As much as the overall discourse on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution has remained a major national level topic of discussion for decades, the debates surrounding the same are far from reaching any acceptable closure. Although successive Governments have been putting off this issue as long as they could, with the influence of the related political and socio-economic concerns on the country intensifying, the 13th Amendment has reached a point where Governments cannot ignore it any longer.There is now an all party conference led by the Government on the full implementation of the 13th Amendment.

While it should certainly not end up as previous efforts aimed at implementing the 13th Amendment in full, we must acknowledge that the matter is an intricate one, especially when it comes to compromising and allowing different opinions. That is why smaller and well thought out steps are necessary for a smoother transition from non-implementation to the full-implementation of the 13th Amendment.

Following President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s statement that the 13th Amendment would be implemented in the North and the East without the enforcement of the provisions pertaining to Police powers, North and East based Tamil politicians have already taken the first step to being flexible. As per political sources, at the all party conference held on Wednesday (26), an influential Tamil Parliamentarian had stated that for the North and the East Police service and as well as in the Department, there should be more youth recruited from the North and East, in order to resolve the language related issues that arise when non-Tamil speakers deal with Tamil speaking civilians, if the Government is not willing to implement the 13th Amendment without giving Police powers to the two Provinces. The proposal also paid attention to expanding community policing in the two Provinces along with the said recruitments. Moreover, the suggestion had cited Indian States based policing as an example where uniformed yet unarmed cops (except with batons but no firearms) are deployed in droves. 

While how fair or democratic it is to implement the 13th Amendment in the North and the East without Police powers remains and will remain a debatable topic, it is a good development on the part of the Tamil politicians representing the two Provinces. Taking the present situation and also the practical factors into account, they have moved away from their usual firm stance regarding the 13th Amendment. While the said proposal certainly shows their willingness to be flexible by seeking alternatives to the conservative solutions to the issue of the implementation of the 13th Amendment, it also shows a willingness to find solutions to the practical issues faced by the people of the North and the East. In a context where the Government is not willing to give Police powers to the two Provinces, Tamil politicians are now focusing on alleviating the tensions caused by the majority Sinhala speaking Police force in the North and the East and to resolve the lack of jobs faced by the youth in the two Provinces.

As has been noted before, while giving Police powers to the North and East could be complicated unlike in the cases of other Provinces owing to separatist and ethnic concerns related to the war, which the Government refers to as ‘national security concerns’, the Government should see those concerns for what they are and refrain from making a mountain out of a molehill. Even if Police powers were given, North and East based politicians or authorities will not be in complete control of the Police force. Police officers in the North and the East will still have to work in accordance with the country’s Constitution and other laws and regulations, adhere to the instructions of the National Police Commission, and will be funded by the Central Government. In addition, the Governors of the two Provinces, who are direct representatives of the President, will still oversee the performance of and direct the Police force in the two Provinces.

The proposal is a positive initiative. However, the Government has to recognise it as such. These forms of proposals that do not challenge the Government’s stance but still seek progressive, innovative actions that benefit the people of the North and the East should be welcomed. What is more, this flexibility should be demonstrated by the Government as well, in order to effectively deal with the 13th Amendment. All stakeholders, especially the Government, involved in the discussions on the 13th Amendment should learn to compromise, be flexible and be innovative.