Sri Lanka: Time to shake up Sri Lanka’s “business as usual” with India

''   India should prevail upon Rajapaksa for a course correction in keeping with his promises to India on resuming the political process with the Tamil representatives.
   Rajapaksa should be made to address concerns of India and international community on Sri Lanka’s accountability for alleged human rights violations and war crimes articulated in the UNHRC resolutions.

 Col. R. Hariharan

Ramphosa assured TNA that South African involvment would be complementary to Indian and Western initiatives

Ramphosa in Jaffna

Wigneswaran briefs Tamil journalists on meeting South African Envoy Ramaphosa

A South African delegation, comprising South Africa's Special Envoy to Sri Lanka and South Sudan, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nomaindia Mfeketo, the deputy minister of South African International Relations and Cooperation, visited Jaffna on Tuesday and spent one hour with Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran. Addressing the press following his meeting with the South African delegation, Mr Wigneswaran said Mr Ramaphosa assured him that the 'South African involvement' would not be contradictory to the 'political initiatives' by New Delhi and to the Geneva-based war-crime process supported by the Western countries.

Anti-India Hysteria in Sri Lanka

V Suryanarayan.                                                                

Colombo is witnessing anti-India demonstrations in an unprecedented scale. Chauvinist elements among the Sinhalese demonstrated outside the Indian High Commission, shouted slogans against prime minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa and demanded that India should stop interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.

The demonstration was spearheaded by the National Freedom Front, a chauvinist Sinhala organisation which is a partner in the ruling coalition government.

PSC, an utter waste of time; implement 13A, says UNP

*Will respond only to govt.’s written solution to ethnic issue -Kiriella

Following President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent assurance to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he was willing to implement the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution with the exception of police powers, the UNP yesterday urged the government to match words with action without wasting more time on yet another Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) process.

Minister DEW to quit PSC re finding a political solution

Communist Party Leader, D.E.W. Gunasekera, said he has decided not to participate in future proceedings of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), appointed by the government to find a solution to the ethnic problem, as there was nothing more to discuss among ministers.  However, he said he would participate only if the TNA and SLMC became involved in the discussions. Gunasekera also invited all Opposition political parties to participate in the discussions. They are duty bound to find a solution to this cancer, which has caused immense damage to this country during the last 30 years, he said.

Sri Lanka: 13A is not an Appendix - M.A. Sumanthiran

In an interview with Ceylon Today, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian, M.A. Sumanthiran, said the 13th Amendment to the Constitution is not an Appendix. "The government should abide by the Constitution and ensure the full implementation of the Amendment before thinking of revisiting it to consider devolving police powers to the provinces.

 Following are excerpts:

Sri Lanka : Get rid of 13th Amendment – Asgiriya Chapter

Chief Incumbent Asgiriya Chapter

The government should do away with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, without succumbing to the pressures exerted by India, the Asgiriya Chapter said yesterday.

Committee Member of the Asgiriya Chapter, Medagama Dhammananda Thera, calling the 13th Amendment the root cause of the country's... ... international bedlam, said initiatives should be taken to prepare a draft Constitution to be presented to Parliament, whilst simultaneously opening it up for public debate.

Sri Lanka tells India devolving powers to provinces not possible

Modi: what are the options

 PTI

Sri Lanka today said it had made it clear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that devolving police powers to the provinces, including the Tamil-dominated areas, was not possible saying "it has nothing to do with ethnic considerations". G L Peiris, the external affairs minister, was speaking in parliament today apprising the house on the bilateral talks between India and Sri Lanka held in New Delhi last week when President Mahinda Rajapaksa attended the swearing-in of Modi.

UNP opposes move to create Eelam through referendum; committed to devolution within a unitary state

Eelam map

The UNP yesterday rejected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalaitha Jayaram’s call for a referendum among Tamils in Sri Lanka including those currently living abroad to decide on the establishment of a separate state (Eelam). National List UNP MP Eran Wickremeratne told a news conference in Colombo that the UNP was committed to preserving the unitary status and territorial integrity of the country and there could be no compromise on that score.

Sri Lanka again rejects devolving police powers to ease tension with Tamils

(Reuters) - Sri Lanka on Wednesday again rejected devolving police powers to the provinces as requested by new Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and required by the constitution as a means to ease tension with minority Tamils.Sri Lanka agreed with India in 1987 to devolve powers, including over police and land, to a regional level as a means to improve relations between Tamils and majority Sinhalese.

No problem giving Police powers to the North – Senior Minister of Human Resources DEW

Senior Minister of Human Resources, D.E.W. Gunasekera said yesterday while he had no problem with the government deciding to give Police powers to the Northern Province, he felt giving the same powers to the other Provinces was not advisable due to the ill repute of politicians. Gunasekera added that the 13th Amendment should be implemented with Police powers given to a Central Police Commission and land given to the Land Commission through a land policy.

