June 14, 2013, 9:47 pm


by Zacki Jabbar


The LSSP said yesterday that there was an undue haste to dilute the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, but it was ‘very weak’ as it was, since none of the powers that mattered such as land and police had been granted.


LSSP leader, Technology and Research Minister, Tissa Vitharana told The Island that a lot of hot air had been expended over nothing, since the President had the final say in all matters including policy issues.




Even if the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won the Northern Provincial Council Election (NPCE) it could not exercise land and police powers without it being implemented through the required legal channels, he noted.Asked what the LSSP’s view was on an urgent Bill to abolish the power of Provincial Councils to merge into one unit, which was to be presented to Parliament next week, the Minister said that they had requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa to hold the NPC polls under the existing law.


Whatever amendments to the 13A, could be presented to the legislature after the polls were over, Vitharana said, adding that the people’s representatives could take a decision at that stage.


The Minister observed that if the Northern Provincial Council was stripped of its more important powers, even though it was still confined to the law books, prior to the Councils first democratic election, the Tamil people could say that the same treatment had not been meted out to the other provinces.


The Northerners, who had undergone enough suffering over the last three decades, should be left in peace to exercise their franchise at a free and fair election without creating unnecessary issues and confrontations, the minister observed.