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Muslim representation - salient issues

by U. L. A. Majeed, Retired High Court Judge

At various times in the recent past there have been much concern and debate on the question of Muslim representation at the peace talks. From the beginning of the peace talks between the LTTE and the UNF Government representatives, Muslims were agitating for their place in the peace talks. Several Muslim organizations and political parties expressed consensual opinions on this issue.

Muslims - representation an issue

In spite of these opinions, the government had taken the Muslims for granted and not accommodated their representatives at the peace talks. As much as the LTTE could represent and speak for the Tamils, it is nothing but reasonable that there must be Muslim representation to speak for the Muslim interests.

The idea of Muslim representation has now been widely accepted by all political parties in Sri Lanka. The President, the P.A., the J.V.P., and other left-political parties on one hand, and the UNF government on the other, have accepted the demand of the Muslims for a separate representation. The need for a separate Muslim representation is crucially important at this juncture because the future talks will focus on the rights of parties and connected matters and will culminate on final solutions for the ethnic issues.

Therefore, the demand for a separate Muslim representation must be looked at without self-political interest and narrow ambitions.

Suggestions and demands for a separate Muslim representation are not a new concept in political history. If one goes back to world history, he will find that though several groups of people joined together to fight for their freedom from dominating countries, yet, they never failed to put forward their demands severally and separately to safeguard the rights of their community when final solutions are reached.

In a country where multi communities are domiciled, it is not unusual that people belonging to those communities, whilst preserving their identity, jointly make demands for political rights and freedom on common grounds. Countries in Asian and African continents had experienced this phenomenon in their political history. Similarly, before 1948, when demands were made to the British rulers for independence for the Island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), leaders of all communities at that time united in their fight for freedom. Nevertheless, when the British government desired to grant Dominion status to Ceylon, the rights of the communities were considered carefully by the Soulbury Commission and were safeguarded in the Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council of 1946.

Section 29 (2) of this constitution, which came into operation on July 5, 1947, prohibited the Parliament from making laws, (a) to prohibit or restrict the free exercise of any religion; or (b) to make persons of any community or religion liable to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of other communities or religions are not made liable; or (c) to confer on persons of any community or religion any privilege or advantage which is not conferred on persons of other communities and religions.

Subsection 3 to section 29 of this constitution gave further safeguards to the rights of communities, which stated that, "Any law made in contravention of subsection 2 of this section shall, to the extent of such contravention, be void". Provision was also made in this section that, "No Bill for the amendment or repeal of this Order shall be presented for Royal Assent unless it had the endorsement of the Speaker that the number of votes cast in favour thereof in the House of Representatives were not less than two-third of the members (including those not present).

The important point that must be noted here is the appropriate time at which due consideration was made for safeguarding the rights of the communities and granting them equal status. It must be borne in mind that it was well before and not after the granting of Dominion status to Ceylon, that the rights and privileges of all communities were enshrined in the Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council of 1946. The provisions of this constitution guaranteed the rights and privileges of all communities. Because of this guarantee by the constitution, none of the communities at that time demanded separate administrative areas for them. The concept of District Councils or Provincial Councils or a 'homeland' had never arisen at that time. Thus, all the communities in post independent Ceylon enjoyed equal status without any disparity under the provisions of this constitution until it was repealed.

But the equilibrium which prevailed among several communities in this country lost its balance due to narrow minded political gains. The (Soulbury) Constitution was subsequently repealed and new constitutions and legislations were brought in, which tilted the balance of equality in favour of one community. Subsequent governments were to be blamed for this biased political enrichment which consequently created the communal hatred and disturbances in this country.

History gives us another glaring precedent in support of the argument for Muslim representation. When fights for independence for the Indian sub-continent were staged, leading persons of all communities jointly voiced their desire for freedom. But when independence was imminent for India, Mohamed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, came out with the proposal for an independent Muslim State of Pakistan.

