Luxury

Sri Lankan Tamil parties to push for autonomy in a new Constitution

After being invited to negotiations by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil parties held an internal meeting and decided to present a three-point plan, including their drive for federalism, as reported by the Press Trust of India (PTI). Before Wickremesinghe’s proposed all-party meeting next month to address the long-standing demand for political autonomy for the country’s minority community, all Tamil political parties with bases in the East and North of the island nation met on Friday at the home of 89-year-old TNA leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan to advance federalism.

The formula adopted at the intra-party conference on Friday calls for the holding of the postponed provincial council elections, devolution of power to Tamil areas in the creation of a new Constitution, and an end to what they describe as the State’s appropriation of Tamil lands.

In a statement to Parliament, Wickremesinghe indicated his willingness to postpone the meeting until after 11th December.

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To end the long-running tussle, he said it was critical to foster trust between the Tamil minority and the majority Sinhalese.

The TNA, a coalition of parties that stands up for Tamils in the north and east, answered Wickremesinghe’s appeal.

However, the suggestion was rejected by at least one conservative politician from the Sinhala majority.

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As prime minister in 2015, Wickremesinghe began a process of rapprochement with Sampanthan, a seasoned TNA leader.

Since the 1950s, several attempts to address the Tamil desire for autonomy have been thwarted by the hardline Sinhala majority, giving rise to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) brutal military struggle for secession on behalf of the Tamils.

Due to complaints from the minority population that it fell short of complete autonomy, an Indian initiative to establish a combined province council system for the Tamil-dominated North and East in 1987 failed.

Before its dissolution in 2009 with the death of its top commander Velupillai Prabhakaran by the Sri Lankan Army, the LTTE waged a violent struggle for a separate Tamil state in the island nation’s northern and eastern districts for over 30 years.

The three-decade horrific war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east, which killed at least 100,000, is one of the combats that left over 20,000 people missing, according to Sri Lankan official statistics.

The Sri Lankan government disputes the claims made by international rights organisations that at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians died in the war’s last stages.

(With inputs from agencies)

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