Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

India to be ‘a mere spectator’ if the 13th Amendment is abolished warns DMK leader

DMK leader and party treasury, T R Baalu, has urged India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to intervene in Sri Lanka to prevent the abolition of provincial councils.

Baalu describes the silence of India’s External Affairs Ministry and National Security Advisor as “shocking”. He further warns that such silence could lead India to become a “mere spectator” after having assured Eelam Tamils of greater devolution.

“The Prime Minister should warn that the move would affect the relationship between India and Sri Lanka. The abolition is part of the Sri Lankan government’s attempt to make Tamils a secondary citizen,” he said in a statement.

The statement follows remarks by Sri Lanka’s Minister of Public Security, and Rajapaksa supporter, Sarath Weerasekara, maintaining that the Indo-Lanka accord, which gave way to the 13th Amendment, “is no longer valid”.

Weerasekara has pledged to strip the 13th Amendment of clauses that would be crucial to establishing local and provincial councils.

In October, Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, Jaffna MP and former Northern Province Chief Minister spoke on the history of the 13th Amendment; the failure of proper implementation and the lack of political and economic autonomy held by Tamils. Wigneswaran has thanked Modi for raising concern over the 13th Amendment and called on New Delhi to ensure there would be no further Sinhalisation of the Tamil North-East.

Read more here: ‘13th amendment is fundamentally flawed’ – C V Wigneswaran

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.