ஜனாதிபதி மஹிந்தவிற்கு முஸ்லிம் காங்கிரஸ் அனுப்பியுள்ள அவசர கடிதம்

அரசியலமைப்பின் 13 ஆவது திருத்தத்தை பாதுகாக்க முஸ்லிம் காங்கிரஸுடன் இணைந்து ஏனைய முஸ்லிம் கட்சிகளும் முன்வரவெண்டுமென அக்கட்சியின் செயலாளர் நாயகமும், எம்.பி.யுமான ஹசன் அலி வலியுறுத்தியுள்ளதுடன் 13 அவது திருத்தத்தை எக்காரணம் கொண்டும் ரத்துச்செய்யக்கூடாதென முஸ்லிம் காங்கிரஸ் ஜனாதிபதி மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஸவுக்கு அவசர கடிதமொன்றையும் அனுப்பிவைத்துள்ளது.

இதுகுறித்து ஹசன் அலி மேலும் கூறுகையில்,

முஸ்லிம் காங்கிரஸின் உயர்பீடம் அண்மையில் மேற்கொண்ட தீர்மானத்திற்கமைய ஜனாதிபதி மஹிந்த ராஜபக்ஸவுக்கு அவசர கடிதமொன்றை அனுப்பிவைத்துள்ளது. 13 ஆம் திருத்தத்தை ரத்துச்செய்ய எத்தகைய முயற்சிகளிலும் அரசாங்கம் ஈடுபடக்கூடாதென்பதே எமது விருப்பம். அதனனை விலயுறுத்தியே இக்கடிதம் வரையப்பட்டுள்ளது என்றார்.

ஜனாதிபதிக்கு மு.கா. அனுப்பியுள்ள கடிதம்

His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse,

President of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka,

Presidential Secretariat,

Colombo 1.

Your Excellency,

Appeal by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) on the 13th Amendment

We address this appeal to you in the earnest hope that the representations made herein will receive your careful consideration.

At this juncture we wish to make our views known to you and explain why we hold these views. We are conscious that you will also receive contrary or different views. However, we are confident that you could be persuaded to evaluate our representations on the merits of our arguments. 

The 13th amendment to the constitution was introduced in 1987 for the purpose of granting regional autonomy as a response to satisfy the political aspirations espoused political parties representing Tamil interests and also as a means of getting many a militant groups into mainstream democratic process. That it was the result of external influence is a matter of history. However, we sincerely feel that any attempt to see the 13th amendment as requiring its repeal as a means of redressing a perceived error, is myopic. That would be, your Excellency, an act amounting to the throwing of the baby with the bath water.  

The legislation pertaining to the 13th Amendment completely ignored the substantial Muslim demographic presence and their aspirations in the areas where the power devolution made an impact.  

The Tamil political groups did not accept it on the grounds that it was inadequate as a measure of devolution. They also contended that the measure was too late and too little to fully resolve their grievances. 

The demerger brought the existing demographic realities into focus. It gave the Muslim Community the representation and the voice they deserve in an electoral democratic process. 

The Muslims of Sri Lanka have consistently remained loyal and patriotic citizens of Sri Lanka. Since independence, the widely dispersed Muslim community throughout the land did not have an effective voice and representation in the Sri Lankan polity. 

The 13th Amendment and the Provincial Council it envisaged gave the Muslims a new opportunity of political empowerment at the periphery. 

The first Muslim representative to participate in matters of governance was when the British Governor nominated a Muslim to the Governor’s Advisory Council in 1871. Since then, Muslim representation in successive elected legislatures under the colonial administration as well as post independence national legislatures has been only nominal. 

Muslims of the Northern and Eastern provinces who live in large numbers in contrast to their brethren elsewhere in the island have begun to rely on the 13th Amendment to choose their own representatives in a democratic process. They have become aware of their new political empowerment and hope has replaced the despondency of a forgotten minority in the neglected back water of the Eastern and Northern provinces.  

We should also point out that in the Eastern province the demographic profile provides a microcosm of the pluralist democracy that we are at the national level. The healthy functioning of a Provincial Council where the majority community of Sri Lanka can unite the two minority communities in the path to progress is an opportunity to be exploited and not missed.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) itself owes its creation to the enactment of the 13th amendment and the Provincial Councils Act.  In the post war climate of peace that allows the pursuit of prosperity, the Muslims of the North and East are poised to reap the benefits that were long denied to them in a political process that was confined to the Sinhala and Tamil communities where the Muslim community remained a marginal spectator. 

The suggestion to abolish the 13th amendment requires a wider discussion in a more congenial atmosphere where a national consensus can be reached without acrimony.  We look back on a history of 65 years of majority imposed constitutional arrangements. We should not leave behind any disgruntled community or group either on communal or economic grounds. 

The SLMC believes that the nation under your guidance and leadership will have the capacity, sagacity and determination to face the brave new world as a truly assertive nation united in its objectives and diverse in its composition. 

Thank you.

Sincerely yours,

M.T. Hasen Ali  MP

Secretary General,

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress