In the second part of an interview to The Weekend Leader, the leader of the Tamil National Peoples' Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, reiterated that the party believed the "North-East is as much the homeland of the Muslims as it is for the Tamils".
Reflecting on past Tamil-Muslim relations, he said,
Reflecting on past Tamil-Muslim relations, he said,
"There have been unfortunate mistakes made by the Tamils [against Muslims]. The Tamils have unreservedly apologized for those mistakes. We are keen to make sure they are never repeated."He added,
"My party however refuses to speak on behalf of the Muslim people. They don’t like us to speak for them, as if we have a common identity. I think the Tamils must respect their feeling and accept whatever identity they choose for themselves.See here for part 2 of the interview, and here for part 1. His comments regarding the 13th Amendment are reproduced below:
We are committed to working out a framework for the North-East that the Muslims and Tamils will feel mutually comfortable and secure with. I have no doubts that such an arrangement can be arrived at."
"The 13th amendment purports to provide devolution within the unitary framework structure of the Sri Lankan State. The term “unitary” has very specific legal connotations under constitutional law.
All legislative and executive powers are vested in one power centre in a unitary state. In other words, the unitary state structure cannot provide for devolution of power.
The 13th amendment only provides the mirage of devolution.
The provincial councils that were created by the 13th amendment are mere appendages to the central government. As several constitutional experts have observed, the relationship between the central government and the provincial council is akin to a principal – agent relationship.
Simply put, the central government and the governor appointed by the president ultimately control all the so-called powers that are to be vested in the provincial council.
The provincial council’s elected chief minister and the board of ministers’ official role can at best be described as advisors to the governor, who is appointed by the president. They hold no power.
What is actually happening in Sri Lanka is a systematic genocide of the Tamil nation. That is the conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhala Buddhist State.
As far as Tamils are concerned, the solution lies in not only recognizing Tamil nationhood, but also preventing any future undermining of its existence. Then the question must be asked, given the nature of the 13th amendment, how on earth is it going to be a basis for a solution to the Tamil National question?
The truth is that the 13th amendment and the provincial councils were forced on the Tamils by both India and the Sri Lankan State.
This happened after India managed to use the Tamil liberation struggle as a convenient pressure point to get the then JR Jayawardena government to course correct its shift towards the USA and firmly commit to India’s sphere of influence instead.
This commitment to India by Sri Lanka can be clearly seen in the Letters of Exchange annexed to the Indo – Sri Lanka accord (of 1987).
The quid pro quo of Sri Lanka committing to India’s sphere of influence was that the Tamils were asked to effectively surrender their struggle.
The Tamils, my party and I personally, have repeatedly stated that we are India’s natural allies.
We are not against the provisions in the Indo – Lanka Accord that safeguard India’s national security and strategic interests. What we cannot accept is the part that prescribes a solution to the ethnic conflict in the form of the 13thamendment and the provincial councils.
We have in the past, and we will in the future too, do our utmost to safeguard India’s interests in Sri Lanka. But India must not merely look to safeguard her own interests at our expense. That is just not acceptable."