By C.A. Chandraprema –
C.A. Chandraprema
The government has made an official statement to the effect that it’s reconsidering the 19th Amendment but no such official statement has been made with regard to the 13th Amendment. However opposition politicians have expressed the view that the government is trying to use their two thirds majority to do away with the 13th Amendment as well. The government does not have to take the trouble to do anything to get rid of the 13th Amendment. It has been tied up in knots by the yahapalana political parties including the Tamil National Alliance so effectively that all that the government has to do to get rid of it for good, is to do nothing. If the government is to restore the provincial councils system, they will need a two thirds majority to do away with the yahapalana government’s 2017 Act which sent the PC system into the limbo that it is in at present.
When the provincial councils system was functioning there was the oft heard complaint that it had not been made fully functional i.e. that the police and land powers of the provincial councils had not been implemented as originally intended. This has been a major bone of contention during the past three decades with the Tamil National Alliance calling for its full implementation and even demanding that the Sri Lankan government should go beyond the 13th Amendment in order to satisfy Tamil aspirations. One thing that we have to realize is that like so many other aspects of the 1978 Constitution, the 13th Amendment is a very badly drafted piece of legislation. When police and land powers were included in the 13th Amendment, they were copied wholesale from the Indian constitution with no consideration for its practicability in Sri Lanka.
Land powers
In India, what has been said in the text of the Constitution in relation to the powers over land of the center and the states has been defined and interpreted by the Supreme Court. In the landmark 1962 case, State Of West Bengal vs Union of India, a majority judgement concluded that the structure of the Indian Union is centralized, with the States occupying a secondary position. Hence the Centre possessed the requisite powers to acquire properties belonging to States. The Indian SC observed in this case, that even under Constitutions which are truly federal and full sovereignty of the States is recognized, the power to utilise property of the State for Union purposes is not denied. Therefore the power of the Union to legislate in respect of property situated in the States remains unrestricted. This judgement was delivered in 1962. The provincial councils system was introduced in Sri Lanka in 1987. If the text dealing with land powers in the 13th Amendment had been formulated on the lines laid down in State of West Bengal vs Union of India, the Northern Tamil political parties would have had more realistic expectations with regard to powers over land. Instead, the text of the 13th Amendment on land powers followed the text of the Indian Constitution thus making it necessary for Sri Lanka to reinvent the wheel as it were.
In 2013, Sri Lanka finally got its own version of State Of West Bengal vs Union of India which defined the extent of the land powers mentioned in the 13th Amendment. The 2013 case of Solaimuthu Rasu, vs The State Plantations Corporation was heard by a three member bench of the Supreme Court made up of Chief Justice Mohan Pieris, K.Sripavan, and Eva Wanasundera and each judge delivered separate judgements while coming to the same conclusion. Justice K.Sripavan observed in his judgement that ‘land’ is a Provincial Council subject only to the extent set out in Appendix II (of the 9th schedule of the Constitution). The Constitutional limitations imposed by the legislature shows that in the exercise of its legislative powers, no exclusive power is vested in the Provincial Councils with regard to the subject of ‘land’… a Provincial Council can utilize ‘State Land’ only upon it being made available to it by the Government. It therefore implies that a Provincial Council cannot appropriate to itself without the government making state land available to such Council. Such state land can be made available by the Government only in respect of a Provincial Council subject.
Justice Sripavan explained further that the only power cast upon the Provincial Council is to administer, control and utilize such state land in accordance with the laws passed by Parliament and the statutes made by the Provincial Council… Even after the establishment of Provincial Councils in 1987, state land continued to be vested in the Republic and disposition could be carried out only in accordance with Article 33(d) of the Constitution read with 1:3 of Appendix II to the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution. Despite such Supreme Court interpretations given in India and Sri Lanka, the Tamil lobby in Sri Lanka continues to demand exclusive land powers that even Tamil Nadu does not possess. They may point to the text of the 13th Amendment, but never to the interpretations given to that text in India or even in Sri Lanka. People pretend that they have neither seen nor heard of any interpretation given with regard to land powers and we keep going round and round in circles.
