The 13th Amendment to the Constitution
The idea of the unitary state was first introduced in the 1972 Constitution and was retained by the 1978 Constitution. Tamil parties had presented proposals for a federal constitution to the Constituent Assembly that was drafting the 1972 Constitution.
This was rejected and the Constitution instead explicitly entrenched the idea of a unitary state, which has proved to be an obstacle to reform since then.In 1987, under pressure from the Indian Government, the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE signed a peace accord and agreed to the establishment of a quasi-federal state. The agreement however, soon collapsed, and the war resumed. The 13 th Amendment to the Constitution and Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987 were passed after the Indo-Lanka Accord of that year. The Indo-Lanka Accord, signed under considerable pressure from India, noted that the country was a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual society, with four primary ethnic groups, the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, and Burghers, and referred to the northern and eastern provinces as areas of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking people.[1528] The 13th Amendment and Provincials Councils Act introduced a quasi-federal structure, and were rushed through Parliament in a volatile ethnic environment.
Power-sharing and the devolution of power has been even more divisive than the place of Buddhism. For many Sinhalese, power-sharing with the Tamils has been viewed as a first step towards secession and has stymied constitutional reform on several occasions.[1529] Tamil political actors have consistently sought autonomy for the Northern and Eastern provinces, where they constitute an ethnic majority. In the Northern province, according to the 2012 census, Tamils make up 93.1 per cent of the population. In the multi-ethnic Eastern province, Tamils constitute 39.2 per cent of the population, Muslims constitute 36.9 per cent and Sinhalese 23.2 per cent.[1530]
The Tamil claim for autonomy is rooted in the ideas of identity, historical habitation, and discrimination. Discrimination in the use of the Tamil language, access to employment opportunities in the public sector, an unequal share of public resources since independence, and state-led ‘colonisation’ schemes which have sought to alter the demographic balance in Tamil areas, are some of the issues of discrimination raised by the Tamils. The claim of discrimination, however, is contested by many Sinhalese who instead contend that the Tamils were a privileged minority during colonial times and even argue for affirmative action for the Sinhalese to reverse this discrimination.[1531]
VIII.