July 19, 2013, 12:00 pm

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BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, July 19: Sri Lanka will never risk a provincial government forming its own "army" through devolved police powers, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa has declared.

He said this in an interview to The Hindu’s Colombo correspondent Meera Srinivasan published today. His remark clearly reveals the extent to which absence of trust remains an obstacle to ethnic reconciliation in Sri Lanka even more than four years after Tamil separatist rebel group the LTTE was decimated after a three-decade-long bloody civil war.

He specifically referred to the Tamil National Army, a militant outfit raised by the beleaguered 1988 EPRLF government in the North-Eastern Province in a futile attempt to protect itself against the LTTE that had rejected the 13th Amendment and boycotted the election. There is no ruling out that a future Northern provincial government will not do the same.

The minister asked: "If the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) form another army, can we afford another war now?"

He dismissed arguments that armed struggle by the Tamils is now a thing of the past, and that the 13th Amendment in any case gave the President overriding powers over the province.

Despite India’s efforts to persuade Sri Lanka to fully implement the 13th Amendment in the island’s northern province, the Rajapaksa government appears firm about not handing over some powers, including those related to police and law enforcement, to the Tamil minority.

As Sri Lanka moves to hold elections for the first time in the Tamil-majority Northern province, there is a raging debate in the country over the pros and cons of the 13th Amendment, including the proposed changes by the Rajapaksa government to strip it of clauses that it perceives to be inimical to national and territorial integrity; and the reported insistence by India on its full implementation.

Both Minister Rajapakasa’s trip to New Delhi and India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon’s visit to Colombo last fortnight seem to have focussed on this issue.

Sri Lanka’s other provinces, which have functioning governments, do not have their own police forces despite the constitutional provision for this. But the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) believes the North should have control over law enforcement in the province.

The TNA is widely expected to win the Northern election, to be held in September, two months before the country is due to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet. The alliance has nominated a respected Colombo-based former judge of the Supreme Court, CV Wigneswaran, as its chief ministerial candidate.

Rajapaksa, however, questioned TNA’s choice, describing Wigneswaran as a candidate of "external forces" who did not represent the people of the North.

Well ahead of the elections, the minister, an important political figure in the Sri Lankan government, and regarded as the most restrained and diplomatic member of the Rajapaksa clan, is already certain that a TNA government in the North would be on collision course with the Centre.

He said the Rajapaksa government has given the Tamil people, "everything" — roads, railways, water, electricity, schools and hospitals. With nothing left to promise, a TNA provincial government will whip up other "emotional issues" that neither it nor the government will be able to deliver, he warned.

The minister gave a new twist to the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 which gave birth to the 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s Constitution by claiming that devolving police powers will actually amount to going against Accord.

He pointed to section 2.10 of the Accord which calls for the government to use the "same organisations and mechanisms" for law enforcement and security in the Northern and Eastern provinces as in the rest of the country, saying this meant that there could not be more than one police force for the whole country.

"It is very clear in the Accord. It says police powers have to be with one police, there is no separate mechanism. So you can’t have a separate police force in the provinces," Rajapaksa said.

Rajapaksa defended the government setting up a parliamentary select committee to revisit the 13th amendment by arguing that no constitutional provision is permanent. All over the world, it is the practice to make changes in the statute.

He would not say if the changes will come before or after the election. It is an ongoing process. Sometimes, such processes take years, he pointed out.

The committee has been boycotted by the TNA and the main opposition United National Party (UNP). Moreover, dissenters on the issue within the ruling coalition, such as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), are not included in the Committee.

Rajapaksa sought to explain questions about the credibility of the incomplete panel by saying it will solicit wider opinion by inviting public testimonies.

Asked if India-Sri Lanka relations have been affected as a result, Rajapaksa said: "Both countries understand each other’s point of view. It is Sri Lanka’s problem, and Sri Lanka must find a solution from within Sri Lanka itself".

India’s vote against Colombo two years in a row at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, he said, had "very badly hurt our relationship" but Sri Lanka has "managed it very well", understanding that it was due to "internal pressure".

Sri Lanka did not react adversely when Sri Lankan pilgrims and Buddhist priests were attacked in Tamil Nadu.

"So, as two sovereign countries and countries who have been friends for a long time we have to understand each other. Our people have been very understanding of India. India must understand that."

He said India’s Sri Lanka-playing-the-China-card theory is reasonable. He said that while Indian CEO’s forum was formed recently in Colombo, there is no such platform for Chinese businessmen in Sri Lanka.

A peaceful environment in Sri Lanka is good for India and the people of India, not just for the governments but also for the business community, including those from Tamil Nadu, Rajapaksa opined.

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