Sri Lanka proposes 'union of regions'

By Sujatha Fernandes Having captured the northern city of Jaffna in its war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tamil people, the Sri Lankan government has again proposed a devolution of powers. The plan involves a transformation of the country's 10 provinces into regions with sole responsibility in areas such as agriculture and land use. The central government would still retain control of areas such as defence and foreign affairs. The plan is similar to one that was proposed in August last year. However, at that time the Popular Alliance government made no attempt to win support for the proposals or to campaign for it among the Sinhala majority population. Instead it deliberately stirred up Sinhala chauvinism and launched a war on the Tamil people. Ana Pararajasinghe, from the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations, told Green Left Weekly that the so-called union of regions means nothing different from the present existing provincial autonomy. The government has ultimate control and can dissolve a regional council when it wants to. He said that any real proposal would have to involve power sharing. Pararajasinghe said, "The proposal is an attempt to beat the Tamil people into submission and to woo international support. The government must talk to the LTTE, which it has not done, and these discussions must be mediated by a third party." The proposals come at a time when the Sri Lankan government is occupying Tamil territory and committing atrocities on Tamil people. Many elderly people who were unable to escape the recent military offensive in the Valigamam area of the Jaffna peninsula are being detained by the Sri Lankan army in concentration camps. In Kalkudah, Sri Lankan troops have been shelling civilian settlements with "barrel bombs" — bombs that are filled with a mixture of tar and petrol. There is a severe shortage of food in the north due to the six-year economic blockade imposed by the central government. The government has banned CARE International from releasing any information regarding the food shortage and is preventing non-governmental organisations from doing any relief work in the area.