{"id":91301,"date":"2013-06-13T04:57:33","date_gmt":"2013-06-12T23:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=91301"},"modified":"2013-06-17T09:30:40","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T04:00:40","slug":"it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By\u00a0<span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Malinda+Seneviratne&amp;x=13&amp;y=2\">Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0&#8211;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_78746\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/manmohans-shoes\/malinda-seneviratne\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-78746\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-78746\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-78746\" title=\"Malinda Seneviratne\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-78746\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development.\u00a0 That\u2019s the description of a particular form of drama called \u2018Theater of the Absurd\u2019.\u00a0 In the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century where confusion has been globalized courtesy finely orchestrated media campaigns whose sole objective is to justify crimes against humanity and manufacture public consent for the same, the description is valid for any number of things and processes.\u00a0 In Sri Lanka, perhaps there\u2019s nothing more deserving of that description as the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=13th+Amendment+&amp;x=12&amp;y=7\">13<sup>th<\/sup> Amendment<\/a><\/span> to the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>It was, to recap, thrust down Sri Lankan\u2019s throat by Rajiv Gandhi determined to \u2018Bhutanize\u2019 the island, as a logical \u2018next step\u2019 to a process of destabilization started by his mother Indira Gandhi in 1982, when the first batch of Tamil militants were trained in India.\u00a0 It was illegal.\u00a0 Its legality was obtained by reiteration via elections.\u00a0 It was rejected quickly enough by the \u2018sole representatives of the Tamils\u2019 (self-appointed) and their one-time mouthpieces, the TNA which recovered voice and franchise, paradoxically, courtesy the Sri Lankan security forces in May 2009.\u00a0 Even today, the Tiger rump which clubs internationally rejects the 13<sup>th<\/sup> Amendment.\u00a0 No one wants it.\u00a0 It has benefitted only politicians and only because it serves the political teething necessary to take bigger bites out of the body politic at the national level.<\/p>\n<p>Those who reject the 13<sup>th<\/sup> do not subscribe to the same political ideology of course.\u00a0 For some, the 13<sup>th<\/sup> is \u2018too much\u2019 while for others it is \u2018not enough\u2019.\u00a0 Either way, it is neither here nor there; not an \u2018interim\u2019 option, not a working document for a better text.\u00a0 It has only served political theatrics of the absurd kind.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Supreme Court de-merged the North and East, the potential for re-merging remained intact.\u00a0 The clause for merging of provinces has no logic except to serve India\u2019s purposes, i.e. destabilizing Sri Lanka in the event of a Government that is not as India-friendly as India would like comes to power.\u00a0 The 13<sup>th<\/sup> is then essentially a Bankanization script awaiting enactment.<\/p>\n<p>The drama over the \u2018Divi Neguma\u2019 Bill demonstrated how a spoiler can scuttle national development initiatives.\u00a0 It is in this context that a re-visit is called for.\u00a0 The Cabinet is currently deliberating on the matter.\u00a0 Those who have traditionally been \u2018Pro-13<sup>th<\/sup>\u2019 have asked for time to offer views.\u00a0 Time has been given and that\u2019s good.\u00a0 The issue of land and police powers has been raised and remains \u2018up in the air\u2019 with both the Opposition (touching but not touching the issue in its much trumpeted recommendations for constitutional reform) and the Government (we\u2019ve only seen the smaller elements of the coalition coming up with strong views) being cagey about definitive statements.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, an ill-conceived and deformed political entity that has done nothing for the people continues to distract from the core issues of good governance and institutional reform which, rightfully, ought to take center stage in the matter of constitutional changes.\u00a0 It is for all intents and purposes a dead object whose stench is a nauseating political reality that unsettles post-conflict processes of reconciliation and development.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, it robs devolution from whatever logical worth it may have.\u00a0 The 13<sup>th<\/sup>, after all, is not coterminous with \u2018devolution\u2019.\u00a0 There can be other models.\u00a0 For example, if taken to its logical conclusion, we would have to leave provinces behind and go straight to the Village Councils.\u00a0 Alternately, the Eelam-map-fixing 13<sup>th<\/sup> can be done away with to make way for a more logical and scientific re-drawing of provincial boundaries that make for a more equitable distribution of resources and more efficient planning.\u00a0 The 13<sup>th<\/sup> stops all that.<\/p>\n<p>If the Government feels charitable in letting the likes of DEW Gunasekera, Rauff Hakeem, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and others to offer views on proposed amendments to the 13<sup>th<\/sup>, it can go the whole hog and put the question to the voting public.\u00a0 End of story.<\/p>\n<p>The bottom line is, Sri Lanka\u2019s unity and integrity are not negotiable.\u00a0 Want another \u2018PS\u2019?\u00a0 \u2018We cannot import a solution, and it cannot be a Rajapaksa &#8211; Sampanthan agreement.\u2019\u00a0 It\u2019s a people\u2019s thing and that is exactly what the 13<sup>th<\/sup> Amendment is not!<\/p>\n<p>The 13<sup>th<\/sup> is a political corpse that has being carted from forum to forum, election to election; it is a filthy rug that is posited as banner of conflict resolution.\u00a0 It was India\u2019s baby.\u00a0 It is a cadaver that Sri Lanka is saddled with.\u00a0 It is customary, need we say, to bury the dead.<\/p>\n<p><em>*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":78746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>It Is Customary To Bury The Dead - 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\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-12T23:27:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-17T04:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"923\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1112\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/\",\"name\":\"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-12T23:27:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-17T04:00:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg\",\"width\":\"923\",\"height\":\"1112\",\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2013-06-12T23:27:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-06-17T04:00:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":923,"height":1112,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/","name":"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg","datePublished":"2013-06-12T23:27:33+00:00","dateModified":"2013-06-17T04:00:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg","width":"923","height":"1112","caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/it-is-customary-to-bury-the-dead\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It Is Customary To Bury The Dead"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Malinda-Seneviratne.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91301"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92041,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91301\/revisions\/92041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}