Controversial 18th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution passed; Tamil National Alliance calls 18th amendment as the final nail on the coffin of democracy in Sri Lanka; US sought views from India on developments in Sri Lanka; Sri Lanka dismisses report
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    • The controversial 18th Amendment to the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka was passed on 8 September 2010 after a nine-hour debate in parliament with 161 voting for and 17 against. Six United National Party (UNP) MPs and eight Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) MPs voted with ruling coalition MPs in favour of the Bill while MPs of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted against.1 The main opposition party United National Party (UNP) member except those who are supporting the bill boycotted the session.2 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran has called the 18th amendment as the “final nail on the coffin of democracy” in Sri Lanka.3

    At international level, the United States is closely observing the political developments in Sri Lanka. The US Government had called for a special report from India as to how politics in post war Sri Lanka would affect the region.4 It is the only government so far to openly criticize the 18th amendment.5 Meanwhile one of the two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist suspects arrested in India over a bomb explosion had claimed that he was trained in Colombo to carry out terrorist attacks on Indian soil.6 However, Sri Lankan Government had denied the allegations.7

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