Sri Lanka to offer East Terminal development of Colombo Port to India

Sri Lanka has decided to vest in the development of the East Terminal of Colombo Port to India's Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd., a company of Adani Group belonged to billionaire Gautam Adani, reported Bloomberg website.

"Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. and a local partner received an in-principle approval to sign a deal with Sri Lanka Ports Authority, which will hold majority stake in the project," the report said.

The preliminary agreement in regard to this deal was signed in 2019 with the involvement of Japan as well. India, Japan, Australia and the United States have joined together to deal power in the Indo-Pacific region and Sri Lanka is under pressure to select either to partner with them or to select China's Belt and Road strategy. 

"India extended a $400 million currency swap facility to Colombo to assist with post-pandemic economic recovery. The two countries also discussed deferring of debt repayment during Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first high-level virtual meeting since his re-election with India’s Narendra Modi in September," Bloomberg reported.

Before the parliamentary election in early August, the trade unions of Sri Lanka Ports Authority staged a protest demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to deliver a written promise not to hand over East Terminal to any foreign country. The President promised to review the agreement but did not deliver the promise demanded by trade unions. 

The trade union leaders suspended the trade union action and went to a stressful silence after a visit to meet the government leaders. 

(Photo: Thanks to Bloomberg)

India - Sri Lanka relations at a decisive stage over fishing issue

The following report signals that the conflict between Sri Lanka and India over the fishing activities in the Palk Straits have reached to a decisive point.

Reacting strongly to incidents of Indian fishermen being detained by Sri Lankan Navy, India today said a senior official of the External Affairs Ministry will soon visit the island nation to resolve the issues as such acts ''cannot go on''.

"I think this cannot go on like this. I think we will have to come to some firm understanding with the government of Sri Lanka," Krishna told mediapersons here.

His comments came after reports that Sri Lankan Navy detained 14 fishermen from Tamil Nadu for allegedly fishing in their waters earlier in the day. They, however, freed the fishermen hours later on sighting an Indian Navy vessel near the International Maritime Boundary Line.

Krishna said he will be deputing an MEA Joint Secretary to go to Sri Lanka and "prepare some kind of a ground so that such unpleasant incidents do not frequently occur." Krishna noted that international water is a "tricky issue" and that fishermen don't recognise international maritime boundaries.

In today's incident, the fishermen were taken into custody when they were near the third sand dune between Katchatheevu, an islet ceded by India to Sri Lanka, and Arichalmunai in the sea off Rameswaram, where another group of 13 fishermen were detained by the island navy and released recently.

Fishery department officials, quoting four released fishermen, said the armed Sri Lankan Navymen came in two boats and asked the 18 fishermen to surrender. They took 14 fishermen into custody and towed one boat away with them while releasing four fishermen and another boat. The 14 fishermen were handed over to Indian Navy who would bring them back.


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Sri Lanka - India ferry service first ship today

The first passenger ship of the ferry service relaunched between Sri Lanka and India following the end of war will sail from Tutokorin today.

The ship is to arrive in the Colombo harbor tomorrow.

The nine story ship has seating arrangements for 1044 passengers. It also has a 250 seat auditorium, restaurants, recreational facilities and medical facilities.

The shipping agent Arugambay Travels says that 10% is levied from the children up to two years of age, 50% up to 12 years of age and 40% from the senior citizens.

One way ticket is around 60 US dollars. A passenger can carry up to 100 kilos of baggage.



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How people starve in India as food stocks rot

By Bharat Jhunjhunwala
The Statesman/ANN

THE country’s food grain stock is 60 million tons which is nearly three times the required buffer. We have storage capacity for only 52 million tons. About seven million tons are rotting in the open. At least six million tons have already become unfit for human consumption. The surplus is likely to increase further in the coming months. The monsoon crop has been satisfactory. Heavy rains have led to recharge of groundwater and the winter crop is also likely to be normal.

Surprisingly, India continues to languish in the Global Hunger Index despite availability of surplus food grain. The index is prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute. India was ranked 65th last year. It has slipped to 67th in the 2010 index. Not that the extent of hunger has increased; there has been some improvement on that score. We had secured 31.7 points in 1990. This has declined to 24.1 points in 2010. But while the scale of improvement has been better in other countries, our rank is sliding. The laggard athlete runs forward but is yet said to be ‘behind’ in the race. Similarly, we are moving ahead in reducing the level of hunger but are falling ‘behind’ other countries.

