Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Ali Sabry, decried calls for devolution whilst speaking to journalists in Colombo on Wednesday evening, claiming it would lead to greater politicisation.
Noting concerns over Sri Lanka’s abusive police force, Sabry claimed:
“There are allegations that the police are highly politicised. This is when there is only one minister handling police, and the institution is governed by one centre. Imagine what might happen when police are administered by nine chief ministers,” he said.
Sabry urged for a debate in parliament on devolving police powers to provinces claiming:
“This will not only affect Tamil people. It will affect everyone. We must discuss what the implications are for the country”.
He added that Wickremesinghe has pledged to implement 13A without police powers.
Tamils across the North-East have long protested the over-militarisation and policing of the Tamil homeland which has been used to crackdown on Tamil civil society, memorialisation activities and intimidate peaceful protesters.
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