Police powers
When it comes to police powers however, what the 13th Amendment has is what India actually has in practice. The first item on the Provincial Council List of powers is Police and Public order. The extent of these powers are set out in an Appendix to the 13th Amendment according to which the Sri Lanka police force was to be divided into a National Division (including Special Units) and nine Provincial Divisions. The National division would have jurisdiction only over 11 specified areas such as offences against the State, election offences, offences relating to currency, offences committed against a public officer, a judicial officer, or a Member of Parliament, offences relating to state property and international crimes etc. Other than such specified offences, all other day to day police work such as crimes, traffic, drugs, fraud and maintenance of public order etc. were to be carried out by the provincial police forces.
Thus what we were to have under the 13th Amendment were in effect nine different police forces combined with a national police force all crammed into an area the size of one of India’s smaller states. A police system designed for a sub-continent applied to a country only a little bigger than Himachal Pradesh. Furthermore the creation of separate police forces for each province would have given rise to a Tamil police force in the north, a Muslim and Tamil police force in the east and Sinhala police forces in the rest of the country – a sure recipe for disaster given Sri Lanka’s history of ethnic conflict. No leader in the past three decades since the 13th Amendment was passed has even considered implementing the police powers laid down in the 13th Amendment. Moreover, these police powers have been included in the 13th Amendment in a situation where some of the most important safeguards in the Indian Constitution against separatism have been left out of it.
The missing safeguards
The Indian President’s veto power over state legislation: Even though some Indian states are much bigger than most nation states in the world, the Indian President can veto any legislation that comes to him from the states. According to Articles 200 and 201 of the Indian Constitution, When a Bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly of a State it has to be presented to the Governor for assent. The Governor can either give his assent or reserve it for the consideration of the President. The President can either assent to the Bill or withhold assent therefrom and he does not have to give any explanation as to why he withholds assent. He does not have to consult the Supreme Court or any other authority. This veto power is exercised entirely at the discretion of the Indian President.
In terms of Sri Lanka’s 13th Amendment however, every statute made by a Provincial Council has to be presented to the Governor for his assent, and the Governor may either assent to the statute or reserve it for reference by the President to the Supreme Court, for a determination on the constitutionality of the statute. If the Supreme Court determines that the statute is consistent with the provisions of the Constitution, the Governor is mandatorily required to assent to the statute. The Sri Lankan President is thus only a post box through whom the Governor sends the statute to the Supreme Court and receives its opinion! The Sri Lankan Executive President has no discretionary power over statutes passed by the provincial councils even though the supposedly ceremonial Indian President has such powers.
Taking over state legislative power in the national interest: According to Article 249 if the Indian Constitution, if the Council of States (the upper house of Indian parliament – the Rajya Sabha) has declared by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest that Parliament should make laws with respect to any matter enumerated in the State List, it shall be lawful for Parliament to make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India with respect to that matter while the resolution remains in force. Such A resolution shall remain in force for a period not exceeding one year, and so long as a resolution approving the continuance in force of such resolution is passed, it can continue in force for a further period of one year. This takeover of legislative power can continue indefinitely for as long as is required. (It’s important to note that it’s only the upper house of parliament that needs to vote on this matter and that too only with a two thirds majority of Members who may be present on that day, and not a two thirds majority of the whole number of Members of the Rajya Sabha.)
Take over of state legislative power when a state of emergency is in operation: According to Article 250 of the Indian Constitution, Parliament shall, while a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, have power to make laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List. A law made by Parliament under this provision will lapse six months after the Proclamation of Emergency has ceased to operate.
We have to recognize that what has been dished out to us in the form of the 13th Amendment is something of a much lower order than that which exists in India. For example, under Article 353 of the Indian Constitution, when a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, the executive power of the Union extends to the giving of directions to any State as to the manner in which the executive power thereof is to be exercised and further, the power of Parliament to make laws includes the power to make laws with regard to matters that are not on the Union list (i.e. items on the State list). However according to Article 154J of the Sri Lankan Constitution introduced by the 13th Amendment which is the equivalent of Article 353 of the Indian Constitution, when a state of emergency is in operation, the President may give directions to any Governor as to the manner in which the executive power exercisable by the Governor is to be exercised, but Parliament will not have the power to legislate on matters coming under the provincial councils list!
