Ethnic problem: India pushes for constitution reforms in Lanka

NEW DELHI: Nudged on by India, President Mahinda Rajapakse started consultations on a new constitution for Sri Lanka from Tuesday, aimed at giving some amount of self rule to minority Tamils and Muslims in the country.

At the heart of Sri Lanka’s ethnic problem is the current unitary constitution which vests all authority on the government in Colombo, dominated by the Sinhala Buddhist majority of the island.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister who was in Delhi last month was told about this and when foreign secretary Shyam Saran went to Colombo the same point was emphasised by New Delhi.

After keeping its hands off Sri Lanka since the IPKF fiasco of 1991, New Delhi at long last is realising the importance of playing a more active part in finding a solution to the ethnic problem. This has prompted South Block to push for changes in the constitution.

Soon after taking over as President, Rajapakse had said that the country’s unitary constitution will not be changed. This provoked a sharp retort from the LTTE, who had entered the peace process in the hope of self rule for the north and east. Rajapakse subsequently changed his views.

A federal structure, like India’s would bring in sweeping changes and allow power to be devolved to the north and east of the island, where the majority of the Tamils live.

Since the last several months New Delhi has been urging President Rajapakse to think of an overall solution to the ethnic problem instead of concentrating merely in holding up a crumbling ceasefire agreement or going for tit for tat strikes against the Tigers.

The thinking in Delhi is that the time has come for Colombo to give out the green signal that it is willing to share power in a federal structure. The LTTE had agreed to give up its demand for an independent Tamil homeland, provided they could carve out a Tamil homeland in the north and east.

The accord signed in the late 80’s was precisely to give the Tamil minorities self rule within the framework of an undivided Sri Lanka. But successive Sinhala leaders had gone back on their commitment.

The best chance the LTTE had was during Chandrika Kumaratunga’s first term in power. She announced a devolution package and called in the LTTE for talks.

However, the Tigers dithered and the LTTE later charged Colombo of changing its stand.

The Tigers then called off the negotiations and attacked Lankan naval ships anchored in Trincomalee, and began a fresh chapter of violence.

Later there was an attempt at Chandrika’s life and after surviving the assassination attempt and losing an eye in the bargain, Kumaratunga’s attitude hardened considerably.

Rajapakse is regarded as a hardliner and comes from the deep south the stronghold of the Sinhala Buddhist majority.

He derives support from the Buddhist clergy determined to ensure that the Sinhal Buddhist constitution remains unchanged.

His allies during elections were the ultra nationalist JVP. Though since coming to power Rajapakse has cut them to size, he cannot totally ignore his constituents. Whatever his personal views, Rajapakse cannot, for the moment, ignore India’s advice.