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District judge hails Prabha
District Judge and Jaffna Magistrate R.T. Viknarajah has said the only person who had the courage and ability to get self-determination for the Tamils under a federal set-up is LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

“He is the only person who could get the chauvinist forces together,” the Jaffna based Uthayan newspaper quoted Mr. Viknarajah as saying at a Jaffna seminar organised by the polls monitoring group PAFFREL early this week. The judge called March 11, the day the LTTE opened a new courts complex in Kilinochchi as a historic day.

The judge quoted LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham as saying that the late Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam's proposals were the best solution to the ethnic problem as they had been drafted in a manner that all communities would be protected but lamented that President Kumaratunga had later removed certain provisions.

He said Mr. Balasingham had said Dr. Tiruchelvam's proposals had recognised that both central and regional governments would have equal powers and that the north and east should be one unit.

Mr. Viknarajah said self-determination for Tamils would not be able to function under a unitary state but it could be possible under a federal setup, which differed from country to country.

”It is on two principles that this problem can be solved – negotiations through which a solution could be found under a unitary state or under a separate state,” he said.
“To work out a federal set-up there should be devolution of powers which should be enshrined in the constitution, and when there is a dispute over powers between the centre and the region there should be legal consultation,” he said.

Claiming that the Tamil language had not been given its proper place, the Judge said that in all previous constitutions in the country, the rights of the minorities had not been protected.

“'If we want to find a permanent solution to the ethnic conflict both main parties in the south should be united. Also Tamils and Muslims should live unitedly under a federal set-up. Only through a federal set-up can we find a solution,” he said.

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