The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna condemns with utmost contempt the proposals which purport to be a solution to the problem of the North and East Provinces. As disclosed by the Government in its statement the aim of these proposals is to change the unitary foundation of the constitution entirely and establish federal constitution under the appellation "united" connecting the separate States envisaged in the proposals. The devolution of powers contained in the said proposals with the setting up of separate regional states inevitably lead to the fragmentation of Sri Lanka into 9 parts notwithstanding the fact that Sri Lanka had been a Unitary State for thousands of years. The preponderant majority of the people of this country never ever dreamt of or hoped for such a situation to arise in the country.
Furthermore this will lead to the merger of the North and East Provinces based on the Traditional homeland of the Tamils concept which was advocated by some Tamil Political Parties inclusive of Terrorist EELAM organisations in the recent past as well to the effortless birth of the Tamil EELAM state which was threateningly claimed by the said Group. This Tamil "Homeland" concept had even been rejected by Tamil intellectuals.
The existence of a Parliament with full plenary power to legislate for the entirety of the territory belonging to the state is a fundamental characteristic of an independent sovereign state. The sovereignty proposed to be devolved on the Regional States - would be a derogation from the supremacy of the Parliament. Furthermore there would be State Parliaments comprising of Speakers and Deputy Speakers. There would be Cabinets of Ministers with executive powers parallel to that of the National Cabinet, together with Chief Ministers with over-riding powers and Governors in equal numbers. These regional Parliaments would be the sole institutions of Supreme Legislative and Executive power within the said State. Here in after the State Parliaments would have exclusive legislative and executive powers in respect of devolved subjects and the State Parliaments would exercise its power completely independent of the National Parliament. The powers so devolved cannot be recalled for any reason whatsoever by the National Parliament. This is quite evident in the deletion of Article 76 from the present constitution which deals with guarantees in regard to the Supremacy of the Parliament. At times of national crisis or national emergency or on other very special occasions the National Parliament should have the power to intervene in respect of any matter.
The executive powers in respect of each separate state are vested in the Chief Minister of the respective State. The person who is considered the Head of the State namely the President or the Prime Minister of the National Parliament would be completely deprived of power of removing a Chief Minister or of dissolving a state Parliament. We specially advert to the instance when the North East Provincial Council made a unilateral Declaration of EELAM it was possible to remove the Chief Minister Vardharaja Perumal and dissolve the said Provincial Council as the president was vested with powers referred to above. The provisions for the appointment of the Governor with the concurrence of the Chief Minister is a debilitation of the power of the head of the State and investing the Chief Minister with powers of a head of State. It is extremely dangerous to set up a regional Police Force and invest the Chief Minister with the power of appointing the head of the Police Force. According to the proposals the Police Commissioner of the said region is responsible to function under the control of the Chief Minister. This aspect confers the fact that the states would be independent states.
In like manner the Commissions responsible for the appointment of public servants and Judges (Judicial Officers) would also be constituted on the consent of the Chief Minister. As such the recruitment, promotions transfer and disciplinary control of the aforesaid, services have been brought under the powers of the Chief Minister. In addition the recruitment promotion transfer and disciplinary control of Educational Officers in the field of education, Principals and teachers would be directly within the powers of the Chief Minister. As a result the fate of about 2 lakhs of those engaged in the educational services would have to be decided by the Chief Minister, in which event these persons would be forfeiting the rights which they have hitherto enjoyed. When so considered it will be evident that the proposed Chief Ministers would be enjoying powers substantially equal to those enjoyed by the Prime Ministers in the past.
The proposed states would be vested with the power of establishing an armed Police Force within the relevant states and would be vested with the full ownership and enjoyment of all state lands. Landless persons living outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces would be prohibited by law from owning even an inch of state lands. NE constitutes 1/3 of the land of Sri Lanka, 62% of uncultivated lands the forest and mineral resources, and 2/3 of the maritime belt would be set apart for about 6% of the entire population of Sri Lanka. The position has been made more perilous as the Central Government will have to obtain the permission of the state Government to procure land for matters of the Central Government.
