Colombo: India has once again emphasizes for the devolution of power to the provinces under the 13th Amendment (13A) of the Sri Lankan Constitution and the system of provincial councils as a meaningful step towards better representation of the island's Tamil minority.

During a meeting with Eastern Province's former chief minister Sivanesaturai Chandrakanthan and former lawmaker Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, India's Deputy High Commissioner Vinod K Jacob on Tuesday discussed bilateral cooperation and implementation of the 13th Amendment.

"Deputy HC Vinod K Jacob held separate meetings with delegations led by Hon'ble MP S Chandrakanthan (Pillayan) & Mr V Muralitharan (Karuna Amman). Development coop in the East & full implementation of 13th amendment & Provincial Councils were discussed in these meetings," the Indian High Commission in Colombo tweeted on Tuesday.

The 13th Amendment provides for devolution of power to the Tamil community. India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment which was brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987. However, the Sinhala nationalist parties and the erstwhile Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam vehemently opposed it. While nationalists have decried it as excess sharing of power, the Tamil Tigers criticised it as sharing of only few powers. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has shown inclination to abolish the provisions in a soon-to-be revised Constitution.

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