(Ravi Ladduwahetty) The UNP yesterday dissociated itself from its Deputy Secretary General Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena’s view, expressed in an interview with this newspaper yesterday, that the government should either devolve police and land powers to the provinces in accordance with the constitutional provisions or scrap the 13th Amendment.
UNP Chairman Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, when asked whether the UNP subscribed to Jayawardena’s views, said that was not his party’s position on that vital national issue. It was the UNP Working Committee and not any individual which had the mandate to articulate the party’s policy.
"He cannot make such statements as this is a national issue which has to be discussed at the Working Committee level of the party and the Advisory Committee where the party could take its official stand on the matter," the UNP Chairman said.
Jayawardena was also quoted by The Island yesterday as having said that there was no point in the TNA discussing the land and police powers with the government and that the government could use its two thirds majority in Parliament to repeal the 13th Amendment the way it had abolished the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. The TNA also should not give up its demands for land and police powers, he said.
He also said there should also be a commission for land and police matters with full political party representation along with police and lands personnel and decisions had to be taken at that level
IS
UNP Chairman Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, when asked whether the UNP subscribed to Jayawardena’s views, said that was not his party’s position on that vital national issue. It was the UNP Working Committee and not any individual which had the mandate to articulate the party’s policy.
"He cannot make such statements as this is a national issue which has to be discussed at the Working Committee level of the party and the Advisory Committee where the party could take its official stand on the matter," the UNP Chairman said.
Jayawardena was also quoted by The Island yesterday as having said that there was no point in the TNA discussing the land and police powers with the government and that the government could use its two thirds majority in Parliament to repeal the 13th Amendment the way it had abolished the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. The TNA also should not give up its demands for land and police powers, he said.
He also said there should also be a commission for land and police matters with full political party representation along with police and lands personnel and decisions had to be taken at that level
IS