The Supreme Court has suggested that the surplus grain may be distributed free to the poor instead of letting them rot in the open. Yet it is doubtful whether this will lead to better nourishment. Haryana is among the more prosperous states in terms of agriculture. However, its "hunger status" is said to be "alarming". Punjab and Tamil Nadu are not far behind though they are not facing a shortage of grain.

Central to the problem is the lack of a balanced diet. Grains are provided to the poor BPL card-holders at a considerably subsidized rate. However, they don’t have the means to buy oil, pulses and vegetables. The resultant imbalance in the diet may be the reason why these states rank high in the hunger index. The distribution of more grain is unlikely to improve the nutritional requirement of the poor since enough of this commodity is available.

The second factor behind the country’s low rank in the hunger index appears to be the culture of consumerism. The family uses the available money to buy television sets instead of nourishing vegetables. The free distribution of grain is not feasible from the administrative point of view either. As in the public distribution system, the risk of a huge leakage is substantial.

The problem of malnourishment is inherent in the model of economic development. As the policy gets to be implemented, the poor man is first deprived of his job and made destitute. Manufacture of goods by automatic machines is encouraged. Then the destitute is provided with free or subsidized grain through the government machinery. The homemaker is not able to provide a balanced diet because the family can’t afford oil, pulses and vegetables. The government had provided a huge subsidy on urea till a few years ago. Soil productivity declined on account of over-application of nitrogen and a deficit of potash and phosphates. Similarly, the excessive intake of grain is leading to an unbalanced diet, even malnutrition. The current development model also encourages the purchase of electronic gadgets ~ the symbols of prosperity. The family spends the limited cash that is available on such purchases instead of balanced nutrition. The leakages that take place in distribution are also inherent in the development model.

The solution is to dismantle the welfare state and provide direct cash support to all citizens. An advertisement policy, that encourages healthy lifestyles, should be devised. The government must export the surplus grain and distribute the profit obtained. The price of wheat in the global markets is Rs 17 per kg. It is procured at Rs 12 per kg. It is better to export the surplus and give Rs 17 in cash to the poor instead of giving them grain valued at Rs 12.

Domestic prices may rise due to exports. This should not be regarded as a negative phenomenon. The farmers’ income will increase and benefit scores of people. Increased prices will lead to higher production and help secure food security. Agricultural workers will get a share of the higher prices through higher wages, and this will help reduce malnourishment. The negative impact of higher grain prices will be felt by the urban consumers. We should not sacrifice the food security and welfare of our millions of rural people for appeasing this already well-off segment of the population.

The Minimum Support Price policy is said to be responsible for the surplus stocks. The government is committed to buy all the grain offered for purchase at a pre-determined price. Farmers prefer to grow grain because they are assured of this minimum price. The result is excess production of grain and a shortfall in the production of oil, pulses and vegetables. While these facts are true, it doesn’t follow that the support price policy is undesirable.

Till the eighties, we were dependent on food imports. Today we are in a position to export because farmers have increased production on the basis of the support price policy. Millions of farmers have benefited. The government must procure yet more foodgrain and, if necessary, export them even at a loss. This is being done by the developed countries in order to maintain domestic production of food. We need to increase both production and exports. Another strategy to manage the surplus is to include other minor crops such as mustard, groundnut, soyabean and pulses in the Minimum Support Price policy. This will lead to diversification of the crop pattern and make oils and protein available to our people.

The World Bank has suggested that countries like India should not impose a ban on the export of foodgrain as a matter of policy. Free trade in grain will be beneficial for importers as well as exporters. This is in keeping with this writer’s suggestion to export surplus stocks. But there is a critical difference. The World Bank suggests that exports should be allowed even in times of domestic shortage, if international prices are high. This can be harmful for the sovereignty of the country. Remember that the former US President, Jimmy Carter, had imposed a ban on the export of grain to Russia as a pressure tactic for quitting Afghanistan. We will unnecessarily push ourselves to a similar situation. We should confine exports to surplus stocks.

The writer is former Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.


