Thamil People Want Fundamental Rights Not Development Meant Largely For The Military
By Veluppillai Thangavelu -September 15, 2013
Veluppillai Thangavelu
The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) election is only a few days away. The election to the NPC is being held after a period of 25 years. The previous election was in 1988.
The Provincial Council (PS) system under 13th Amendment is in force from 1988. It was the by-product of the of the Indo-Ceylon Agreement singed between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayewardene in 1987.
The key features in the Indo – Ceylon Accord are as follows:
•Sri Lanka is a ‘multi-ethnic and a multi-lingual plural society” consisting, inter alia, of Sinhalese, Thamils, Muslims (Moors) and Burghers (section 1.2),
•Each ethnic group has a distinct cultural and linguistic identity which has to be carefully nurtured (section 1.3),
•Northern and the Eastern Provinces have been areas of historical habitation of Sri Lankan Tamil speaking peoples, who have at all times hitherto lived together in this territory with other ethnic groups (section 1.4),
•Merger of Eastern Province with Northern Province will be decided by a simple majority of the people of Eastern Province (section 2.3), conducting a referendum by the people.
Since 1988 elections have been held every 5 years, except in regard to the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
In 1988 there was an election to the temporary merged Northern and Eastern provinces. But the council was dissolved in 1990 by the then government. Thereafter, elections were held for the demerged Eastern Province in 2008 and again in 2012.
Although the three decades old war officially ended on May 19, 2009, the government kept on deferring election under various excuses like delay in demining and resettlement of the 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The parties contesting the elections have stepped up their campaign in all parts of the province.
For the 36 + 2 seats for grabs in the NPC a total of 906 candidates belonging to 11 registered parties and 9 independent groups have entered the fray. TNA is contesting all the districts with 51 candidates in the field. Each voter should cast his vote to the party of his choice and in addition cast his 3 preferential votes to 3 more candidates of his choice. He cannot cast all the preferential votes to a single candidate.
The main contest is between the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the United Peoples Freedom Front (UPFA). Quisling EPDP as usual is contesting under the UPFA beetle symbol.