13 amendment and Indian pressure: The Rajapaksa government is apparently in a tight spot

''Last Wednesday Senior Minister and House Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva in a statement said Sri Lanka was a sovereign country and no other country had a right to dictate terms to it. But with the powerful and popular Mr. Modi insisting that urgent action be taken to find a political solution and reconciliation essentially through the implementation of the 13th Amendment plus and beyond, the Rajapaksa government is apparently in a tight spot.''

Press release diplomacy puts Lanka in a mess  - Editorial, Daily Mirror

Govt. doesn't seriously apply itself to tackling N-E problem – Minister Prof. Tissa Vitarana

Five years after the end of the armed conflict in the North and East, legitimate political aspirations of the Tamil speaking people in Sri Lanka still remain to be fulfilled. The newly-elected Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, during his impromptu talks with Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has insisted on the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution as an acceptable solution to the issue.

Sri Lanka: NFF, JHU against full implementation of 13 Amendment

Two main coalition partners of the government, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the National Freedom Front (NFF), strongly oppose the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, as is being insisted by India.
JHU Leader, Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera, said the Sri Lankan Government has already put itself in a difficult position as a result of acting on the instructions of India, and warn if the government continues to take instructions from India, it will push the government towards a worse position.

President Rajapaksa's message to Premier Modi: You can not interfere in our affires

(Sunday Times)

''Just a day after his return to Colombo, President Rajapaksa responded to Premier Modi’s call for the fuller implementation of the 13th Amendment and go beyond. He asked Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to summon a news conference and declare the UPFA Government’s stand. Minister de Silva said, “The 13th Amendment was forced down on us. We have managed to continue with it. Now there is discussion about its implementation. Earlier, it was about setting up of a Northern Provincial Council. Some said we would not hold elections in the North. Now the NPC is a reality. Now some are calling for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment. There are practical problems in implementing some of the provisions.” ''

Govt. wrong-footed at Modi meeting by  Sunday Times  Political Editor

Modi resets the clock to 13A, (when) will it start ticking in Sri Lanka?

Ministers Siripala & Swaraj

''Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has been in politics long enough to know that after 1983, the internal and the external in Sri Lanka have become inextricable. If anyone is interfering in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs, it is because the Sri Lankan government has externalized its internal affairs. It will not be nice for India to say it, but any Sri Lankan politician with a head on his shoulders must know that India does not need Sri Lanka’s co-operation on anything but it is Sri Lanka who needs India’s co-operation to address its own internal as well as external affairs.''

Rajan Philips

Sri Lanka rejects Indian PM's request: 13 A will not be implementd in full

Govt. sticks to PSC despite Indian pressure; . ready to cooperate with India in all fields except internal issues

Close on the heels of a meeting between newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New Delhi, where the former called for early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and to go beyond, the government yesterday said that it was only the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that could decide on the matter.

Sri Lanka Govt. statement silent on Narendra Modi's request to implement 13 A and go beyond

Censored by GoSL

The statement issued by the Government of Sri Lanka on the meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Rajapaksa has completely ignored request made by the Indian PM on devolution of powers in Sri Lanka: “Early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and going beyond would contribute to this process,” Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh quoted Mr. Modi as telling the Sri Lankan President (The Hindu). 

The statement issued by the GoSL is follows: 

President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Modi Meet in New Delhi 

Sri Lanka: Implement 13 A in full and go beyond - Modi tells Rajapaksa

Deliver your  promises to devolve wide powers
to  Tamil-majority regions. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

PM wants more devolution in Sri Lanka

Narendra Modi pushed Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa to deliver on his promises to devolve wide powers to the country’s Tamil-majority regions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa hard, asking for him to deliver on his promises to devolve wide powers to the country’s Tamil-majority regions — a formula called ‘Thirteen-Plus’ that was promised during diplomatic negotiations with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in 2010.

Sri Lanka: Stultifying the working of the NPC appears to be the prime concern of the government in the North

''The most important thing we have achieved is to help the Tamil speaking people find hope and courage, when they were at the nadir of their lives. The fact that the Tamil speaking people as a whole have come out of the shell they were forced into prior to the election is truly remarkable. They wholeheartedly support the non-violent and democratic struggle that we are engaged in. They understand that staying on the path of non-violence amidst untold hardships, provocation and persistent and pernicious intimidation requires courage and commitment.''

We will not issue ultimatums to government– C.V. Wigneswaran ( interviewed by  Sulochana Ramiah Mohan)