ISSN: 1391 - 0531
Sunday February 17, 2008
Vol. 42 - No 38
Columns - Telescope  

IC for north: Will it serve Rajapaksa or the people?

By J.S. Tissainayagam

The idea of an interim administration or council for the Northern Province assumed significance with the APRC suggesting it in its proposals put forward to the president in January. If anyone thought the idea was farfetched, the Daily Mirror’s interview with TULF leader V. Anandasangaree put paid to such illusions. Not only did he seriously consider himself a candidate for the governorship, but also said, “The president is interested in appointing an interim advisory council to restore normalcy in the North.”

According to APRC’s proposals, an interim administration will be appointed to the Northern Province “in terms of the constitution,” to “aid and advice the governor in the exercise of his executive powers” until provincial council elections are held. In an interview, Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa has said the JVP does not believe such an interim council could be set up under the constitution, whereas other legal luminaries feel that Article 154 of the 13th Amendment allows a degree of latitude for the president to do so. But that is not the concern of this article. This article wishes to find out why the government is keen on establishing an interim council for the North and whether such a council will help resolve the parlous affairs of that province.

An interim council was first proposed in 1987. The Indo-Lanka Accord envisaged the creation of Northeast Provincial Council to which elections would be held. Though the LTTE opposed the accord, it initiated a political campaign to contest the polls. But with elections months away and the LTTE beginning to express reservations on the accord, an ingenious way had to be thought of accommodating an organisation that was militarily powerful and popular, in a structure that gave it dominance but not control. So an interim council was created to bring together a diverse group of political entities in which the LTTE had more seats than the others, but no majority.

Another reason for an interim council was that the TULF, which won overwhelmingly in the North and East in 1977, was out of parliament from 1983 because of the Sixth Amendment, which meant that political processes in the region were in limbo. But war resumed before the council was established. An interim administration was proposed in 2003, too. When an attempt under the CFA to set up new structures to share rehabilitation aid such as SIHRN and NERF came a cropper, it was decided to create a mutually-acceptable interim administration for sharing political power between the government and LTTE. Though both sides submitted proposals the council never materialised.

Following these examples, if an interim council is to be set up in the North today, it should be equipped to handle what the present political dispensation in the province cannot. These could be one of two things depending on the objectives of the government.

On the one hand, an interim council under the governor could propose radically new ways of governing the province, which could pave the way for a political resolution to the conflict. On the other, it could facilitate easing the travails of the civilian population such as staunching violence (especially civilian killings), ensuring the steady supply of essentials through legitimate channels of transportation and rehabilitating the displaced.

If the council is to look at long-term governance, an option suggested has been to use provisions under the 13th Amendment, where the president by proclamation assumes the executive powers of the governor of the province. Then, under the proclamation, parliament assumes the legislative power of the provincial council. These powers are then conferred on the president, who, in turn, delegates the powers to another authority specified by the president. This authority could be an interim council. (For an analysis see ‘APRC: From Hope to Despair;’ Rohan Edrisinha, Groundviews 3/Feb/2008).

It is highly unlikely that the president is contemplating such far-reaching changes at this time. For such changes to be effective it would mean that the advisory body to the governor in the form of an interim council, which the APRC has recommended, would have to include the LTTE. But with the government’s military agenda, it is impossible to contemplate the president resorting to such a course of action.Therefore, it would be the latter function – easing the existential burdens of the people of the North – that the interim council could be realistically expected to address. And the APRC’s proposals indicate as such – those appointed to the interim council are expected to have “an abiding interest in the development of the province and its people.”

Before it looks at how to address the day-to-day problems of the Jaffna public, the council has to be constituted in a way that would facilitate restoring “normalcy in the North.” (Anandasangaree’s words). First it has to be taken into account that the situation today is different to that of the 1980s when the then TULF was absent from parliament. Today, the TNA holds a substantial majority in the Northern Province (Jaffna and Wanni districts) with 13 of the 15 seats. The EPDP’s single seat in Jaffna and the UNP’s solitary seat in the Wanni are the only exceptions.

What is not clear at the moment is the composition of the interim council. If it is to comprise elected MPs, the majority of the representation has to be by TNA members. But the APRC proposals do not specify that. All what it says in defining the composition of the council, is that it should “reflect the ethnic character of the province” and should have “individuals who have political experience … and be acceptable to the people of the province.”By leaving “political experience” ambiguous, and limiting the criteria of the council’s composition only to ethnic ratios, the proposals have left the door open to bring into the council anybody and everybody the governor, who is a creature of the president, defines as having “political experience.” There is hardly any doubt that the president will pack it with his cronies – the EPDP being the foremost.

The intention of President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be measured on how he hopes to constitute the council. Would it be by defining “political experience” to mean elected MPs, in which case the council would have a TNA majority but consist of parliamentarians with a manifest commitment to their electorates, or individuals whose popularity is untested and would probably be pliant sycophants Colombo can bend to its will?

A trend emerging from this is the APRC proposals assisting the government to use its paramilitaries, the EPDP in the North and TMVP in the East (APRC recommended eastern local government elections) to do the dirty work for Colombo in furthering its counterinsurgency campaign – all in the name of democracy!

 
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