Col R Hariharan
Highlights
Abolition of 13th Amendment: The provincial
autonomy issue again came the fore as Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and
leaders of two coalition partners - the right wing Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and
the left wing National Freedom Front (NFF) of the ruling United Peoples Freedom
Alliance (UPFA) sought the abolition of 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
This dissension within the ruling alliance could neutralize Indian efforts to
get the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to restart talks with the government on
the reconciliation process.
Miscellaneous:
- Closure of refinery
- India-Sri Lanka FTA’s progress.
- ‘KP’s new role.
Abolition of 13th
Amendment
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya
Rajapaksa gave a call for the abolition of the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution that provides for creation of provincial councils and delineates
their powers, in a media interview. He said there was no other option left
because the post-war political strategy of Tamil National Alliance (TNA). Two
partners of the ruling coalition - the right-wing Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU)
and the National Freedom Front (NFF) led by former JVP leader Weerawansa came
out strongly in support of his call. Weerawansa suggested holding a referendum
on the issue. Advocates of abolition consider it as an external solution thrust
upon Sri Lanka, obviously due to its origin after the India-Sri Lanka Agreement
1987.
However, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the left parties of
the coalition, and Douglas Devananda, the steadfast Tamil supporter of
President Rajapaksa, came out strongly against any such move. Prof Tissa Vitharana, senior minister and
leader of the Lanka Sama Samaj Party (LSSP), came out strongly against members
of the government who called for abolishing 13th Amendment; he said
the suggestion was “extremely unfortunate and would bring vastly negative
repercussions.” He said the Amendment led to all the militant groups except the
LTTE to give up arms and enter the democratic process under a unitary state. If
the Amendment was abrogated “it will diminish and dash all hopes of not only
Tamils but all Tamil-speaking people of this country to live in a united Sri
Lanka as one nation with the Sinhalese. This is disastrous to the extreme”.
When President Rajapaksa and
Dr Manmohan Singh met last month at New Delhi, India was said to have exerted pressure
on him for resumption of talks with the TNA. And a TNA delegation was invited
to New Delhi; it met the Indian Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs
to apprise them of their stand. The TNA leaders also met with the Chinese
ambassador in Colombo to brief him on the issues faced by Tamils. While these
moves could have provoked the ire of the Defence Secretary and Sinhala
nationalist lobbies to call for abolition of 13th Amendment, there could
be more to it.
It could be to buy time for President Rajapaksa to delay direct
talks with the TNA, as the government is making efforts to get in touch with
Tamil Diaspora leaders using former LTTE arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanabhan
(KP) who has been freed from custody to live in Kilinochchi. If the government
succeeds in getting some key Diaspora leaders to negotiate with it by passing
the TNA, the TNA’s position as the sole representative of Tamils would be
weakened.
In
this context the introduction of the Divineguma Bill in parliament by
Basil Rajapaksa close on the heels of calls for abolishing 13th Amendment
is interesting. The bill aims at
creating a department of Divineguma Development by merging three
authorities - Samurdhi, Southern Development and Udarata (up-country)
Development involved in savings and loan schemes. Though the bill appears
innocuous, critics fear it would curtail the powers of provincial councils in
rural development as the loan schemes would be controlled by the Colombo. The
bill has run into a constitutional road block as it has to be passed by all
provincial councils as per a ruling given by the Sri Lanka Supreme Court. Basil
Rajapaksa strongly denounced TNA’s opposition to the Bill. He said, “The TNA
does not have an authority to talk about the provincial councils. The President
has the largest mandate received by any head of state in the country, the
government has the highest majority under the proportional representation
system and the provincial councils are also under the governing party.” This
orchestration of actions between the Rajapaksa brothers would indicate likely
involvement of the President in the strategic call for abolition of 13th
Amendment.
However, as
the coalition ranks are divided on the issue of abolishing 13th
Amendment, President Rajapaksa is unlikely to take precipitate action. Moreover,
he will have to consider its repercussions on Sri Lanka’s relations with India
and New Delhi’s sensitivity to mounting anti Sri
Lanka sentiments in Tamil Nadu. Sri Lanka would like to maintain cordial
relations with India as evidenced by the visit of Defence Secretary Gotabaya
Rajapaksa to New Delhi at the invitation of India’s national security advisor
Shivshankar Menon. This came in spite of all the rhetoric on 13th
Amendment as an imported solution. During the visit, Gotabaya is reported to
have discussed with his Indian counterpart the entire
gamut of military relations between the two sides, including continued training
of Sri Lankan defence personnel in India.
Miscellaneous
Refinery closure and petrol shortage: As
Sri Lanka tankers sent to Iran to transport oil from Tehran at the request of
the Iranian government have not been allowed to enter Iranian waters by American
blockade. As a result the country’s only
oil refinery - Sapugaskanda oil refinery, designed to process only Iranian
crude, has been shut down for the first time in 42 years history after the Ceylon
Petroleum Corporation ran out of crude stock.
India-Sri Lanka FTA: A new study has shown that the India-Sri Lanka
Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) has helped narrow the trade gap between the two
South Asian neighbours in favour of Sri Lanka, while attracting more Indian
investments into the country. The study titled ‘Regional Economic Cooperation
and Connectivity is South and South-West Asia: Potential and Challenges’
released by the UN-ESCAP in September 2012 said: "An FTA in the region
that has experienced significant benefits of trade creation for both parties
involved is the FTA between India and Sri Lanka, which was an early experiment
towards regional economic integration in South Asia…provides useful lessons for
other South Asian economies in terms of the progress in strengthening trade and
economic linkages." It added "over 70 per cent of Sri Lanka’s exports
have been undertaken within the framework of FTA preferences, compared to
around 30 per cent of India’s exports. On the other hand, only around 14 per
cent of Sri Lanka’s imports from India have been under the FTA. Therefore, the
FTA has assisted in narrowing the trade gap between the two countries in favour
of Sri Lanka and has contributed towards more equitable and balanced growth of
bilateral trade…It has indirectly led to a significant amount of Indian
investments in Sri Lanka, which was a mere US$ 2.5 million in 1998 increased to
US$ 146.8 million in 2011, recording the second highest FDI inflows into Sri Lanka."
‘KP’s new role: Sri Lanka government has allowed the LTTE’s former chief
arms procurer, Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) to settle in the house of the late LTTE’s
political chief Tamilchelvan in Kilinochchi. The NGO founded by KP - North
Eastern Rehabilitation and Development Organization (NERDO) - is operating from
the same house. Though the government claimed he was under house arrest, the
move was probably part of the Sri Lanka plan to use him to establish direct
links with Tamil Diaspora leaders as referred earlier. The opposition UNP as
well as about 60 other former LTTE members in prison awaiting prosecution have
objected to KP’s release. However, TNA appeared to have a tacit understanding
about his role.
Written on October 32, 2012
Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends,Volumen 6 No. 8 September 2012
www.security-risks.com
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