NPM opposes granting police, land powers to PCs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 01:41 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM), an extreme Sinhala nationalist organization, said Friday that it would launch a struggle if the government accedes to the demand to devolve land and police powers to provincial councils. "Granting of such powers to provincial councils is tantamount to granting Tamil Eelam to Velupillai Pirapaharan,"said Dr.Gunadasa Amarasekara, President of NPM at a press briefing held in Colombo.

He added some in the south have been agitating for granting police and land powers to provincial councils. This is like granting Tamil Eelam through back door to the LTTE, he said.

"Mahinda Rajapakse has been elected President of the country not to do the same politics done by Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe in their regimes. Ministers Dilan Perera, Rajitha Senaratne and veteran trade union leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara have been in the forefront agitating for more powers to provincial councils under the 13th amendment to the constitution. They have been helping the LTTE to regain their power in the war front and political front. The majority community Sinhalese would not agree to grant police and land powers to the PCs.

"I appeal to Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse and Army Commander Sarath Fonseka to take steps against those who have been working to demoralize the soldiers of the SLA in the warfront," said Dr.Gunadasa Amarasekara.