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Sri Lanka regime's ugly game in between India and China

(June 14, 2010, Colombo - Lanka Polity) 'Though the Tiger is no more and Lankan Tamils are cowed, Indian Tamils and Diaspora Tamils together can still pose a formidable challenge to Colombo. And their capacity to do so will remain so long as the problems of the Lankan Tamils are unresolved."
-Thisaranee Gunasekara evaluating the outcome of the IIFA-2010 Bollywood award ceremony held in June in Colombo.

Sri Lanka President visited India following the IIFA debacle and the Hindustan Times had to report "The Pro-Tamil group's protest against visit of Sri Lankan president Mahenda Rajkapsa turned violent on Saturday (June 12) when suspected pro-tamil activists blasted railway tracks, just before a passenger train was to enter Perani railway station in Villupuram district, some 70 km south of Chennai in the wee hours."

This news creates a picture of a Tamil struggle in which the Sri Lankan part appears relatively peaceful amidst miserable conditions of the war-affected community while the Indian section looks getting more militant than before in addition to its successful lobby politics that made the IIFA a great disaster for Sinhala chauvinist Sri Lanka government.

Tamil struggle poses to envisage in a broader spectrum of a struggle of world Tamils for a state. Being the heart of the Tamil polity, the Tamil Nadu with its 70 million Tamils naturally becomes the epicenter of the new struggle.

In a time the capitalist world is facing its worst economic crisis in the history, it is natural that the struggles against the system may restructure aiming outcome amidst a possible world crisis.

India is a nation threatened by a number of nationalist struggles seeking restructuring of geo-politics. Therefore, due to clearly understandable reasons, India cannot give way to the rise of the new wave of Tamil nationalism in Tamil Nadu.

One way of curtailing the trend is to find a sustainable solution for the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka. The island nation is the melting pot of the Tamil nationalism.

Thisaranee Gunasekara says "In a speech to a group of businessmen, on the first anniversary of the defeating of the LTTE, (Sri Lanka Army Commander) Gen. Jayasuriya said that “it is up to the government and the people now to fund the root cause of the problem and give a proper solution… I believe in the end a proper solution is needed” (The Straits Times – 11.6.2010).

"Unfortunately his words are likely to be unheeded, if not scorned. The Rajapakses will not deliver a political solution, because they do not believe in the existence of an ethnic problem, as the President himself had stated, publicly, time and time again. Disbelieving in the existence of an ethnic problem, they, logically, do not see the need for a political solution."

However, The Hindu reported Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said on Saturday that there are positive signals from Sri Lanka on finding an amicable and acceptable solution to the issue of Tamils, who are fighting for equal rights.

But Thisaranee Gunasekara contradicts this idea. She says "Not only will the Rajapakses not deliver a political solution; even the restoration of normalcy or a real improvement in the living conditions of the North-Eastern Tamils is unlikely to happen, except marginally and minimally. The fact that the 2010 budget sets aside Rs.201 billion for defence but only Rs.2 billon for resettlement demonstrates the very low priority accorded by the government to Tamil wellbeing. It also reveals the regime’s inability/unwillingness to see the nexus between development and security. Given such a militarist mindset, reconciliation is but a mirage, a delusion spun occasionally by the state media, for purposes of propaganda."

Thisaranee points out that Sri Lanka will swing like a pendulum between India and China to manage the situation and eventually the island nation can be the battleground of the cold war between the two super powers. But one point she forgets is that India is more important to China than Sri Lanka and another 1987-like scenario can re-emerge.

In 1987, J.R. Jayawardane, who was playing in between India and Western super powers keeping all its eggs in the West's basket was eventually betrayed to India by the West that he venerated and kept his all trusts. China never bothers about the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka. She will not wage war against India once India attempts to use its powers to solve the problem. The possibility of China advising Sri Lanka one day to give way to India is very high. In such context, it will be the end of the road for the game of the Rajapaksas.

Wihat is this game? It is none other than playing in others' soft corners permanently hoodwinking the world and sustaining the misery of the minorities of the island. Rajapaksas should be defeated in this game if Sri Lanka as well as the world polity needs to progress.

What Dr. Dayan Jayathilaka has to say is different. "When we antagonized India we could not win the war, but when we correctly managed relations with India, we won the war. If India had opposed us or not supported us, we may not have been able to win or withstand the Western moves to stop the war. There is a saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Every relationship is reciprocal. Sri Lanka has to reciprocate for India’s support," he says.

