The never ending talks on ethnic issues

The All-Party Conference (APC) held on Wednesday (26) was the second one to be called so and convened by President Ranil Wickremesinghe with a professed view of finding a lasting solution to the ethnic problem in the country. It must be recalled that he convened another “All Party Conference” on December 13 last year for the same purpose.

Interestingly, Wednesday’s conference was not another session of the conference held in December. Although the December conference resulted in several follow-up meetings between the President and the north-based Tamil political parties, they ended with Tamil parties expressing disappointment over the government’s failure to keep its promises made during the December 13 meeting.

Another interesting factor is that both the “All-Party” conferences did not happen to be “all-party conferences” in their essence, as one or more influential political parties had boycotted them. The National People’s Power (NPP) led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, claiming that the government was going to hoodwink the country and divert people’s attention from the economic crisis by convening this conference.

President Wickremesinghe met several Tamil political parties on the day before his two-day visit to India which commenced on July 20 and informed them that he was prepared to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution without granting Police powers to the Provincial Councils.

That was a stand-alone meeting and it is got nothing to do with the so-called APCs held on December 13 and last Wednesday. Neither did the President announce at that meeting that he would call an APC after his India visit.

Hence, one has to conclude that Wednesday’s “APC” has been decided during or after that visit, owing to the mood of the Indian leaders over the President’s announcement that the Police powers would not be granted to Provincial Councils. 

This argument is being vindicated by the fact that Wednesday’s meeting was announced to the media first by Foreign Minister Ali Sabry and not by the President or Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who handles the subject of provincial councils.

Police and Land Powers that are not being enjoyed by the Provincial Councils since the institution of those councils in 1988 have in fact been devolved (granted) to them from the beginning.

However, they can enjoy those powers only when the President formulates the relevant mechanisms for it which are provided for by the 13th Amendment. That is, the President has to create Provincial Police Divisions under Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs), in order to implement police powers in full while a land commission has to be appointed in respect of land powers. 

None of the Presidents including J.R. Jayewardene during whose tenure these powers among others were devolved to Provincial Councils formulated those mechanisms.

Chandrika Kumaratunga who demanded these mechanisms be created when she was the Chief Minister of the Western Province in 1994 too did not think it fit to do so when she assumed Presidency in the same year.

Despite the merits and demerits of provincial councils enjoying Police Powers, President Wickremesinghe’s statement that Police Powers would not be awarded to the Provincial Councils was a clear U-turn from his earlier stance. 

He, during the budget debate in December last year, stated that a solution to the ethnic problem would be found before the 75th Independent Day which fell on February 4, this year. Then the Tamil parties threw a challenge to him to implement the 13th Amendment in full and hold the provincial council elections before January 31 which he accepted.

The Tamil parties demand that the 13A be implemented fully before finding a lasting solution to the ethnic problem and the President’s positive response to it indicates both parties’ agreement that the solution so suggested is something beyond the 13A. 

Also by acknowledging the full implementation of 13A, the President takes the responsibility to empower provincial councils to enjoy all powers devolved to them including police and land powers.

Then, addressing a gathering on this year’s National Thai Pongal Day (January 15) ceremonies in Jaffna Wickremesinghe said that 13A would be implemented within the next two years.

Subsequently, again he changed his plan by claiming that he would agree with the Tamil parties on the solution to the ethnic problem, during his speech at the May Day rally of his party, the United National Party (UNP).

Since these mind changes had not divorced Police Powers from the Provincial Councils, his announcement about 13A sans Police Powers on the day before his India visit would have been a bombshell for the Tamil parties.

The irony of Wednesday’s ‘All Party Conference’ is that it was held against the backdrop of hundreds of discussions the government held with the Tamil Parties, Tamil armed groups, especially with the LTTE and with Indian leaders as well as deliberations within all party conferences and Parliamentary Select Committees (PSC) since the 1950s for the same purpose.

Several important pacts and accords were also agreed upon during some of these meetings.

After the failed Bandaranaike - Chelvanayagam pact of 1957 and Dudley - Chelvanayagam pact of 1965, President J.R. Jayewardene convened a round Table conference in 1984 amidst growing hostilities between the armed forces and the Tamil armed groups.

When it failed Indian government arranged a meeting between the representatives of the government and Tamil parties as well as armed groups in the Bhutanese Capital Thimphu in 1985 which also collapsed with its second round. Jayewardene convened another all-party meeting famously called the “Political Party Conference” (PPC) in 1986.

Against this backdrop, India imposed the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 on Sri Lanka, after several rounds of negotiations with the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil groups which resulted in the creation of provincial councils. When the LTTE reneged on the accord the other Tamil groups except for the EPDP also attempted to find new solutions.

Hence, President Ranasinghe Premadasa initiated talks with the LTTE and convened another All-Party Conference in 1989 where the representatives of the LTTE also participated in. Opposition parties boycotted the conference after the first meeting of it, as the agenda had only a speech by the President. Everything collapsed when the LTTE resumed fighting in June 1990.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga again started talks with the LTTE in 1994 which also failed in July 1995, when the LTTE resumed their Eelam war. And a Parliamentary Select Committee was also appointed in 1997 to find a solution to the national question. After about 60 meetings it ended without a final report being produced. Kumaratunga presented a new draft Constitution as well in 2000, focusing on the solution to the ethnic problem. Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister initiated talks with the LTTE with international mediation in September 2002 and both sides agreed upon a federal mechanism in December.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2006 appointed an All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) the interim report of which was presented in 2008 was never published.

The Yahapalana Government in its turn presented a report through a Constitutional Assembly and it was rejected by Sinhalese nationalist parties as well as some influential Tamil parties.

The Prime Minister of that government, Ranil Wickremesinghe, now holding meetings for the same purpose. Going by this history of talks leaders of the government and the Tamil community seem to hold talks for another two or three decades or eternally on the subject.