Pact With escalating discrimination against Tamils and anti-Tamil riots the Tamil political leadership became convinced that the way forward was to have a separate and sovereign Tamil state. At its fourth annual convention in Trincomalee on 19 August 1956 ITAK passed four resolutions: autonomy for Tamil provinces within a federal structure; equal status for Sinhala and Tamil languages; restoration of citizenship and voting rights for Indian Tamils; and cessation of state-sponsored colonisation of Tamil land. Chelvanayakam gave Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, leader of the SLFP, until 20 August 1957 to meet ITAK's demands, stating that otherwise a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience would be launched. Initially Bandaranaike was indifferent to ITAK's demands but, following campaigns by some parts of the English language media and advice by prominent Ceylonese, entered into negotiations with ITAK in April 1957. The Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact (B-C Pact) was signed on 26 July 1957. The pact provided the establishment of regional councils (Draft Regional Council Bill) with powers over specified subjects (e.g. agriculture, colonisation, cooperatives, education, electricity, fisheries, health, housing, industries, lands and land developments, roads, social services and water schemes) and powers of taxation and borrowing; amalgamation and division of regions; and allowing regional councils to allocate land in colonisation schemes to residents from their regions. Chelvanayakam wasn't entirely happy with the pact, which he considered an "interim adjustment" towards a federal state. The B-C Pact was opposed by Sinhalese nationalists, led by the opposition UNP, who considered it to be division of the country. There was even more opposition from Sinhalese civil servants who undermined every concession given to Tamil civil servants by the pact. Civil servants from the Ministry of Transport sent state-owned Ceylon Transport Board buses bearing number plates with the Sinhalese prefix "Sri" to Tamil speaking areas, intentionally provoking a reaction from the Tamil population. Chelvanayakam led campaigns against the "Sri" number plates in Jaffna and Batticaloa, in March 1958 and April 1958 respectively, during which he spread tar over the "Sri". In Batticaloa he was arrested and charged for defacing number plates and imprisoned for one week. On 9 April 1958 hundreds of people, including Buddhist monks, staged a protest against the B-C pact on Bandaranaike's lawn at Rosemead Place, Colombo demanding abrogation of the pact. Bandaranaike obliged, publicly tearing the pact into pieces. At its sixth annual convention in Vavuniya on 25 May 1958 ITAK resolved to