His experience with the Indian leaders had given him the thought that co-habitation with them in one country was detrimental to Muslim interests. He did not believe in the assurances given by the Indian leaders to safeguard the rights of the Muslims in India. He was very strong in his argument that only a Muslim state will safeguard the rights of the Muslims and the future generations. Mahathma Gandhi, to persuade Jinnah to give up his demand for a separate state, offered Mohamed Ali Jinnah the first prime ministership of the post independent India, despite oppositions from other leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and others. But Jinnah was not tempted by this attractive offer. Mohamed Ali Jinnah, being a brilliant lawyer, fought a very difficult case and won it and thus the state of Pakistan was created.

The lesson we learn from the above precedent is the timing of the announcement of the demand for a state by Mohamed Ali Jinnah. He thought it fit to put forward his proposal for a Muslim State before independence was granted to India. He presented his proposal at the right time to the British government which was in power at that time. He did not wait till India got its independence. If he waited for that to happen, the history of Pakistan would have been like that of the present State of Kashmir.

The concept of community care is not new. The concept that everyone should have equal opportunity and equal rights has come into being in the civilization of mankind. This concept has now found its place in the UN Charter on human rights as well as in the constitutions of member countries.

All the communities in a country join together to fight for their common rights or for a common course is part of the struggle, but when they are about to succeed in their struggle, the rights of different parties are vital and those rights must be dealt with separately. It must be borne in mind that at the time of discussions pertaining to sharing rights and powers by different communities, one community cannot speak for another community truthfully, genuinely and effectively. One community cannot be entrusted with this task by another if there is a conflict of interests between them. There must be separate and independent representations for satisfactory and effective results.

The preliminary talks so far centred on how to maintain the present status quo without resorting to wars in the future. The MoU is the basis on which further clashes between the Government troops and the LTTE have been averted. The ceasefire understanding now reached between the LTTE and the Government on the MoU appears to be temporary. Any time the LTTE may unilaterally declare a war. It is reported in the local newspapers that the Head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat Pulidevan had visited Colombo recently and met several foreign diplomats to find justification for any possible future declaration of war by the LTTE due to the uncertain political situation in the South. It was also reported in the media that during the past two-year period of the ceasefire, 12 shiploads of arms had been smuggled in by the LTTE, to which the Government turned a blind eye even though it contravened the MoU. If the LTTE is genuinely interested in peace in the country, why should it smuggle arms and strengthen its arsenal?

The participating parties on the preliminary talks were the LTTE and the Government representatives. It is justifiable that the parties who fought the wars talked about the ceasefire. But it is not correct to say that the parties who fought the wars only should participate in the peace talks. Incidentally, we should not forget the fact that, though the United States, Britain and a few other countries staged the Iraqi war, when rebuilding and reconstructing the war devastated Iraq is talked about, countries not involved in the war are also given due participation in the development work. Therefore, it must be borne in mind that before a final understanding is arrived at between the LTTE and the Government on the question of permanent peace, Muslims must have their due place in the peace talks.

Future peace talks, once recommenced, will focus on the rights of the communities, the areas of administration and their developments. The final solution to the present ethnic problems is not merely peace but actual peaceful living for the communities in their respective areas. People of this country know very well the sufferings and losses of lives and properties experienced by the Muslims due to the war.

Many a Muslim family has been left completely destitute. The displaced Muslims are living as refugees in makeshift camps whilst their houses and lands are still in the hands of the LTTE and their supporters. The future solutions to the ethnic problems will definitely affect the rights of Muslims. It is, therefore, nothing but fair that the Muslims who are affected by ethnic problems must be given the opportunity to express their views and proposals at the future peace talks. As the LTTE and the government representatives will speak for the rights of the Tamils and Sinhalese respectively, there should be Muslim representation to speak for the Muslims.

The LTTE's position that their representatives will also speak for and on behalf of the Muslims is ridiculous in the present context of conflicting interests. They cannot be given this responsibility since they are not the elected representatives of the Muslims.

