TNA chose globe-trotting against PSC - Gammanpila

CHAMIKARA WEERASINGHE

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has walked away from the only democratic instrument that can address their political demands as well as their concerns on the 13th Amendment on a firm legal footing with the decision by them yesterday to boycott the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee(PSC) process to resolve the national issue, Western Province Agriculture and Agrarian Development Minister and Vice General Secretary and Legal Adviser of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Udaya Gammanpila said yesterday.

He said the TNA has chosen the path of globe-trotting against the PSC process, the only instrument that can look into constitutional reforms to devolve power.

Meanwhile, the United National Party (UNP) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) have decided to boycott the PSC proceedings demanding that the government should announce its stance with regard to its understanding with the TNA. The government has appointed a team of 19 members led by Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva to the proposed Committee

According to TNA , they have refused to participate in the the PSC proceedings because they were unable to reach consensus with the government about several conditions laid by them to participate in the process. The leaders of Leftist political parties, Prof Tissa Vitharana of Lanka Sama Samaja Party D E W Gunasekera and Vasudeva Nanayakkara of Nawa Sama Samaja Party stressed that all political parties should take part in the proposed PSC proceedings without laying any conditions towards consensus building since all matters can be discussed at the committee.

Gammanpila said it was wrong on the part of the TNA trying to first reach a consensus with the government and then come to deliberation at the committee(PSC).

He said, ”they are holding up President Mahinda Rajapaksa from fulfilling a promise he made to the public by doing so.”

The President clearly stated in his Mahinda Chinthana Future Vision, page 54, that “After two decades of implementation, we have a vast experience regarding the Provincial Council system. Different opinions and views regarding the relevance or irrelevance and features of the system are discussed”

“There are those who are in favour of the system and those who are not. However, it is an intrinsic part of the Constitution through the 13th Amendment and is a functioning system. I am in favour of an open discussion on the amendments the Provincial Council System. This discourse will be the basis for the discussion that I intend to initiate with all political parties and organizations.”

He said,” It is to fulfill this promise that the the President introduced Parliamentary Select Committee process to bring amendments to the Provincial Council System with an all-party approach to look into make necessary constitutional changes with the participation of all political parties represented in Parliament.”

“The President was given a mandate by the people to fulfill this promise. Therefore, TNA cannot impose their demands on the government and say that they will take part in the PSC proceedings until their demands or conditions have been met by the government.” “Consensus building should take place among all political parties in order to recommend necessary constitutional changes needed to address the problems concerned,” he pointed out.

“TNA cannot find answers to the Tamil problem by going to Washington, London or to Delhi, because PSC is the only place that can do that,” he added.

Communist Party Leader Senior Minister D E W Gunasekera said it will be necessary for all political parties to come together at the PSC to reach a solution to the ethnic problem.

“The political parties should not play their usual political games around it.”

“Instead of being flexible on the matter of power devolution, TNA has gone onto the extent of saying that even the 13th Amendment is not the final solution to the problem, which is not the right way to approach a serious problem,” he said.

“The UNP is trying to put into motion their political agendas at the the cost of this problem, so does the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. It will be very important that the two main political parties Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and UNP come together in this matter to provide the necessary leadership to resolve it,” he said.