The Paradigm Shift That Northern Chief Minister Calls For

By Jehan Perera -February 24, 2014

Jehan Perera

Most of the political analysis at the present time revolves around the forthcoming session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.   The latest are the two options that the government appears to be developing, wooing supportive countries to come up with a counter-resolution, and wooing South Africa to assist in the formulation of a truth and reconciliation process as an alternative to an international investigation into war crimes.  But there are also other important developments taking place in the country which require equivalent analysis.  One of the most important of these is the relationship between the central government and provincial council and the sharing of power between them.  The root cause of the war, which has led to the charges of war crimes, was the dispute about the sharing of power between the Sinhalese-dominated central government and the Tamil-majority parts of the country, specifically the Northern and Eastern provinces.

The issue of power sharing between the central government and provincial councils has come to the fore since last September, when the Northern Provincial Council began to function for the first time since the system of devolution was set up 26 years ago.  At the present time, it is the only opposition-led provincial council.  The other eight provincial councils are all controlled and dominated by the government.  The Northern Provincial Council is acting as a true opposition, seeking to expand its powers and to challenge the central government’s unwillingness to engage in even a limited form of power-sharing.  The views therefore that emanate from the Northern Provincial Council are a challenge to the government.  The most recent challenge is the resolution passed by it that calls for direct air links between the Jaffna and the southern parts of India as well as the development of the harbor in the Jaffna peninsula that could facilitate trade links with India, which the government argues are outside the purview of the provincial councils.

The ideal situation would be one in which the central government and provincial councils do not work in opposition to each other in a zero-sum game, in which one side gains and the other side loses.  The better way forward would be for all sides to gain through cooperation. But for this to happen there needs to be a change of spirit.  There is no doubt that external relations are the preserve of the central government.  But the provincial councils are entitled to contribute to the policy discussion, which has been the case in this instance.  The Northern Provincial Council is not setting up its own airports and harbours, but is calling on the central government to do so.   The approach that the central government ought to take and the spirit that should guide it was dealt with at a conference on Socio-Economic Development in the Northern and Eastern Provinces organized by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka at which top academics made presentations.                                                                             Read More