{"id":92842,"date":"2013-06-24T02:44:43","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T21:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=92842"},"modified":"2013-06-29T17:25:46","modified_gmt":"2013-06-29T11:55:46","slug":"to-be-or-not-to-be-strategic-control-of-the-northern-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/to-be-or-not-to-be-strategic-control-of-the-northern-province\/","title":{"rendered":"To Be Or Not To Be: Strategic Control Of The Northern Province"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Veluppillai Thangavelu<\/p><\/div>\n

Government desperate to strip Provincial Council powers before elections<\/strong><\/p>\n

“To be or not to be<\/strong>” is the famous opening phrase of a soliloquy in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.<\/em>\u00a0 In the soliloquy, Hamlet questions the meaning of life, and whether or not it is worthwhile to stay alive when life contains so many hardships. He comes to the conclusion that the main reason people stay alive is due to a fear of death and uncertainty at what lies beyond life.<\/p>\n

Now the news comes that Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya\u00a0 had begun preparations to hold the Northern Provincial Council elections in September,\u00a0although there is no\u00a0 official confirmation yet.\u00a0 Speaking further, Deshapriya said as of now the status quo<\/em> regarding the registered voters would remain unless there is legislation to effect change to include a new voter list. On May 23,\u00a0President\u2019s\u00a0spokesman Anura PriyadarshanaYapa, the Minister for Petroleum Industries, said that the NPC elections<\/a><\/span> will be held in September and that any changes to 13A<\/a><\/span> could only come after a broad public consultation. We also heard the President has given the go ahead instructing the Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris to hold the\u00a0provincial elections. It is not understood what Foreign Minister has got to do with Provincial Elections when there is a Minister in charge of Local Government and Provincial Elections Mr.\u00a0 A. L. M. Athaullah. But then in Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span>‘s domain strange things happen with an elephant size cabinet consisting of 54 Ministers, 10 senior Ministers and 2 Project Ministers totalling\u00a0 66 Ministers (excludes one Deputy Minister who is also a Senior Minister)<\/strong> and 29 Deputy Ministers!<\/p>\n

As we know the first election for the merged Northeast Provincial Council was held\u00a0on 9th December, 1988. It was dissolved on March 01, 1990 by the President following\u00a0\u00a0 Chief Minister Varatharaja Perumal’s declaration of\u00a0unilateral independence. The merged Northeast Provincial Council elected\u00a0a total of 71\u00a0(36 in the North and 35 in the East) members. The Northern Province is divided into five administrative districts<\/a>, 33 Divisional Secretary’s Divisions<\/a> (DS Divisions) and 912 Grama Niladhari<\/a> Divisions (GN Divisions) as per the Tables below:<\/p>\n

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The following table shows ethnic wise\u00a0population of the Northern Province:<\/p>\n

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The combined Northern and Eastern provinces comprises almost one-fourth of the Island\u2019s total area (18,675 sq.kms)\u00a0out of 65,610 sq.kms(25,332 sq.kms) and a total coastline of 1,700 kms (1,056 miles). Demography\u00a0wise the North and East has a combined population of\u00a02,610,143\u00a0out of 21,481,334 (2012) or 12.15% After dilly dallying for\u00a0more than 4 years and after trotting out lame excuses like \u201cland mines not cleared yet” “electoral registers\u00a0are over 30 years old\u00a0and\u00a0are incomplete” and “resettlements will take time” the elections are a near certainty. But,\u00a0the real reason is the spectre of defeat staring\u00a0at Mahinda Rajapaksa’s face.<\/p>\n

