Tamil parties urge Modi to pressure Wickremesinghe on implementing 13A

Six Tamil political parties representing Sri Lanka’s North and East have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ahead of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India. 

The letter has been forwarded by the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) and Democratic Fighters Party made up of rehabilitated former LTTE members. 

The parties involved have made a joint request to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, urging him to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government, led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, to ensure the complete implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution introduced as a resolution to the national issue in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, in alignment with the Indo-Lanka Agreement signed in 1987.

These parties have emphasised that numerous powers, including police and land powers, granted under the 13A, are still retained by the Central Government. They have urged for intervention to restore these powers to the provincial councils.

They have also called on Prime Minister Modi to urge Wickremesinghe to promptly conduct Provincial Council elections, granting them full powers in accordance with the provisions of the 13th Amendment. Wickremesinghe will embark on a two-day visit to India on 21 July during which he is expected to meet Prime Minister Modi.