Speaking at a seminar on “Constitutional models of power sharing, challenges and perspectives in multi ethnic societies” organised with support of the government of Switzerland, Justice Wigneswaran noted that the “classical distinction between federal and unitary state is giving way to more complex forms of the nation states”.
“Thus we cannot limit us to look at the problem of devolution from a binary reasoning standpoint of unitary or federal only,” said the chief minister. “It is essential to keep in mind the fact that a strictly unitary state places power in the hands of the majority and the consequent authoritarianism, majoritarianism and domination of the majority-centre would affect the minority-periphery.”
Recalling the Tamil National Alliance election manifesto of 2013, which also noted that the Tamil people are a distinct People that have inhabited the island from time immemorial with the right to self determination, Justice Wigneswaran said the seminar would examine how “the individuality of People different from the majority could be preserved and maintained.”
“We Tamil Speaking people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces feel that the people of the North and East of Sri Lanka are fully qualified to be categorized as People entitled for self determination in terms of the characteristics and qualifications delineated in the UN Covenants,” he added. “How to recognize our right of self determination within this Country which is multi lingual, multi ethnic and multi religious is the larger problem facing the Country.”
“Having been in office for more than two years I am now acutely conscious of the limitations of the 13th Amendment, which when conceived in 1987 was intended to provide for asymmetrical power-sharing for a merged Northern and Eastern Province by the Government of India on behalf of Tamils of the North and East in its negotiations with the then Government of Sri Lanka under President J.R.Jeyawardena to resolve the ethnic conflict,” added the chief minister.
He also called for a collective learning experience from the international community, stating,
“It is imperative for us to be collectively aware of and learn lessons from other Countries so that we do not repeat the same mistakes with regard to our collective future in Northern and Eastern Provinces bearing in mind our need to protect our identity and to manage our internal affairs to ensure our safety and security, based on existing UN and International Covenants, Conventions and Principles, within a united Sri Lanka”.
