#SriLanka #RanilWickremasinghe promised autonomy to #Tamil areas #NDTV reports. #MY3 reforms should take place in April 2015 with new parliament.
Here is a full transcript of the interview of NDTV and PM Ranil Wicremasinghe and TNA leader R Sambandan (below NDTV transcript of Ranil) where the coalition partners have disputes in Tamil demands.
Source of transcript: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/rajapaksa-played-china-and-india-against-each-other-says-sri-lankan-prime-minister-ranil-wickramasin-650555
Here the controversial Tweet of #NDTV: "In principle, we have agreed to full autonomy to Tamil areas, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe tells NDTV" The question arise here is who gave mandate to Ranil Wickremasinghe to give full autonomy to Tamils in North and East of Sri Lanka? People of Sri Lanka elected President #MaithripalaSirisena (#MY3) for #GoodGovernance, #Democracy and #AntiCorruption. Current parliament is not elected by #MY3 manifesto. If PM Ranil wants to decide future of Sri Lanka giving self autonomy to Tamil people he must be re-elected by people on #MY3 manifesto to parliament and win majority of votes in parliament to become as PM. Then only he can promise self autonomy to Tamil people. If he acts as a dictator in his PM capacity without consulting his coalition partners, he is mere another dictator. People will decide the fate of such dictators. Ranil Wickremasinghe once gave self autonomy to Tamils in 2002 and we as peace loving Sri Lankans saw how self autonomy worked in North and East. Tamils formed a separate state in Sri Lanka. We dont want that happen again!
රනිල් උතුර-නගෙනහිර දෙමල ජනතාවට ස්වයං තීරන අයිතිය දෙනව කියන්නෙ කාගෙන් අහලද? අපි ජනාධිපති වරයෙක් පත් කර ගත්ත. ඒ මෛත්‍රිපල සිරිසේන. දැනට තිබෙන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව මෛත්‍රි ආන්ඩුවේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති වලට පත් වුන පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවක් නෙවේ. එනිසා රනිල් අගමැතිතුමා වෙන්න නම් ජනතාව විසින් නැවතත් පත් කරගත යුතුව තිබෙනව. අගමැති ලෙස රටේ අනාගතය ගැන තීරන ගන්න ඕනෙ පවතින ගැටලු විසදන ප්‍රතිපත්ති ජනතාව විසින් අනුමත කරල ඔවුන් විසින් පත් කල පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් විසින්. ඒ නිසා රනිල් මෛත්‍රීගෙ ප්‍රතිපත්ති වලින් ජනතාව අතරට ගිහිල්ල ජන්දෙ දිනාගෙන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරිල, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙ වැඩි ජන්දෙන් අගමැති ලෙස නැවතත් තොර පත්කරගත්තට පස්සෙ මේ වගෙ තීරනයකට ආවනම් සාදාරනයි. නැති නම් රනිල්ට කියන්න වෙන්නෙත් එකාධිපතියෙක් කියලයි. එකාධිපතියන්ට හිමිවෙන්න ඕනෙ ඉරණම ජනතාව දන්නව.
රනිල් උතුර-නගෙනහිර දෙමල ජනතාවට ස්වයං තීරන අයිතිය දෙනව කියන්නෙ කාගෙන් අහලද? අපි ජනාධිපති වරයෙක් පත් කර ගත්ත. ඒ මෛත්‍රිපල සිරිසේන. දැනට තිබෙන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව මෛත්‍රි ආන්ඩුවේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති වලට පත් වුන පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවක් නෙවේ. එනිසා රනිල් අගමැතිතුමා වෙන්න නම් ජනතාව විසින් නැවතත් පත් කරගත යුතුව තිබෙනව. අගමැති ලෙස රටේ අනාගතය ගැන තීරන ගන්න ඕනෙ පවතින ගැටලු විසදන ප්‍රතිපත්ති ජනතාව විසින් අනුමත කරල ඔවුන් විසින් පත් කල පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් විසින්. ඒ නිසා රනිල් මෛත්‍රීගෙ ප්‍රතිපත්ති වලින් ජනතාව අතරට ගිහිල්ල ජන්දෙ දිනාගෙන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරිල, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙ වැඩි ජන්දෙන් අගමැති ලෙස නැවතත් තොර පත්කරගත්තට පස්සෙ මේ වගෙ තීරනයකට ආවනම් සාදාරනයි. නැති නම් රනිල්ට කියන්න වෙන්නෙත් එකාධිපතියෙක් කියලයි. එකාධිපතියන්ට හිමිවෙන්න ඕනෙ ඉරණම ජනතාව දන්නව.
