An amendment in the making?

Restoration of democracy to the beleaguered north has been highly anticipated over the past four years. It was repeatedly focused on by the US as well as UN agencies and Tamil political parties as a long-overdue right of the Tamil community and an essential facet in the reconciliation process. Even the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in its landmark report called for the elections to be held as soon as possible to legitimise and entrench democracy in the once war-torn region.

Yet several other political parties, including the ruling one, now seem to regard this right as a “boon” of sorts for the Tamil community and have done little to repress coalition parties such as the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) from drafting documents that attempt to roll back the 13th Amendment. This lends credence to the rumours that have been floating around for several months, intimating that a 19th Amendment could be formulated to roll back powers of provincial councils as well as reduce the term of the Chief Justice.

In the former, the JHU was joined by the National Freedom Front (NFF) in its vehement objections to the northern polls on the stance that it would undermine national sovereignty and would be division under a different framework. This hardline stance has not been tossed aside by the Government despite its reconciliatory stance and acting Cabinet Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa has admitted that the Constitution could change if the Parliamentary Select Committee mooted by President Rajapaksa sanctions such a move. Others argue that a 19th Amendment is being pushed ahead underground with little consultation from minorities and moderate parties.

The main opposition United National Party on Friday put forward three key conditions for the Government to fulfil ahead of the Northern Provincial Council election scheduled for September this year and urged the Commonwealth to reconsider going ahead with its Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo if the Rajapaksa administration fails to follow through on pledges to establish independent elections and police commissions ahead of the poll.

The UNP urged the Government to establish independent elections and police commissions, invite international elections observers into the country to monitor the poll and ensure the north is a completely civilian administered province ahead of the promised September election.

With CHOGM essentially in the bag for the government there is increasing evidence that even India’s interests in power devolution is losing steam. President Mahinda Rajapaksa underscored this point by telling a top Indian delegation last week that a political solution cannot be a “Rajapaksa-Sampanthan deal” and had pushed the discussion away from the 13th Amendment towards a PSC forum. The fact this statement comes after the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the UNP refused to join the PSC is important. It appears that the Government’s intention is to push ahead with the PSC regardless and if it cannot get the TNA on board then undermine the importance of the main Tamil party’s participation.  The continued absence of the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) report that was handed over to Rajapaksa well ahead of the end of the war, and has since not seen the life of day is another point of concern. The APRC, which hinged on the 13th Amendment, is being pushed further into the shadows while the Government attempts to replicate the process to have a different ending – one that could plunge minorities into even more discontent.