NJC decries Himalayan Declaration as a move to go beyond 13A

The so-called “Himalayan Declaration,” believed to be the outcome of continuous engagements between the Diaspora outfits under the umbrella of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and Southern organisations represented by some Buddhist monks, caused some controversy recently.

Many eyebrows were raised when the stakeholders had highlevel meetings with government leaders, opposition parties, and civil society organisations to brief them about their declaration.

The National Joint Committee, a Southern-based organisation, said this week that the grand plan of this declaration was to implement the 13th Amendment and go beyond it, if possible.

Claiming the Himalayan Declaration is an effort to hoodwink the people and to support President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his endeavour to fully implement the 13th Amendment, the organisation said any power decentralised by the centre should be held by the periphery, subject to the control of the centre.

It claimed that the creation of a federal or separate state in the Northern and Eastern Provinces was certainly to the advantage and benefit of the Western powers waiting like hawks to grab the country’s land and resources. “They will go to any length to get it. The role played by several diplomats during the Aragalaya period and the success they achieved have a chilling effect on all of us,” the statement said.

What has happened now is that the new leadership of the main Tamil regional party in the North is saying even 13A is not enough. Is it going to be yet another vicious circle of 13A—not enough; too much being talked about both in the North and South—a superb recipe for foreign intervention?