Sri Lanka’s Tamil parties seek sustained Indian push to realise spirit of Indo-Lanka Accord

COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s Tamil parties have sought sustained Indian engagement to ensure the implementation of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, signed during the early years of the civil war to address the aspirations of Tamils for equal rights and greater political power.

A delegation of leaders representing Tamils from the island’s north and east on Sunday (April 19, 2026) conveyed this to Vice-President C.P. Radhakrishnan, who is on a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka. Pointing to the “state-to-state treaty”, signed by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayewardene in July 1987, prominent Tamil party Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) pointed out that the true spirit of the Accord is yet to be realised. “We told him that the Accord has never been fully realised, not even through the 13th Amendment, which is also yet to be fully implemented. Regardless of whoever comes into government here [in Sri Lanka] or there [India], the agreement must be fulfilled, and that is to have an arrangement based on a federal model, with irrevocable power sharing,” ITAK General Secretary and former Jaffna MP M.A. Sumanthiran told The Hindu, following the meeting.