Frontline – July 05, 2019

popular politicianin thecountry today,is working
towardsa consensusto ensurevictory of the candidatehe
backs.
Withthe presidentialelectionsslatedfor December
7thisyear,it is veryclearthatthevariationsof the
theme of “strongleader”will be played out. The

differencesbetween the communitieswillonlygrowas

politicians seek to takeadvantage of thecurrent

insecurities.

Sirisena’s releaseof GnanasaraThero,whowasjailed

for contempt of court,andhis talking toughwiththe

Inspector General of Policeandasking theDefence

Kathiravelu Nithyananda Douglas

Devananda,secretarygeneralof the Eelam

People’s DemocraticParty(EPDP),rep-

resents Sri Lanka’snorthernJaffnaelect-

oraldistrict. A former memberof the

Eelam Revolutionary Organisation

(EROS),a militant groupwhichwasstar-

ted in 1975tofight for the causeof a separ-

ate TamilEelam,Devananda wastrained

in armed combat by the Al Fatahfaction of

the Palestine Liberation Organisation

(PLO) in the 1970s.He wasalsoa founder-member of

theEelamPeople’s RevolutionaryLiberationFront

(EPRLF).In 1986,he formedtheEPDP. Afterthe

India-SriLankaAgreement of 1987,Devananda moved

to parliamentary politicsandemergedas the mostvocal

criticof the LiberationTigersof TamilEelam(LTTE)

insideandoutsideParliament. He surviveda record 13

assassinationattemptsby theLTTE. Hedrawshis

electoralstrengthfromnorthernSri Lankaandhas

beena CabinetMinisterin the governmentsof Presid-

ents Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Ra-

japaksa. DevanandaalsospeaksSinhalaandhasgood

linksevenwithhard-lineSinhalaleaders.In thisinter-

view,he placesin contexttheTamil andMuslim

problems.

Sri Lankahas too manyproblems rightnow.Even

the festering issueof the rightsof the Tamil

people has not beensettled.Withone more

minority communityunderattack, whatare the

chancesof a solution to the Tamilquestion?

Thequestionof Tamilpeople’srights shouldhave

beensettledwiththesigningof theIndia-SriLanka

accord. At thattime,about 651TamilTigersanda total

of about2,000peoplehadlosttheirlives.Butbecause

thisopportunitywasnotseized,many thousandswere

killedindiscriminately untilthe endof the warin Mulli-

vaikkal[in2009].So wherewasthemistake?The

Tamilleadership did not use the opportunitywhichwas

presentedto them.Thisis ourstand.

Forthelongesttime, I havebeensaying thatthe

[implementationof the]13thAmendment[to the Sri

Lankan Constitution] is theonlyworkableandprac-

ticalsolution.EvenIndiasaidat the UNHRCin Geneva

lastyearthatthe full implementationof the

13thAmendmentwasthesolutionto the

Tamilproblem.EvenPresident Maithrip-

ala Sirisena hassaidthathis government

willnotbe ableto go beyondtheimple-

mentationof the 13thAmendment.

The13thAmendment is partof the Sri

LankanConstitution.Thereis no needfor a

two-thirds majority to implementthisbe-

causeit is already a partof the Constitution.

If thishasto be madea reality,theTamil

leadership shouldcomeforward andapplypressure....

If thishadbeenachieved, it wouldhavebeeneasierto

makeincremental progressfromthatpoint.

Whichevergovernmentcomesto power,if a solu-

tionto anyof the outstandingissuesis not foundwithin

six months to a year, thenit will not be possibletofind

oneat a laterdate. Thisis a realityfor anygovernment.

Whenthisgovernment cameto power,thereweremany

thingsit couldhaveaccomplished.Butit did not.

Whataboutthe currentproblems facing the

Muslimsin Sri Lanka?

As far as Muslims are concerned, theydid nothave

anyserious problems here.Theylivedin manypartsof

Sri Lankaandweredoingwell.Theyconsideredthem-

selvesas a separateethnicity,eventhough theyspeak

Tamil.Thewomenfromthe community beganwearing

the hijabandabayaeventhoughit wasnotpartof Sri

LankanMuslimculture, possiblybecausetheycanbe

identified as different.... Theyhavecreatedproblems

for themselves.

They [Muslim politicians] havebeenin powerfor a

longtime.Beingin powerfor longencourages peopleto

act withimpunity. Somein the communityhavebeen

behavingwithimpunity. Also,whyis it thatknivesand

swordsare storedin placesof worship? It is obviously

not to cut the grassthere.Theyare storedfor a purpose

andthatis a problem.

TheTamilshadspecialproblems...therewereriots,

landsbelongingto Tamilswereforciblytakenaway,

thoseof Tamildescent weretargetedfor detentionand

otherpunitivemeasures, anddemocratic protestsof the

Tamilpeoplewereput downwitha heavyhand.Thatis

whyTamilsneededa solution.

‘Sri Lanka needs a strong leadership’

InterviewwithDouglasDevanandaoftheEPDP.BYR.K.RADHAKRISHNAN

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ARRANGEMENT