3.2.2008
By
K T Rajasingham
13th Amendment, Referendum of 1982
and Provincial Councils Illegal: Amerasinghe Analyses Political
Situation
Asian
Tribune begins a five part series of “heart to heart
chats” with JVP Leader Somawamsa Amerasinghe providing
a deep insight into the current political impasse in Sri
Lanka. Answering my question how you view the political
situation in the country, Amaresinghe urged the need to
assess the situation and prepare a conducive backdrop
before rushing into any drastic changes. The full text
of the question and answer session is given below.
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Somawansa
Amerasinghe: APRC proposal - We reject this, because
it is not an all party proposal, and the 14 parties
do not have at least 50% of the people with them.
So it is wrong to call it as an all party representative
committee. Then the other thing, this one is based
on the thirteenth amendment in 1987 constitution." |
Somawansa Amerasinghe : We should not bring amendments
to the present constitution or create a new constitution
hastily. Before thinking about a new constitution, we
have to create an environment which is conducive to hold
elections. Holding a referendum and also initiating a
dialogue, would give the people the opportunity to express
themselves freely. That is what is needed. We need not
worry about time constraints. We have to take the preparatory
steps one by one, and reach towards the ultimate goal.
K.T.Rajasingham:
So you desire a conducive environment before any constitutional
amendments are thrust on the people as stipulated in Clause
1.1 of the APRC proposal?
1.1
The APRC was mandated by the President to prepare a set
of proposals that would be the basis for a solution to
the national question. After 63 sittings over a period
of 1½ years, the consensus document is being finalized
and it should be possible to hand it over to the President
in the very near future. The outcome would be a basis
for appropriate constitutional arrangements. Implementation
of this, of course, would require amendments to present
Constitution, and in respect of some Articles, and also
approval by the People at a referendum. This would of
course take time, once a favorable climate is established.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Exactly, a peaceful, free and democratic
environment that is what Mahinda Chintana says. This is
the mandate of the people to the President at the Presidential
Election 2005. I have the Mahinda Chintana with me now
and I am reading from page 34: it read: proposals, to
defeat terrorism literally and ask them to renounce separatism
then demilitarization, then entering into discussion towards
a final solution. In addition, the implementation of such
solution.
K.T.Rajasingham:
All these things you are describing have to do with the
Tamil Tigers?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Yes, of course dealing with terrorism.
K.T.Rajasingham:
But the thing is this, it should be borne in mind that
LTTE is different and Tamils are different. All these
things what you have told to do with the Tamil Tigers
or Terrorists, as you call, but what about the Tamils?
What do you propose to do with them? Are you telling that
the Tamils should wait till you finish with the terrorists,
to do something about the Tamils?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No, I will come up with my solution and
at the end I will give you my road map to achieve peace
and annihilate terrorism, yest I will give you that. Now
lets us go back to the LTTE and APRC proposal - we reject
this, because it is not an all party proposal, and the
14 parties do not have at least 50% of the people with
them. So it is wrong to call it as an all party representative
committee. Then the other thing, this one is based on
the thirteenth amendment in 1987 constitution.
According
to the Clause 1.3 of the APRC proposal –
1.3
The 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution was enacted
following the Indo Sri Lanka Agreement of July 1987. It
resulted in the setting up of Provincial Councils throughout
Sri Lanka and it devolved power to the Provinces under
the unitary Constitution. The powers devolved fall under
a Provincial List and a Concurrent List. All other powers
were reserved for the Centre through a Reserved List.
Further, any subject or function not included in any of
the three Lists will also be deemed to be a subject or
function in the Reserved List.
One
must remember very nuch that Sri Lanka Freedom Party opposed
the 13th Amendment of 1987 and if I can remember correctly,
they boycotted the provincial council elections.
K.T.Rajasingham:
JVP also?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : K.T.Rajasingham: I have treated that part
of the event in my e-book called “Sri Lanka: The
Untold Story”.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Thank you very much.
K.T.Rajasingham:
Very clearly.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : So we were proscribed; we have been fighting
for democracy from the day we were banned. I will come
to that later. According to Clause 1.2 of the APRC proposal
-
1.2
Under the circumstances, the APRC taking into consideration
its own proposals, has identified a course of action to
achieve maximum and effective devolution of powers to
the provinces in the short term.
The
emphasis would be on meeting the aspirations of the Tamil
speaking peoples, especially in the North and East. This
would be done within the framework of the present Constitution,
that is, the 1978 Constitution. The course of action proposed
by the APRC are deemed to be implementable with immediate
effect, and envisages an interim arrangement pending the
restoration of democratically elected Provincial Councils
in the North and East.
Now
what are the aspirations they are talking of ? Aspirations
have no limit what so ever. So that cannot be satisfied
and no one can satisfy aspirations.