Shortchanged at every turn
It’s only with regard to the ‘President’s rule’ provisions that we appear to have got what the Indian Constitution has, but even that is merely an appearance and we have been shortchanged there was well. Article 356 of the Indian Constitution states that if the President, on receipt of a report from the Governor of a State or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the Government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the President may by Proclamation (a) assume to himself all or any of the functions of the Government of the State and all or any of the powers exercisable by the Governor and (b) declare that the powers of the Legislature of the State shall be exercisable by the authority of Parliament;
The equivalent provision in the Sri Lankan Constitution which was introduced by the 13th Amendment – Article 154L – states that if the President, on receipt of a report from the Governor of the Province or otherwise, is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the administration of the Province cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the President may by Proclamation – (a) assume to himself all or any of the functions of the administration of the Province and all or any of the powers vested in, or exercisable by, the Governor and (b) declare that the powers of the Provincial Council shall be exercisable by, or under the authority of Parliament. Thus we see that the President’s rule provisions in the Indian Constitution and Sri Lanka’s 13th Amendment are almost identical. The difference however is that in India, President’s rule can remain in force continuously for a maximum period of three years, but in Sri Lanka President’s rule can remain in force only for a maximum of one year.
What was stated above was just the most obvious instances where Sri Lanka has been shortchanged. Closer scrutiny of the Indian Constitution and the way it operates, will reveal many more instances. If the Sri Lankan President had veto power over all statutes passed by the provincial councils, if the declaration of an emergency automatically gave the Sri Lanka Parliament the power to legislate on any matter coming under the provincial councils list, and if there was a system whereby Parliament could take over the legislative power of any province in the event of perceived danger as stipulated in Article 250 of the Indian Constitution, the entire attitude towards the devolution of power in this country would have been very different. As of now, people in Sri Lanka see devolution as a kind of creeping separatism, and they are right because the demands that we hear most often are for powers that even the Indian states do not possess.
The 13th Amendment was drafted before India got into a confrontation with the LTTE and before Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. That was a time when some officers of the Indian army even thought that the LTTE would not turn on them because the latter had been trained and given refuge in India. Furthermore, because Sri Lanka was a small country, some would have thought that fewer safeguards would be required here. The Sri Lankan side may have thought that because India was guaranteeing the implementation of the peace accord, nothing can go wrong and they may have thought that a downsized version of India’s President’s rule provisions was all that was needed in terms of constitutional safeguards against separatism.
Both India and Sri Lanka have learnt many new things since then. Even though the provincial councils system is supposed to be based on the Indian system, we don’t have any of the safeguards that India has. To expect police powers to be implemented in such circumstances is unrealistic. In the opinion of this writer, if legislation is to be passed with a two thirds majority in Parliament to revive the provincial councils system, the same legislation should be used to remove all references to police powers from the provincial councils list in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution for the reasons given above.
GATAM / August 30, 2020
13A was introduced to share power with Tamils but that is exactly what didn’t happen. Sinhalese shared more power from the centre and refused to allow the same power to Tamil and Muslim majority provinces. But the international community believes 13A shared power with minorities. Nice trick – best of both worlds. Much like tsunami aid. In 1921 Ponnambalam Arunachalam said Sinhalese cannot be trusted after he was fooled over the electorate demarcation circus. And he was “much loved” by Sinhalese for praising them. But Tamils have been fooled over and over again for a century from then by the same masters. Shame on Tamils to be fooled so brazenly by Sinhala and Hindi politicians.
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old codger / August 30, 2020
This is a masterpiece of cherry-picked “facts” designed to mislead the ill-informed. For example:
“nine different police forces combined with a national police force all crammed into an area the size of one of India’s smaller states. A police system designed for a sub-continent applied to a country only a little bigger than Himachal Pradesh.”
Himachal Pradesh may be about the size of SL, but what is its population? Just 7.5 million in fact. If we take the North-Eastern states, apart from Assam, the 4 others have populations less than 4 million each. Even Goa is less than 2 million. ALL these states have police forces manned by their own citizens. So the author’s claim of Impracticability is without foundation.
“given rise to a Tamil police force in the north, a Muslim and Tamil police force in the east and Sinhala police forces in the rest of the country – “
Don’t we now have a mono-ethic police force all over the country?
Why does the author pretend to show such tender concern for practicalities? It is obvious that he belies thatTamils or Muslims are not equal citizens and cannot be trusted with any significant power.
