Sri Lanka Tamil party opposes amending the 13th Amendment to the Constitution
Thu, Jun 6, 2013, 07:47 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Jun 06, Colombo: Sri Lanka's major Tamil political party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has opposed the government's move to amend the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The government's move is seen as a measure to limit the powers accorded to provinces under the 13th Amendment before the government holds elections to the Northern Province Council planned for September.
TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran said the 13th Amendment which was aimed at solving the national issue and the government must consult the TNA as a representative of the Tamil people prior to any move to amend the 13th Amendment since it would affect the people of the North and East.
However, Premachandran noted that the government has not yet made any official comment on its stance on the 13th Amendment.
According to Premachandran, the TNA would have to decide whether to contest the Northern Provincial Council polls in the event the government decides to dilute or amend the 13th Amendment as it stands.
The 13th Amendment introduced under influence from India in 1987 paved way for power devolution to the Provinces despite displeasure of the majority Sinhala community.
There is a growing momentum within the ruling party and the country to abolish the 13th Amendment. The opponents 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.
Members of the ruling party have met on Tuesday to discuss the changes to the 13th Amendment and the party leaders have agreed to amend it, a senior party leader has told the AFP.
The government has proposed removing the provisions provided for a merger of the adjoining provincial councils which allows bills and acts to get passed by all provincial councils before they are passed in parliament.
Further, the attention is focused on the provision of granting land and police powers to the provinces under the 13th amendment.
Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa 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 services.
He said if the provincial councils were vested with police powers, a serious situation would arise with regard to the maintenance of law and order, and the security services would become ineffective.
However, some coalition partners of the government are not in favor of the move to revise the 13th Amendment and curtailing police and land powers.
Ally of the governing party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) said the party would not support the changes to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The party said 13th Amendment should not be revised in any way and there should not be any change in the land and police powers vested with the provinces under the 13th Amendment.
The government is however, to submit a proposal to the cabinet of ministers today seeking approval to re-amend the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.