A ruling government coalition party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), have submitted a motion proposing a 19th amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution, earlier on Thursday.
The proposal “aims primarily to repeal the 13th amendment”, which was labelled in the motion as a “threat to the independence, sovereignty, unity and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka”.
The JHU, led by Sinhala Buddhist monks, went on to deem the 13th amendment “unconstitutional and unlawful”, adding to the chorus of Sinhala voices against it. The group also added that a Tamil translation would be availabke, but noted,
"In the event of any inconsistency between the Sinhala and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail."
Early in 2012, India’s then foreign affairs minister, SM Krishna visited the island stating India was “looking forward to the implementation of the Article 13.” See the JHU’s response to that visit in our earlier post:
JHU: 'India is trying to exploit Sri Lanka's vulnerable position’ (22 January 2012)
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