Lanka tells India devolving powers

Lanka tells India devolving powers to provinces not possible
    Colombo, Jun 4 (PTI) Sri Lanka today said it had made it
clear to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that devolving police
powers to the provinces, including the Tamil-dominated areas,
was not possible saying "it has nothing to do with ethnic
considerations".
    G L Peiris, the external affairs minister, was speaking
in parliament today apprising the house on the bilateral talks
between India and Sri Lanka held in New Delhi last week when
President Mahinda Rajapaksa attended the swearing-in of Modi.
    Peiris said the talks between Rajapaksa and Modi had
covered a wide range of issues.
    "Prime Minister Modi's vision for the future of SAARC,
expansion of economic and the issue of fishermen were the main
topics", Peiris said.
    "During our talks on constitutional matters, we explained
our position," Peiris said adding that the Indian side was
told that the thirteenth amendment to the Sri Lankan
constitution has been part of the statutes for over a quarter
of a century.
    Sri Lanka's thirteenth amendment was introduced in 1987
as a result of direct Indian intervention to try and resolve
the ethnic impasse in the island.
    "There have been five different governments in the
country during that period. None of them felt fully able to
implement it", Peiris said as having told the Indian side.
    "We made it crystal clear that devolution of police
powers is not acceptable. It has nothing to do with ethnic
considerations," Peiris said.
    He said Sri Lanka conveyed to the India that attribution
of police powers to a province "wheresoever in the country was
undesirable for matter of policy".
    Peiris' statement in parliament was in response to a
query raised by the main opposition leader Ranil
Wickremesinghe on matters discussed with the new Indian
government.