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GATAM / August 31, 2020
But representatives of Tamils and Muslims have not asked for police powers. Why is that? Even if police powers are devolved to the north most Tamil police officers will be from the EPDP! And there will still be a federal police covering the entire island which will be managed by the centre. As with USA, India, etc. they can easily over rule state police. That includes STF. So devolving police powers is not practical at all.
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SJ / August 31, 2020
OC
The police is a community based force and should be able to relate to the local people.
Not just fluency in the local language(s) but also ability to interact without inhibition makes the policeman very effective.
Britain learned this lesson rather late, but it did.
*
People of oppressed communities, however, look at the police with suspicion.
I remember the anecdote (based on events) related by my father-in-law:
When asked to write an essay on the police, some children wrote “Liverpool police is bastard police”. The police officer in charge thought that the matter needed serious addressing and organized workshops to explain what the police service was all about.
The children were shortly after invited to write on the same subject.
They wrote “Liverpool police is cunning bastard police”.
*
Policing is sensitive business and our police service has done considerable harm to inter-community relations, besides adding to a reputation for bribery.
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old codger / August 31, 2020
S.J,
One of the benefits of not introducing community based police is that one particular community lays claim to 90% of the jobs. It’s the same with other state entities.
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Eagle Eye / August 31, 2020
old codger,
In order to make the police force multi-ethnic ‘Para’ Demalu and ‘Para’ Muslims should convince Sinhalayo that they can be trusted. With the experience Sinhalayo had with these two communities, they have made their judgement.
With regard to Demalu, the conclusion of Sinhalayo is in the expression referring to ‘Unborn and the Dead’.
With regard to Muslims, the conclusion is in the expression referring to the ‘Hat that Rotates’.
Sinhalayo gave citizenship to Demalu when abandoned by colonial parasites, gave free education, free health service and jobs but ungrateful ‘awa jathakayo’ decided to slaughter Sinhalayo to grab a piece of land from their country to create a separate State. So, how can Sinhalayo trust Demalu?
Muslims were saved by Sinhala Buddhists when they faced persecution by Portuguese, allowed them to settle down in Sinhala areas, allowed them to marry Sinhala women and convert them to Islam. But in 1915, they stabbed in the back of Sinhalayo collaborating with British. Then in 2019, they blew bombs shattering the peace brought to the country by Sinhala ‘Ranaviruwo’ making enormous sacrifices. So, how can Sinhalayo trust Muslims?
So don’t keep on blaming Sinhalayo. You guys will get what you deserve.
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“Don’t we now have a mono-ethic police force all over the country?”
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old codger / September 1, 2020
Eagle,
“Sinhalayo gave citizenship to Demalu when abandoned by colonial parasites, gave free education, free health service”
Really ? Which planet do you live on? It was the earnings of the people you call slaves that paid for idle Sinhalayo to get all that. Even now you send your female relatives to be molested by Mus lings. Is Mus ling money good for you ?
By the way, minority owned business brings in more money than Sinhalayo business. Isn’t that a serious lack of competence ?
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Dr. Gnana Sankaralingam / August 31, 2020
13th Amendment is a noose round the neck of Sri Lanka, which will be tightened when the necessity arises. It is deliberately drafted to keep the ethnic conflict alive. Whatever Sinhala voters may want, no one can abolish or alter it without the consent of India. Now with Chinese security threat, and the feeling that Sri Lanka cannot be trusted, India may force an even wider autonomy to Tamils. Was Tamil claim that they are the original inhabitants of the land orchestrated by vested interests to make a case that Sinhalese are committing genocide and a situation has come to save Tamils. If Sri Lanka does not surrender to India fully getting rid of China from its territory, expect more fireworks. You may even hear in parliament that LTTE are not terrorists, but freedom fighters who took weapons up to save their people and land from Sinhala racists. Rajapakse gang are aware of this and are climbing down from their pedestal. Did anyone care to find out why they did not utter any word against speeches by Tamil MPs in parliament asserting their legitimate rights. All fringe elements who made noises against Tamil claims will be put in their places soon.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / September 1, 2020
Dear GS
Facts vs Fiction
-Tamil children were prostituted as freedom fighters/killing the opponents/mercenaries (remember Maldives and the PLOTE) by the FP/ITAK/TULF and the foreign powers.