A special feature that has to be taken into consideration is that the matter of foreign loans, international borrowings, foreign aid, invitation of foreign investors, international transactions and setting up of monetary institutions which had been exclusively confined to a sovereign state have now been given over to the proposed Regional Councils. This confirms the fact that the said Regional Councils would end up as independent states. In this respect it would be difficult to avoid the unequal economic development as between the various proposed State Regional Councils and a confusion in the economic structure. The inevitable result would be increased poverty, acute unemployment and the decline of the national economy towards bankruptcy. Further, the extra Parliaments that may come into being with eight fold increase in the number of Governors, Ministers and various officers would result in saddling the people with the financial burden of maintaining the said persons and institutions.
The Police powers given to the states and the freedom given to carry on foreign transactions would be a veritable threat to the security of the country and the national independence. At present, even in the absence of any lawful powers it is a known fact that the EELAMISTS receive money and arms from their collaborators in foreign countries. In the face of these facts the provisions for states to transact with foreign countries the receipt of money and arms would increase to uncontrollable proportions leading to a catastrophic situation . In effect there would be a grave threat to the entire country and even neighboring countries.
Forty five subjects inclusive of the management of Buddhist and Cultural Affairs which existed for thousands of years the control and maintenance of Television (Rupavahini) and Radio Broadcasting Environment and Forest which are subjects which have a bearing on the survival of the country, energy and powers of taxation have been completely devolved on the Regional Councils according to the proposals.
When the present Provincial Councils were being established and since it became evident that these Provincial Council system would pave the way for a EELAM state the Maha Sangha and Youth Agitation Movements and the public in one voice registered their protest. It is pertinent to recall that the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna hand in hand with the then SLFP made a sustained effort to defeat the said move on a principled stand. However these dangerous proposals that have been placed by the PA Government which is led by the SLFP is entirely inconsistent with and contradictory to the promises held out for a long period of time to the people by the SLFP.
Furthermore there is a conspiracy to delete the constitutional provisions from the present constitution in respect of the National Flag and the National Anthem. It also appears that the entrenched provisions in respect of Article 9 which refers to safeguarding Buddhism and fostering the Buddha Sasana have been deleted from the proposed constitution.
The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna is a party which accept the principle of devolution within a Unitary State. It is of the view that the devolution of power should be made without prejudice to the Unitary State, territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.
The Mahajana Ekshath Peramuna made proposals on this premise before the Select Committee of Parliament on the amendment of the Constitution and placed evidence and the following proposals were made before the said Select Comittee.
(a) The devolution of power on District Basis.
(b) Abolition of the Provincial Council system which is a drain on our national economy and which confuses and disarray the administration of the country.
(c) To bring the Trincomalee port and the surrounding areas under a Special Development Authority.
(d) Not to devolve powers with regard to state lands, police powers, powers of the Judiciary and all matters with regard to the Education etc and subjects contained in the Reserved list in the present constitution.
(e) To demerge the Northern and Eastern provinces which had now been temporarily merged.
(f) Restore the supremacy of the Parliament and abolish the Executive Presidency.
(g) Sri Lanka where the Sinhalese Tamils and Muslims and all others could reasonably and fairly enjoy their rights.
We have always appreciated the principle of identifying the grievances of the people, whatever the section of the community it may be and finding solutions. But we totally reject any attempt to divide the country or disintegrate it or establish terrorist military units instead.
During the last general election we alerted the citizens of our country to the conspiracy to divide the country. We also appealed to the people to ensure that the said General Elections would not be the last election to be held within a Unitary Constitutional framework. Today that secret conspiracy has come to light. We once again alert the people at this juncture not to be misled by the present proposals of the government which destroy the Unitary State.
Today it is a matter of national priority to encourage and reassure the heroic defence forces who in their thousands at the sacrifice of their lives are engaged in protecting every inch of the Unitary State of Sri Lanka to disband all unlawful armed groups and thereby to ensure without delay the democratic rights to all sections of Sri Lankan community.
The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna pointedly stated that our Defence Forces are sacrificing their lives to protect and uphold the unitary state of Sri Lanka and not to bring to birth a Federal State.
In conclusion the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna appeals to the government to withdraw its proposals which would have the effect of destroying the Unitary State and thereby establishing a Federal State which would lead to a National catastrophe. If the government does not withdraw the said proposals the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna earnestly appeal to the people of Sri Lanka and the Members of Parliament to come forward at this critical juncture to protect the Unitary State of our country which had been conserved for thousands of years and to pledge themselves to defeat the proposals of the Government.