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| Saturday, 7 August 2004 |
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Tiger clawing at the peace process All reports being filed from Sri Lanka today make dire predictions for the future of the peace process. Within the country, practically all commentators from the so-called "peaceniks" to open hawks and the often outspoken business leaders with a profit or speculative agenda agree that we are one again on the brink of war. The UNP eagerly supports this trend of thought, so that uncertainty will prevail. It appears that everyone is enjoying taking a bite at the Sri Lanka peace process, and giving their ideas of what it tastes like. The general comment is that there can be no peace process unless the talks are resumed, between the LTTE and the new government. Now who did not know that? I'm sure the President of Sri Lanka and the JVP are aware of this fact as much as the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Vidar Helgessen, who was last week talking of dire consequences if the talks do not resume. Of course he did find occasion to fault the UNP too, for not supporting the President in her resolve to bring peace to the country. Faulting the UNP was something the Norwegians have hitherto never done, especially when it was on all fours, carrying on the dangerous policy of appeasement of the LTTE. International opinion and local pundits are agreed that the only requirement for the peace process to be resumed is to get back to talking. But no one talks frankly about the single obstacle to talks being resumed. They warn of the possible flight away of US$ 4.5 billion in aid, if the talks are delayed. They say the international community will have other priorities. All very true, but when one comes to the crunch of the peace process, the reality is that the single obstacle to the resumption of talks remains the LTTE, and there is an unholy silence about this by all those who urge both sides to the negotiating table. Accusing fingers There are many accusing fingers being pointed at the JVP for what is described as intransigence in their refusal to agree to talks on the ISGA. But no one blames the LTTE for stating that they will not come to the negotiating table unless the topic for discussion is the ISGA as it is and nothing else. They do not agree to the Government's proposal that the talks on the ISGA are held parallel to talks on a final solution to the ethnic crisis. They are not prepared to discuss the Government's proposal for an Interim Administrative Council instead of the LTTE's own ISGA, first forwarded to the UNF government; at a time the LTTE had suspended talks saying the six rounds of talks had been a joke. Yes, it was a huge joke played on the Sri Lankan people by the combined efforts of the UNF and LTTE, with willing foreign facilitation. The LTTE warns of war unless the talks are resumed. But they are not willing to even concede that such talks could consider amendments to the ISGA. It ignores the political reality that the SLFP, still the major party in the ruling alliance, was wary of the ISGA proposals when they were first unveiled. One cannot expect a political party, now in a larger alliance, to abandon all that principled criticism and concerns, merely because they are now in power. In essence that appears to be the stance of the JVP today, although one may have different views about the manner in which they state their case. It is not a demonstration of the JVP's racial extremism to restate the SLFP's own criticisms of the ISGA, as it stands. In effect the JVP seems to be carrying the mandate of April 2, 2004 forward, when the people rejected the methodology of the UNF's spineless peace process. Yet there is need for the JVP to be cautious in how it declares its position, in what appears to be the current impasse of the crunch in the Sri Lankan peace process. The President has correctly rejected the UNP's offer of support to carry on the negotiations based on the ISGA. In the whirligig of politics there is always the possibility of the UNP succeeding in its efforts to sideline the JVP from the UPFA, to get the talks started, in keeping with its agenda of pleasing the LTTE. One cannot be unaware of the repeated statements being made by important personages of the need for the two major parties to get together. That is what the JVP must be cautious about. If that unfortunate event happens, or if the SLFP is forced to seek the help of the UNP and its allies for dealings with the LTTE, then the JVP will be marginalized, and may well have to face a repeat or worse of the events of 1988/89. This must never be allowed to happen. More flexible In that context it is far better for the JVP to be a little more flexible in stating its opposition to having talks with the LTTE, solely on the ISGA as it is. The JVP can state, without betraying its principles and large constituency that it is ready for talks with the LTTE, on an ISGA that can be amended as and when necessary, as talks proceed. It can also clearly state its opposition to the specific undemocratic clauses in the ISGA. In the context of the UNP's offer of unconditional support for talks with the LTTE if it is based on the ISGA, it is also useful to ask the UNP to declare what its originally stated fundamental objections to some proposals in the ISGA are. The public deserve to know the, and whether the UNP still stands by them. |
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