Sri Lanka ‘ready’ to devolve powers to provinces

Wednesday, 04 January 2012

Perhaps because of the visit of the Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna this month, and also the upcoming meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in March, the Lankan government has now thought it fit to soften its stand on a critical issue holding up talks with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on finding a political solution to the Tamil problem.

In an interview with the government’s official website on Tuesday, the cabinet spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, said that the government was ready to discuss with the TNA the extent to which powers over land and police could be transferred to the provinces. “We are concerned about giving police and land powers to provinces. However, we are ready to consider giving those powers within a certain scope if such a proposal is made by the TNA. For that, the TNA should remain at talks with the government”, Minister Rambukwella said.

“Dealing with day to day affairs such as smaller crimes and complaints could be dealt with by Provincial authorities,” he added.

The TNA had made it clear that powers over land, and the law and order machinery, should be devolved if the talks were to be continued and a genuine reconciliation with the Tamils could be brought about. The TNA had said that powers over land and the police had to be devolved as per the 13th Amendment of the Lankan constitution enacted after the India-Sri Lankan Accord of 1987. But the TNA had also said that it was ready to discuss and find solutions to any reservations the government might have.

Earlier, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had dubbed the demand for land and police powers as the demand of the LTTE and hence, unacceptable. He said that if police powers were devolved, the Tamil-led government of the Northern Province could arrest him if it wanted to.