AKD on Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue:`` They must be given a right make decisions for themselves'`

 AKD on Sri Lanka’s ethnic issue: NPP concerned with future, not past

ECONOMYNEXT — The leftist National People’s Power (NPP) is concerned not with the past but the future, NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said following a discussion with representatives of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) in Jaffna.

Dissanayake told reporters on Tuesday June 11 that the NPP in their manifesto for the 2019 presidential election had recognised the need for Sri Lanka’s provincial council system to continue.

“We must also have a dialogue on moving forward. 

There is a need for constitutional changes. We must also implement the provisions in the constitution that establish peace,” he said.

“In the present, we’re not about the past but how to create the future. To do that, Tamil people should be given a strong guarantee of rights in politics. They must be given a right make decisions for themselves. If everyone lives in the past, we will not be able to create a future,” said Dissanayake.

The NPP leader did not elaborate on the meaning of “right to make decisions for themselves”.

The party has been largely noncommital on its stance on the 13th amendment to the constitution, which the Marxist-Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which controls the NPP, violently opposed during the late 1980s.

The full implementation of the 13th amendment continues to be a point of debate.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has indicated his willingness to fully implement the amendment without police powers, particularly in light of India stressing on its importance. 

Sharing police powers remains an issue, with many nationalist parties in the south arguing against it. 

The 13th amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution emerged from the controversial Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 as a purported solution to the worsening ethnic conflict, four years after war broke out. 

Provincial councils came in the wake of this amendment, though land and police powers have yet to be devolved to the provinces as originally envisioned. 

Both Sinhalese and Tamil nationalists have historically opposed the amendment, the former claiming it devolved too much, the latter complaining it didn’t devolve enough. 

A full implementation of the amendment would see land and police powers devolved to the provinces, a development that is not likely to garner support from Sri Lanka’s more hardline parties. In February, sections of the Buddhist clergy took to the streets against the proposed full implementation of the constitutional amendment.

 

(Economy Next: Colombo/Jun11/2024)

எம்மைப் போலவே ஜே.வி.பி உம் 13ஐ தீர்வாக ஏற்கவில்லை! - சட்டத்தரணி சுமந்திரன்

தமிழர் வாக்குகளிற்காக தென்னிலங்கை கட்சிகள் வடக்கிற்கு படையெடுத்துள்ள நிலையில் இன்று காலை யாழ்ப்பாணத்தில் இலங்கைத் தமிழரசுக் கட்சியின் பிரதிநிதிகளை தேசிய மக்கள் சக்தி குழுவினர் சந்தித்திருந்தனர்.

இந்நிலையில் தேசிய இனப் பிரச்சினைக்குப் புதிய அரசமைப்பு மூலமே தீர்வு காணப்பட வேண்டும். அதுவரையில் தற்போதுள்ள மாகாண சபை முறைமையை அரசமைப்பின் 13 ஆவது திருத்தத்தின் முழு நடைமுறையாக்கத்தோடு முன்னெடுக்க வேண்டும்.அதுவே எமது நிலைப்பாடு என தேசிய மக்கள் சக்தியின் தலைவர் அனுரகுமார திசநாயக்க தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

அதேவேளை அநுரகுமார திஸாநாயக்க தெரிவித்த கருத்துக்களிற்கு பதிலளித்துள்ள எம்.ஏ.சுமந்திரன் "மாகாண சபை முறைமை முழு அளவில் நடைமுறைப்படுத்தப்பட வேண்டும் என்பதை 2019 ஜனாதிபதித் தேர்தல் விஞ்ஞாபனத்திலேயே தாங்கள் இடம்பெறச் செய்துள்ளதாக அனுரகுமார தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

தமிழரின் தேசிய இனப் பிரச்சினைக்கு 13 ஆவது திருத்தம் தீர்வாகாது என்று தமிழர் தரப்பு கூறுவதைப் போலவே, அது தீர்வு அல்ல என்பதை அவர்கள்  (JVP) ஏற்றுக்கொண்டுள்ளனர்.

அத்துடன் தேசிய இனப் பிரச்சினைக்குத் தீர்வு புதிய அரசமைப்பு மூலமே எட்டப்பட வேண்டும் .அதுவரையில் மாகாண சபை முறைமை நீடிக்க வேண்டும். தாமதிக்காமல் மாகாண சபைத் தேர்தல்கள் நடத்தப்பட வேண்டும். 13 ஆம் திருத்தம் மூலம் அரசமைப்புக்கு வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ள அனைத்து ஏற்பாடுகளும் நடைமுறைப்படுத்தப்பட வேண்டும் என தாமும் வலியுறுத்தியமாக எம்.ஏ.சுமந்திரன் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.

நன்றி:பதிவு இணையம்

Far right surges in EU vote!

 

Far right surges in EU vote, topping polls in Germany, France, Austria

French President Emmanuel Macron calls snap election after National Rally doubles vote share of centrist Renaissance.

Far-right parties have made significant gains in the European Union parliamentary elections, delivering humiliating defeats to the parties of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

While mainstream parties kept control of the 705-member European Parliament on Sunday, the 27-member bloc swung palpably to the right in a sign of the durability of anti-establishment sentiment on the continent.

