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De-merger, re-merger and more

The de-merger of the country's northern and eastern provinces as a consequence of a judgment by a five-member bench of the Sri Lanka Supreme Court is a disturbing development. In formal terms, the merger effected in 1987 was a temporary and conditional arrangement that flowed from the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement but no government in Colombo ever thought of undoing it even during the worst spells of violence and political crisis. The apex court's verdict sets the clock back in the quest for a political solution to the legitimate aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils. The court pronounced on a fundamental rights petition by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna at a critical juncture, when the island nation is racked with violence and the whole world is concerned over it. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has reasons to be pleased — because it has been served a `cause' on a platter. The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva struck down the merger essentially on the ground that it was effected through a presidential decree under the Emergency Regulation rather than through the parliamentary route. The judges held, further, that successive Presidents have resorted to an extension of the merger without a referendum to ascertain the wishes of the people of the eastern province and despite the fact that the conditions stipulated in the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement on cessation of hostilities and surrender of arms by militant groups were never fulfilled. The court has also invoked the principle of "equal protection of law" in response to prayers for the right of voters in the East to elect a Provincial Council.

Fortunately, this is not the kind of constitutional body blow that a first, superficial reading suggests. In a way, the judgment opens the door to a more durable way of protecting, legally and politically, the one solid achievement of the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement. Except in the eyes of the chauvinist elements, the merger of the northern and eastern provinces is not a trademark `Eelam' or extremist demand. It is a longstanding political aspiration of moderate Tamils seeking a federal solution within a united Sri Lanka. The principal opposition, the United National Party, has responded to the development with a commendable sense of sobriety and responsibility. It has expressed its readiness to support any legislation that may be introduced in Parliament by the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government to restore the status quo ante of a merged north-east. President Rajapaksa has not yet revealed his mind on this issue, which has the potential to widen the political gap between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the JVP. The ruling party is currently engaged in forging an unprecedented political understanding with the main opposition party for a national consensus on all vital issues confronting the country. President Rajapaksa can convert the problem caused by the Supreme Court judgment into an opportunity by immediately opening talks with the UNP on legislation to re-unite the North and the East and going all out to make it to join the government, preferably with Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister.

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