NDTV:
Many believe that Maithripala Sirisena's dramatic victory in the Sri
Lanka elections would not have been possible were it not for the support
of Ranil Wickramasinghe, one of the most seasoned politicians in Sri
Lanka and who's now back as Prime Minister for the third time- sworn in
almost immediately after President Sirisena took charge. Thank you very
much indeed, Mr Wickramasinghe for joining me and is that a fair
assessment, that without you Sirisena would not have won? You are the
true kingmaker of this election?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: The
kingmakers are the people who wanted a change. They didnt want a king,
they wanted a president and the abolishment of the executive presidency.
So we decided to have a common candidate. The UNP was the largest party
in the opposition and certainly ran the organisations on the ground
outside the northern province.
NDTV: But you know the change
many believe came peacefully, except news came that actually there was
an attempted coup by former president Rajapaksa. Now you actually came
to visit him here at Temple Trees, the official residence, early that
morning, where he finally conceded. Did he concede immediately or was
there some sort of planned coup?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: President
Rajapaksa sent me a message, wanting me to give him a telephone call .
that he had lost the elections. I replied that I will come there and
discuss the transition with him rather than do it over the phone. So
when i came here, President Rajapaksa conceded defeat and we discussed
the details of the transition.
NDTV: He didn't put up a fuss or anything?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: No there was no fuss when he met me, no.
NDTV:
But you know the fact is that many believe that you are going to be the
real power behind this throne; this is actually going to be a Ranil
Wickramasinghe government, not a Sirisena government. Is that true?
Ranil
Wickramasinghe: Well we have made Mr Maithripala Sirisena the President
and the parties constituting the government will run that jointly.We
want to bring an Amendment to the Constitution this month to abolish
executive presidency. Then in June, most probably May or June, we'll
hold parliamentary elections and the people can decide who should be the
Prime Minister and head the government.
NDTV: Okay. You're
saying that you're a transitionary government but many believe that it's
a Wickramasinghe government because all the cabinet ministers are from
your party.
Ranil Wickramasinghe: No the major party as I said
was the UNP so therefore the major number of ministers are from the UNP.
But, we did set apart a number of ministries to be offered to the
members who supported President Rajapaksa in the SLFP.
NDTV: Now
let's look at three big issues which India is concerned about. Number
one is whether you will grant full autonomy to the Tamils or will that
just remain a promise on paper?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: Well the
agreement is that the 13th Amendment be implemented, and that's the
discussion we are having with the TNA. In principle all have agreed that
the 13th Amendment should be implemented.
NDTV: You're okay with that?
Ranil
Wickramasinghe: We are with that. We're only having discussions about
the police powers and how it should function, that's all.
NDTV: But that's the key thing.
Ranil
Wickramasinghe: No, police powers is a provincial subject but there are
certain concerns Once we bring the independent commission in, how do we
do that? To ensure that..there is big fear in the country, not only the
North, that the nine ministers.. chief ministers may turn the police
into their own private army. We're all concerned, even the TNA is aware
of it, so we've got to have safeguards against it
NDTV: But you're not in principle against it? You're not in principle averse to granting full powers?
Ranil
Wickramasinghe: The 13th Amendment will be implemented in full and then
there's a question not only of an independent police commission;
there's going to be independent public service commissions. So how that
relates to the provinces also has to be discussed.
NDTV: The
second is of course to do with the exaggerated pro China tilt by the
Rajapaksa government. Will you rectify that? Because that's a matter of
great concern for India.
Ranil Wickramasinghe: As far as we are
concerned we will continue the tradition of a policy of friendship with
India while we maintain our friendship with China, Japan and the other
countries.
NDTV: But do you agree that the tilt towards China
had gone a little too far during the Rajapaksa time? A lot of contracts
were signed.
Ranil Wickramasinghe: I have always said that
President Rajapaksa's regime tried to play China against India and India
against China and they came a cropper.
NDTV: But what about the
contracts? Many of these projects that Rajapaksa had signed during his
time. The president was funded by the Chinese. You yourself have asked
for investigations into some of them.
Ranil Wickramasinghe: We
are looking into all foreign contracts and local ones and where there is
corruption, we will certainly ensure we take action whether it be
Chinese or any other country. We are also reviewing the port city
project because we have not yet seen the feasibility study and the
environment impact assessment. I asked..when i was with the opposition, I
asked the government to table it in parliament. They didn't do so.
Therefore we will have to look into the environmental and feasibility
aspects.
