{"id":86646,"date":"2025-11-20T18:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T22:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=86646"},"modified":"2025-11-21T00:05:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T04:05:26","slug":"86646","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=86646","title":{"rendered":"President AK Dissanayake Tells ITAK that Elections to the Provincial Councils Would be held without Further Delay Withut Providig a Timeline for Polls; AKD says Talks on Proposed new Constitution would start in January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Wednesday (November 19, 2025) told the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) that his government would initiate talks on the promised new Constitution in January next year. He also said elections to the Provincial Councils would be held without further delay, although he did not provide a timeline for the same, members of the party told The Hindu. <\/p>\n

It was the first time that the ITAK \u2014 a prominent Tamil party with eight MPs in the current Parliament \u2014 met President Dissanayake on the pending political solution to Sri Lanka\u2019s national question. \u201cWe told the President that unless this issue is resolved, the country cannot move forward,\u201d ITAK general secretary and former Jaffna legislator M.A. Sumanthiran told the media following the meeting. Acting president of the ITAK, C.V.K. Sivagnanam, and all parliamentarians representing the party in the north and east, were present at the meeting.<\/p>\n

Mr. Dissanayake told the ITAK that longstanding issues faced by the people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces can no longer be addressed through \u201coutdated political solutions\u201d and therefore, it was necessary to move towards \u201ca new political framework\u201d, a statement from the President\u2019s office said. \u201cEveryone\u2019s support is essential in that process,\u201d he further emphasised.<\/p>\n

The discussion comes after the ITAK wrote to President Dissanayake in September 2025 \u2014 when he completed a year in office \u2014 seeking a meeting on the long-pending political settlement. Reminding him of his pre-poll pledge to address the aspirations of the Tamil people, the letter said: \u201cno action seems to have been taken\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Dissanayake government, which has prioritised economic recovery following the 2022 financial crash, is yet to initiate processes to draft a new Constitution. Further, although the five-year terms of Sri Lanka\u2019s nine Provincial Councils expired between 2017 and 2019, elections are yet to be held, with successive governments postponing the polls. While the Dissanayake administration\u2019s latest Budget has allocated funds to hold the Provincial Council elections, concerns persist over a further delay, owing to differences among political parties over a possible shift to a new electoral system.<\/p>\n

Weeks before his election to the country\u2019s top office in September 2024, Mr. Dissanayake told The Hindu that fixing Sri Lanka\u2019s battered economy and wiping out racism were \u201ctop priority\u201d for his National People\u2019s Power (NPP) coalition. He promised to take forward previous efforts to draft a new Constitution. \u201cSome of us were part of the process\u2026we don\u2019t have to re-invent the wheel. We will build on that effort,\u201d Mr. Dissanayake then said.<\/p>\n

In Wednesday\u2019s meeting, the ITAK representatives referred to several earlier proposals to address the Tamil national question that is at the heart of Sri Lanka\u2019s enduring ethnic conflict, 16 years after the civil war ended.
\nBatticaloa parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said, \u201calthough a year late\u201d, it was very clear from the meeting that President Dissanayake \u201chas a very good understanding of Tamil aspirations, what needs to be done and the various agreements and technical processes\u201d of the past. \u201cWe are willing to engage constructively,\u201d Mr. Rasamanickam said, underscoring the need for \u201ca clear timeline and concrete confidence building measures\u201d from the government. \u201cWe see that the President\u2019s party [Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna] has shifted from its [historic] position on the economy and on India relations. I am hopeful that the President will be able to bring his party along on the Tamil question, too,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The ITAK\u2019s talks with Mr. Dissanayake come days after tensions in the eastern Trincomalee district over the placement of an allegedly unauthorised Buddha statue, an issue that was also debated in Parliament. The incident sparked concern amid Tamils\u2019 ongoing battle for their lands that they accuse authorities, including those from archaeology and forest departments, of taking over to \u201calter the demography\u201d of their areas.<\/p>\n

In his parliamentary address on Tuesday, President Dissanayake, referring to the dispute over a Buddha statue in Trincomalee, said \u201ccertain opportunistic groups\u201d were attempting to turn recent incidents into \u201cold racist dramas\u201d, even as the underlying legal issues are being addressed in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our meeting, we expressed support to the President\u2019s statement, and agreed that we must work together to prevent racists from stoking tensions. But it can\u2019t be at the cost of our people\u2019s rights, so we need substantive action on the government\u2019s part too,\u201d Mr. Sumanthiran said. While the discussion \u201chad many positives\u201d, the President \u201cdid not commit to quick action on the Constitution or Provincial polls,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Wednesday (November 19, 2025) told the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) that his government would initiate talks on the promised new Constitution in January next year. He also said elections to the Provincial Councils would be held without further delay, although he did not provide …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘President AK Dissanayake Tells ITAK that Elections to the Provincial Councils Would be held without Further Delay Withut Providig a Timeline for Polls; AKD says Talks on Proposed new Constitution would start in January 2026’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86646"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86649,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86646\/revisions\/86649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}