Yearly Archive: 2015

Soon to arrive in Colombo the United States ambassador to Sri Lanka, Atul Keshap, has already gone on record that the United States supports a federal structure as a catalyst for national reconciliation among the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority.

Mr. Keshap who is expected to present his credentials to President Maitripala Sirisena soon as America’s diplomatic envoy in Colombo made the authoritative declaration that this South Asian nation needs a federal structure to redress minority Tamil grievances when he was Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department’s South Asian Bureau – the next immediate official to Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal. Previously, he was working very closely on Sri Lankan issues with Robert Blake when he was the assistant secretary of the South Asian Bureau. Mr. Blake was the US envoy in Colombo during the period the Sri Lanka military undertook the final assault on the Tamil Tiger movement.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Jaffna during his presence in the Island for the 2013 CHOGM has been highlighted in the Conservative Party’s election manifesto with the party’s commitment towards finding a political settlement to the Lankan Tamil issue.

Addressing in a manner attracting the Tamil diaspora in Britain the Conservative Party’s election manifesto was released on 14 April along with other priorities of the Conservatives. According to the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers, the Conservative Party manifesto has expressed its commitment to the UN investigation into Sri Lankan atrocities and pledged to work towards a political settlement for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

A key amendment adopted by Sri Lankan parliament last week is only a halfway measure towards abolishing executive presidency as only 60 to 65 per cent of powers of the top post have been reduced, according to an architect of the legislation. 

“The government itself has gone public saying that it could not go the full distance,” Jayampathi Wickramaratna, a constitutional lawyer who was involved in drafting the 19A, said.