A DISCUSSION ON FEDERAL POLITICAL SOLUTION - DEVOLUTION OF POWER
A "political solution" is imperative to address the longstanding national ethnic problem in the North East of Sri Lanka, which has persisted for 70 years. To shed light on this issue, a 100-day campaign titled "Political Solution with Dignified Rights for the People of the North East" was held last year on August 1, 2022. The campaign took place across eight districts of the North East provinces, and its culmination occurred on November 8, 2022, in those same districts.
On the 100th and final day of the campaign, the people of the North East united and voiced their message through the People's Declaration to the Sri Lankan nation and the global community. Their emphatic demand was for a "collective devolution of power to a unified North Eastern Province within the United Sri Lanka" as an irrevocable political solution.
To engage with various stakeholders and provide further clarity on the political solution, the North East Coordination Committee initiated discussions with university students, media professionals, youth representatives, religious leaders, academicians, opinion makers, human rights activists, civil organizations, and politicians from the North East Provinces.
Despite national and international efforts to provide clarifications, the first phase of these discussions was held on May 14, 2023, at the Trincomalee Municipality Assembly Hall, with support from the Internal Humanitarian Resource Center. The event, chaired by Mr. Kandumani Lavakusarasa, Coordinator of the North East Coordination Committee and the AHAM Humanitarian Resource Center, witnessed the active participation of 107 individuals, including Trincomalee students from Eastern University, civil organization representatives, and youths from the Trincomalee district.
