A temporary Interim Advisory Committee for the Northern Province will be appointed by the President until Provincial Council elections could be held after ending the armed conflict on the recommendation of the All Party Representative Committee to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, SLFP General Secretary, Maithripala Sirisena told a press conference yesterday (24).

Local Government elections in the Eastern Province will also be held and the SLFP has handed over nomination of candidates for five local bodies out of nine. The party was keen on reviving civil administration under a democratic framework, he said.

Devolution of power to the North and East will be within the Unitary State, just like in other provinces and will be implemented under the policy guidelines behind the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, totally different from the Indo - Lanka Accord signed in 1987, he said.

Devolution of power was one of the main policies of the SLFP since its founder leader, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike agreed to devolve power to the Tamil speaking areas under the Bandaranaike – Chelvanayagam pact in 1958, he said.

President Rajapaksa was ready to devolve power to the regions from the very beginning, but the LTTE was not prepared to come to the negotiating table for a political solution. As soon as President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power, he invited the LTTE for peace talks but the LTTE broke the CFA exploding bombs within a week after he came to power. Since the President had given an undertaking to usher in peace, he invited the LTTE for peace talks once again, but at the third round of talks at Geneva, the LTTE unilaterally withdrew from the negotiating table and returned to hostilities, he said.

Since the government does not have a two thirds majority in Parliament, only an Interim Advisory Committee could be set up for the Northern Province with eminent citizens of the region appointed members of the committee. If the UNP, the main opposition party had participated in the APRC discussions to arrive at a common solution, matters would have been much easier. But the UNP had run away from their responsibilities and did not cooperate in finding a solution to the national problem. It was easier to evade and criticize than face a challenge, but President Rajapaksa took up the challenge and has now decided to resolve the problem by taking the first step towards devolution, he said.

Asked whether the police and land settlement powers were to be vested with the Provincial Councils, Maithripala Sirisena said powers under the provisions of the Constitution would be devolved to the PCs. However, when the UNP established the North Eastern Provinicial Council, none of these powers were vested with it. Chief Minister Varadarajah Perumal could not survive a day as Chief Minister.

Minister of Information Anura Priyadharshana Yapa and Minister of Investment Promotion Dr. Sarath Amunugama, participated at the press conference.