ITAK seeks governance structure based on federal model

The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), a prominent political party representing Tamils of Sri Lanka’s north and east, has said it would consider backing a presidential aspirant who agrees to its demand for a governance structure based on a federal model.

The party’s position, reiterating its long-standing demand for a just political solution to the civil war-scarred country’s Tamil question, comes ahead of Sri Lanka’s presidential polls scheduled on Sept. 21. It reflects one position from within the island’s visibly divided Tamil polity.

While some, including from the ITAK, its former alliance partners (People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), and former Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, are backing a “common Tamil candidate” in the crucial national election, the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) is calling for a boycott of the polls.

Addressing a media conference in the northern Vavuniya district last weekend, ITAK’s Jaffna MP M.A. Sumanthiran said: “As the main party representing the Tamil people, we are telling all candidates openly that we need a governance structure with power devolution-based on a federal model, in a merged north and east. In short, this is our political position.”

Three main contenders, President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa, and opposition parliamentarian leading a third force Anura Kumara Dissanayake, are vying for the country’s top office in the first election after Sri Lanka’s people’s uprising of 2022 amid a devastating economic crash.

All three candidates have visited the north recently and promised to devolve power and develop the region’s economy. However, ITAK members have said they are awaiting the candidates’ manifestos to evaluate their proposals, given that the existing 13th Amendment is widely deemed inadequate by most Tamil parties.

The legislation, which followed the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, guarantees some power to the provincial councils.

However, nearly 40 years since its enactment, it has yet to be fully implemented, prompting some Tamil actors to seek a new, “meaningful” arrangement of power sharing between the Centre and the provinces.

Despite a long civil war and the passing of 15 years since its gory end, Tamils are still left with their historic demand for justice and equality through substantive political rights.

In an editorial on the need for a political solution for Sri Lanka’s Tamil-speaking people, leading Tamil newspaper Virakesari outlined key initiatives taken in the past on Tuesday.

“Although the Provincial Council system was set up as a solution to the ethnic conflict, some of the powers guaranteed are yet to be devolved [to the provincial councils) till date.

“Land and police powers have not been provided. Therefore, in the view of Tamil-speaking people of the north and east, the reality is that the 13th Amendment has not fulfilled their political aspirations,” it said, asking presidential aspirants to spell out their proposal and work toward it with the people’s mandate.