"We must bear in mind that we still need that support because, though the hot war has been won by us, a cold war continues against us in the global arena.

"We need India’s support to balance off those who are hostile to us or are influenced by the pro-Eelam trend in the Tamil Diaspora. India is our buffer with the USA. Delhi is under pressure to take a stand hostile to us, or to stop supporting us. That pressure comes from Tamil Nadu but not only from Tamil Nadu...from India’s civil society as well as some of India’s Western friends. If India stops supporting us, not even the Non Aligned Movement will defend us fully, because they take their cue from respected Third World states such as India." Dr. Dayan Jayathilaka adds.

In this context, the progressive elements of Sri Lanka must try their best to manage the conflicts as subtly as they can to achieve better results for the polity.

It should be understood that the attempts of a section of Sri Lankan business community and the left forces to mobilize people against India citing 'aggressive' nature of proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) etc. are indirectly promoted by the ruling elite to maintain their chauvinist base of the politics. Progressive forces of the Lankan polity should work to broaden the purview of the polity to enhance their ability to grasp the better and sustainable outcome instead of narrow, quick popularity.


You may also like to visit our Sinhala Blog W3Lanka

China's Sri Lanka port raises concern

(February 18, Colombo - Lanka Polity)  We feel the following UPI article is significant since it reveals the Indian pessimism regarding China's involvements in the affairs of the Indian Ocean. It also discusses about the Hambanthota port and its implications on international affairs.

China's construction of a port in Sri Lanka and a Chinese admiral's suggestion Beijing build a naval base in the Gulf of Aden has raised fears in the Middle East that a confrontation between China and India is looming along vital energy export routes.

Both the Asian titans, whose economies continue to expand despite the global financial meltdown, are heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil and will become more so as supplies dwindle.

The Indians are building their naval forces across these vital shipping lanes through which some 85 percent of China's oil supplies pass along with raw materials from Africa.

Inevitably, these will increasingly encroach on Middle Eastern and African waters as Beijing seeks to protect the economic arteries on which it is becoming increasingly dependent all the way from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea.

This is causing grave concern in India, which is vying for the same energy and mineral resources as China.

This raises the prospect, distant though it may be, of a confrontation between the two. The region is vital too for the Gulf states as an energy export and trading route as they increasingly look eastward.

There is also the possibility that one day China and the United States, which has long been the dominant naval force in the Indian Ocean, may also clash.

New Delhi views China's efforts to expand its regional clout through its "string of pearls" strategy -- ringing India with naval bases and electronic listening posts -- as an attempt to muscle into waters India has long considered its own.

Indeed, the Chinese are seeking to protect their maritime trade further east as well in the Strait of Malacca, a major shipping choke point between Malaysia and Indonesia that links the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

Beijing wants to ensure unhindered access to the narrow waterway for its energy shipments.

The construction of the $1 billion container port at Hambantota, until recently a fishing hamlet on Sri Lanka's southeastern coast, illustrates how the Chinese thrust into the Indian Ocean is becoming more pronounced.

The deep-water port will include a development zone and an oil refinery.

Over the last few years, the Chinese have built a similar port at Gwadar on Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast, which will eventually be the terminal for pipelines carrying Gulf crude and natural gas to western China.

Another is planned at Chittagong in Bangladesh, an oil refinery terminal in the northern Bay of Bengal east of India.

These could become bases for China's growing submarine fleet, a potential threat to the arterial shipping lanes running east from the Persian Gulf.

The Chinese are reported to have established a naval base in Myanmar and intelligence surveillance bases on islands across the Bay of Bengal.

Another is reportedly being built on Marao Island in the Maldives chain that runs south toward the British base of Diego Garcia, currently manned by U.S. forces.

Beijing says it has no interest in establishing major foreign bases so far from home. But as its economy mushrooms and its naval forces swell, it will inevitably require bases to project its growing power.

China is reported to be interested in establishing facilities in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand.

In December, Rear Adm. Yin Zhou, a senior officer at the Chinese navy's Equipment Research Center, proposed a naval base be established in the Gulf of Aden, which would take Chinese expansion even further west than it is now.

