Tamil National Alliance to discuss 13th amendment with President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka's main Tamil party TNA on Sunday said that it would talk to President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa about the 13th amendment to the Constitution as a means of sharing land and police powers with the minority Tamils in the country.

The 13th amendment, an outcome of an agreement reached between India and Sri Lanka in 1987, deals with devolution of land and police powers to the provinces in Sri Lanka.

"TNA would talk to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on the India mooted 13th amendment to the constitution as means of power sharing with the Tamil minority," the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said, quoting the party's leader R Sampanthan saying this to the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz.

President Rajapaksa during his recent trip to India, after being elected last month, had said no solution would be possible without the consent of the Sinhalaese majority.

The Sinhalaese community comprises 74 per cent of the country's population and is known to oppose the 13th amendment.

Rajapaksa's older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president between 2005 and 2015, had pledged to the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he would grant more powers to make the 13A meaningful to provinces.