KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamil Separatist Movement was able to push forward two Agreements and two Acts of Parliament all intended to ensure that the North and East remained exclusively Tamil with the possibility of partition later on.   IN between the BC  Pact and the Dudley Chelva Pact, the Tamil Separatist Movement submitted a set of Minimum demands to the UNP and SLFP.

ITAK MINIMUM DEMANDS” 1960

Chelvanayakam submitted a set of ‘minimum demands’ to the UNP and SLFP when they both failed to get an absolute majority at the General Election of March 1960. UNP got 50 seats, SLFP 46 and ITAK 15. Chelvanayagam’s statement said that this was on invitation from the two parties. I think that this is unlikely, because the demands, it appears, were summarily rejected.

 Here is the text ( edited) of the ITAK  Minumum Demands 1960:

A statement obtaining the minimum demands submitted to the leaders of the UNP and SLFP on 30.3.1960 by SJV Chelvanayagam on behalf of the Federal Party when both parties failed to get an absolute majority after the 1960 March elections and sought the support of the FP to form a government.

The results of the General election have demonstrated that that the Tamil speaking people of Ceylon have endorsed in overwhelming numbers their acceptance of the policy and objective of my party, which can be briefly stated as follows

1. The replacement of the present unitary constitution by a federal constitution which recognizes the autonomy of the Tamil speaking areas.
2. The restoration of the Tamil language  to its rightful place enjoying  parity with  Sinhala as the official language of the country
3.  The granting of citizenship rights to  Tamil persons of Indian origin who are settled in Ceylon.[estate Tamils]
4. The cessation of planned colonization of the traditionally Tamil areas with Sinhalese people.

 Acceptance of the matters on which agreement is effected between ourselves should be indicated in the Throne Speech and there after implemented by legislative action which should be complete within three months

1. Granting of regional autonomy for the Northern and eastern provinces by the creation of one regional body for the Northern Province and one or more regional bodies for the eastern province with the right of these bodies to amalgamate. Power to be delegated on such regional bodies for specific subjects such as agriculture, cooperatives, land and land development , land alienation and colonization, irrigation,    education,  health, industries, and fisheries housing and social services, electivity , water schemes and road. Pending the           establishment of the regional bodies state  aided colonization referred to above  is to be suspended
2. Tamil to be recognized statutorily and administratively as the national language of the Tamil speaking peoples in Ceylon. Tamil is to be made the language of administration and of the courts of law in the northern and eastern provinces…. The right of Tamil spoken people throughout Ceylon to be educated in the Tamil language in all stages upto and including the university and the right of entry to the public services by competitive examination in Tamil to be statutorily recognized. Every Tamil person should be entitled in law to transact business and correspondence with the government in all parts of Ceylon in Tamil. All legislation, gazette notifications, government publications, notices and forms should be in Tamil also.
3. The citizenship act to be amended ……
4.  Till such time as the question of citizenship and franchise of the estate Tamil population is settled… representation in parliament to be provided by nomination …. [from] Ceylon Indian Congress.

 Points not covered by the foregoing paragraphs will be settled by negotiation between the government and the party.  (Source.  KM de Silva. Managing ethnic tensions in multi-ethnic societies. p 400) 

DUDLEY SENANAYAKE – CHELVANAYAKAM PACT 1965

The Dudley Senanayake- Chelvanayagam Pact’,  see Appendix, was made in March 1965. The agreement which was between the UNP and the Federal Party was never officially released, but the agreement appeared in the newspapers later.[1] The Pact was dismissed contemptuously   as a ‘horse deal’ to gain votes.[2] 

The Dudley- Chelva Pact was the result of ITAK negotiations after the March 1965 General elections. At this election no party got a clear majority. UNP had      66 seats, SLFP had 41 and ITAK had 14. ITAK held the balance of power.

ITAK started to negotiate with both SLFP and UNP. The negotiator was Murugesu Thiruchelvam. Thiruchelvam conducted these parallel discussions secretively and reported only to Chelvanayagam, said DBS Jeyaraj. The other ITAK leaders were not informed.  UNP and SLFP we are told did not know that ITAK was talking to both.  I think that this was most unlikely.

A meeting was set up between Dudley Senanayake and S.J.V. Chelvanayagam at the Turret Road (now Dharmapala Mawatha) residence of Dr. M.V.P. Peiris. Dudley was accompanied by J.R. Jayewardene, V.A. Sugathadasa and Esmond Wickremesinghe. ITAK delegation was Chelvanayagam, Dr. E.M.V. Naganathan, S.M. Rasamanickam, V. Navaratnam and M. Thiruchelvam

UNP was agreeable to three of the ITAK demands, namely use of Tamil language in administration, use of Tamil in courts,  and de-centralization of power to the north and east, UNP  also  agreed to set  up District Councils.

But there was strong disagreement on the subject of land alienation and settlement. The D-C Pact said that the Land Development Ordinance will be amended in the granting of land under colonization schemes.  the following will be observed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. (a) Land in the Northern and Eastern Provinces should in the first instance be granted to landless persons in the District. (b) Secondly – to Tamil -speaking persons resident in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, and (c) Thirdly – to other citizens in Ceylon, preference being given to Tamil citizens in the rest of the Island.”

 ITAK insisted that the demography of the north and east should not be altered by State aided colonization of Sinhala settlers. ITAK called it Sinhala colonization of the traditional Tamil homeland”. ITAK demanded that only Tamil speaking people should be settled in colonization schemes in the north and east. Dudley Senanayake vehemently objected to this. The discussion   stalled, but ITAK support was necessary for the UNP form a government.

