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by A. M. Sameem

If the ISGA proposals submitted by the LTTE have some common features with the proposals made by the Government of Sri Lanka, first under the UNP in 1987, then under the PA in 1995 and 1996 and finally under the UNF in 2003, then what were the reasons for their failure?

The displaced - a fallout from war

Why, how and where did they fail? The main problem in the Government's proposals was that they wanted to have 'central control, whereas the LTTE is against central control'.

The Thirteenth Amendment by which the Provincial Councils were established was an attempt at 'power sharing' between the centre and the periphery. Another important background to this, was that this arrangement was imposed by a third party - the Indian Government. This was deeply resented by a large cross section of both the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

The TULF stated that the Thirteenth Amendment does not meet the aspirations of the Tamil people, nor are they commensurate with the loss of life, suffering and deprivation suffered by the Tamils. The TULF voiced its objections by raising the following:

1. to the dubious nature of setting up a single administrative unit and that could be interpreted to mean that power to legislate on all important matters was vested in the Parliament and rejected it as an impermanent arrangement.

2. It also objected to the Centre having complete authority of the PCs and that it had the power to transfer even the subjects allocated to the provinces and even to repeal the chapter on the provincial councils.

3. It also objected to the fact that the Concurrent List was overloaded. Both the Concurrent List and the Reserved list had been so framed as to minimize the maximum possible extent, the scope and the consent of the Provincial Council's powers.

4. It further stated that the power of disposition of state land by the President was contrary even to the existing procedures.

It is in the implementation of this Act that we see the inadequacies. The LTTE and the TULF collectively boycotted the elections.

The no-contest pact in the Northern Provinces allowed members to be elected without having to go the polls. In the Eastern Province the EPRLF won the elections and formed the provincial administration, Varadaraja Perumal became the Chief Minister.

Problems arose between the Centre and the N/E Region. Premadasa who had become President after the 1988 Presidential Elections was keen, that the centre exercised its authority over the N/E Provincial Council.

He vehemently objected to the N/E calling itself a 'Government' and insisted that it called itself a Council.

President Premadasa decided to undermine the activities of the N/E Provincial Council under the EPRLF. He made a unilateral call for the withdrawal of the IPKF. He initiated talks with the LTTE, supplied arms to them encouraged them to attack the IPKF.

His opposition to the Peace Accord, the presence of the IPKF and its influence on the puppet government of the EPRLF-dominated NEPC provided him with the necessary reasons for the refusal to devolve power to the NEPC.

Meanwhile, Varadaraja Perumal the Chief Minister of the NEPC embarked on a disastrous policy of conscription of the youth into a Tamil National Army.

Varadaraja Perumal objected to President Premadasa's support to the LTTE as an act against the interests of the Tamil people. Premadasa viewed with concern the Tamil Nadu Government's interference into the affairs of the NEPC. Karunanidhi supported the LTTE against EPRLF.

In the face of all these forces Varadaraja Perumal made his unilateral declaration of independence in March 1990. This gave Premadasa the opportunity to dissolve the NEPC in July of 1990. Thus ended the first attempt of devolution of power to the Tamil people of Northern and Eastern Provinces.

There was another dimension to this problem. The former Indian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka Mr. Dixit states in his book 'Assignment Colombo' that Lalith Athulathmudali the Internal Security Minister engineered the attacks in the Muslim civilians in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara and then blamed the incidents on the LTTE and then the other Tamil groups.

The Muslims in turn attacked the Tamil compatriots inviting relations from Tamil militant groups. The objective of creating a gulf between the Muslims and the Tamils was succeeding progressively.

The LTTE on the other hand wanted to heighten the ethnic and the religious tensions. So they in turn directed attacks against the Sinhalese and the Muslims in Batticaloa and Ampara.

Premadasa and Athulathmudali supported the violence against the Muslims because in their calculations the alienation of the Muslims in the East from the Tamils would lead them to objecting the merger of the North and East.

The proposals of the PA Government in 2000 were an attempt to devolve powers on the demands of the LTTE. These proposals were incorporated in a Draft Bill as a replacement of the 1978 Constitution.

The bill was opposed by the UNP and large sections of the Sinhalese. It could not be tabled. The UNP members burnt the Draft Bill in Parliament. One of the important features of these proposals was that it declared Sri Lanka as a Sovereign Independent Republic being an indissoluble Union of Regions.

The 1995 proposals agreed to the Tamil demand of merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces into one North-East Region. It also declared that the existing boundaries would be re-demarcated taking into consideration the Sinhala and the Muslim interests.