Neither the LTTE nor the Government should deny the right of effective representation of the Muslims at any forum pertaining to permanent solutions to ethnic problem. Muslims can no longer believe in the "Big Brother" attitude of the LTTE to look after their interest. LTTE is not a trustworthy partner who could speak for the Muslims. The recent events show that they have not only plundered the wealth of the Muslims in the past but also waiting to do so more in the future. Therefore, the LTTE need not labour too much to look after the interests of the Muslims at the future peace talks.

Muslim representation at the future talks must be independent, serious and result producing. Mere presence of a Muslim Minister on the Government side, as in the past, serves no purpose. A separate group comprising Muslim leaders both political and academic must be chosen for this purpose. They must be persons who could present the Muslim cause ably, effectively and satisfactorily without any fear or favour.

The future peace talks will have crucial and vital matters on the agenda. Muslims, therefore, must be united and be firm in their demands for the rights and privileges of the Muslim community.

Finally, it must be mentioned here that the rights and privileges of the Muslims, particularly in the Eastern Province, can only be safeguarded by the creation of separate administrative unit for the Muslims.

In the present political context, an independent administrative unit is a sine qua non in the Eastern Province. That unit need not depend on any other administration in the North or East. It must have all the powers to function as an independent body with equal status like any other administration. The areas of administration and the working arrangements of this unit must be included in the proposals that will be presented by the Muslim representatives.

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A plea for a Peace Council

by Oscar E.V. Fernando

This appeal is made not for the first time. It has been made on several occasions whilst the peace process was on its march. It is for the consideration of the President and the Prime Minister. The appeal is to bury the hatchet, shed politics for a while and become the Stateswoman, and that Statesman the two of them are, and are destined to be.

This peace process was craftily stalled by the LTTE. It was going on precariously but steadily with all pitfalls known to all parties including the LTTE, but the LTTE did the High Jinx craftily at the appropriate time knowing that the South would get into the present boiling cauldron, one thing leading to the other. No one can deny that if this tight rope walking was allowed to go through things would certainly have fallen into place, taking one step at a time.

What about the camaraderie, the shaking of hands across the table and all smiles etc. before the sudden and dramatic exit by the LTTE? What about the sudden sick note submitted by the good Doctor Theoretician of the LTTE and the sudden cure he had made of himself much akin to the present practice of our own medical profession! However we wish him speedy recovery though! Yes. They are waiting patiently now. What happened to that patience when they made that sudden turn around from the peace talks? This obvious step was taken after long years of study of the psyche of the South.

Let us grant that minorities have to be crafty to win their demands and be broadminded enough to forgive and forget, if not for their sake at least for our sake. The world obviously sees the South presently in a chaotic condition. They seem to be gradually weaning away from the recent stand. True the former LTTE strategy nearly took the world with it. It was the President and her former able Minister of Foreign Affairs that turned the tide.

That was her charisma. It was the Prime Minister that brought the peace process to the glorious position it was in, till the crafty destruction of it by the LTTE. And that was his charisma. In both cases the respective charisma were no doubt international and local. The international community is bound to recognize the role played by both if peace is achieved. There is not a shred of doubt that both have to play this game together. The LTTE in turn has accepted that their earlier stand will not work. Hence the stalling of the peace process and this period of say hibernation till the world changes its stance, allowing the Southern drama to unfold.

All evidence is that the donor countries are moving favorably to the North. Is the LTTE achieving their objects peacefully or are they not? If the present maniacal trend in the South were to continue would there be not streets ahead of us, what with the building of the bridge and taking full control of the seas etc., aided by friendly NGO institutions siphoning funds to them.

Is it not opportune for the President and the Prime Minister to form that Peace Council and for a time leave the monitoring of war with a chosen Deputy Minister for defence in Parliament, where the UNF has an obvious majority, and in the Cabinet headed by the President? Could this Peace Council be completely a political and co-chaired by Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe associated with Vellupillai Prbhakaran and other ladies and gentlemen.

Let the Defence Ministry be resorted to if and when it is required. With the present trend of the LTTE to appease world opinion defence may not pose much of a problem, (although much alertness is needed) except for minor irritations. This is where both the President and the Prime Minister can rise above those other lesser mortals who seem to be rattling them for power and glory they are seeking to achieve and where both of them have already achieved. It is worth giving this Peace Council a try as far as it goes.

