Accusing leaders of certain government coalition parties of spreading “unnecessary panic” regarding police powers for Provincial Councils, the Democratic People’s Front today said that any provincial administration obviously needs police powers to handle law and order in the society.

They are trying to create panic by giving an exaggerated unrealistic idea about provincial police powers, Deputy Leader of the DPF, Dr. N. Kumaraguruparan said.

“We must be honest to a reasonable extent even in politics. In reality all police powers are ultimately vested with the Governor of the Province,” he said, pointing out that Governor is the direct representative of the President.  

Dr Nalliah Kumaraguruparan, a member of the Western Provincial Council, stated that there are lots of examples for devolved police powers in the world.

He stated that even the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) had very carefully structured the provincial police to be acceptable to all quarters.

The Provincial DIG is appointed by the Central Government’s Police Commission and responsible to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr Kumaraguruparan said, in a statement today.

He stated that a Province requires police powers to handle the local society’s law and order, issues such as crime, minor offenses, traffic which naturally existence in every society.  

He urged leaders like Prof Tissa Vitharana and Vasudeva Nanayakkara to bring awareness among innocent citizens on these “deliberately cooked up stories”.

Welcoming the appointing of the non-politico C.V. Vigneshwaran as the TNA’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the North, Kumaraguruparan stated that the retired judge possesses the caliber of an intellectual, with clarity of thinking to understand genuineness and humbugging.

Not only Tamils but all the peoples in the country will no doubt be happy to have a former member of the Sri Lankan judiciary in C.V. Vigneshwaran and R. Sampanthan, two respectable senior persons, at the helm of Northern Tamils’ leadership, he said.

Dr Kumaraguruparan also stated that it will be an easy exercise for a state leader to deal with both C.V. Vigneshwaran and TNA leader R. Sampanthan, to solve the power devolving dilemma.

The member of the Western Provincial Council also commended the government for holding elections in the Northern Province “without falling into the trap of communal Sinhalese fundamentalists” such as Ministers Wimal Weerawansa and Champika Ranawaka.

He stated that some elements have sought to abolish or dilute the 13th Amendment to the Constitution “forgetting the reality that not only Colombo but India also must agree to amend the Indo-Lanka accord,” which parented the 13th amendment.