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| Friday, 9 January 2004 |
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The President, the Prime Minister and the ceasefire by J. Vitarana
If it is so, why did he wait two months to make it public? Is a public announcement the best way to deal with it? Surely, there is a mechanism in the Agreement itself. If the Agreement is not working, it is the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission that would have noticed it. If the Government has breached it, the LTTE would have complained to the SLMM about it. If the breach were by the LTTE the Government would have complained to the SLMM. The Prime Minister has a duty by the people to be more specific. What are the clauses that have become invalid? How have they been invalidated? By making vague statements, he has created doubts in the minds of the masses about the ceasefire. Nor does it help the peace process. There are only four articles in the Ceasefire Agreement. They are: 1. Modalities of a ceasefire The Prime Minister must say which clause in which article has become invalid by Presidential action. Obviously no clause in Article 3 or Article 4 has become invalid. The Monitoring Mission is working and the ceasefire is fully operative. The modalities of the ceasefire described in Article 1 have not been altered by Presidential action. In fact, the President has instructed the security forces to abide by the ceasefire. Nor has the SLMM recorded any violation of these modalities. That means, the modalities are still in place. Therefore, clauses in Article 1 have not been invalidated.
In fact, one of the reasons why the LTTE withdrew from the talks is connected to these clauses. It gave non-implementation of decisions taken at earlier rounds of talks as a reason for their withdrawal. These decisions were about measures to restore normalcy. This means that if any action or lack of action has affected the peace process adversely, the UNF Government itself must share part of the blame. The President has recognized the Ceasefire Agreement, though she was not a party to it. She has not done anything to damage it. It is an agreement between the Government and the LTTE. It is ludicrous to say that Presidential action in reconstituting her Cabinet of Ministers has invalidated any clauses in an agreement signed by Premier Ranil Wickremesighe and LTTE Leader Prabhakaran. True, Presidential action has an impact on the peace process. Not only on the peace process, but on many other issues too. Yet, it has not invalidated the Ceasefire Agreement. The Prime Minister has asked the President to take over the peace process, if she is not handing back the three ministries. He has said that he is unable to carry forward the peace process without the three ministries.
Therefore, in the best interest of the country, it is time for the President to look for other alternatives or personally take the responsibility for leading the peace process as requested by the Prime Minister. |
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Produced by Lake House |
Prime Minister addressing a public rally at Panduwasnuwara has made a
startling revelation. Certain clauses of the Government-LTTE Ceasefire
Agreement are not valid today, he has said. He has also given the reason -
the taking over of three ministries by the President.
This leaves us with Article 2, which comprises measures to restore
normalcy. Here, there are clauses that are breached by both parties.
While it is hard to see the logic of his demand, we may have to excuse
him if he is unable to carry the peace process forward.
