The North Eastern Province was one of the
provinces of Sri Lanka. The province was created in September 1988 by merging the
Northern and
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
provinces.
This merger was declared illegal by the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2006.
The province was formally demerged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007. The capital of the province was
Trincomalee
Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
.
History
The
Indo-Lanka Accord signed on 29 July 1987 required the
Sri Lankan government
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the isl ...
to
devolve powers to the provinces and, in the interim, to
merge
Merge, merging, or merger may refer to:
Concepts
* Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road
* Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program
* Merger (politics), the comb ...
the Northern and Eastern provinces into one
administrative unit
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
. The accord required a
referendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed the
Sri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at his
discretion
Discretion has the meaning of acting on one's own authority and judgment. In law, discretion as to legal rulings, such as whether evidence is excluded at a trial, may be exercised by a judge. Some view discretion negatively, while some view it ...
On 14 November 1987 the
Sri Lankan Parliament passed the
13th Amendment to the
1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987, establishing provincial councils.
Nine provincial councils were created by order on 3 February 1988.
On 2 and 8 September 1988
President Jayewardene issued
proclamations enabling the Northern and Eastern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected Council.
The North Eastern Province was born.
The proclamations were only meant to be a temporary measure until a referendum was held in the Eastern Province on a permanent merger between the two provinces. However, the referendum was never held and successive Sri Lankan presidents have issued proclamations annually extending the life of the "temporary" entity.
The merger was bitterly opposed by
Sinhalese nationalists. The combined North Eastern Province occupied one fourth of Sri Lanka. The thought of the
Tamil people controlling this province, directly or indirectly, alarmed them greatly. On 14 July 2006, after a long campaign against the merger, the
JVP filed three separate
petitions with the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka requesting a separate Provincial Council for the East.
On 16 October 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that the proclamations issued by President Jayewardene were null and void and had no legal effect.
The North Eastern Province was formally demerged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007.
Provincial Council
The 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987 established provincial councils.
Nine provincial councils were created by order on 3 February 1988.
The first
elections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 in
North Central,
North Western,
Sabaragamuwa
The Sabaragamuwa Province ( si, සබරගමුව පළාත ''Sabaragamuwa Paḷāta'', ta, சபரகமுவ மாகாணம் ''Sabaragamuwa Mākāṇam'') is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka, the first level administrati ...
, and
Uva provinces.
Elections in the newly merged North Eastern Province were scheduled for 19 November 1988. However, the
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), which at that time occupied the province, rigged the elections in the north so that the
Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and
Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF), two Indian backed paramilitary groups, won all of the 36 seats in the north uncontested.
However, elections did take place for the 35 seats in the east. The
Sri Lanka Muslim Congress
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress ( ta, சிறீலங்கா முஸ்லீம் காங்கிரஸ், translit=Srīlaṅkā Muslīm Kāṅkiras; si, ශ්රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්රස� ...
won 17 seats, EPRLF 12 seats, ENDLF 5 seats and the
United National Party 1 seat. On 10 December 1988
Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal, a former lecturer at the
Jaffna University Economics Department, of the EPRLF became the first
Chief Minister of the North Eastern Provincial Council.
On 1 March 1990, just as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Perumal moved a motion in the North-East Provincial Council
declaring an
independent Eelam
Eelam ( ta, ஈழம், ''īḻam'', , also spelled Eezham, Ilam or Izham in English) is the native Tamil name for the South Asian island now known as Sri Lanka.
The exact etymology and the original meaning of the word are not clearly know ...
.
President Premadasa reacted to Perumal's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province.
The province was ruled directly from
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
until May 2008 when
elections were held for the demerged Eastern Provincial Council. The first consecutive
Northern Provincial Council elections took place in 2013, with
ITAK securing a majority of votes.
C. V. Vigneswaran was appointed as the 1st Chief Minister of Northern Province following the results.
Governors
The governors of the Sri Lankan provinces tend to be mostly retired politicians, judges and military officers. The North Eastern Province had six governors in its 18 years of existence:
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Provinces of Sri Lanka
.
.
1988 establishments in Sri Lanka
2006 disestablishments in Sri Lanka
States and territories established in 1998
States and territories disestablished in 2006
Foreign intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War
Indian Peace Keeping Force