Tsunami rehabilitation process in N-E should not be made a political plaything - President

BY Jayasinghe Premaratne, Asela Kuruluwansa and Sanjaya Maturata

THE departure of the JVP from the United People's Freedom Alliance is not a matter for encore for me but it is a sudden foolish decision which I wish they would differ.

Yet their leaving will not upset the stability of the Government, said President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga when she addressed a public rally opposite the Central Market, Kandy, on Thursday.

The occasion organised by the SLFP to enlighten the public about the proposed Tsunami Relief Council was telecast over the satellite technology.

Addressing the gathering the President said that the term "joint mechanism" is not a creation of the Government but an invention by the media supporting the opposition. This important issue of tsunami rehabilitation process in the North and East should not be made a political plaything, she said.

The President said as long as this government was in power it would never betray the basic rights of the Sinhala Buddhists or enter an agreement which would damage the rights of the Tamil and Muslim people.

The President said that Tsunami Relief Council had opened as a basis for carrying forward the peace process. For the first time after the last 21 years which elapsed amidst a war environment the LTTE had agreed to work in league with the government.

Tsunami Relief Council

She said today the Tsunami Relief Council or the Joint Mechanism had become the central topic of discussion among the people of this country.

The word 'Joint Mechanism' was not of government making. It was carried by certain sections of the media connected with the opposition to create a fear and wrong impression among the people. Actually this was only an administrative structure for rebuilding areas in the North- East devastated by the tsunami, she said.

The President said various opinions cropped up in the country about this. "Some people in the Kandy area tried to create disturbances about it. A bhikkhu Parliamentarian started a death fast against it opposite the Sri Dalada Maligawa going against the Buddhist philosophy.

They tried to make undue influence on the government. This created problem for the Most Ven. Mahanayake Theras, the administration of the Sri Dalada Maligawa and community life in the Kandy area. These matters should be explained to the people."

She said: "You should know what this Tsunami Council is and why we are striving hard to set it up. A government is not elected to power to go on bluffing. It is elected to do what is necessary for the country in a sincere and fearless manner. My government through the last 11 years have sincerely endeavoured to take the country forward."

Hopes and aspirations

The President said even before coming into power in 1994 "we identified the country's needs and the hopes and aspirations of the people by having discussions and dialogues with intellectuals, various parties and people at the village level. Thereafter we tried to fulfill them according to peoples needs."

She said the majority of people in this country favoured democracy. Fifty one per cent was sufficient for a majority. Though a higher percentage would be better it was not absolutely necessary.

The SLFP was the only party in this country which did not take up arms and resorted to violence and killings. The fundamental aim of the SLFP is to guarantee democracy and human rights, she said.

The President said the government could not wait for everyone's approval in implementing some programs beneficial to the country. Its duty was to sort out urgent problems correctly and find solutions to them.

These programs were placed before the people through the Rata Perata election manifesto. Thereafter a sincere effort was made to take the country forward.

She said: "We were elected to power in 1994 after paying attention to four fundamental problems which needed solution. Namely to eradicate state terrorism and ensure an environment for people to live without fear or suspicion, to transform a straying economy into the correct path, to eradicate corruption and fraud which had engulfed the entire administrative structure and find a lasting political solution to the North-East problem by discussion and dialogue."

The President said the Government had ended the era of tyre pyres. Prior to 1994, the country followed a backward economic policy. The government had been able to overcome various obstacles and steer the country along the correct path.

"Today we have attained better economic growth compared to 1994 according to clear stipulations. Today there was no corruption and fraud in higher echelons of the government because the government had passed regulations and set up institutions to combat such vices."

She said the greatest calamity faced by the government during its 2500 year history was the North - East problem which had dragged on without a solution for 21 years.

The PA government was the first government since independence which dedicated itself to find a solution to it through dialogue. The policy of the previous government which ruled before 1994 was to solve the problem through war. "We introduced a new vision and made a large contribution in pursuit of peace," she said.

The President said during the UNP government which came to power in 2002, Ranil Wickremesinghe brought in a ceasefire and carried it forward for two years amidst various obstacles. Now the ceasefire had existed for three years. As a result children of poor mothers had been saved from dying in the war.

The lives of innocent Tamil children too had been saved as a result. Suicide bomb attacks had stopped saving hundreds of innocent lives. During this period the LTTE had committed certain violations of the CFA by engaging in child recruitment and murder of political opponents and police and security forces personnel.

She said: "We could not go forward by solving this problem halfway everyday. Any government would desire to restart talks and find a lasting solution to this problem by taking into account the ideas and views of the people in the North and East as well. The LTTE which was an organisation which had taken up arms should give up the idea of dividing the nation and agree to the solution we find through negotiations instead of Eelam."

Gained power in 1994

The President said: "When we gained power in 1994 we could not go beyond Vavuniya in the North as that area was dominated by Prabhakaran who operated from the Jaffna kachcheri.

