Police Powers for the North in Sri Lanka

By Darshana Ashoka Kumara 

While responding to the statement made by the Northern Chief Minister -- requesting more Tamil-speaking policemen to the North -- IGP N.K. Illangakoon noted that under the present constitution it is not possible to form police forces in ethnicity lines. In his view, country’s police is one and same for all the communities in the island. Newly appointed Chief Minister of the North C.V. Wigneswaran in his inaugural speech highlighted that “Policemen serving in the north with no Tamil language skills and cultural understanding was an annoyance for a long time,”

One of prime appeals of the Tamil National Alliance for a long time is police powers. The TNA was also pointing out that the 13th amendment ,which formed the provincial councils, grants the rights to have separate police and land powers for the provincial councils themselves.

But the UPFA led government and its coalition partners continued attacking on the TNA for promoting ideology of separatism. But, C.V. Wigneswaran, a former Supreme Court judge, rejected the claim by the government that the TNA is making attempts to divide the country and form much sought after Tamil Eelam of the LTTE.

Separatist ideology of the LTTE is still alive and the international network of the LTTE has been advocating for a separate land for a long time.  This was reflected in a statement made by Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran.

“We, the people of Tamil Eelam, have an inherent right to self-determination. Subject to Genocide at the hands of successive Sinhala national governments and as an essential measure of protection we wish to establish our own independent and sovereign State of Tamil Eelam.”

Preamble to the Tamil Eelam Freedom Charter

Visuvanathan  Rudrakumaran, a lawyer by profession, currently based in the US, was the former International Legal Advisor to the late LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

As per the 13th amendment to the constitution, devolution of police powers will give birth to 'Provincial' police forces that come under the direct purview of the provincial administration. Hence, the TNA ,which secured a re-sounding victory over the other parties contested for the Northern Provincial Council, is requesting a separate police force for their administration in the North.  It is clear that the TNA is a sympathizer of the LTTE, overtly. The LTTE was a military organization that waged a war against the central administration and its tactics to achieve the goal were quite ruthless and could simply be labelled as terrorism. Therefore, the US itself branded the LTTE as the most ruthless terrorist outfit of the world -- some leading countries in the world, including some members of the EU, banned the LTTE.

Granting police powers to the TNA is still not the most viable solution for the country, as the TNA continues to listen to LTTE ideology. So, giving police powers to the Northern political block is susceptible to result unexpected outcomes.

Under the name of the police force, the Northern administration will be free to buy out arms sans approval from the central government.

Also, Sri Lanka's issue is not just a matter of the island -- but pretty international as the place where Sri Lanka, itself, is positioned is geo-strategic. At a very quick look, it able to understand this is an issue immediately connecting to the interests of China, India and Sri Lanka. Moreover, this issue does not restrict to China, India and Sri Lanka, in a larger picture as it is a matter of global politics. The US and the western block is throwing the weight over the Indian ocean and Eastern part of the world as the region is re-emerging as the economic powerhouse of the world. Also, China is quite ambiguous nation and working on some military projects, too that are not transparent enough to the outer world.

This is clearly stated by Rudrakumaran himself.

“Asia has become the most important political geography in the 21st century. President Obama’s policy of “Pivot to Asia” highlights this. As observed by diplomats and geo-political experts the island of Sri Lanka is strategically situated in the Indian Ocean. As we stated in our Advisory Committee Report published in 2010 March that the TGTE is conscious of the strategic location of the island of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean and the geo-political situation in South Asia and elsewhere in formulating its political strategies. We believe that the Tamil political interest and the geo-political interests of the democratic powers can intersect and thrive.”

Hence, in the roadmap of the US and the West relating to the forthcoming Asian mission the northern tip of Sri Lanka is possible to be quite significant field. Therefore, existence of a provincial administration which has powers to handle armoury to some extend could be a danger to the central administrations of both India and Sri Lanka. In conclusion, the TNA is not still a ready enough to be granted with police powers as it is listening to the LTTE. But, in a day , the TNA is working in a more moderate milieu granting police and land powers  for the betterment of the people in the North will not be a crime.