Chennai, Dec 22 (IANS) Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder S. Ramadoss, on Monday, urged Sri Lanka to abandon its existing unitary constitutional set-up and adopt a federal political framework that acknowledges the Tamil homeland and guarantees the right to self-determination for ethnic Tamils.
In a detailed statement issued after a meeting with the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), Ramadoss said the Sri Lankan government must recognise that the longstanding grievances of Eelam Tamils cannot be resolved within the present unitary framework.
He warned that without a structural overhaul, the island nation would continue to witness deepening ethnic divisions and persistent rights violations.
Ramadoss said senior TNPF leaders, led by Parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, met him at his residence on December 20 and briefed him on the alarming ground situation in the Tamil-majority regions of the Northern and Eastern provinces.
The delegation told the PMK leader that although the civil war ended 16 years ago, Sri Lanka continues to engage in what they termed structural genocide of Tamils through land grabs, demographic engineering, militarisation, and suppression of dissent.
The PMK leader said that despite the formal end of the conflict in May 2009, living conditions for Eelam Tamils remain troubling.
The denial of meaningful political autonomy, combined with economic hardship, has left communities frustrated and disillusioned, he added.
Recalling the provisions of the 1987 India–Sri Lanka Accord, Ramadoss emphasised that the agreement clearly mandated the devolution of powers to Tamils through provincial councils.
“Yet, nearly four decades later, no substantial authority has been transferred,” the PMK leader said.
He noted that the 13th Constitutional Amendment — introduced under pressure from India — remains largely ineffective because it functions within a unitary framework.
“Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has ruled on 32 occasions that genuine power-sharing cannot occur unless the unitary structure is dismantled,” he said.
Ramadoss accused the current Anura Kumara Dissanayake-led Sri Lankan government of attempting to push forward a new constitution that, like earlier drafts from 2015 to 2019, would centralise authority further and uphold the Sinhala-Buddhist dominance.
Calling the situation critical, Ramadoss urged the Union government to intervene diplomatically to prevent the passage of such a Constitution.
Only a federal system that recognises the sovereignty of the Tamil homeland and protects their right to self-rule can fulfil the spirit of the India–Sri Lanka Accord and end ongoing oppression, the PMK leader asserted.
–IANS
aal/khz
