National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages Minister Mano Ganesan said he plans to present an amendment to the Official Languages clause of the Constitution to ensure parity between Sinhala and Tamil.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, he said the amendment will be made as the 21st Amendment since the JVP is currently working on the 20th Amendment for the purpose of abolishing the Executive Presidency.
He said the existing Official Languages clause states (Chapter 4, Clause 18): “The Official Language of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala. Tamil shall also be an official language. English shall be the link language”. This clause will be amended as “Sinhala and Tamil shall be the official languages”.
The minister said all parties are in agreement with the proposed amendment, adding that he decided to present it as a separate amendment since the new Constitution still stands as a distant reality. He said he made the same proposal to the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly as well.
Add new comment