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Round The World
New Delhi, 6 August 2013
Sri Lanka’s Ethnic
Conflict
13th
AMENDMENT: VITAL FOR TAMILS
By Dr.S.Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
With the Tamil Eelam Supporters’ Organization (TESO)
planning to hold demonstrations in Tamil Nadu today, 8 August, to press
acceptance of its many demands, India
is once again drawn to arbiter in its neighbour’s most knotty multi-dimensional
ethnicity-rooted problem.
Importantly, TESCO demand’s the continuance of the Sri
Lankan Constitution’s 13th Amendment now under threat of annulment
or dilution along-with holding a referendum among Sri Lankan Tamils to ascertain
their requirements. The Amendment is
considered insufficient to meet the needs of Tamils in the island country in
which New Delhi
has a stake and thus cannot remain a silent spectator.
Recall, the 13th Amendment is the outcome of the Indo-Sri
Lanka Accord (aka the Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord) 26 years ago on 29 July 1987. It recommended a middle path to resolve the
protracted ethnic conflict in the island nation. It sought to dispel the apprehensions of
dissection of the country prevailing among the Sinhala majority and also to
ensure some autonomy to the Tamil minority.
The Accord provided for temporary merger of the North-East
part of the country and devolution of powers to the Provincial Councils. India agreed to
send a contingent of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to implement the
Agreement. The object was to bring about immediate cessation of hostilities and
armed conflicts in Sri Lanka.
But LTTE Chief Prabhakaran rejected the Accord as it did not
meet all demands of the Tamils while wanting to disarm them.
Pertinently, under the 13th Amendment the
Northern Provincial Council was established and some measure of self-governance
granted. It also introduced certain devolution of powers in a predominantly
unitary system. Therefore, tampering
with the Amendment with the view to withdrawing or weakening these provisions would
amount to reversing the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.
In fact, nine Provincial Councils were established in 1988
and the President had issued a Proclamation to enable Eastern and Western units
to merge as one administrative unit, North-Eastern
Province. But trouble started
when this Council passed a Resolution declaring Independent Eelam in1990. Resulting in the Council being dissolved by
the President and the Province brought under the direct control of the Central Government
in Colombo.
Importantly, Sri Lankan history since 1990 is full of ethnic
conflicts, growth of one of world’s most dreaded terrorist organizations along-with
the Government’s ruthless military action in dealing with a domestic problem
involving a section of its own subjects.
Notably, the task today is to explore the possibilities of
peace, reconciliation, and an accord for smooth governance of a multi-ethnic nation
with equal protection for all and a say for different ethnic groups in
governance.
As elections to the Tamil-majority Northern
Province are due next month, talk of deleting and diluting the 13th
Amendment raises serious concern among Tamils not only in Sri Lanka but
also Tamil Nadu. Wherein, India
has a special responsibility to ensure that the Amendment remains intact.
Besides, the Sri Lankan Tamils are demanding some real
devolution of powers including financial and police. Both their demands and the Sri Lankan
Government’s response underlie the present phase of inter-action between the
ethno-political movement and nation-building in Sri Lanka.
Indeed, the Constitutional arrangements play a very
important role in Sri Lanka’s
ethnic conflict. To appraise the current position, one has to remember history
wherein the British created a unitary Constitution based on its own model and
left it to an independent Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was called in 1948) to adapt this
to a free multi-ethnic nation.
The Soulbury Constitution adopted in 1947 provided
safeguards to minorities. But the
Citizenship Act of 1948 denied citizenship to about 8 lakh Indian Tamils. A process known as re-nationalization started
raising issues of citizenship, migration, and other minority rights.
Further, the Official Language Act 1956 made Sinhala the sole
official language in place of English. This fomented ethno-linguistic nationalism
among Tamils as the Act became instrumental for language-related anti-minority
policies. The Government justified the Act on the ground the Sinhalese constituted
about 70% of the population.
Forgotten was that language acts as a strong cementing
factor within a linguistic group and can emerge as a dividing factor between
different linguistic groups if it is given political status and power. Consequently, the 1956 Act served to promote among
Sri Lankan Tamils a feeling of separate ethnic identity based on language and
other cultural factors strong enough to lead to a demand for a separate State.
The Tamil Federal Party formed in 1951 vehemently reacted to
the “Sinhala Only” Policy of the Government.
It began to demand a federal Constitution providing autonomy for
Northern and Eastern
Provinces and equal
status for Sinhala and Tamil languages.
The Constitution of the First Republic of Sri Lanka 1972
declared the island nation a “unitary State”.
It gave “Buddhism” a pre-eminent place by making it a duty of the State
to protect and foster Buddhism and elevated Sinhala as the official language. It removed the safeguards for minority interests in the
earlier Soulbury Constitution. The name “Ceylon”
was changed as “Sri Lanka”.
These Constitutional changes saw the re-emergence of the
ethnic issues and demand for a separate state for Tamils. The Eelam slogan came into vogue in mid-1970s.
Resulting in the LTTE being formed.
A new Constitution was made in 1978 when the United National
Party (UNP) Government of JR Jayawardane came to
power. It continued special status to Sinhalese, but accepted Tamil as a
national language. A system of proportional representation --- the list system
--- was adopted. A provision for holding
referendum was also inserted.
But in the early 1980s, fighting between the Government and
LTTE became real warfare. The Government refused to permit the merger of
Northern and Eastern
Provinces though it was
willing to grant some amount of local self-Government.
In this background came the Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord in
1987.
Today, the chances appear to be bright to march backward
from this Accord and the 13th Amendment that followed.
Sri Lanka is not alone in having a
multi-ethnic population. Over 90% of States
all over the world are ethnically heterogeneous, many of them with substantial
minority population spreading beyond the State borders. All of them have to learn from one another
how to live and let live.
It is strange but true that ethnic identities are growing
strong in this globalized economic system.
Separatism is a strong emotional feeling that has no corresponding
material benefits to the believers. At
the same time, force cannot be the instrument to keep a nation united.
Clearly, Sri Lanka is
going through difficult times. All
players in the politics of this nation have to learn to subordinate their
ethnic preferences to the overwhelming demands of economic integration of the
world where countries are coming together and forming regional organizations
for development. The strategy lies not
in assuming extreme positions, but in understanding the art of living together.
------ INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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