NPC adopts resolution backing federal solution

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party TNA- controlled northern provincial council today adopted a resolution seeking a federal solution to the long-pending issue of political independence for the counry’s minority Tamil community.

The resolution adopted by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) aims to have the federal solution included in the current constitution-making process.

The government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has already launched a process to formulate a new Constitution for the country replacing the 1978 statute.

The Tamil demand for a federal solution dates back to the days when Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, came to be granted independence by the British in 1948.

Later, the campaign was extended to a separate state demand when the LTTE fought a decades-old war with the government to carve out a separate Tamil homeland.

With the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, the Tamil leadership has adopted a softer approach to give up on the separatist demand.(Business Standard)