By Shamindra Ferdinando

Yuthukama leader Gevindu Cumaratunga, MP, yesterday (07) said that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution should be abolished.

The SLPP National List MP emphasized that President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s declaration to fully implement the controversial amendment, forced on Sri Lanka by India, was not acceptable to the vast majority of people here.

The civil society activist said so in response to media queries, following a meeting of Nidahas Janatha Sandhanaya, at the SLFP office, at Darley Road.

Lawmaker Cumaratunga said that President Wickremesinghe had conveniently forgotten that over 6.9 mn people voted for SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, at the last presidential election, in Nov. 2019, and then gave his party a 2/3 majority to introduce a new Constitution. A nine-member expert committee, that formulated a comprehensive set of proposals, handed over them to the government, MP Cumaratunga said, urging the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa administration to unveil the draft Constitution.

MP Cumaratunga reiterated that Sri Lanka needed what he called a post-war Constitution that reflected the eradication of separatist terrorism. Full implementation of the 13th Amendment would only strengthen the separatist agenda and cause irreversible damage to Sri Lanka’s unitary status, the MP declared.

Recalling great sacrifices made by the armed forces, to bring the LTTE down to its knees, MP Cumaratunga questioned how President Wickremesinghe, who also served as the Commander-in-Chief of armed forces, pursued a strategy that undermined Sri Lanka’s triumph over the LTTE.

Commenting on President Wickremesinghe’s assurance that he wouldn’t betray the Sinhala community and he wouldn’t go beyond the 13th Amendment, MP Cumaratunga said that the UNP leader owed an explanation regarding the utterly reckless constitution making process undertaken by his Yahapalana administration. “We remember what he did with the likes of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran and UNP National List MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne in line with the overall Geneva strategy.”

MP Cumaratunga said that India forced the 13th Amendment on Sri Lanka during the tail end of JRJ’s rule that received an extension by way of an utterly corrupt referendum held in late Dec. 1982 to avoid parliamentary elections. The civil society activist said that seven past Presidents, including JRJ, refrained from granting police and land powers as envisaged in the 13th Amendment whereas Wickremesinghe, who entered Parliament on the National List, after being rejected by the electorate, and was elected President by Parliament ,with the strength of the SLPP therein, but subsequently wanted to split the country.

The UNP leader had no mandate even to contemplate such a course of action. However, President Wickremesinghe could seek a fresh mandate if he really intended to go ahead with full implementation of the controversial law, introduced in late 1987, at a time a foreign Army occupied the Northern and Eastern Provinces and several terrorist groups were on the rampage there.

Perhaps, political parties and groups represented in Parliament should be reminded that the Supreme Court invalidated the merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province in Oct. 2006, MP Cumaratunga said.

Commenting on President Wickremesinghe’s declaration that he would grant police and land powers in terms of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, MP Cumaratunga said that then the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) shouldn’t be an issue as it, too, was the current law.

What is the JVP/Jathika Jana Balavegaya stand on the PTA? MP Cumaratunga asked. Pointing out that JJB National List MP Dr. Harini Amatasuriya had declared there was no harm in fully implementing 13tn Amendment due to it being part of the Constitution, MP Cumaratunga asked whether JVP/Jathika Jana Balavegaya would support PTA.

MP Cumaratunga said that contrary to public perception, the JVP cooperated with the UNP on numerous occasions, both in and outside Parliament.

The Yuthukama leader said that he was quite surprised by President Wickremesinghe’s response to his stand at the party leaders’ meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat, on January 01. The President’s assertion that both were National List MPs against the backdrop of him challenging the UNP leader’s right to grant police and land powers is irrelevant, MP Cumaratunga said.

President Wickremesinghe should keep in mind that he was there to complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term.