India has no moral right to ask for implementation of 13A

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

India has no moral right to ask for the implementation of the 13th amendment to the Constitution, Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Sarath Weerasekera told Parliament yesterday.  

Participating in a debate at the time of adjournment of the House on foreign agreements of Sri Lanka, the Minister said that the amendment has been interpreted as an outcome of Indo-Lanka Accord of which the role and commitment of India as a party to the agreement was at question because India did not fulfil its commitments.  
He said the following in his speech.   

“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked our Prime Minister to implement the 13th amendment overlooking that the amendment is an internal affair of this country. When foreign governments adversely commented on India’s abrogation of Article 370 from its constitution, accusing India of abrogating special status given to people in troubled Jammu and Kashmir region there, our prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa when asked to comment said that it was an internal matter of India,” the minister said.  

“Knowing that the 13th amendment is an internal matter of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Modi asking for its implementation does not show the same reciprocation. Some interpret that PM Modi is asking so on the mandate of the Indo-Lanka Accord. It raises the question whether India genuinely adhered to its own commitments to the Indo-Lanka Accord. The 13A is not even mentioned in the Accord. The Accord is something forced down on us by India.  

“I have my reservations about the Accord. Did India honour her part of that agreement? As per the agreement India is to enable the return of Sinhala and Muslim Lankans living there as refugees to take part in voting here”.  India promised in the agreement to create an environment conducive for them to exercise their franchise. Thousands of Sinhala and Muslim Lankans still live there having no means to return home.