The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told the Sunday Observer that it had its reservations over President Maithripala Sirisena’s recent assurance to the Mahanayake Theras that ‘the constitution was not drafted based on federalism’.
Speaking to the Sunday Observer, TNA parliamentarian and leader of the Ilanka Thamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK), the main constituent party of the TNA, Mavai Senathirajah quoting from the Supreme Court judgement in a 2004 case filed against him said that “advocating federalism does not amount to separatism and the invocation of self-determination does not amount to the demand for a separate state”.
“There could be unitary states with features or attributes of a federal state,” the SC had said in its verdict, he said, adding that this is a SC verdict and has to be honoured by all involved in the constitution making process. Commenting the protests of sections of the Muslim leadership against the proposed North-East unification, Senathirajah said that they held discussions with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLCM) even during the time of its founder leader M.H.M. Ashraff on giving a unit of devolution to the Muslims under a unified North-Eastern province and have resumed discussions with the present Muslim leadership.