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| President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met with a ITAK delegation today at Presidential Secretariat. pix: PMD |
During a meeting held with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake today, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) reiterated its longstanding stand on devolving powers to Provincial Councils and urged government to speed up constitutional reform process as indicated in the the manifesto of National Peoples’ Power (NPP).
“We pointed out to the President that our party stood for a meaningful power sharing arrangement within a federal structure, by whatever name it is called. We also pointed out that the first promise in the President’s Election Manifesto (page 230) was to speedily complete the 2016-2019 constitutional reform process.” Secretary of ITAK M. A. Sumanthiran said in a Facebook post on the meeting.
The ITAK delegation met with President Dissanayake today at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo following a request made by the party.
Although there was no agreement with the eventual draft, when the Steering Committee discussed the Principles of Devolution at its 31st meeting, there was agreement on 14 matters (I handed a copy to the President-he and I were both members of the steering committee), he stressed.
“We also pointed out that from Banda-Chelva pact, Dudley-Chelva pact to post 13A reform proposals (1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2007 and 2019) all of it were in the same direction towards greater devolution to the provinces. The JVP also had agreed to this in the last process of 2016-2019, which is what the President had promised in his Election Manifesto. We categorically stated that nothing new needs to be started - we only have to complete the process based on all the previous agreements.” he said.
As discussions focused on the Provincial Council elections and the need for a new Constitution, President Dissanayake was quoyed as saying that the government believes the longstanding issues faced by the people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces can no longer be resolved through outdated political solutions. “Therefore, it is essential to move towards a new political solution, and we expect the cooperation of all stakeholders in this regard.”
The MPs also raised longstanding regional issues such as fisheries disputes, land concerns, and the need for improved infrastructure and development in the North and East, according to a statement issued on the meeting by President Media Division. “I instructed the relevant officials present to take necessary steps to resolve these matters promptly. Furthermore, I stressed the importance of all parties working together to counter attempts to create ethnic tensions within the country.”
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