World News | Tamil Parties Insist PM Modi to Ensure Implementation of 13A

Colombo, Apr 5 (PTI) Tamil minority parties, who met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday, insisted on the implementation of India-sponsored 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

“We told PM Modi that the political question of Tamils must be resolved by treating the Indo-Lanka Accord and the 13th Amendment in the main”, MA Sumanthiran, the spokesperson for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told reporters.

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Prime Minister Modi, who reached Sri Lanka on Friday, met the Tamil representatives for 45 minutes on Saturday.

“We conveyed that implementation of the 13A had been in the breach mostly, there were joint India-Sri Lanka statements on the 13A in 2010, 2011 and 2013. We pointed out to PM Modi on the implementation of the 13A”, Sumanthiran said.

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After the meeting, Modi took to X and said, “The meeting with leaders of Indian Origin Tamil (IOT) was fruitful. The community constitutes a living bridge between the two countries for over 200 years.”

During his meeting with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Modi conveyed New Delhi's expectation from Colombo to fulfill the aspirations of the Tamil community in the island nation and conduct provincial council elections.

Sumanthiran said the Tamil parties were thankful to PM Modi for his comments on the need to hold the provincial council elections.

The provincial council elections have not been held since 2018 for want of legal amendments to confirm the electoral system reforms.

“We maintained our stance that for meaningful devolution, full implementation of the 13A was important”, Sumanthiran said.

The 13A Amendment to the Constitution which introduced councils to the nine provinces of Sri Lanka was a result of the direct Indian intervention on behalf of the Tamil minority in 1987.

The current ruling party National People's Power's (NPP) dominant partner Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) then led a bloody rebellion against the Indo-Lanka Accord between the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J R Jayewardene.

They dubbed the Indian move as part of Indian expansionism in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, while the president Anura Kumara Dissanayake and PM Modi were entering many bilateral agreements, the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) was holding street demonstrations against what they called agreements of betrayal.

The police obtained an order from the Colombo Fort magistrate's court banning the FSP leaders from entering specific areas of the city around the presidential secretariat.

FSP is a breakaway faction of the JVP.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)