Ostensibly, Yin's idea was to support China's naval flotilla attached to the international anti-piracy task force deployed off Somalia.

There is no question that piracy is a growing problem, not only in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, but in the Strait of Malacca and elsewhere.

The International Maritime Bureau, which monitors global piracy, said there were 42 attacks on oil tankers around the world in 2009, a 40 percent increase over 2008. And most took place off Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula.

But given China's naval expansion, it would make sense for Beijing to seek a military foothold in the Gulf of Aden, adding another strategic dimension and threat of conflict to a region already riddled with risk.

In politics too India's winning formula is hosting bad picthes

(December 28, Colombo - Lanka Polity) You host a cricket team and your countrymen are desperate to see your team win. Since you are the host, you are privileged to prepare a picth as you wish. You make it as hard for the opponent as you can and you then select deadly bowlers to break their noses. You think it is the winning formula. But what happens if the players walk out refusing to play?

This is what happened in Sunday's fifth and final limited-overs international between India and Sri Lanka, leading to crowd unrest and immediate recriminations for Indian cricket officials.

Sent in to bat first, Sri Lanka had crumbled to 83-5 on the difficult Kotla pitch before the third delivery of the 24th over, from India's rookie paceman Sudeep Tyagi, rose dangerously and flew past the face of batsman Thilina Kandamby.

It proved the last straw for Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, who complained to match referee Alan Hurst and onfield umpires Marais Erasmus and Shavir Tarapore, and players left the field.

As discussions continued between match officials and local organizers outside the boundary, spectators shouted slogans and abuse at the organizers.

Baton-wielding police were called in to clear the stands of spectators, some of whom had vented their anger by smashing chairs. The teams were whisked away from the stadium before the abandonment was announced more than an hour after the suspension.

Later Sunday, confronted with mounting criticism, the Indian cricket board scrapped its pitches panel. (Canadian Press)

This happens not only in cricket but in politics as well. India always hosts the neighboring nations with difficult political terrain since it is desperate in winning the regional dominancy at the cost of the bones of the other nations. The best example is Sri Lanka.

India's approach on the island nation's ethnic problem is always dishonest. One time it sided with the Tamil militancy providing them military bases in South India to train and arm against Sri Lankan state. Through that strategy India caught behind pro-Yankee J.R. Jayawardhana, the first executive President of Sri Lanka. After bundling out the Sinhala players, India wanted to defeat the Tamil nationalism as well that she bred in her bosom. Now India is sided with the Sinhala dominated Sri Lanka government and she has made the Tamil nationalist forces eat shit through its policy of tolerating Sri Lanka’s unorthodox warfare that completely disregarded the lives of the fighters and the civilians.

Even three decades later, the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka remains same. It is still the biggest impediment before Sri Lanka's development. India is silent. India always makes the political pitch for others as hard as rock. Yet, it is not clear India has won the match over Sri Lanka since the match is mingled with walk-outs of the Sinhala and Tamil polities.

Sri Lanka’s failure to provide scientific proof to the death of Tiger leader gives way to blind nationalism

(July 11 2009) Sri Lanka is failing to provide concrete proof of the death of Velupillai Prabakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) and Pottu Amman, the intelligence chief of the outfit who are wanted by India to wind up the case regarding the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The sources say that Sri Lankan authorities are unable to provide scientific proof for the deaths of these Tiger leaders. Although a corpse said to be of Prabakaran's was displayed as the government declared he was killed on May 18. No corpse of Pottu Amman's was shown so far. 

The situation has triggered claims from the ardent Tamil Ealam nationalists that their elusive leader is still alive and will appear in public in right moment. The admittance of the expatriate leadership of the LTTE has also gone unhindered among these arch nationalists.

In theater-crazy Tamil Nadu, the politicians are manipulating the mystery for their gains where the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi told the State Assembly of a story of a “hero's escape on a horseback with none in the know of his whereabouts” inferred here to mean LTTE leader V Prabhakaran.

“Mr Prabhakaran had been announced as dead in the past too atleast four times in 1984, 1987, 1989 and in 2004. This is the fifth time the announcement has come. Similarly four wars of independence have been fought in Sri Lanka. The fifth war for independence for Eelam (the area of Tamils in Sri Lanka) will commence and our respected Mr Prabhakaran will lead that war,”said Tamil Nadu politician P. Nedumaran, close associate of the elusive LTTE leader who has known him for decades.