In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally delivered such a crushing defeat to Macron’s centrist Renaissance that the French leader called snap legislative elections, a risky manoeuvre which could inflict further losses on his party and hobble the remaining three years of his presidential term.

National Rally was projected to win about 33 percent of the vote and 31 seats in the incoming European Parliament – more than double the tally of the Macron ticket’s 15 percent.

“We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration,” Le Pen said.

Macron acknowledged the scale of the defeat.

“I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered … France needs a clear majority to act in serenity and harmony,” Macron said, adding that calling a snap election demonstrated his commitment to democratic ideals.

"In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally delivered such a crushing defeat to Macron’s centrist Renaissance that the French leader called snap legislative elections, a risky manoeuvre which could inflict further losses on his party and hobble the remaining three years of his presidential term".

In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) took second place, underscoring the party’s strength ahead of next year’s federal election.

The Eurosceptic party was projected to secure more than 16 percent of the vote, its best-ever showing and a higher share of the tally than all three parties in Scholz’s coalition.

The conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union, which are in opposition at the federal level, topped the poll with about 30 percent of the vote.

Germany’s Greens were the biggest losers on Sunday, falling by 8.5 percentage points to 12 percent, punished by voters for the cost of policies to reduce CO2 emissions – in line with expectations for environmental parties across Europe.

Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the third coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP), were projected to win about 14 percent and 5 percent of the vote, respectively, down from 15.8 percent and 5.4 percent in the previous election.

The AfD’s strong showing comes as Germany’s party landscape undergoes its biggest upheaval in decades, with new populist parties competing to fill the vacuum left by the decline of mainstream parties that dominated the post-reunification era.

The shift looks set to make it much harder for established parties to form viable coalitions and has been blamed for a coarsening of the political climate, including instances of violence against politicians and activists.

The AfD’s gains come despite a series of scandals and controversies, including their lead candidate declaring that the SS, the Nazis’ main paramilitary force, were “not all criminals”.

“We’ve done well because people have become more anti-European,” the AfD’s co-leader Alice Weidel said on Sunday.

“People are annoyed by so much bureaucracy from Brussels,” she added, giving a plan ultimately to ban CO2-emitting cars as an example.

In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party gained nearly 26 percent of the vote, topping a nationwide ballot for the first time.

The governing conservative People’s Party (OeVP) picked up more than 24 percent of the vote, followed by the Social Democrats with about 23 percent and the Greens at nearly 11.

Chancellor Nehammer pledged to address voters’ concerns ahead of national elections, due later in the year, including cracking down on undocumented migration.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saw her position bolstered after her right-wing populist Brothers of Italy more than doubled its seats in parliament.

The far right also performed well in the Netherlands, with Geert Wilders’s anti-immigration Party for Freedom projected to win six seats, just two seats shy of the total picked up by centre-left and green parties.

Left-wing and green parties had a better showing in the Scandinavian countries, with far-right and populist parties in Sweden, Denmark and Finland seeing their vote shares decline.

In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist Fidesz won the most votes but lost significant ground compared with the 2019 elections.

Fidesz had 44 percent of the vote with nearly 90 percent of votes counted, down from 52 percent.

Still, Orban claimed victory in a speech to supporters at a party event on Sunday night.

“Today, we defeated the old opposition, the new opposition, and no matter what the opposition will be called the next time, we will defeat them again and again,” he said.

Orban’s main challenger, Peter Magyar’s Tisza party, picked up about 30 percent of the vote.

Overall, mainstream and pro-European groups remained the dominant forces, with centre-right and centre-left parties on track to secure a slimmed-down majority in the 705-member parliament.

The European People’s Party (EPP) was on track to be the biggest grouping with a projected 189 deputies, bolstered by centre-right victories in Spain and Poland, followed by the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats with 135 seats.

The European Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes the Brothers of Italy, was projected to win 72 seats, followed by the far-right Identity and Democracy with 58.

Green and liberal, pro-European parties suffered the heaviest losses, with Greens-European Free Alliance and Renew Europe losing more than 40 seats.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the results showed that the “centre is holding”.

“We won the European elections. This election has given us two messages,” von der Leyen said.

“First, there remains a majority in the centre for a strong Europe, and that is crucial for stability. In other words, the centre is holding. But it is also true that the extremes on the left and on the right have gained support, and this is why the result comes with great responsibility for the parties in the centre.”

Reporting from Berlin, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen said Eurosceptic parties would form a large bloc in the next parliament.

“With this very large bloc of far-right parties, there can be an influence on climate policies, for example … Also, [the EU’s] agriculture policies… and migration policies, which is a very important issue here in Germany and in the Netherlands,” she said.

However, Vaessen noted that the far-right parties are not united.

“They have a lot of divisions among themselves and they have been trying to reach out to each other. We’ve seen [France’s] Marine Le Pen, for example, reaching out to Giorgia Meloni in Italy,” she said.

“But after tonight, we will have to see how these groups will be formed and what kind of influence they will have.”⍐

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES