CHENNAI: In an appeal to ensure equal rights for ethnic Tamils, PMK founder S Ramadoss has asserted that Sri Lanka must reject its existing unitary constitutional framework and adopt a federal political system that formally recognises the Tamil homeland and guarantees the right to self-determination for Tamils.
In a statement, Ramadoss said that a delegation of senior leaders of the Tamil National People's Front, led by parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, met him at his residence on December 20. During the meeting, they highlighted that although 16 years have passed since the end of the genocidal war against Tamils in May 2009, structural forms of genocide by the Sri Lankan state continue unabated in the Tamil homeland, the statement added.
Ramadoss said the living conditions of Eelam Tamils remain deeply distressing due to the continued denial of self-rule. He recalled that the 1987 Indo–Sri Lanka Accord mandated the devolution of powers to Tamils, but even after 38 years, no meaningful authority has been transferred to provincial councils.
"The 13th Constitutional Amendment, introduced within a unitary framework, has failed to grant powers or prevent atrocities against Tamils. Despite repeated requests by the Indian government to implement the amendment, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has ruled on 32 occasions that powers cannot be devolved under the unitary system," he pointed out.
He warned that the current Anura Kumara-led government is attempting to introduce a new ணonstitution that, like the earlier draft prepared between 2015 and 2019, would continue to concentrate power in the hands of the Sinhala-Buddhist majority.
Ramadoss urged the Union Government of India to prevent the adoption of such a constitution and insisted that only a federal political structure recognising the sovereignty of the Tamil homeland can fulfil the objectives of the Indo–Sri Lanka Accord and protect Tamils from continued oppression.