COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Sri Lanka's main ethnic Tamil political party says it will lobby for increased regional powers based on federalism, and an international investigation into alleged war crimes during the country's civil war if it wins power in upcoming provincial elections.
The Tamil National Alliance, a front-runner
in the Sept. 21 Northern Provincial Council elections, said in a policy statement that the current power-sharing arrangement with the provinces is flawed because the central government has overriding power through its agent, the provincial governor.
"The TNA firmly believes that sovereignty lies with the people and not with the state. It is not the government in Colombo that holds the right to govern the Tamil people, but the people themselves," the party said.
The statement, released Tuesday, comes amid plans by the ethnic Sinhalese-controlled central government to curtail the provinces' existing land and police powers, saying they could lead to the country's division. Tamils are a majority in Northern Province but a minority nationally.
The government announced elections in the north amid intense international pressure that it share powers with Tamils following a quarter-century civil war that ended in 2009.
