The Government is committed to implement the 13th Amendment, but it cannot be done overnight. After all, it is 24 years old and no Government up to now has made any sincere attempt to implement the 13th Amendment either fully or even substantially. Nobody has done that, says Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade.

He said several attempts made in the past by different Governments to arrive at a political solution. None of those attempts succeeded because there was no consensus in the country in support of implementation. "So this is why we believe the essential prerequisite is a broad consensus. That is why the All Party Conference has been appointed. Without a consensus no implementation is possible. That is what has gone wrong in the past".

  "The second consideration is that these political initiatives are much easier to implement in an atmosphere that is pervaded by economic prosperity. If you have deprivation, unemployment and general bitterness then the political initiatives are much more difficult. That is why we strongly believe that there is a cross link between the political initiatives that are sought to be accomplished and an economic side of it. That’s why the reliability of the economy is so important", the Minister said in an interview with The Sunday Island in London.

  Thirdly, the way to do it is to start with those areas where there is no controversy and there is general agreement that implementation must take place. So start with those and move forward step by step. That seems to be the pragmatic approach to be implementation of the 13th Amendment, he noted.     

  A: Yes, there are some features that need to be thought through carefully. Particularly with regard to Police powers — those are not problems that are consigned to the North and East. It is nothing to do with the ethnic question. Even in the predominantly Sinhala areas there would be substantial policy problems to hand over the all Police powers to Provincial Councils and Chief Ministers. There is no specific relation to the ethnic question. There are matters like that which required examination. But there’s to be movement of implementation in a nuance and structured way.

  A: We believe in visibility and transparency. But these things need to be done in a practical way. You can’t open up everything overnight. Now, the opposition is even calling for the dismantling of the security apparatus, repeal of the emergency regulations, prevention of terrorism structures. Now all these cannot be done overnight like that. Because then you run the real risk of terrorism taken over again. That is very unfair by the large numbers of people who laid down their lives to eradicate terrorism from the soil of Sri Lanka. These things should be done in a pragmatic way in stages.

  Q: Is Sri Lanka leaning more towards the East now and more Anti-West?

  A: It is not a question of giving up old friends and looking for new friends. It is looking for consolidating traditional friendships while also making new relationships. That is how a country would develop. It is not that we are turning our backs on the West. Our garment products are sold in the West. Many tourists come from the West. Our cultural and economic links are predominantly with the West. So the West is important to us and there is no question about it.  

But we are a little disappointed about some of the attitudes towards us. They have not understood Sri Lanka and they also must realise that attempts to embarrass and humiliate Sri Lanka in the International Fora can only help those who are supportive of the cause of terrorism. That they must understand because many of their attitudes have been very negative.