President Ranil Wickremesinghe has promised that the 13th Amendment will be “fully implemented” in Sri Lanka.
What exactly is the 13th Amendment?
- It is the result of the July 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord, signed by then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayawardene in an attempt to end the ethnic conflict and civil war.
- The 13th Amendment established Provincial Councils and guaranteed a power-sharing arrangement that would allow all nine provinces in the country to self-govern, including Sinhala majority areas.
- Education, health, agriculture, housing, land, and police are all devolved to provincial governments.
Why is it contentious?
- The 13th Amendment carries a lot of baggage from the country’s civil war.
- Both Sinhala nationalist parties and the LTTE were vehemently opposed.
- The opposition in Sri Lanka saw the Accord and the legislation that followed as an imprint of Indian intervention.
- It was widely viewed as an imposition by a neighbour with hegemonic power.
- The Tamil polity, particularly its dominant nationalist strain, does not consider the 13th Amendment to be sufficiently broad or substantive.
- Some, on the other hand, see it as an important starting point, something to build on.
Why India objects over this?
- Provincial administrations have not made much progress due to restrictions on financial powers and the President’s overriding powers.
- The provisions relating to police and land, in particular, have never been implemented.
Significance
- To date, the Amendment is the only constitutional provision addressing the long-pending Tamil question.
- In addition to ensuring some degree of devolution, it is regarded as one of the few significant gains made since the 1980s in the face of growing Sinhala-Buddhist majoritarianism.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/as-talks-with-tamil-parties-drag-ranil-pledges-full-implementation-of-13th-amendment/article66383091.ece