs. Gandhi allowing RAW to train the Tamil youths later they became the LTTE. The personal rivalry of the UNP and the SLFP was the root cause of the 32 years unwanted trouble death and destruction in Sri Lanka.

As a result of this rivalry, her son the then Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi wanted to teach a lesson to the (late) President Jayawardena and used his powers to stop the war with LTTE and drop “Parippu” for Tamil people. This animosity of the two leaders has cost Sri Lanka billions of rupees in loss revenue and over 150,000 lives, and the assassination of one President and many Ministers in Sri Lanka and assassination of Prime Ministers Mrs. Srimathi Gandhi and Mr. Rajiv Gandhi (by LTTE) of India with over 1600 lives of Indian soldiers (IPKF) lost unnecessarily.

India must not interfere.

When any, sane, intelligent and educated persons analyse the action of the then Prime Minister of a great country like India, trying to teach a lesson to the President of a neighbouring country, by training a Terror outfit, and imposing condition to devolve power seems to be a ridiculous act. Anybody with a good knowledge in (Contract) Law will understand that the hastily prepared Indo – Sri Lanka Accord is poorly written and not meeting the rule of the law and many conditions in that accord is unilaterally forced on the Sri Lankan government.

This agreement or the accord was forced on the Sri Lankan President to create separate ethnic provinces –North and the East – for the Tamil people, even though the Cl 1.1 of the accord is to preserve the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. But, the Cl 1.4, 1.5 and the rest of the clauses up to 2.14, has infringed and violated the expectations included in Cl.1.1. Clause 2.15, create a fundamental breach of this agreement as the conditions discussed from 4.5.1986 to 19.12.1986 is excluded as an annexure or attachments and not forming a part of this agreement. In general terms this agreement or the accord is a hastily prepared document without any consultation with the GOSL Legal people and as such the Government of India should withdraw this agreement in good faith to strength the traditional friendship of Sri Lanka and (as the animosity created by the former President has now forgotten), allow the present President Rajapakse of Sri Lanka to settle the ethnic problem in the country without creating ethnic enclaves in the North and the East.

As the greatest Democracy in the Asia, India must set and example and leave Sri Lanka alone to mind her internal disputes the way the people of Sri Lanka thinks fit.

Diplomats should avoid political comments.

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India C. Romesh Jayasinghe on 8th July 2009 has commented that President Rajapakse is committed to a political solution despite the elimination of the LTTE, would now implement the 13th amendment on devolution of powers to the Tamil provinces. A very efficient High Commissioner like Romesh Jayasinghe should not have uttered these words without checking with the President as on 30th June, 2009 he stoped every one talking about the amendment 13. Further he said Mr. Rajapaksa’s promise that he would give the Tamils “13th Amendment plus” as per Indo-Sri lanka accord of 1987 is an inappropriate remark after President Rajapakse has on few occasions has requested every one to stop discussing this Amendment 13.

On 30th June 2009, President has instructed all those political Ambassadors like Dayan Jayathilake and Hemantha Warnakulasooriya to keep their private opinion to themselves as he is taking the responsibility of taking the final decision on 13 A.

Ambassador Hemantha Warnakulasooriya, a political appointee has stated that those of us who oppose the Amendment 13 are the supporters of the Eelam. We never heard about Hemantha Warnakulasooriya as a person fighting the LTTE before he got this appointment. But most of us, who are furiously fighting against the implementation of the Amendment 13 to prevent ethnic enclaves and a separation possibility, were fighting this LTTE Propaganda war for the last 30 year by spending our own money, time and our energy. It is very unfortunate Ambassador Warnakulasooriya to utter unwanted remarks to the patriotic people some are only born Sri Lankan’s to discourage their work in the future. Presidential Advisor Mr. Sunimal Fernando whom I met when I was working at Tangalle doing some research (your home town) may not agree with your remarks. Appointment as an Ambassador doesn’t give Hemantha the right to disgrace people who are against Eelam as supporters of Eelam.

13 amendment –can it be another Trojan horse.

“Relying on President’s statements to justify the implementation of 13 A is also absurd. The President himself is confused and makes contradictory statements about 13 A! There is no way, other than by magic, 13 A can bring people together. It can only separate people based on race which will lead to another round of Eelam war from a more advantageous position. 13 A is a plan to win the same things LTTE failed to win militarily.

Imagine the situation of a Northern Provincial Council (NPC) with all 13 A powers. There is nothing to stop the old Vadukkodai School separation winning the election and taking control of the NPC. They are still there and their part is still very active, may be more active now. NPC will be the platform on which they will start building the Tamil Eelam” (Real Reasons for the 13 A Implementation, July 17th 2009 – Dilrook Kannangara)

As stated here, President is not confused. But the Ambassadors, High Commissioners, Ministers and other Politicians make President confused by uttering their own versions about the Amendment 13, and creating an unwanted hype among the citizens of Sri Lanka.

Most Tamil Leaders from the TNA and TULF like Mr. Anandasagaree are now trying to replace Prabakaran, the slain LTTE Leader and become another Prabakaran and trying to achieve the Eelam, Prabakaran was fighting for the last 30+ years, after all our brave soldiers sacrifice their lives to unite the country. They are trying to use a Trojan horse called the Amendment 13, to achieve that.

What is 13 A.?

The 13th Amendment enacted by the Parliament of Sri Lanka and certified on 24-05-1988, says: To make provisions for the establishment of a Provincial Council for each Province; for the establishment of a High Court for each Province and to make Tamil an Official language and English the link language. [ Is this refer to all the NINE (9) provinces or only the North and East ?]

When I read this Amendment I get a eerie feeling that why North and East is excluded but mentioned as Provinces, and Tamil to be the official language. If any Legal person reading this should have notice this and should have questioned whether this included all the 9 provinces. If we implement this Amendment 13 or 13+ then we will loses the entire country, if the Vadukkodai boys take this matter to the High Court. I think it is high time the Attorney General should have a very close look at this Amendment 13.

This Amendment 13, if critically analyse according to the law of the country it will prove that the use of Sinhala, the main official language in the country is excluded as the language of the Provinces and for the Court system and all other official work should be executed by using Tamil and the link language (only if required) the English.

Many will argue that as long as Sinhala is the main Official Language (Tamil is also now an official language) why should we worry about the use of Tamil in the Provincial Councils in any other provinces. If Sinhala and Tamil are both recognise as official languages in Chapter IV Article 18 and 19, of the Constitution, why it is necessary to include “exclusively“ Tamil as an Official language and English as the link language in this Amendment ?

But this Amendment clearly establishes Tamil as the language of the Provinces as well as the High Courts. Now the Governor, Major General Chnadrasiri or any other Governor of any other Province should be able to work in Tamil. As said by Dilrook Kannangara if the Old Vadukkodai school boys take charge of the Provinces, then what Prabakaran was fighting for 32 years by killing 80,000 people and 6700 service personnel’s, 25,000 wounded service personnel’s and many other innocent Sinhala and Tamil citizens loosing their limbs and lives including their assets going for waste, and the Vadukkodai boys will establish their Eelam and raise the Eelam Flag. Those who supported the implementation of the amendment 13 like LTTE buddy Minister Rajitha Senaratne MP, Prof. Vitharana, Ambassadors and all others crying for the rights of the poor Tamils in the IDP Camps can be happy of their achievement.

As President said there should be no separate ethnic provinces in Sri Lanka for the sake of unity and for all the citizens to live as Sri Lankans.

-Sri Lanka Guardian