Tamil civil society in Sri Lanka seeks India’s push for provincial polls    Premium

Religious leaders, educationists, and professionals from Sri Lanka's Tamil-majority north and east urge PM Modi to persuade President Wickremesinghe to call for provincial council elections, citing need for elected Tamil administration to manage all sectors efficiently. People face hardships due to bad economy, falling education standards, and lack of accountability and justice for alleged human rights violations.

A group of religious leaders, educationists, and professionals from Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority north and east have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to “persuade” President Ranil Wickremesinghe to call for provincial council elections, without further delay. 

The civil society members handed over their letter at the Indian Consulate in the northern city of Jaffna, days before President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s scheduled visit to New Delhi. Sri Lanka’s provincial councils have been defunct for about five years now, with all nine provinces under Governor’s rule since the elected councils’ terms expired in 2018 and 2019. Authorities have also postponed local body elections this year, citing the island nation’s persisting economic strain. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Wickremesinghe has called for a meeting with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest grouping representing the Tamils in the legislature, on Tuesday. It is the President’s latest attempt to speak to Tamil parties after talks on power devolution ended in a virtual deadlock this May. 

Also read: The elusive political solution in Sri Lanka (https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/the-elusive-political-solution-in-sri-lanka/article66601052.ece) 

The TNA MPs who took part in earlier discussions — some other parties boycotted the talks terming the President’s outreach “insincere” — called it a “time-wasting” tactic. No agreement was reached.

“It is unfortunate that our Tamil political leadership is disunited merely for political reasons, and it continues without having any meaningful working programme to attain the aspiration of Tamil people. However, a majority of the people desperately need a Tamil administration at the provincial level,” the civil society members said in their letter, titled ‘People’s petition’.