Thirteenth Amendment to Constitution of Sri Lanka

The population of Sri Lanka is around 2 crore of which 74.8% are Sinhalese and 11.2 are Tamils. Most of the Tamils in Sri Lanka were brought as indentured labourers to work on estate plantations. The conflict between Buddhist Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils has been one of the longest ethnic strife in South Asia.

Background

During the British era, the Sinhalese people of Ceylon felt discriminated by the British rulers. The anti-British sentiments led to rise of what is called Sinhalese Nationalism. When Sri Lanka got freedom, the first-past-the-post electoral system was placed in Sri Lanka and much of the political power went into the hands of Sinhalese. This led to discrimination of the Tamils, who demanded more autonomy. The tensions led the development of Sri Lankan Civil War whereby LTTE demanded freedom of Tamil dominated areas as Tamil Eelam.

In 1987, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord to resolve the civil war. Under the terms of the agreement, while Colombo had to devolve power to the provinces {so that provinces get significant autonomy, including northern provinces}, while LTTE had to surrender the arms. But LTTE was not a party to this agreement. Initially, they accepted it but then later said that they would continue their struggle.

Before this peace accord, enactment of the sixth amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution in August 1983 had classified all separatist movements as unconstitutional.

In the Indo-Sri Lankan Peace accord the Sri Lankan Government made a number of concessions to Tamil demands, which included

• Devolution of power to the provinces
• Merger (subject to later referendum) of the northern and eastern provinces
• Official status for the Tamil language.

The provisions for setting up of a Provincial Council for each Province; establishment of a High Court for each Province; and making Tamil an official language and English the link language was to be achieved via the 13th amendment of the Constitution of Sri Lanka . Provincial councils are to directly elected for five 5-year terms. The leader of the council majority serves as the province’s Chief Minister with a board of ministers; a provincial governor is appointed by the president. Thus, 13th amendment, sought to grant regional autonomy as a political solution. However, even after several years of decimation of the LTTE, the ethnic reconciliation remains a distant dream in Sri Lanka. Before the comprehensive defeat of LTTE in 2009, the Sri Lanka government’s familiar chant with respect to Tamil issue was centred around 4Ds viz. Demilitarization, Democracy, Development and Devolution. However, once LTTE wiped out, the fourth D has lost somewhere.

Key Provisions of 13^th amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution provides for:

• The establishment of Provincial Councils
• The appointment and powers of the Governor of Provinces
• Membership and tenure of Provincial Councils
• The appointment and powers of the Board of Ministers
• The legislative powers of the Provincial Councils
• Alternative arrangements where there is a failure in the administrative machinery
• The establishment of the Finance Commission.
• Tamil as an official language
• English as a link language
• The establishment of the High Court of the Province

The “13 Plus” and “13 Minus” conundrum

As per the 13^th amendment, Sri Lanka was divided into nine provinces each governed by a council headed by an elected chief minister. The north and east was merged into one province called North-East province. Also, Tamil was made an official language along with the Sinhalese. The powers were divided into three lists viz. Provincial, Reserved and Concurrent. However, since all the provisions of 13^th amendment were not implemented, it is called 13-Minus. 13 Minus implies that Police, Land and Financial powers have not been devolved. The provinces have struggled to get adequate financial powers. Then in 2007, the North and East were demerged. This was followed by more centralized powers in the hands of President, eroding whatsoever autonomy was with the provinces.

Another catchphrase floated regarding devolution was 13Plus. What exactly is meaning of 13 Plus is not known, there can be multiple meanings too. Before LTTE was decimated, the Sri Lankan government was ready to go well beyond what was promised in 13^th amendment, but then LTTE rejected it. In 2006, the then president Rajapaksha had appointed an All Party Representative Committee (APRC) in April 2006 to design a solution which looks good and reasonable enough to address the concerns in the aftermath of LTTE end. This committee recommended in 2008 about full implementation of 13^th amendment along with creation of a second house. However, once LTTE decimated, implementing 13 itself has hit a roadblock.

Further, when former president Rajapaksha met Modi, he said that devolving police powers would be “risky and difficult”, thus putting more suspense to the 13^th amendment story.

Stance of India

India has always emphasised on a meaningful devolution package, based on the 13th Amendment. India’s interest is not only cultural but also demographic as around 1 lakh Tamil refugees are living in India. Until a political reconciliation is achieved in Sri Lanka, return of these refugees will not be possible.