President Kumaratunga kept open the provision of demarcating a South-Eastern Region for the Muslims and the Ampara Region to be re demarcated to be part of the Uva Region.

As regards the devolution of power, the 1995 proposals removed the Concurrent List and retained only the Provincial List which had 45 subjects and the Reserved List which had 58 subjects.

It stated that state land would be a devolved subject and that priority in future land settlement schemes will be given first to the people in the district and then of the region. There will be Regional Police Commission appointed by the Chief Minister. Law and order will be a devolved subject.

The Regional Council will have financial powers in certain stipulated areas. International borrowings above a prescribed limit will require the approval of the centre.

The Regional Councils could promote direct foreign investments in short the proposals of the PA under Chandrika Kumaratunga satisfied most of the demands of the Tamils and these proposals had much in common with the ISGA proposals.

The proposals submitted by the UNF Government in 2003 also had almost the same provisions. These suggestions provided for two chairpersons, one nominated by the LTTE and the other by the GOSL and both had the power to veto any resolution brought by the other.

These proposals did not state anything about a South-Eastern Council for the Muslims. Taking all these proposals into consideration the proposals by the GOSL and those of the LTTE, the areas of assent and the areas of dissent must be first identified and taken up separately.

The areas where both the parties agreed are -

* that power should be devolved to the Province in areas such as education, health, local taxation resettlement, re-colonization, alienation of land, maintenance of law and order and the recruitment and transfer of public servants, Tamil language as the official language of the Province, internal and external borrowing LTTE to have a majority in the council, Muslims and the Sinhalese to be represented in the Council.

The areas of Conflict may be categorized as follows.

* The LTTE states that the Council will function for a period of 5 years that members should be nominated, whereas the PA is silent on this issue, the UNF agrees on the principle of nomination.

* The LTTE prefers to have one Chairperson elected by the majority of the members of the council whilst the PA is in agreement of this provision calling the Chairperson, the Chief Minister, the UNF wants two Chairpersons, one from the minority community, the Muslims. Both the UNF and the LTTE are in agreement on the District Committee system.

* A Chief Administrative Officer will be appointed by the Chairperson according to the LTTE while the UNF states that the Commissioner will be appointed by the GOSL with the consent of the majority members of the Council.

* Both the PA and the UNF wants to have central control either through a Governor or Commissioner while the LTTE wants this officer to be completely under the control of the Chief Minister.

These are the major areas of conflict which could be sorted out at the discussions table. There are also other areas of discussions in the LTTE proposals.

The underlying factor in the LTTE proposals is that the LTTE wants complete autonomy in every aspect of the political and economic life of the people. This high degree of control without checks and balances is not acceptable to the GOSL.

While the GOSL is prepared to give absolute power to the LTTE it also wants the interests of the minority parties to be safeguarded, in the form of veto power to be vested in the minority communities.

The people of the N/E Region have no recourse to appeal for justice if any injustice is done to them.

The Human Rights Commission under the LTTE, cannot function independently. Even the judicial court and the police will be under the control of the Chief Minister as he is the appointing authority.

Whether these two institutions will act independently when confronted with a problem between the members of the minority community and the majority community of the area, is a foregone conclusion, from what is happening now.

As much as the LTTE is demanding compensation from the Government for the violence committed against them, the Muslims have a right to demand compensation from the LTTE for having forcibly evicted them and for having occupied their lands.

Their houses were destroyed, their furniture, doors, windows and roofs were taken away to build their houses in the Vanni.

The fact that the ISGA is based on nominations and not on the elective principle, is contrary to democratic principles, and to use such enormous power as envisaged in the LTTE proposals, is to pave the way for a dictatorial government under the LTTE.

The Muslims will play only a secondary role and the fact that they are in a minority, will result in their talking a subservient role, in the affairs of the Council.

The removal of the central authority will mean that they will be subjected to the harsh rule of the Tamil majority, without any hope of redemption for their plight.

The Muslim community must work out a scheme that would protect their interests and prevent them from total annihilation. The LTTE's suggestion that the Auditor - General for the province too should be appointed by the Chief Minister and under the control of the PC will tantamount to the abuse of funds without any cheeks and balances.

The Muslim areas will suffer in the disbursement of funds by the Council. Even the universities will come under their control and it will be the end of Muslim education in the North and East.

The Muslim Community should study these proposals carefully and submit their proposals in collaboration with the proposals of the Government.

Their proposals should be embodied in the proposals by the Government and get the LTTE to agree to a workable solution without prejudice to any party. Only then will the Muslim community in the North and East could hope to live in peace and security.

(The writer is a retired Director of Education)

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