{"id":90831,"date":"2013-06-09T00:10:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-08T18:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=90831"},"modified":"2013-06-09T11:15:08","modified_gmt":"2013-06-09T05:45:08","slug":"ensure-a-fair-and-free-election-to-the-npc-under-the-present-constitution-friday-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-a-fair-and-free-election-to-the-npc-under-the-present-constitution-friday-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Ensure A Fair And Free Election To The NPC Under The Present Constitution &#8211; Friday Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Friday+Forum+&amp;x=8&amp;y=3\">Friday\u00a0Forum<\/a><\/span> considers effective devolution essential to building trust and\u00a0ethnic harmony,\u00a0securing future\u00a0peace\u00a0and promoting good governance. The government has more than once publicly committed itself to implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.\u00a0It is thus\u00a0with deep concern that we view\u00a0current\u00a0attempts to dilute\u00a0the already limited\u00a0provisions for devolution embodied in the 13th\u00a0Amendment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/reading-the-results-of-the-municipal-elections\/elections-colombo-telegraph\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-598\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-598\" title=\"elections colombo telegraph\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/elections-colombo-telegraph-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/elections-colombo-telegraph-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/elections-colombo-telegraph.jpg 460w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The proposed amendment will make it much easier for the Centre to override Provincial Councils. At present, if the Centre wishes to pass a law on a matter in the Provincial Council List,\u00a0the Bill must be referred to all Provincial Councils for them to express their views. If all Provincial Councils agree, the Bill may be passed by a simple majority. If one or more Councils do not agree, a two-thirds majority is needed to make the law applicable to the Councils that did not agree,\u00a0but if passed only by a simple majority, the law will apply only in the provinces that agreed. This is a safeguard against interference by the Centre and many Provincial Councils outside the North and East too have disagreed with such Bills and asserted their independence. According to the proposed amendment, such a Bill will apply in all the provinces if a majority of the Provincial Councils agrees. This would make it possible for the Centre to easily impose legislation on Provincial Councils controlled by the Opposition. The Northern and Eastern Provincial Councils are likely to suffer the most.<\/p>\n<p>The provisions relating to the merger of provinces are also to be deleted. Presently, a merger can only be initiated by the President. Provincial Councils have no say in the matter at all. Further, the people of the East must give their consent at a referendum if the Northern and Eastern provinces are to be merged. We do not see the need to amend these provisions.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed amendment also runs counter to the content and spirit of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission to which the Government has repeatedly expressed its commitment. The government\u00a0has adopted an LLRC\u00a0Action Plan which we are told is already being implemented.<\/p>\n<p>Coming just prior to\u00a0the long-delayed\u00a0elections to the Northern Provincial Council,\u00a0now\u00a0due to be held in September,\u00a0 constitutional amendments\u00a0of this\u00a0nature, \u00a0as would any further attempt to dilute the devolution provisions of the Constitution,\u00a0constitute a clear breach of trust\u00a0with our fellow citizens\u00a0in the North.\u00a0Our country has just emerged from\u00a0years of suffering endured during the armed conflict, \u00a0and devolution of power under the 13<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0amendment is an important element in the\u00a0path to peace and reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>Constitutional amendments including urgent bills based on political expediency are undemocratic and undermine the rule of law. After losing four valuable years that could have been used to find a political settlement, democratisation and reconciliation, this move to dilute provisions on devolution will further undermine post-war democratisation in the North.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Friday\u00a0Forum\u00a0urges all political parties and groups to oppose any move to dilute the 13<sup>th<\/sup>Amendment,\u00a0and to make every effort to\u00a0ensure that a fair and free election to\u00a0the Northern Provincial Council takes place\u00a0under the present constitutional scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Jayantha Dhanapala \u00a0 \u00a0and Professor Savitri Goonesekere<\/p>\n<p>on behalf of the Friday Forum- the Group of Concerned Citizens<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala, Professor Savitri Goonesekere, Ms. Suriya Wickremasinghe, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Rt. Reverend Duleep de Chickera, Mr. Tissa Jayatilaka, \u00a0Mr. Ahilan Kadirgamar, Dr. Deepika Udagama, Professor Arjuna Aluwihare, Ms. Sithie Tiruchelvam,\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Rev. Dr. Jayasiri Peiris, Ms. Anne Abayasekara\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ms. Manouri Muttetuwegama, Mr. J.C. Weliamuna, \u00a0\u00a0Mr. Javid Yusuf, Dr. A. C. Visvalingam, Mr. Lanka Nesiah,\u00a0 Professor. Camena Gunaratne, \u00a0Ms, Damaris Wickramasekera, Dr. Selvy Thiruchandran, Dr. Devanesan Nesiah, Ms. Shanthi Dias, Mr. Danesh Casie Chetty, Mr.Prashan de Visser, Mr. D. Wijayanandana, Mr. Mahen Dayananda, Professor. Ranjini Obeyesekere,<strong> <\/strong>Mr. Chandra Jayaratne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ensure A Fair And Free Election To The NPC Under The Present Constitution - Friday Forum  - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ensure-a-fair-and-free-election-to-the-npc-under-the-present-constitution-friday-forum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ensure A Fair And Free Election To The NPC Under The Present Constitution - 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