-Yes the children thought they were indeed fighting for something…..because they were children…..this was a rape/child abuse/foreign sponsored terrorism…the investigations by a world court/Hague/SL Chief Justice will reveal the “Ratha Pottu Mafia Killing Fields in Jaffna 1970-1977-1981” will answer all the mysteries on behalf of all Mother Lankan life lost soon.
-Yes you are right in something that is 13 is used to play game by a foreign power means our people are left as destitute without a normal dignified living….a sacrificial cathode what you care?? even after all the life lost means you all are share holders in this misery is what I read.
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srikrish / August 30, 2020
It is true that CA Chandraprema is not an independent journalist and always go behind Rajapakse line.
Further CA Chandraprema is an admirer of one nation one law philosophy and hence hostile to power sharing or devolution in Sri Lanka in whatever form .
But in this article C.A,Chandraprema had clearly demonstrated that the devolution system in Sri Lanka is superior to devolution provisions in the Indian Constitution.
All devolution friendly activists must mobilize all moderate forces within the country and outside to defend the 13A as it is
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Eagle Eye / August 30, 2020
SLPP leaders should remember that voters did not give two third majority to revive dead Provincial Councils.
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umberto / August 31, 2020
SLPP voters gave two third majority to not only bury the Provincial councils but also to bury the people in those provinces.
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GATAM / August 31, 2020
Gota can run the country without reviving dead PCs. Their term has expired. There is no legal requirement to hold PC elections and have PCs. That is optional. Governors appointed by Gota run the show.
Welcome to 13 amendment. :)
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Mallaiyuran / August 31, 2020
Yab; they are elected only to rob another $18B on dead Nuraicholai Electricity plant.
(CBK was elected to presidency only to make peace with Tamils. Ranil was elected to repossess the Colombo Pong Cing from China and put the Royal Rowdy Rascals in prison for the crimes committed.But, instead Ranil invented the Lankawe Hotel Hospital Prisons & claimed it was he who successfully saved Royals from UN Electric Chair & the Rapist Army.)
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umberto / August 31, 2020
SLPP voters gave two third majority to not only bury the Provincial councils but also to bury the people in those provinces.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / September 1, 2020
apart from the final phase of the war since 1970-2009 more Tamils were killed by the fellow Tamils than any other racial groups???
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Thamarai / August 31, 2020
Below is what a current minister said regarding devolution (13 A) in January 1996-
“… You cannot do this unless you change Article 2 and Article 76. … It means that until you change those two Articles you cannot have devolution in any meaningful , substantial or pragmatic way. The whole thing will be an exercise in futility. That is why we are committed to a departure from Article 2 and Article 76”.
Article 2 – The Republic of Sri Lanka is a Unitary State.
Article 76. Delegation of legislative power
1. Parliament shall not abdicate or in any manner alienate its legislative power, and shall not set up
any authority with any legislative power.
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SJ / August 31, 2020
U
Was it in the Election Manifesto of the SLPP to “bury the Provincial councils”?
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soma / August 31, 2020
If I were a Tamil I would strongly oppose Land and Police powers to Provincial Councils. +50% Tamil speaking people living outside North and East and falling within Sinhala majority provinces will be heavily discriminated at the hands of corrupt local politicos and local police thugs. ( As an example every antic of Vingeshwaran involving places of worship in the North will be mirrored in the South)
Most critically natural resources belonging to the provinces with land powers will be a continuous issue of contention between the provinces. (Remember Mavil Aru?)
In short provinces with full Land and Police powers will be mini states at war with one another as well as with the Center continually on resource sharing and cultural/religious issues.
There are endless such problems in a federal Sri Lanka to be considered before we embark on this suicidal move.
.
(It is worth remembering that Tamil Nadu with double the land size as Sri Lanka and four times the population has not been subdivided into units with separate Land and Police powers.)
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Soma
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old codger / September 1, 2020
Soma,
“Tamil Nadu with double the land size as Sri Lanka and four times the population has not been subdivided into units”
You are wrong. Pondicherry , which is a territory of 1.5 m inside TN has its own police service. In any case, TN itself was carved off from the old Madras state.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / August 31, 2020
Dear CAC
A very through analysis of the issues at hand via the 13th Amendment. This was a well measured Indian act to put the last nail on the coffin………along with all the mother lankan children died for many versions of this already…trained by the same.
It is only matched by the Indian consulate in Jaffna.
