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An opportunity for Govt. and Opposition to work together - LSSP

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) in a statement on the peace process and national consensus says there is an opportunity for the Government and the PA Opposition to work towards a national consensus on the ethnic issue since both sides share the same ground.

However, the LSSP is of the view that the failure so far of the PA parliamentary opposition to play a constructive role in regard to the UNP's exploration of ways and means of restoring peace in the country is to be deprecated.

The LSSP also express its concern that the UNP government's path to peace with the LTTE has turned into what is wholly an exercise of appeasement that places no obligation on the LTTE to desist from or scale down its terrorist activity.

The Statement: The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is concerned that the UNP government's path to peace with the LTTE has turned into what is wholly an exercise of appeasement that places no obligation on the LTTE to desist from or scale down its terrorist activity.

The daily complaints we receive in Colombo are on the LTTE's terrorist activity in the East which extends to forcible child and youth recruitment, unconscionable extortion, and openly committed theft of sizeable quantities of paddy and other food items and cattle in large herds. This activity has been stepped up with the Government's declared "step by step" confidence building approach to negotiations.

The confidence building exercise of the UNP government does not appear to relate to any conceivable political solution that is to be talked or negotiated with the LTTE. The stark truth is that there is not the confidence that any government in this country can offer a solution to the ethnic problem that matches what the LTTE has spelt out very clearly as a "federal solution that is an alternative to separation".

The furthest we have gone is the solution embodied in the Constitutional Amendment which the PA brought to Parliament in August 2000. The LTTE understandably refused to discuss it. But the PA had the benefit of discussing it with the Tamil parties in parliament. The reported commitment of the UNP government to treat the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil people for purposes of negotiations, if true, is a retrograde step.

It compels the UNP government to confine its moves on the ethnic front solely to negotiation with the LTTE on its very specific demand.

The success or failure of the projected negotiations will depend on the government's ability to meet the LTTE demand. It is not possible to contemplate the possibility of the UNP government being able to offer anything in advance of what is there in the PA's Constitutional Amendment.

This however is irrelevant to the LTTE's demand which though not "Eelam" is seen and understood as a major step towards it. The LTTE presents it to its cadre and the Tamil people in no other terms. The government's step-by-step confidence building approach to these negotiations can therefore serve no purpose that is meaningful to reaching a solution of the ethnic problem.

It cannot be that the Government is unaware that the process involved and the respite the LTTE gets from it will be used by the LTTE to consolidate itself both politically and militarily. For this the LTTE needs to go no further than the creation of an interim administration for the already amalgamated northern and eastern provinces. In such arrangement an armed LTTE with its military and terrorist capability will unhindered call the shots no matter what the interim administrative structures are.

UNP strategists seem to view the "interim administration" as a concession that can be made without seeking the approval of parliament or of the people through a referendum.

By making this concession there is the possibility of achieving a degree of peace that will mean a drastic reduction of military expenditure and the balancing of the budget in a manner acceptable to the IMF for the issue of its next tranche of SDR aid. But it is no solution to the problem we are faced with.

It can only seriously aggravate the problem with the LTTE for all purposes regaining the territorial hold it lost in the military operations of the PA government after 1994.

The UNP's strategy is not unfamiliar to students of "conflict resolution". De-escalation of the conflict is a first step in the process and it certainly can have an immediate beneficial impact on the political climate associated with the conflict. But its pros and cons have to be weighed and its relevance to the resolution of the conflict measured.

In this on the government side we draw a blank. The advantages and gains for the LTTE are many and it is these that breed fear in the Sinhalese no matter whether these are justified or not. The next step in this process will of course be the "interim solution" which is the contemplated interim administration of the north and the east. Needless to say that this possibility will heighten the fears of the Sinhala community and of the Muslim in the east.

The LSSP warns the UNP government that in this situation it must rethink its strategy in relation to the ethnic problem and the question of peace. The country cannot afford the reckless repetition of the earlier mistakes of secretive talks on agendas that are not made public.

Manoeuvre, manipulation and privately given undertakings can on an issue like this serve no honest purpose. The people have the right to know the political solution which the government offers. In regard to such solution the confidence that has to be won is of the Tamil people who had been earlier let down by parties and governments in which they placed their trust.

The PA government sought to win the confidence of the Tamil people on the political solution it had offered and banked on the likely possibility that with its implementation the problem with the LTTE will by itself be eased. That was the political meaning of the Constitutional Amendment of August 2000. If the UNP government has a credible alternative to that strategy it has the duty to make it known to the people. To treat the matter differently would push the country to an even worse disaster than what we witnessed in the 80s.

The failure so far of the PA parliamentary Opposition to play a constructive role in regard to the UNP's exploration of ways and means of restoring peace in the country is to be deprecated.

It has left the impression that the SLFP which is predominantly the PA Opposition is biding its time hopeful that it could mobilize chauvinist forces when the UNP government finally shows its hand. This if true is most unfortunate and the LSSP cannot acquiesce in it. President Kumaratunga's success in making the August 2000 Constitutional Amendment acceptable to the SLFP itself is the achievement of the progressive political forces in the PA. It cannot be thrown away in the interest of narrow and wholly opportunistic and retrograde objectives.

The LSSP sees that today there is the opportunity for the Government and the PA Opposition to work towards a national consensus on the ethnic issue. Both sides share the same ground.

The PA whilst in government had clear positions on all matters that are discussed today as regards the ethnic issue. Comprehensive devolution of political power which was the political solution embodied in the PA's Constitutional Amendment ensured to the Tamil people the right to manage those districts and regions which they predominantly occupy.

The Tamil parties in parliament accepted its adequacy. Their disappointment was that in the PA-UNP discussions held subsequently there had been effected certain material changes. It should also be remembered that the PA held itself in readiness for discussions with the LTTE too but was unwilling to agree to a de-proscription of the LTTE (or its suspension) till the negotiations got under way meaningfully.

The PA had also the clear position that the question of an interim adminstration for the north and the east can only arise for the purpose of the democratic implementation of what is agreed on in the negotiations. The fact that the PA is now in the Opposition is no reason for it to renege on these positions. These provide common ground to engage the UNP on the pitfalls of its present approach to the problem. This is the legitimate role of a parliamentary Opposition.

A definition of its role as regards the ethnic issue will leave the PA's Opposition in parliament free to take on the UNP government on a task that is equally important to the present and the future of this country.

This relates to the compradore economic policies this government is committed to. They embrace the extensive privatization of the public sector which includes university education, the health service, water management, telecommunications, energy generation and distribution, banking, petroleum and rail transport. These and the "liberalization of labour laws" are the very matters on which the IMF brought its pressures on the PA government.

It is a fact that meassures in response were brought to Cabinet by PA ministers in their respective fields but they were resisted by the Left in the Cabinet and progressive forces outside. These measures belonged neither to accepted PA policy nor programme. The LSSP is glad it led the resistence to these measures. The success of the LSSP in this is owed to the progressive positions of the PA as a whole. The PA Opposition can bask in that rectitude of principle.

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