India’s new High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Santosh Jha assured India’s support for the Tamil national question, ITAK parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran told the Tamil Guardian, after a cross-party group of Tamil legislators met with the diplomat this week.
“He told us that India’s support for the Tamil national question is consistent, and that India remains committed to the full implementation of the 13th Amendement as well as provincial polls,” said Sumanthiran. “The High Commissioner assured us that India will continue to remain steadfast to their position.”
The group included elderly politician R Sampanthan, various Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs and Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam. They reportedly engaged in two-hour-long talks on various issues including the implementation of the 13th Amendment. “We pointed out the need for India’s intervention in the current Sri Lankan political context for the meaningful devolution of power,” said Sumanthiran. The group also discussed the issue of the Tamil political prisoners and the Tamil land grabbing by the state.
They met on Monday (22) where they also discussed the state of the Sri Lankan economy. The High Commissioner also affirmed India’s commitment to encouraging more investment and greater connectivity with Sri Lanka, particularly the Tamil North-East. They had discussed development work in Kankesanthurai, the extension of the Pallali airport, the ferry service from Rameshwaran, and a land bridge connecting the two nations.
Jha also mentioned that India was the first country to provide financing assurances to the IMF for the Extended Fund Facility program to Sri Lanka and helped Sri Lanka immensely during the financial crisis as well as COVID-19.
High Commissioner @santjha met the Tamil leaders of Northern & Eastern Provinces, and discussed the issues concerning political, economic & social development of the region. pic.twitter.com/4SqHLva0FB
— India in Sri Lanka (@IndiainSL) January 23, 2024
On the Tamil national question, the TNA MPs and others lamented that progress had been slow by the government of Sri Lanka. The High Commissioner added that they will continue to advocate for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment and call for provincial polls.
India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987, which calls for a merged North-East and the devolution of police and land powers to the province. However it has been consistently rejected by the Tamil people as not being an adequate solution, whilst the Sri Lankan state for decades has obfuscated its implementation.
The newly elected leader of the Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Sivagnanam Shritharan told the Tamil Guardian in an exclusive interview that the 13 Amendment is not an adeqaute political solution to the Tamil national question.
"The 13th Amendment has so far not been a political solution for our people," he said. "Many of the provisions of the 13th Amendment have been removed by the Government of Sri Lanka. None of us think that a major solution can be achieved by using the term 13th Amendment over and over again.
Shritharan was also present at the meeting with Jha.
See his full interview with the Tamil Guardian below.
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