P K Balachandran in Daily Mirror, Dec 7, 2022
In 1980, the J.R.Jayewardene government introduced the District Development Councils (DDC) Act to devolve powers to Districts instead of the Provinces. The DDC consisted of Members of Parliament from the District plus members elected directly to the DDC. Each DDC had an Executive Committee consisting of the District Minister, the Chairman of the DDC, and not more than two other members appointed by the District Minister in consultation with the Chairman.
Though very disappointed, the Tamils accepted the DDCs. Elections to the DCCs in Jaffna were scheduled for June 4, 1981. But on March 31, a Tamil militant group fired at a Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) meeting at Nachimarkoviladi in Jaffna, in which two policemen were killed. The Security Forces then went on a rampage burning the iconic Jaffna Library. Nevertheless, the elections were held, and the TULF won.
But the TULF found that the DDC had little or no power. Power was in the hands of the District Minister and the Finance Minister in Colombo. The DDCs collapsed like a house of cards.
Indo-Lanka Accord
Then came the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987, negotiated not by the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Lankan government, but by the governments of Sri Lanka and India. The Accord envisaged devolution of a modicum of powers to ‘elected’ Provincial Councils. The Northern and Eastern Provinces were merged temporarily to form a single Tamil political unit.
But the Accord was stiffly opposed by the Sinhalese and also the Tamil militant group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had signed the Accord with President Jayewardene, was assaulted by a soldier during a Guard of Honour and the LTTE went to war with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), which was to help implement the Accord.
However, despite the turmoil and violence, the Jayewardene government enacted the 13th constitutional Amendment (13A) devolving a modicum of powers to elected Provincial Councils. There were ‘Reserved’ and ‘Provincial’ lists of powers. A ‘Concurrent’ list outlined shared powers, though the centre could also legislate on Concurrent subjects disregarding the Province. Financial provisions for the Provinces were also to be allocated by Parliament. And the Provincial Councils could be over-ruled by the President under the Public Security Ordinance. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) points out that the powers of Provincial Councils could be “controlled, reduced or abolished by the Central government unilaterally.”
The 13A was implemented only partially because of a lack of commitment on the part of the majority Sinhalese and the governments backed by them. The LTTE rejected it and the moderate Tamils were lukewarm. While the Sinhalese considered the Provincial Councils to be White Elephants and divisive, the Tamils considered the devolution of powers grossly inadequate. Their aim, since 1948, has been a federal constitution. But for the Sinhalese, federalism is a stepping stone to secession.
However, in the 1990s, President Chandrika Kumaratunga took up the threads of constitutional reform even as she continued the war against the LTTE. She was keen on winning over the Tamil moderates. Under her, parliament drafted a new constitution. But the draft, devolving power to the Provinces, was opposed by hardline Sinhalese and the opposition UNP. The exercise was abandoned.
Kumaratunga made another attempt in 2000. The government’s proposal said that legislative and executive powers would be distributed between the Centre and the Regions, while keeping the ‘Unitary’ character of the Constitution. But again, hardline Tamil and Sinhalese opinion prevailed over the moderates and the idea of constitutional reform was abandoned.
When a government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe came into being in 2015, work began on a new constitution to satisfy its Tamil supporters. The Public Representations Committee, the Subcommittees and the Steering Committee, did excellent work. But the process had to be abandoned because of a lack of commitment on the government’s part and also the serial suicide blasts in August 2019. As the blasts were carried out by Islamic radicals, the government, fearing communal divisions, abandoned plans to devolve power to the Tamils.
https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Will-the-Tamil-parties-talks-with-the-Lankan-President-bear-fruit/172-249941