There was yet another\u00a0important reason for the foot dragging; Mahinda Rajapaksa\u00a0wanted to showcase\u00a0the highways, roads and other infra-structure of which the beneficiaries are not the common people but largely\u00a0the military. Unfortunately, the\u00a0government has run out of any more excuses to put off the elections further.\u00a0\u00a0 Holding the Northern Provincial Council elections in September 2013 was a promise the Sri Lankan government Minister gave at the\u00a0august assembly of UNHRC<\/a><\/span>. The international community considers Northern Province Council (NPC) elections as an important step towards reconciliation with the Thamil national minority and to\u00a0hold the elections for the province to restore civil administration. In March, 2013\u00a0the Sri Lanka’s Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights and Minister of Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe briefed the Council that the Government is actively engaged in removing military involvement in civil administration, demining, and rehabilitation, and had launched national reconciliation and peace-building initiatives. Sri Lanka had accepted 113 out of 204 recommendations received, and had also made 19 voluntary commitments.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka was currently evaluating the implementation of the NAP for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. It is not understood why\u00a0a\u00a0government\u00a0which has managed to get away with\u00a0gross human rights violations and undermining of media freedom\u00a0feign a show of compliance with the UNHRC resolution for the international community. However,\u00a0Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister GL Peiris has stated that Sri Lanka will not comply with\u00a0the resolutions passed\u00a0at the UN Human Rights Council.\u00a0 Speaking in Parliament, the Minister said, \u201cSri Lanka cannot acquiesce with the resolution adopted.” (Tamil Guardian 09 April 2013) The holding of the Northern Province elections has generated opposition from\u00a0far right racist parties who have formed a coalition to fight the abolition of 13 A. The monk-led Sinhala – Buddhist<\/a><\/span> only party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the National Freedom Front led by fire-brand politician Wimal Weerawansa, the Bodu Bala Sena<\/a><\/span> (BBS), the Sinhala Ravaya, Ravana Sena \u00a0and\u00a0 other fringe groups. The JHU\u00a0\u00a0 last week\u00a0gave notice by\u00a0way of a private members’ bill to abolish 13 A.\u00a0 JHU spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said that the JHU is not against elections being held for the northern provincial council, but those elections should be held once the provincial councils system is abolished. \u201cIf the government is unable to abolish the system then we are ready to accept amendments to it. We want the land and police powers removed from the 13th Amendment,\u201d he said. The NFF, a key ally,\u00a0has launched a campaign to collect 2 million signatures calling for the\u00a0complete scrapping\u00a0of the 13th amendment\u00a0or the separatist provisions therein such as the land and police powers.\u00a0 Not to be left out is the Jathika Vimukti Peramuna, the party\u00a0of Sinhala – Buddhist extremists masquerading as Marxists. As of now the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), also\u00a0an ally of the government wants the 13th Amendment to remain as it is.\u00a0 Its General Secretary Hassan Ali has said that they will oppose any changes being made to the 13th Amendment. Going\u00a0by past experience, the SLMC\u00a0may finally cave in to save its Ministerial portfolios.\u00a0 The LSSP, CP and NSSP seem to have mustered enough courage to oppose the\u00a0proposed amendments. 13A entered Sri Lanka\u2019s statutes in 1987 as part of the Indo -Sri Lanka\u00a0Accord<\/a><\/span> which envisaged devolution of powers to the island’s provinces in an effort to end the Sri Lankan Civil War involving the LTTE<\/a><\/span> and government forces. \u00a0The\u00a0current virulent campaign to abolish the provincial councils system will completely make Thamils political orphans,\u00a0an\u00a0issue that caused the 37 years war in the island. The Mahanayaka Theros have advised the President that holding the Northern Provincial Council election with land and police powers\u00a0to the provinces would result in the Southern Sinhalese engaging in protest campaigns and that it would have an adverse impact on the President\u2019s election campaign.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0opponents of the 13th Amendment believe holding the elections in the Northern Province without amending it will be a serious threat to the ‘national security and territorial integrity’ of Sri Lanka.\u00a0 Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span> recently said that he would never agree to granting police powers to provincial councils as it would be a serious challenge and a danger to the security of the country. He claimed that Sri Lanka is\u00a0facing an international conspiracy, saying \u201cpowerful external elements are trying to undermine peace and stability here through local pawns.\u201d He insisted that \u201cthe positioning of armed forces shouldn\u2019t be a political issue or a topic for discussions with any external players.\u201d Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s words count, though\u00a0he is nominally\u00a0the\u00a0Defence Secretary,\u00a0he is the real power behind the throne wielding enormous powers.<\/p>\n

To stem the tide of opposition from its own ranks,\u00a0the government has started proposing two significant changes to 13A rather than its wholesale removal. 1) The annulment of the provision that enables two or more adjoining Provincial Councils to merge with one another; 2) The abolition of the provision which required the consent of ALL Provincial Councils for bills and acts to get passed in parliament. The proposed amendment will make it much easier for the government\u00a0to override Provincial Councils. At present, if the government\u00a0wishes 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. According news reports, members of the ruling party and the party leaders have agreed to amend 13th A.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Mahinda Rajapaksa is reneging on his promise that he will offer a political solution\u00a0 13A + including the creation of a senate to accommodate the political interests of\u00a0 national minorities. Instead,\u00a0he is stripping even the meagre devolution provisions\u00a0found in the 13th Amendment. He is walking away from not only democracy; he is also abandoning all attempts at reconciliation. A silver lining among dark clouds is the statement by the Friday Forum which has urged political parties and civil society groups to oppose government moves to dilute the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and to make every effort to ensure free and fair northern provincial council elections under the present constitution. Notwithstanding the proposed amendments,\u00a0the coalition of racist parties continues with their\u00a0campaign against 13A. The battle cry is\u00a0on the following lines:<\/p>\n