Sri Lankan head of state Mahinda Rajapaksa has ruled out re-merger of the Tamil dominated North and East provinces as demanded by some local politicians, even as Tamil vote appears to be emerging crucial in the upcoming presidential elections.
"The merger of the Eastern Province with the Northern Province was out of the question" Rajapaksa said, asserting that any move to divide the country on ethnic lines would be thwarted.
The Pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance has voiced the demand that the North-East merger was an integral part of the 13th Amendment now being considered by the government as a devolution package.
The Tamil parties are asking the Rajapaksa government to rescind the Supreme Court order demerging the two provinces and therefore the demerger that was ordered by the supreme court on a petition by Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP).
The demerger took effect from January 2007.
Warning that the island nation still faced threat from separatists, even though the Tamil tigers had been crushed, Rajapaksa said he was duty bound to take steps to safeguard sovereignty and national integrity.
Rajapaksa who was speaking to local media was quoted by his website as saying that easing up restrictions in the North would be done after careful study of the ground situation.