“In connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, a formal request for an official confirmation of the deaths of Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman, the chief of the intelligence wing of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), has been made to the government of Sri Lanka,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told parliament, when asked whether India had sought the death certificate of Prabhakaran.

JHU of Sri Lanka likely to quit the government?

(July 05, 2009) Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) the monk dominated Sinhala Buddhist nationalist-religious political party of Sri Lanka is likely to revoke its support to the government following a meeting with the President Mahinda Rajapakse tomorrow, the observers say.

The party is under pressure due to the government's proclaimed stance on implementing the 13th amendment of the constitution fully that devolves the police and land powers to the Provincial Councils. The government has to take this minimal measure to mend its relationships with the Western powers and the neighboring India that urge the government to redress the political problems of the Tamils.

JHU's power contender Marxist nationalist People's Liberation Front (JVP) has already taken a hardline stand against the 13th amendment. JHU is in fear of losing its Sinhala nationalist vote base as a result of being a coalition partner of a government that devolves power to Tamils.

However, at present, the JHU is not in a position to go to a direct clash with the all powerful President, the observers say. Their stand will mostly be catalized by the actions the JVP will take against the 13th amendment, they say.

India decriminalises same sex relationships!

(July 02, 2009) Equal Grounds, a non-profit organization of Sri Lanka that seeks equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-sexual communities of the island, congratulates the Indian court ruling that decriminalises sames sex relationships. Today, 2nd July 2009, the High Court in Delhi struck down a 148-year-old colonial law which describes a same-sex relationship as an “unnatural offence”.

Delhi’s High Court ruled that the law outlawing homosexual acts was discriminatory and a “violation of fundamental rights”. The court said that a statute in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which defines homosexual acts as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and made them illegal, was an “antithesis of the right to equality”.

"We congratulate a decade long struggle by Indian LGBT activists to repeal this insidious law," says Equal Grounds adding "India’s bold and forward thinking decision gives hope to the millions of LGBTIQ persons in the entire region. We hope that Sri Lanka will seriously think of doing the same and welcoming all people regardless of caste, creed, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity as EQUAL citizens of this country."

Strife within Sri Lanka government pro and against the implementation of the 13th amendment to the constitution

Sri Lanka Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) chief strategist Champika Ranawaka issued a severe warning to the government on June 29, 2009 at a press conference held in Colombo. He warned JHU would resign from the government if it proceeded in fully implementing or exceeding the 13th amendment to the constitution.


With this statement Champika outshines as a leader of a party that would not appease with a post of cabinet minister, several MPs and Provincial Councilors. He shows that the JHU will take the challenges in power politics and will march forward. 


It is a challenge to the JHU's main contender People's Liberation Front (JVP) as well. In the recent years, JVP's political strategy was parallel to the JHU's. 


In the post-Tamil Tiger period, clear division can be seen among the second level leaders of the government regarding the implementation of the 13th amendment to the constitution that was introduced in 1987 under the influence of India. Provincial Councils were established under it in 1988 but they were not fully implemented with police and land powers. 

Unofficial sources say that India has stressed Sri Lanka to fully implement the 13th amendment when a top level government delegation visited the regional power center recently. It is understood that the top leadership of the government remains silent diplomatically although they are not interested in power sharing with Tamils. 


Meanwhile, the National Freedom Front (JNP) has also begun campaigning against the 13th amendment and a seminar organized by party front organization Patriotic National Movement is to be held on July 07 in Colombo.

We learn that lobbying within the government against the 13th amendment has already begun but many ministers remain vigilant regarding the developments without taking a stance. They wait for the sides to gather momentum amidst local and foreign influence. 


Meanwhile, the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) that was appointed by the President to propose ways for power devolution is going to propose to exceed the 13th amendment to the constitution with clearly defining the powers of the Provincial Council and the Center. The concurrent list is to be abrogated accordingly, in addition to some other constitutional reforms. JHU also represented the APRC that was chaired by Minister of Science and Technology Thissa Vitharana, a member of the Trotskyist Lanka Samasamaja Party.

June 30, 2009