This Peace Council may draw persons from a wide spectrum of all communities, the civil society, the SLMM, etc. It may include Prabhakaran himself with a special ruling from our judiciary and that of the authorities in New Delhi. This would ensure conclusive confrontations over the table without subsequent subtle manoeuvring by him for full sovereignty. Prabhakaran should realize that enough is enough on this score and he cannot fool all the people all the time, although he did fool some people some of the time.

Surely Arafat himself is now accepted by the comity of nations. New Delhi may consider this for the sake of regional peace.

The meetings may be held in a mutually acceptable place in Sri Lanka.

Let the Parliament carry on with all the Alliances they could muster. More the merrier! To make an alliance with a band of energetic Sinhala youth and take them to the fold of democracy and reform them into a philosophy of competitive economy is indeed a lofty ideal worthy of praise. A decision made by this Peace Council would then surely have the two-thirds majority in Parliament.

When the time comes for general elections let there be elections and as some are for it, the Provincial Council Elections may be scrapped as it is a drag on the nation. One more year of Presidency may not be too much to grudge for the sake of peace and providing sufficient time for negotiations.

What guarantee is there that another general election held immediately without the Commissions properly appointed, especially the Police Commission, will throw out a two-thirds majority, needed as long as this constitution has to be coped with? Granting this, the Peace Council may negotiate, taking the defeated 2000 draft constitution sans the clauses that were disagreeable to the UNF that caused its defeat, as a base point. Subject to the points that were obviously posed at the last minute, leading to that, understandable disgust displayed by the UNF, other points of this draft constitution we believe were thoroughly discussed by both parties. Both President and the Prime Minister could now beat their breast and say mea culpa, and start afresh by personally taking this subject over to the Peace Council.

Once peace is gained, the President and the Prime Minister can and should get back to hard politics and until then it is only the two of them that should take a firm stand to come together on the Peace Council as both have got the mandate from the people. May perhaps be called a unique dual benevolent dictatorship within a unique constitution cum opposing political mandate, both, ironically having the backing of the voters.

Dictatorship in the sense that both could take hard decisions irrespective of the sentiments of their immediate followers in politics. Let us accept the reality of the constitution and also the reality of the mandate given to the UNF. This has come to be a bitter lemon on our hands. We can and should make a lemonade of it by adding a little sugar. There seems to be no way out other than the goodwill between these two persons destined to solve this problem. Alternative surely is a blood bath.

This Peace Council whilst discussing the Herculean task, of the devolution of power to the North and East, done with no haste, could appoint a well represented committee monitored by them and the SLMM to disburse funds to the war ravaged North, and the Parliament could deal with this fund for the South.

The world would then know that it is not only the LTTE that wants peace, with their second round of talks in Ireland and so on.

The country is on the brink of disaster. One could see a blood bath in the offing. Please do avert it, as only the two of you could. This is just one last plea.

(The writer is a former Director and a member of the Board of the Sri Lanka Foundation and a one time member of the Human Rights Task Force.)

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Peace

Where kiddies sing and play merrily,
Where people live in peace and harmony eternally,
Where women are recognized and regarded,
Where people don't talk ill of others
Where people always smile not frown,
Where people like to serve not to be served,
Where all are ambitious and enthusiastic,
Where wailing and gnashing of teeth are oblivious,
Where people build castles on land not in the air,
Where human and religious values are enshrined,
Where liquor and drugs are anathema,
Where people marry only for love,
Where there are no barriers of colour, class, creed, race, caste and sex,
Where fundamental human rights are adhered to,
Where preachers and teachers dispel darkness of ignorance,
Where people love others as they love themselves,
Where readers crave for inspirational books,
Where people perceive failures and disappointments are stepping
stones to the national hall of fame,
Where people chant daily may the living beings be happy, healthy
and hale and hearty,
To such a lovely blessed land of superabundance, let me take wings promptly.

L.V. Cabral

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