With No Power Sharing, Ethnic Groups Could Call For Federalism
– Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne
By Imaad Majeed
Saturday, November 16, 2013
With the conclusion of the Northern Provincial Council polls and the appointment of former Supreme Court Judge C. V. Wigneswaran as Chief Minister, there has also been a strong opposition, on the part of the government, to the devolution of land and police powers to the provinces. In their election manifesto, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) used strong rhetoric, engaging the idea of ‘self-determination’ and even calling for a merger of the North and East provinces, provoking fears of a call for separation. The 13th Amendment has come under much criticism since its imposition as of the Indo-Lanka Accord, and now that the Northern Provincial Council is in place, the implications will begin to surface in the relations between the Centre and the province, as both sides engage in a tug-o-war on power sharing.
