Pillaiyan wants police, land powers for North

Former Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, said the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) should be vested with police and land powers.
Pillaiyan, expressing his views over the outcome of the NPC polls, said regardless of who came to power in the North, the police and land powers allocated under the 13th Amendment should be devolved to the Northern Province.

“People in the North have given their mandate to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). While we insist that police and land powers should be... ...given to the Northern Province, the demands that have been put forwarded by the TNA in its manifesto cannot be achieved. We should also see how the TNA will respond to the credibility placed on it by the Northerners,” Pillaiyan said.

Commenting on the situation in the East, Pillaiyan said, since the Eastern Province is a multiethnic region, the TNA would find it difficult to obtain an overall victory as in the North.

Meanwhile, the TNA has given one of its two bonus seats to Ayub Asmin of the People’s Movement for Good Governance, representing the Mannar District. The member for the second seat is yet to be decided by the TNA hierarchy.

Informed sources said the seat would be offered in rotation for five years for five selected members.
 by Ananth Palakidnar
CT