Senior Vice President of the UNP, Lakshman Kiriella MP, addressing a news conference in Colombo, noted that the proposed amendments to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which was given wide publicity by Senior Ministers, was nothing more than an attempt to convince the Sinhalese people and also UPFA allies, such as the Jathika Hela Urumaya and National Freedom Front, that it was committed to diluting 13–A by stripping it of most of its powers, including Provincial Councils’ right to merge on their own and land and police.
A huge publicity stunt had been enacted in the full glare of the cameras and the masses had once again been taken for a ride by the shrewed strategist President Rajapaksa was, the MP said.
The President, he observed, was keeping himself amused while the JHU and NFF, on one side and the minority and left parties on the other, were trading allegations resulting in a Minister being allegedly manhandled by one of his colleagues during a recent Cabinet meeting.
Kiriella said that as a time buying measure a Parliamentary Select Committee on the National Question had been constituted, which would ensure that the deliberations dragged on until the Northern Provincial Council Election was held under the present Constitution.
With India insisting that 13-A should not be meddled with, he observed that the PSC had become the government’s saviour, since it had an excuse to delay presenting the proposed amendments, which it had earlier said would take the shape of Urgent Bills.
The MP also lashed out at the SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem who, he said, had suddenly gone silent after raising a few objections at Cabinet level against diluting 13-A. That, he alleged, was because Hakeem wanted to enjoy the privileges and perks of ministerial office.
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