The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), a prominent political party representing Tamils of Sri Lanka’s north and east, has said it would consider backing a presidential aspirant who agrees to its demand for a governance structure based on a federal model.
The party’s position, which reiterates its long-standing demand for a just political solution to the civil war-scarred country’s Tamil question, comes ahead of Sri Lanka’s presidential polls scheduled to be held on September 21. It reflects one position from within the island’s visibly divided Tamil polity.
While some, including from the ITAK, its former alliance partners (People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), and former Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, are backing a “common Tamil candidate” in the crucial national election, the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) is calling for a boycott of the polls.
Addressing a media conference in the northern Vavuniya district last weekend, ITAK’s Jaffna MP M.A. Sumanthiran said: “As the main party representing the Tamil people, we are telling all candidates openly that we need a governance structure with power devolution based on a federal model, in a merged north and east. In short, this is our political position.”
Also read:The elusive political solution in Sri Lanka
Three main contenders, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa, and opposition parliamentarian leading a third force Anura Kumara Dissanayake are vying for the country’s top office, in the first election after Sri Lanka’s people’s uprising of 2022 amid a devastating economic crash. All three candidates have visited the north recently and promised to devolve power and develop the region’s economy. However, ITAK members have said they are awaiting the manifestos of the candidates to evaluate their specific proposals, given that the existing 13th Amendment is widely deemed inadequate by most Tamil parties.
The Hindu Explains | What is the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution, and why is it contentious?
The legislation, which followed the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, guarantees some power to the provincial councils. But in the nearly 40 years since its enactment, it is yet to be fully implemented, prompting some Tamil actors to seek a new, “meaningful” arrangement of power sharing between the Centre and the provinces. Despite a long civil war, and the passing of 15 years since its gory end, Tamils are still left with their historic demand for justice and equality, through substantive political rights.
In an editorial on the need for a political solution to Sri Lanka’s Tamil speaking people, leading Tamil newspaper Virakesari on Tuesday outlined key initiatives taken in the past in this regard. “Although the Provincial Council system was set up as a solution to the ethnic conflict, some of the powers guaranteed are yet to be devolved [to the provincial councils) till date. Land and police powers have not been provided. Therefore, in the view of Tamil speaking people of the north and east, the reality is that the 13th Amendment has not fulfilled their political aspirations,” it said, asking presidential aspirants to spell out their proposal and work towards it with the people’s mandate.
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