Sri Lanka promises polls, devolution of power

With the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) out of its way at long last, the government of Sri Lanka on Thursday assured India that it will implement a law to devolve powers to Tamil-dominated areas. Both countries agreed on the need for a lasting political solution to the ethnic conflict.

The assurance was contained in a joint statement issued after national security adviser MK Narayanan and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon met president Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo, three days after LTTE chief V Prabhakaran was killed and the country was declared free of terrorism.

Sri Lanka promised to hand over Prabhakaran’s death certificate to close the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Narayanan said. Gandhi was killed by an LTTE suicide bomber at Sriperumbudur near Chennai on May 21, 1991.

“Both sides emphasised the urgent necessity for arriving at a lasting political settlement in Sri Lanka,” a joint statement issued in Colombo said.

“Towards this end, the government of Sri Lanka indicated that it will proceed with implementation of the 13th amendment,” it said.

Rajapaksa had repeatedly promised India that his government would go much beyond the Indo-Sri Lanka peace accord of 1987 and give the Tamils what he termed “13th amendment plus”. He meant he would give more than what was contained in the accord on devolution of powers to the northern and eastern provinces. India has always maintained that a political solution to the ethnic problem is more important than a military victory.