Devolution in Sri Lanka must come from within Parliament – Subramanian Swamy

Devolution of power must come from within Parliament of Sri Lanka and can never be successfully imposed from aboard, former Indian Cabinet Minister Subramanian Swamy said.

“This devolution is moreover not an Indian demand, but certainly it is our concern and expectation as well wishers of Sri Lanka who stood by you in your grueling fight against terrorism,” he said addressing Defence Seminar 2012 in Colombo yesterday.

Today, Tamil families no more fear the so-called Tigers’ forced recruitment of their children, disruption of their education, and their various brutalization and abuses. The extortion of funds from civilians to finance terrorist operations of the LTTE has also ended. Normalcy in daily life has returned after three decades, he added.

The credit for this victory over terrorism naturally must belong to the political leadership of the President Rajapaksa and his ability to inspire the armed forces to fight on and die for the cause.

The people of India recognize this as a contribution to our national security and fit for being honoured by India’s highest award in the future.

The Sri Lankan people gave the President a huge mandate in the subsequently held General Elections. With this halo and public mandate, it is clear that President Rajapaksa is now crucially positioned to effectively take necessary steps to solve another pending and pressing issue: the need for a healthy Sinhala –Tamil reconciliation, by finding a mutually acceptable way to heal the festering Sinhala-Tamil divide, and to bring about a meeting of minds of the two communities.

The war conducted by the Sri Lankan armed forces against a sinister terrorist organization, had also by the sensationalized propaganda of international interlopers and busy bodies, more or less become polarized into a conflict between the Sinhala and the Tamil communities which unfortunately was abetted by the political miscalculations of some short sighted leaders of the two communities over the last three decades.

The LTTE in fact had wanted that polarization, and Tamil leadership fell into the quicksand created by it. They were egged on across the Palk Strait by selfish leaders in Tamil Nadu, many of whom were being financed by the LTTE.

As an Indian and a Tamil, let me say at this point that the overwhelming proportion of the people of Tamil Nadu had rejected the LTTE whenever they were made to make a call, the Janatha Party leader said.