Ravi Karunanayake says not to 13th amendment

Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake says that there is no intention of implementing a political solution of devolution of power exceeding the 13th constitutional amendment.

Speaking to local FM radio, the minister was responding to the recent statements of the visiting Indian Prime minister - Narendra Modi. He has added that no additional powers or police powers as requested by the Tamil National Alliance would be granted. The 13th amendment that followed the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord of July 1987 signed between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and then Sri Lankan President J R Jayewardene envisaged the devolution of powers to the provinces in the midst of the island's bitter ethnic conflict. During his visit last week, Indian Prime minister Modi urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and to go beyond that when finding a political solution. "We believe that early and full implementation of the 13th Amendment and going beyond it would contribute to this process," Modi had said on Friday after summit talks with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. Speaking to Indian media on PM Modi's statement on the 13th amendment and a time line for its implementation, Sri Lanka Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera said, "We are a government who has worked on timelines. In our 100 day programme, we have given pride of place to kickstarting the reconciliation process, and we have taken some remarkable steps, which the PM referred to in his opening remarks at the talks. So we are moving towards creating multi cultural multi lingual multi ethnic Sri Lanka, and I think India has appreciated that."