Comments on: Remerge NE province for meaningful devolution

by: Gaminii

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:03:34 +0000

the tamils from ampari to mannar are the same and do not want to be divided, On the other hand the kandy and hambantotta sinhaese have diffrent caste and have to divided.. the sinhaese orginaly cam from bengal or bangldesh to ceylon

by: Sooriya

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:28:34 +0000

Comment 11

I have a better solution too..
Send all the Sinhalese Invaders back to Orissa.
All the problems will be solved…!!!

by: harshana somapriya

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:14:05 +0000

Comment 10
I have a better solution.
Send all the Tamil Colonists back to Tamilnadu.
All the problems will be solved!

by: Merger of N-E...???

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:44:31 +0000

As long as Rajapakshe is the President, the merger will not happen.
De-Merger is a victory to SLFP-JVP cpmbine. Even Indians didn’t object to de-merger although they are signatory to Indo-Lanka Accord.
Someone said,”There’s no need for re-merger”.
I’d say, get the Sinhala colonies out of east and then hold a referendum to see whether the re-merger is necessary.
The whole point of this war is the encroachment by sinhala colonies in Tamil lands. Tamils chased away to make way for Sinhalese.
Send all the Sinhaleseback to south and then re-merger the N-E.

by: Ratna

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:09:58 +0000

If North-East is merged:
Tamils are happy because their traditional land is not divided.
Sinhalese and Muslims are happy because they have greater say in the governance of nort-east.

If North-East is de-marged:
Northern Tamils are happy because north will be 100% under Tamil’s control.
Sinhalese and Muslims are happy because they can control East.
Either way people are happy as long as their Provincial Government have control over Policing, Education, Employment and Development.

by: harshana somapriya

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:01:07 +0000

There is no acceptable reason for merging North & East due to following reasons:
1. North has 85%+ Tamil population where as in the east Tamils, Muslims & Sinhalese are balanced. Hence if the two provinces are merged, Sinhalese & Muslims will have the same problem that the Tamils are having now.
2. Eastern Tamils claim discrimination in the hands of Nothern Tamils. Leaving the request for merger to be a demand by the notherners with ulterior motives.
3. Tamils are not only living in North east. They form a great majority in Nuwara Eliya district. So if you are to merge North East you will have to merge Nuwara Eliya as well. Estate Tamils are also Sri Lankan and deserve every right as others.
4. Many Tamils live outside North-East. So most of the subjects affecting them such as education, culture, language have to be controlled centrally by Tamil ministers in the central govt.
5. As long as the demand for a North-East merger exist, provincial councils will not get more power. If the demerger exists there will be less resistance to giving all the required powers to the provinces. It seem the author is not happy getting everything for demerger North-East, rather than getting nothing for merged N-E.
It is only a psycological issue within Nothern Tamils. They should overcome that if they are to obtain a proper solution.
So the N-E must be kept as it is now & try to solve the real problems of civilians rather than solving psycological problems of these politicians.

At one point writer says, ‘…Thus, ‘Water Supply’ becomes a subject under the Centre! ‘. Isn’t that good? Otherwise the farmer’s inthe east will not get water from Mahweli/ Galoya/ Maduruoya…. rivers. They will have to fight with Uva or North Central.

by: dias

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:57:01 +0000

Ratna unfairly accuses the moderates as if though they have any real power.

As for the author’s request of a re-merger, he along with his colleagues of the Majority Experts panel don’t seem to recognize that their solution-construct is one that is based on ethnic polarization - purely along ethnic lines with consideration only to those NE Tamils. What about the Indian Tamils of up-country? and what about the Muslims? What about the large number of Tamils living in the south, especially in the Colombo district? And very importantly, what about the large economically marginalized folks across the entire spectrum? Should they also not have similar devolved privileges? to manage their own affairs without the intrusion of the center - the primary promise of federalism.

The Majority solution seems to have been designed from an exclusive NE Tamil perspective to the exclusion of other communities and the Minority Report from an exclusive xenophobic Sinhalese-Buddhist position. Both are wildly flawed - and thus the reason to go back to the drawing board.

Devolution? Yes. Federalism? Yes. Secularism? Yes. But not asymmetric dual-state federalism based on ethnic criteria - rather, symmetric federalism based on neutral criteria, such as economic potentiality of regions (at critical mass). Dr. Vigneswaran, you guys need to call on the Dayasri’s of the Minority Panel, get back together and go back to the drawing board.

by: R.Goonetilake

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 20:37:26 +0000

IAC or any other bull-shit will fail or designed to fail as majority of Tamils know the ulterior motives behind such manuvoures by Rajapakshe Inc.
Independence Day Celebrations was a flop. Killings continue unabated in “Govt Controlled Areas”.
If you ask all tamils of North-East and diaspora about the support to Anadasangaree-Devananda-Pillyaan, only 10% would stand with them.
Hoisting a solution such as IAC and Eastern Provicial councl as “Devolution” where 90% of Tamils do not agree,then, the attempt itself is an eye wash and for the consumption of aid donors such as Japan.
Japans’ Akashi got the right treatment from LTTE and JVP. He still comes around without having an iota of self respect to him or to his country.
APRC /13th Amendment/IAC all looks good in paper.
Devnanda is already sidelined in the east. His demise and exit from govt is predictable.

by: Suresh M

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:27:56 +0000

Dr. K. Vigneswaran; you’re shocked of three S’s ( Sangaree/Sidharthan/Srikantha) ‘yes’ nod for the de-merger!

I am not shocked. For your information, general Tamil population is not shocked. Douglas is a thug, and other three are to rely on Rajapakse for their own safety.

These three Ss don’t even represent Tamils, but A.Sangaree takes his instruction from our ‘friendly’ neighbor who had already given their blessing for ( APRC) Rajapakse�s proposal.

You may want to educate so called the International Community. They haven’t said anything publicly yet. They may be sympathetic to you.

by: Dingiri

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:47:07 +0000

The reason for the merger of the Northern and Eastern province was to in effect disenfranchise the Easterners and bring them under the will and control of the Northerners.

Those Northerners who vociferously argue for self determination based on federalism for the Tamils do not seem to favour a similar self determination for the Easterners.

Afterall hasnt hasnt the “Human Resources of the East” been conspicuously absent from the slogan “Human resources of the North - and Natural resources of the East”.