Esmond Wickremesinghe suggested a compromise. It was suggested that when irrigation schemes were implemented in a district and agricultural settlers were given lands, priority should be given to people of the same province. Thereafter priority should be given to people from adjacent provinces. This compromise was acceptable to both sides. The DC Pact was signed.[3]

The agreement which was between the UNP and the Federal Party, was apparently never officially released, but  a text had appeared in the newspapers some time after. ( K.M de Silva. “managing ethnic tensions. “Appendix VIII p 402)

critics pounced  on the clauses relating to Land. This was considered the most sensitive part of the   Pact. It was quoted repeatedly in wirtings. The clause said. The Land Develpment Ordinance will be amended in the granting of land under colonisation schemes the following priorities be observed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. (a) Land in the Norhtern and Eastern Provinces should  in the first instane be granted to landless persons in the District (b) secondly to Tamil speaking  persons resident in the Northern and Eastern Proivnces, (c) Thirdly to other citizes in Ceylon, preference being given to Tamil citizens in the rest of the island. ( end)

the “Dudley Senanayake- Chelvanayagam Pact’ of March 1965,  was dismissed contemptuously by contemporary commentatators as a ‘horse deal’ to gain votes.   The D-C Pact was forgotten by everybody except the Tamil Separatist Movement which regularly referred to it.

DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT COUNCILS, 1980

 The idea of District Councils   was revived in another form in 1980 when JR Jayewardene was President. The idea of setting up District Council would have been put to him by   A.J. Wilson and Neelan Thiruchelvam who were close advisers to JR. They would have told him exactly how they wanted it done as well, but JR remembering that District Councils were rejected in Parliament in 1965, would have decided not to publicize the District aspect and also not to act on it alone.

In August 1979, President JR Jayewardene appointed a ‘Commission of Inquiry” which was expected to report on how economic development could be achieved through, District Ministers and Development Councils.

The Commission was asked, inter alia, to determine the subjects that would come under the DDC, to look at the relationship between DDC and Central government, and suggest how DDC could supervise the work of the local authorizes.  Among the subjects to be supervised was village irrigation schemes” and settlement under major irrigation schemes”.

 The Commissioners   were Victor Tennekoon (Chairman) AJ .Wilson, Neelan Thiruchelvam, JAL Cooray, NGP Panditeratne, KM de Silva, A C.M. Ameer,,M R Thassim,, MA Azeez and  K. Navaretnarajah. The   inclusion of A.J. Wilson and Neelan Thiruchelvam was significant.

The public were suspicious of this sudden desire to create District Development Councils. They suspected that this was a move towards a separate Tamil state. The Commission   recognized this. The Commission said in its report, that that when they called for   contributions from the public, views had been expressed under the belief that our task is to find a direct solution to the  [Tamil]demand for a separate state.[4]

The Development Councils Act No. 35 of 1980 was passed by  Parliament. The Act was titled Development Council Act”, leaving out the word ‘District’ in the title, but the body created was known as District Development Council.

24 DDCs were created.  The DDCs consisted of elected members and local Members of Parliament. District Ministers were also created.  Legislation was passed to abolish the Town Councils and Village Committees and to transfer their functions to the new DDCs. The schedule of subjects which came under the DDC included Land use and land settlement.

 The 24 DDCs started functioning on 1 July 1981. 83 Town Councils and 549 Village Committees were abolished. The DDCs didn’t live up to expectations.[5]Tamil Separatist Movement blamed the government for not letting the DDCs go ahead at full speed. Development Councils Act was repealed in 1989 by Act No 14 of 1989.

APPENDIX.

DUDLEY SENANAYAKE – CHELVANAYAKAM PACT 1965

Mr. Dudley Senanayake and Mr. S. J. V. Chelvanayakam met on the 24-3-1965 and discussed matters relating to some problems over which the Tamil-speaking people were concerned, and Mr. Senanayake agreed that action on the following lines would be taken by him to ensure a stable government:

(1) Action will be taken early under the Tamil Language Special Provisions Act to make provision of the Tamil Language to be the language of Administration and of Record in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Mr. Senanayake explained that it was the policy of his party that a Tamil-speaking person should be entitled to transact business in Tamil throughout the island.

(2) Mr. Senanayake stated that it was the policy of his party to amend the Language of Courts Act to provide for legal proceedings in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to be conducted and recorded in Tamil.

(3) Action will be taken to establish District Councils in Ceylon vested with powers over subjects to be mutually agreed upon between two leaders. It was agreed, however, that the government should have power under the law to give directions to such councils under the national interest.

(4) The Land Development Ordinance will be amended to provide that citizens of Ceylon be entitled to the allotment of land under the Ordinance.

Mr. Senanayake further agreed that in the granting of land under colonisation schemes the following priorities be observed in the Northern and Eastern provinces (a) Land in the Northern and Eastern provinces should in the first instance be granted to landless persons in the district. (b) Secondly, to Tamil-speaking persons resident in the Northern and Eastern provinces. (c) Thirdly, to other citizens in Ceylon, preference being given to Tamil residents in the rest of the island. [6]  END ( continued)

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[1] K.M de Silva. “Managing ethnic tensions.”Appendix VIII p 402

[2] K.M de Silva. “Managing ethnic tensions.”Appendix VIII p 402

[3] DBS Jeyaraj https://www.ft.lk/columns/The-ITAK-s-kingmaker-role-in-Dudley-s-National-Govt/4-739564

[4] https://tamilnation.org/conflictresolution/tamileelam/79districtdevelopmentcouncils.htm

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_Sri_Lanka

[6] https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/LK_650324_Dudley%20Senanayake%20-%20Chelvanayakam%20Pact.pdf