The war scare takes several generation to erase…….is the same with the IRA and the Irish issues/current solutions too. Because of the EU and American involvement they are able to uplift the people to overcome the issues given Irish population in Ireland is small and the vast network of worldwide Irish Diaspora too support the same so they have a Nation in working order. Nothing to do with right and wrong but make it work..13th can never deliver that (there are Tamils who wrote this down in 1952 and published and challenged the Ratha Pottu Mafia then) nor will it ever be delivered willingly means can never work. However can create more problems than it solves. No one in the land is even dealing with the Muslim issues in this discussion as none have solutions too.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / August 31, 2020
For all the Tamil parties (until they are banned) this is a temporary reprive to make a living out of until they leave the world…good and healthy retirement too. All other interested and invested Tamils can start enlisting their Tamil children and grand children from India/Malaysia/Singapore/Western Nations to Tamil Nadu training camps if they want to talk the same s*** now. Get cover under some Tamil charity from overseas and enjoy Jaffna life the Tamil politicians enjoy away from the western misery.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / August 31, 2020
Do we mean the police powers granted would have prevented the “Ratha Pottu Mafia Killing Fields in Jaffna” 1970-1977-1981.
What we saying is give Police powers to people who do the killing as a political party so they will stop the killing?? This is why the above investigation is critical for the nation and the international community to know what they are saying/doing to the Jaffna man and the woman??
Is it part of GOSL deal/thanks giving made with FP/ITAK/TULF/PLOTE/TELO by the GOSL during the war with LTTE?? Is it the Indian deal with GOSL over and beyond the “International” agreement? Is even funnier to watch the complaints people make about Karuna group for the betrayal whilst they keep electing the TNA goes uncheked?? are we trouble shooting the problem TNA correctly?? so we find solution to our Language/Religion/Culture democratically away from the party politics??
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old codger / September 1, 2020
Soma,
“Tamil Nadu with double the land size as Sri Lanka and four times the population has not been subdivided into units”
You are wrong. Pondicherry , which is a territory of 1.5 m inside TN has its own police service.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / September 1, 2020
Dear OC
You may agree is a French colonial left over and we could say is like a Federal Territory of some sort. The folks from Pandicherry still have rights to migrate to France etc?.
However the point is there for a different reason other than dividing TN etc. Special features/benefits/agreements with the colonial masters. This even remained in the hands of French even after other colonial masters managed the rest of the space….agreement amongst themselves.
Is the same with the Minority Tamils in SL (not the Muslims/Oppressed Tamils/Upcountry Tamils) the real “minority of the Minority” who benefited from Colonial masters in their administration/missionary work/religious favours who formed the FP/ITAK and you could say they have the similarity to Pandichery hence want a separate ghetto not for the benefit of the people of SL. It is a misplaced discussion?? lead to where we are today?? May still be some/extensive colonial conniving involved for the geo political reasons we do not say? discuss?? Jaffna never had an open discussion on these subjects…when people try to do that came the guns you may recall?
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soma / September 1, 2020
Thanks T. V.
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Soma
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old codger / September 2, 2020
T.V,
I mentioned Pondicherry only since some people seem to think that subdivision for any reason is equal to separatism. Is it not better to have law officers from your own community ?
The size of the community or the area it occupies are not valid arguments against the idea.
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soma / September 2, 2020
Old cdger
You are telling this to those of us in Sri Lanka??
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Soma
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / September 4, 2020
Dear OC
The Tamil Police Officers were killed by the FP/ITAK/TULF 1970 onwards and you think is a good idea we give devolution to the same people to run the show and appoint a police force and enforce the law??
That will kill off whatever that is left as Jaffna heritage in no time??
Until people learn what happened in Jaffna from 1970-1977-1981 from an investigation report published to the world is difficult to explain…this scenario called meter of two evils that we always had to pick up North……sorry to say OC.
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Thiagarajah Venugopal / September 4, 2020
better of two evils
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old codger / September 4, 2020
TV,
“The Tamil Police Officers were killed by the FP/ITAK/TULF 1970 onwards and you think is a good idea we give devolution”
I am sure you know that Sinhala policemen and their families were killed by the JVP. So the solution is to use an all-Tamil Police force in the South? The ethnicity of a policeman is not a factor if you want to kill him.
Are you saying indirectly that Tamils cannot be trusted?
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