Govt. buckles to India’s call--DEVOLVING POWER, NORTHERN PROVINCE P'OLLS

Sunday 29 May 2011

By Christy Mahesh de Silva
  The government has been forced to take some concrete measures to address issues faced by  the North  East population, informed sources say. These include substantial devolution of power and holding the Northern Provincial Council elections as soon as possible. This follows Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's demand that  Sri Lanka  provides a solid and long-lasting political solution to the North-East issue within the next six months.
If the government fails to do so India might not provide the expected assistance to meet consequences of  Ban Ki-moon's Panel of Experts’ report, informed diplomatic sources told LAKBIMAnEWS.
"The government has decided to provide all powers to the Provincial Councils except those concerned with police and land. The Indian leader and the government had to take such a firm stance on Colombo due to the coming parliamentary elections in India and the pressure mounted on New Delhi by the newly elected Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalitha Jayaram," said our sources.
The newly elected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has called for taking Sri Lankan leaders before an international tribunal for alleged war crimes committed by the security forces during the last days of Eelam War IV.
Sri Lanka relies heavily on India for its campaign against growing international pressure for an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes allegations.