NDTV: You will be looking into that? Do you believe there was corruption there?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: We're looking mostly into the two reports. Then we will know whether there has been corruption or not.
NDTV: What about the question of prosecution of war crimes?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: Our position has always been that whatever we do has to be within our domestic jurisdiction.
NDTV: So you're saying no international probe is going to be allowed?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: No, we're saying the jurisdiction to try any person who's committed a crime lies with Sri Lanka.
NDTV:
So your stand remains the same as the previous government? A UN probe
is not welcome; you will do your own internal probe?
Ranil
Wickramasinghe: No, UN can give its probe. We'll engage the UN on these
issues. That's the difference. We're going to engage the UN Human Rights
Council on these issues. All we're saying is any criminal jurisdiction
must be exercised in Sri Lanka. Any civil jurisdiction has to be
exercised in Sri Lanka. Only the Sri Lankan courts can determine this
issue. The same as India or USA. We are no different from anyone else
but we will restore the independence of the judiciary.
NDTV: Okay, but you concede that these war crimes did take place?
Ranil
Wickramasinghe: Whatever the violations of human rights, we are
looking into it. Anyway, the UN is going to send its own reports so
there after we will decide what we're going to do. But we will have
engagement and the UN report is not about going to the international
criminal court. It's about whether violations took place or not.
NDTV:
Is Sri Lanka essentially a unitary state? A Sinhala state? Or is it a
state that includes all its people? This is a concern that was there
with the previous regime. There are concerns whether there's going to be
any change in that position.
Ranil Wickramasinghe: The 13th
Amendment is on the basis of the present Constitution which India has
accepted. It's unitary and it's Sri Lankan. It's a country for
Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, everyone. And that is accepted by everyone
here.
NDTV: Will former president Rajapaksa face justice for the
charges that have been leveled by you during the campaign or has there
been some kind of a deal that has been done?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: Yeah, we are looking into everything and if we need to take action, we will take action.
NDTV: You will? And right now what would you say is your single biggest challenge as Prime Minister?
Ranil Wickramasinghe: Our challenge now is first to get the Constitutional Amendments through.
NDTV: Right
Ranil Wickramasinghe: And to give the relief to the people and restore democracy.
NDTV:
Right. Prime Minister, I wish you all the very best. It's a challenging
time for Sri Lanka, but a remarkable one. Thank you.
Story First Published: January 18, 2015 22:31 IS
Here is a transcript of interview between NDTV and TNA leader R Sambandan
You Tube link http://youtu.be/iWuT6MMOjAg?t=9m08s
NDTV:
One of the reasons credited for President Sirisena's (#MaithripalaSirisena) victory was the
fact that the coalition of Tamil Parties known as the #TNA (#TamilNationalAlliance) came out and
endorsed him (#MiathripalaSirisena) at the very last minute leading to an over
whelming vote for him in the Tamil areas of the North and the East of
Sri Lanka. But are you convinced that that is going to result in this
finally bein able to meet the demands of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka
which is concrete greater autonomy?
SAMBANDAN: We have discussed
it (Autonomy to Tamils) with the President after the election. Other
political leaders in the alliance are aware of the Tamil position.
NDTV: What did he (President Sirisena) say when you spoke to him?
 |
| NDTV with TNA Leader R Sambandan |
SAMBANDAN:
I think he is positive.. I am not... eh... saying that.. eh... he
would... eh.. do everything possible and.. eh.. that eh,, I am
confident that he'll (President Sirisena) come up with an excellent scheme
of devolution or what ever...
NDTV: What's that meaning?
SAMBANDAN: We want something more credible..
NDTV: So, then you are talking about something?
SAMBANDAN: which would give us power in the areas of our competence...
NDTV: Which is? like what?
SAMBANDAN:
Jurisdiction and subvention of what sense. We will take care in the
provinces in a manner that will enable the
provinces where adequate measures of self rule (for Tamils) regarding
matters of economic concerns, social concerns, cultural concerns,
political concerns,
NDTV: So police power, land power... all that?
SAMBANDAN: Of course YES.
THAT MEANS:
-FULL AUTONOMY TO TAMIL PEOPLE WAS DEMANDED BY TNA AND AGREED BY #MY3 COALITION.
-RANIL WICKREMASINGHE AND MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA HAVE AGREED TO ABOLISH 13A AND ABOLISH EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
-FULL AUTONOMY TO TAMIL PEOPLE WAS DEMANDED BY TNA AND AGREED BY #MY3 COALITION.
-RANIL WICKREMASINGHE AND MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA HAVE AGREED TO ABOLISH 13A AND ABOLISH EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