K.T.Rajasingham:
It has to be said as basic genuine aspirations?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No, let us discuss what is there already
written. Aspirations are different from person to person,
different from ethnic group to ethnic group, different
from province to province. So we cannot satisfy all. The
13 Amendment was brought to meet the aspirations but failed
completely. What we should do is address the grievances.
To do, we have to first differentiates between aspirations
and grievances. And try to understand, try to study, try
to come to a conclusion about the grievances. So far not
a single political party other than JVP understood or
learnt about the grievances. So that is the problem here,
so we reject this clause 1.2
K.T.Rajasingham:
So you say, No one can satisfy aspirations except maybe
the grievances?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe:Yes, aspirations of any ethnic groups in Sri
Lanka or anywhere in the world. Now lets us go to the
13 amendment, this is going to be the basis, so let us
go to 13 amendment how it was passed. During that time
the parliament that enabled 13th Amendment to pass was
not legitimate.
K.T.Rajasingham:
In 1982? Somawansa Amerasinghe :Why? Because the parliament
term was extended?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe :Exactly, exactly.
K.T.Rajasingham:
After 1982
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : They prolonged the period of the parliament
by 5 years by a fraudulent referendum on 22nd December
1982.
K.T.Rajasingham:
This is your opinion Sir?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No not opinion. I am referring to the report
of then Election Commissioner and not my observations.
We challenged the referendum at the court of law and that
was one of the reasons for Mr. J.R. Jayewardene to ban
our party.
K.T.Rajasingham:
JVP challenged it in the court of law?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Exactly, only the JVP did it.
K.T.Rajasingham:
What was the court verdict?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No, there was no verdict, because we were
banned before doing anything. In 1983, I think in January
or so we filed the case.
K.T.Rajasingham:
File the case where, in the Supreme Court?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Yes, in the Court of Appeal and we had two
or three sittings and in July we were banned. The people
who filed the case could not come out. That was the end.
We challenged it and that parliament was not legitimate.
And one must not forget that India twisted J.R. Jayewardene’s
hand and forced him to sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.
K.T.Rajasingham:
All these are your opinions?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No it is not my opinion, please refer J.N.
Dixit Assignment to Colombo, all these details are given
very well there.. If you can wait till tomorrow until
I go to the office to get the book and read for you.
K.T.Rajasingham:
Dixit book Assignment Colombo, I have it.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : You have it, OK, if I can remember please
go to page number130, it says what Dixit did when he was
in Sri Lanka. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that.
India was threatening our sovereignty, violated our sovereignty
and also please do not forget that he taught a lesson
to J.R.Jeyawardene, who was a ‘Yankee’ lackey
in Sri Lanka, so to oppose his foreign policy . Of course
we were also against his foreign policy, he was posing
a threat to India, and then we thought it was wrong for
India to give arms and arms training and to give every
support political and economic support to the Sri Lanka
Tamil separatist organizations in India. They had camps,
they had training and they are trained by Indian army
and this was the first instance of cross border terrorism.
K.T.Rajasingham:
Cross border terrorism was launched in the shores of Sri
Lanka?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Yes, in Sri Lanka in the region of South
Asia.
K.T.Rajasingham:
Before that in 1971, there was a problem with Bangladesh?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No, it was really not a problem; the Indian
Army did not train any Bangladeshi people in their training
camps. They did not provide anything , they did not provide
money, they did not provide accommodations, they did not
have them in their camps, it was a completely a different
problem.
In
this case, India violated the sovereignty of Sri Lanka,
so we opposed it vehemently during that time. We asked
the people to boycott Indian products and till now we
do not accept the 13th Amendment as a legitimate piece
of law in Sri Lanka.
K.T.Rajasingham:
Whatever said and done, it has been embodied in the constitution
of the country?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Yes, they can embody anything under force,
under threat in an undemocratic environment. But we have
been opposing this for the last 21 years.
K.T.Rajasingham:
You said that you filed a case in 1983 and you were proscribed
and those people who filed could not come out and we don’t
know what happened to your case subsequently.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Definitely, it could have been dismissed
and would have been not heard after that.
K.T.Rajasingham:We
don’t know what happened and we don’t know
what was the verdict of that case?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : When the person who filed the case, Comrade
Rohana Jeyaveera was to be taken into custody, then do
you think that he was able to go courts?
K.T.Rajasingham:That
is what I am saying, after you have been proscribed you
don’t know what happened to the case that you have
filed? Even though there have been 3 to 4 court hearings?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Exactly, before proscription there have
been 3 or 4 court hearings. Who is the fool who will go
to court when he was going to be arrested?
K.T.Rajasingham:Yes,
sir then your proscriptions was removed? When was your
proscriptions removed?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Proscription was not removed officially
until it came to an end due to the withdrawal of the emergency
regulations in 1994.
