COLOMBO: Monday's agreement, signed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), to resolve the ethnic conflict in the north and east, subject to further discussion and ratification, envisages maximum devolution of powers to the "regional administrators."

The tentative agreement, a copy of which is in the possession of The Hindu , avoids any reference to either a unitary or federal model. It does not even touch the much-debated "Indian model."

Instead, it says that under the "power-sharing" arrangement, the role of the Central Government should be confined to subjects such as defence and security, foreign affairs, finance, elections, national planning and shipping.

Equitable framework

The relevant paragraph reads: "The basic assumption underlying an equitable framework for power-sharing is that the Central Government would be invested with all the powers, functions and responsibilities essential for the effective conduct of the national policy in all fields [principally including, but not limited to defence and security, foreign relations, the national budget, monetary policy, elections, immigration and emigration, national planning, shipping and navigation and related matters], while other matters will fall within the purview of regional administrators."

It says particular attention should be paid to fiscal considerations. Also, the regional administrators should have access to adequate resources for effectively discharging their duties.

The document says that the cornerstone of the political solution is power-sharing on the basis acceptable to the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities and reflecting the experience in the past five decades.

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