Tamil civil society renews call for irrevocable federal solution in merged North-East

Tamil civil society representatives have renewed their call for an "irrevocable federal" power-sharing arrangement in a merged North-East, as the North East Coordinating Committee marked four years since the launch of its campaign for a permanent political solution.

The fourth-year convening of the "100 Days of Activism for a Permanent Political Solution" was held in Jaffna on Saturday, bringing together civil society activists, university students, political representatives and social activists from across the eight districts of the North-East. Following discussions, the NECC called on Tamil political and civil society bodies to stand united in demanding a federal solution that would allow Tamils in the North-East to live with dignity and political rights.

The committee said Tamils had been "deceived" by the 13th Amendment to Sri Lankas constitution, which it said had failed to deliver meaningful power-sharing to the North-East. Under the islands unitary system, it argued, sovereignty is not shared and power ultimately remains with the central government, which can reclaim any authority devolved to the provinces.

"The 13th Amendment is of this nature," the committee said, adding that "sovereignty has not been shared with the North-East" through the amendment.

The NECC said Tamil demands for a federal settlement now spanned 75 years, tracing Tamil political mobilisation to the early 20th century and the establishment of the Tamil Mahajana Sabha under Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam in 1921 to advance the interests of Tamils in the North-East. Anti-Tamil campaigns and writings by Sinhala Buddhist political leaders in the early 1900s, it said, had led Tamil leaders to recognise the need for a distinct political structure to safeguard the Tamil people.

After independence, the committee accused successive Sinhala political leaderships of systematically marginalising Tamils, appropriating land and facilitating Sinhala settlements in the North-East under the guise of development, prompting Tamil leaders to advance a federal policy in 1951 in response to the erosion of Tamil sovereignty.

The NECC defined sovereignty as the ability of a people to determine their political future within their homeland, govern themselves and live with dignity and rights.

"Sovereignty should not be understood solely in terms of maintaining Sri Lankas territorial integrity... Sinhala political leaders and governments reduced the concept to control over land."

"Sovereignty concerns the people," the committee said, arguing that it encompassed their ability to choose their government, determine how they live and exercise their rights.

"You cannot disregard the people and look only at the land. Protecting the people is protecting sovereignty."

Accusing successive Sinhala-Buddhist governments of undermining the sovereignty of the people of the North-East and disregarding their democratic pursuit of a settlement, the committee reiterated that an "irrevocable federal solution" in a merged North-East was necessary for a permanent political solution in Sri Lanka.

The demand for a merged North-East remains a central and contested Tamil aspiration. The two provinces were temporarily merged under the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord before being de-merged by a Supreme Court ruling in 2006, and the 13th Amendment that accompanied the accord devolved only limited powers to provincial councils, with land and police powers never transferred and the councils themselves left dormant with elections long overdue. The renewed appeal comes as six Tamil-speaking parties have formed a common platform pressing for constitutional reform, the delayed provincial council elections and the resolution of land issues.