By
Nadine Mariah
TNA MP and lawyer M. A. Sumanthiran told The Sunday Leader that the 13th Amendment alone would not be sufficient to solve the national questions, and that the government should go above and beyond the constitution to truly address ethnic tensions in Sri Lanka.
Following are excerpts of the interview:
Q: Do you think the proposed 19th amendment will solve the national question?
A: Not at all! It will only exacerbate the problem. The 13th amendment was brought in as the solution to the national question, but everyone will agree that it did not sufficiently redress the imbalance created by the reality of a heterogeneous society in which some were the permanent majority while others were permanent minorities. All attempts to finally settle this were in the direction of enhancing devolution and making it meaningful. Greater devolution is agreed as the way forward and not the opposite, which is what is contemplated by the proposed 19th amendment.
Q: Given the government won’t fully implement the 13th Amendment, do the TNA have a pragmatic alternative?
A: The government has ad nauseam given the undertaking not only to implement the 13th amendment in full, but to go beyond that also and make devolution meaningful. This commitment is contained in several joint statements, with India and the UN and were made in the last four years by the Rajapaksa regime itself. The government’s failure to keep to its commitments will naturally have consequences in the international fora. Therefore the TNA need not have any alternative, but only insist on delivery as promised.
Q: Does the TNA feel like there will be any permanent solution to the national question?
A: If this country is to go forward and be prosperous, there must be a permanent solution. The sooner the people of this country realize that, the better it will be for the country.
Q: Do the TNA have faith that this government can deliver it?
A: This government has now lost all credibility as they have undertaken a project in the opposite direction to their promises!
Q: Is the TNA confident of a positive outcome after their Indian visit?
A: Yes we are. The Indian Prime Minister and all other leaders were genuinely concerned about the developing situation in Sri Lanka. India has a responsibility towards the Tamils in Sri Lanka to ensure the implementation of the Indo-Lanka Accord, which India signed on behalf of the Tamils. This was necessitated at that time by the fact that all previous agreements successive Sri Lankan governments signed with the Tamil political leadership within the country were unilaterally abrogated and Tamils we left without any remedy at those times.
Q: Could India prevail on the Sri Lankan government to fully implement the 13th amendment?
A: India must prevail on the Sri Lankan government not only to implement the 13th amendment, but also to go beyond that and make devolution meaningful.
Q: How does the TNA view of the PSC, given it only consists of governing party members?
A: It is no longer a PSC, but a sub-committee of the government parliamentary group.
Q: How badly will the repeal of the merger clause impact on the provincial council system?
A: It will be anti-democratic in that people of adjacent provinces will be prevented against their will to amalgamate their respective provinces.
Q: How does the TNA plan to campaign for full implementation of 13th amendment and how will you build support for it?
A: TNA will continue to campaign for greater and meaningful devolution that will result in a genuine power-sharing arrangement between the different peoples of this country. The offer to ‘implement the 13th Amendment in full and to go beyond that also’ is a phrase used by the government, and not us. If the government does a volte face now, we will expose that and continue with our campaign for a meaningful power-sharing arrangement.
COURTESY:THE SUNDAY LEADER