K.T.Rajasingham:1994,
and you started contesting in 1994, you entered the democratic
mainstream of politics?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Exactly, the first chance we got after the
emergency was lifted and the prosecution came to an end.
After that we achieved conductive political climate. We
contested the political election.
K.T.Rajasingham:Since
1994 up to 2007, you were not under any contingency arrangement
by the Government to be arrested or anything, but so after
1994, up to now you have never challenged the 13th Amendment
in the court of law. You had every opportunity to challenge
it but you did not do it?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Wait, wait, I will tell you we did not challenge
the 13 amendment, remember we challenged the referendum.
If the referrendum was challenged……
K.T.Rajasingham:
The 1982 referendum?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Yes, yes, we challenged the referendum.
There was a limited stipulated period of 3 months after
the referendum, for anyone to challenge the results of
the referendum. But then how can we challenge the 13th
amendment?
K.T.Rajasingham:
After 1982? Sir you mean to say that the 13th Amendment
was illegal?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : The 13th Amendment was not legitimate and
definitely illegal.
K.T.Rajasingham:You
had the ample opportunity to challenge it in the court
of law?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No, no, there was no opportunity. We had
the opportunityas it was enacted. We wanted to challenge
it from the very beginning. This 13th Amendment was not
the beginning of the problem. The beginning of the problem
was the referendum.
K.T.Rajasingham:You
challenged it and you could not get a decision from the
appeal court as you people were unable to come out to
do so?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Exactly, exactly. Felix Diaz Bandaranaike
was one of our legal advisors.
K.T.Rajasingham:He
was one of my best friends those days.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Yes I know. The SLFP he represented did
not oppose the referendum. During the referendum they
have not done anything. If they were active, if the SFLP
were active, we could have worked together to defeat the
government because that time the government was very unpopular.
But Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranayke thought differently, she
was not enjoying her civic right, they had been revoked,
she thought why people should have it.
K.T.Rajasingham:Ha
.. ha.. ha
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : That is she thought and dealt with the problem.
K.T.Rajasingham:Ok,
if you say so.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : I am not finished, after the result of the
referendum when we approached Mr.Felix Diaz Bandaranayke
to go to courts. Then Mr. Prins Gunasekara was ready;
we asked whether Mr. Felix Diaz Bandaranayke was also
ready? He said, we made the mistake, and he said at least
we must correct ourselves now. So he undertook the job
and both of them appeared on behalf of JVP. On behalf
of Mr. Rohana Wijeyweera, who was the only person who
boldly challenged the referrendum. There was lot of election
officials who were prepared to give evidence in favor
of our petition in the courts. So it was not our fault.
We have challenged the referendum, as soon as possible
within the prescribed period of time. The 13th Amendment
came later.
K.T.Rajasingham:
The 13th Amendment came later; now on 31 January 2008
you said that the 13th Amendment is illegal. Why you did
not challenge the 13th Amendment when you had the opportunity
to do it?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Ok, I would like to tell you ... Asian Tribune
that we have been throughout saying this during the last
21 years from the day it was passed in the parliament
that the Parliament was not legitimate, it was not democratic.
Parliament did not truly represent the people. The people
were denied the 1983 general elections to the parliament.
So that itself is the proof that we have been fighting
against the 13th Amendment continuously.
K.T.Rajasingham:Yes,
sir, but you had recourse to go before the Supreme Court
as you have done about the merger of the North and East.
That is a question you have to answer.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : That is also, connected with the 13th Amendment.
When we are talking about the merger before the court
we have been challenging this also that 13th Amendment
was wrong as a result the merger was wrong. The merger
was not correct, not legal and not democratic.
K.T.Rajasingham:We
can continue to argue on this subject as this is a contestable
issue.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : No, no, you may write
K.T.Rajasingham:Yes,
sir, I am going to write what you say only.
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Thank you. We challenged this amendment
and we have been talking about this for the last 21 years.
Whenever necessary, especially whenever they were having
the provincial council elections we have been saying this
to the people that we are taking part in an election to
vote in the provincial council which is not passed by
a legitimate parliament.
K.T.Rajasingham:I
want to ask you a question and then we will go after that
to our subject. Have you ever said this in any of your
party manifestos?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Yes, we have said in our party programme
in 1994, no…no in our 2000 election manifesto, we
have clearly said that we will abolish the provincial
councils if we come to power. That is the manifestation
of our opposition to the 13th Amendment.
K.T.Rajasingham:You
have not said what I asked; I have asked you whether you
have said anything about abrogating of the 13th Amendment?
Somawansa
Amerasinghe : Why not? Why not?
K.T.Rajasingham:Where
in your party manifesto.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune