13.No starting point to resolution: The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) election in Sri Lanka is expected to take place later this year. Colombo is entertaining hopes that holding the elections will help win India’s support in multilateral venues. New Delhi has made the 13th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution — a by-product of the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord — the centrepiece of a political solution. The Indo-Lanka Accord purportedly addresses the Tamil issue but most importantly for India, also contains important provisions on security-related matters between the two states. Safeguarding the 13th amendment in some form is important to keep the Indo-Lanka Accord alive. The Sri Lankan government has been playing the “China card” to lessen pressure from India. New Delhi returned the favour by its qualified support to the two U.S.-sponsored resolutions on Sri Lanka at the U.N. Human Rights Council in March 2012 and March 2013. Show of nationalism President Mahinda Rajapaksa would have liked to amend the 13th amendment before the NPC election, but has no option but to leave it untouched, thanks to pressure exerted by India. Nonetheless, India’s breathing down Colombo’s neck is allowing for a more strident expression of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism to take hold. The pioneers of this increasingly brazen show of nationalism, led by the Defence Secretary and Rajapaksa’s brother, Gotabhaya, as well as ministers within the ruling coalition, are calling for the 13th amendment to be repealed or amended into nothing. As such calls grow, President Rajapaksa’s stance appears increasingly duplicitous — silently encouraging the anti-13th amendment hysteria, while distancing himself from it to appear presentable to India and the West. For now, he seems to have shelved plans to dilute the 13th amendment. Nevertheless, as Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa’s recent interview to The Hindu (“Cannot risk a parallel army in North: Basil,” July 19, 2013) confirms, Colombo has not given up totally on this goal — presumably, the 13th amendment will be watered down after the NPC election. Given the state of the judiciary in Sri Lanka, following the impeachment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in January 2013, as well as the two-thirds majority Rajapaksa enjoys in Parliament, there seems to be no significant challenge to passing these amendments postelections. While some left leaning parties in Rajapaksa’s coalition and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress have asserted that they will not support any such move, these critics have previously proved themselves to be politically amenable. For India, the NPC election being held without any amendments to the 13 amendment will suffice.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 09:54:38 +0000
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