'Symmetrical devolution will not work'- Minister Peiris

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2003, 19:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Constitutional Affairs Minister and the Leader of the Sri Lanka government's peace delegation Professor G.L.Peiris said Wednesday that attempting to find a solution to the conflict based on symmetrical devolution of powers for all provinces as in the case of provincial council would be a futile exercise, media sources said.

"Powers need to be devolved to regions based on requirements specific to each region. Matters of this nature will be discussed with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at future rounds of peace talks," said Mr Peiris addressing a workshop on "German Federalism" Wednesday.

The workshop was organized by the Conrad Adenur Foundation and the Centre for Policy Alternatives at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH).

Minister Mr.Peiris further said the Executive Presidency would not be an impediment to the introduction of the federal system of governance. The Executive Presidency can help in matters related safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country.

He added that the Executive President should be held accountable to the parliament and that the judiciary should have power to question the Executive President.