North Eastern Province வடக்கு கிழக்கு மாகாணம் | |
|---|---|
 Location within Sri Lanka | |
| Coordinates:8°15′N81°20′E / 8.250°N 81.333°E /8.250; 81.333 | |
| Country |  Sri Lanka |
| Created | September 1988 |
| Admitted | September 1988 |
| Abolished | 31 December 2006 |
| Capital | Trincomalee |
| Largest City | Jaffna |
| Area | |
• Total | 18,880 km2 (7,290 sq mi) |
| • Land | 17,651 km2 (6,815 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 1st (28.78% of total area) |
| Population (2003) | |
• Total | 2,460,565 |
| • Density | 139.40/km2 (361.05/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+05:30 (Sri Lanka) |
| Official Languages | Tamil,Sinhala |
TheNorth Eastern Province was one of theprovinces of Sri Lanka. The province was created in September 1988 by merging theNorthern andEastern provinces.[2] This merger was declared illegal by theSupreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2006.[2] The province was formally demerged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007. The capital of the province wasTrincomalee.
TheIndo-Lanka Accord signed on 29 July 1987 required theSri Lankan government todevolve powers to the provinces and, in the interim, tomerge the Northern and Eastern provinces into oneadministrative unit. The accord required areferendum to be held by 31 December 1988 in the Eastern Province to decide whether the merger should be permanent. Crucially, the accord allowed theSri Lankan president to postpone the referendum at hisdiscretion[3]
On 14 November 1987 theSri Lankan Parliament passed the13th Amendment to the1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987, establishing provincial councils.[4][5] Nine provincial councils were created by order on 3 February 1988.[2] On 2 and 8 September 1988President Jayewardene issuedproclamations enabling the Northern and Eastern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected Council.[2] 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.[6]
The merger was bitterly opposed bySinhalese nationalists. The combined North Eastern Province occupied one fourth of Sri Lanka. The thought of theTamil people controlling this province, directly or indirectly, alarmed them greatly. On 14 July 2006, after a long campaign against the merger, theJVP filed three separatepetitions with theSupreme Court of Sri Lanka requesting a separate Provincial Council for the East.[2] On 16 October 2006 the Supreme Court ruled that the proclamations issued by President Jayewardene were null and void and had no legal effect.[2] The North Eastern Province was formally demerged into the Northern and Eastern provinces on 1 January 2007.
The 13th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of 1987 established provincial councils.[4][5] Nine provincial councils were created by order on 3 February 1988.[2] The firstelections for provincial councils took place on 28 April 1988 inNorth Central,North Western,Sabaragamuwa, andUva provinces.[7]
Elections in the newly merged North Eastern Province were scheduled for 19 November 1988. However, theIndian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), which at that time occupied the province, rigged the elections in the north so that theEelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) andEelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF), two Indian backed paramilitary groups, won all of the 36 seats in the north uncontested.[8] However, elections did take place for the 35 seats in the east. TheSri Lanka Muslim Congress won 17 seats, EPRLF 12 seats, ENDLF 5 seats and theUnited National Party 1 seat. On 10 December 1988Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal, a former lecturer at theJaffna University Economics Department, of the EPRLF became the firstChief Minister of the North Eastern Provincial Council.[8]
On 1 March 1990, just as the IPKF were preparing to withdraw from Sri Lanka, Perumal moved a motion in the North-East Provincial Councildeclaring anindependentEelam.[9]President Premadasa reacted to Perumal's UDI by dissolving the provincial council and imposing direct rule on the province.
The province was ruled directly fromColombo until May 2008 whenelections were held for the demerged Eastern Provincial Council. The first consecutiveNorthern Provincial Council elections took place in 2013, withITAK securing a majority of votes.C. V. Vigneswaran was appointed as the 1st Chief Minister of Northern Province following the results.
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:[10][11]
| No. | Name | Took office | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lieutenant GeneralNalin Seneviratne | 30 November 1988 | 30 November 1993 |
| 2 | Lionel Fernando | 30 November 1993 | 23 August 1994 |
| 3 | Gamini Fonseka | 13 January 1995 | 20 October 1998 |
| 4 | Major GeneralAsoka Jayawardena | 13 November 1998 | 30 November 2004 |
| 5 | Tyronne Fernando | 6 December 2004 | 20 January 2006 |
| 6 | Rear AdmiralMohan Wijewickrama | 21 January 2006 | 31 December 2006 |
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