Nov 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka's major Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says that a move to repeal the 13th Amendment to the Constitution would cause harm to the country's future.

TNA Leader, R. Sampanthan has told parliament that any attempt by anyone to modify or nullify the 13th Amendment, to make it ineffective and worthless could cause irreparable damage.

He has observed that the 13th Amendment was the only provision that recognized the diversity of the country to a certain extent.

Sampanthan has also called for a clear explanation to the meaning of the words national reconciliation as stated by the President in the budget speech.

"People undergo hardships and live under the difficulty of settling the loans they had taken. How could they think of reconciliation, if they are downtrodden by the economic difficulties?" he has questioned.

According to Sampanthan, the government should do away with the system of devolution based on the nine provinces and instead must bring about a devolution and administrative system of three or four zones, so that the expenditure to maintain nine Provincial Councils can be reduced.