The government paid salaries to government servants but the LTTE obtained their services. Goods could not be transported from the South to the North because there was an unofficial government there. Now this situation had changed but no one talked about it.

You cannot get up and run along the path at once. A man who had broken his legs should be first propped up and given treatment. When the legs return to normal he should be made to walk before getting him to run. Some people wanted us to get the LTTE to lay down arms and renounce violence. For the past 60 years since the Second world war every country where there was war had found solutions to it through discussion.

In the modern world where most dangerous weapons were being used in war there would not be any victors. This is a war which could neither be won by us nor the LTTE. We are humanists. I am a good Buddhist. Problems could not be resolved through war or killings. In 1995 the LTTE reneged on the ceasefire and we were reluctantly compelled to go back to war."

An urgent need

The President said bringing the LTTE back to the negotiating table had become an urgent need. Discussions always move forward and get stalled for sometime. This was the manner in which all other countries had found solutions to war. Solutions had to be found systematically without trying to go post haste.

She said the tsunami catastrophe had created some basis for the peace process. The LTTE agreed to work together with this government in the Tsunami Relief Council. It was after 21 years that the LTTE agreed to such a thing. During the ISGA proposals it even opposed the use of the name Sri Lanka government.

That document mentioned about an island named Sri Lanka. But the name Sri Lanka Government had been used in the Tsunami Relief Council document.

The LTTE had also agreed to work with the Muslim people and allowed the Muslims who had fled the North to re-settle in the area. The Tsunami Relief Council would be operative for a limited one year period only. A two km belt devastated by the tsunami was included in it. The funds for rebuilding those areas would be channelled through the Treasury.

The President said: "I would like to ask parties like the JVP which proclaimed to be humanitarian parties whether their love and humanitarianism was restricted to the Sinhala community only. Whether they would extend it to Tamils and Muslims.

Our government constituted nine parties which represented all sections of the people in this country. We run the government with the support and co-operation of all of them. Whether we liked it or not we had to accept the fact that the LTTE too represented a section of the people in this North and East. The Tsunami Relief Council did not provide any legal status to any one or compromise the country's sovereignty."

LTTE agrees

The President said the LTTE which earlier demanded a separate state and rejected the Sri Lanka government, agreeing to work with the government was a victory we have achieved. By implementing this proposal correctly the country would achieve certain degree of economic stability.

She said at least Rs 1.5 billion was needed to develop all areas in the country devastated by the tsunami. The development forum in Kandy had pledged Rs 2.2 billion for this work. Sri Lanka was not the only country which received aid from donor countries and organisations.

There were countries in Africa and Latin America poorer than Sri Lanka which received foreign aid. These donors offer aid to countries only if they have a clear cut economic development program and observed correct strategies to settle problems and clashes. They don't provide aid to countries if they were bankrupt. The Wijetunga - Ranil Government which ruled the country before 1994 did not receive even five cents as foreign aid.

The President said: "During my period of rule the country received 900 million dollars as foreign aid annually. Aid giving countries had the discretion to withhold the flow of aid if they so desired. Then development and welfare activities such as construction of roads, hospitals, education and health services would be disrupted plunging the country into a deep abyss."

She said the country could not go forward for sometime without getting foreign aid from the international community. It was with the support of donor countries that countries like Malaysia and singapore had achieved the present state of modernisation and development. Only India had turned down foreign aid for tsunami rebuilding. "We in Sri Lanka didn't have the strength to reject foreign aid."

The President said the people in the North and East have not received even one tenth of the development people in the South had achieved. They too had the right to get development activities implemented in their areas from the government. The International Community was closely watching whether the government had the organisation which could perform this task.

She said if the Government did not have it the International Community had ways of withholding funding. They can just sign agreements and with-hold the release of funding.

"Some people were accusing us saying we were trying to give the LTTE powers it did not have by making it a partner of the Tsunami Relief Council. Even now, the Government had to seek the assistance of the LTTE regarding the performance of certain duties in their areas."

The President said the LTTE harboured a great suspicion about us due to the failure on the part of all Sinhala Governments to grant the rights promised to the Tamils.

"It was a justifiable suspicion. The International Community was providing funds to develop the North East as well. People in those areas had the right to know whether it was being implemented correctly and get the development activities implemented according to their needs.

Opposing the Tsunami Relief Council program was like seeing crocodiles in the earthen pot used to strain rice. It had nothing bad for the country. I trust that this would give us an opportunity to move forward by opening the doors of the path to peace."

Mandate for peace

She said for this "we should make use of every opportunity we come across. At every election we have pledged to usher in lasting peace in the country. I too faced a bomb attack by trying to do it. People had given me a mandate to usher in peace twice. They elected three of my governments to power hoping that we would usher in peace."

The President said: "The JVP was one of the nine parties constituting one government. It had a considerable number of MPs in Parliament. Today some JVP Ministers had sent in their letters of resignation to me. Some others have not sent in their resignation letters. I hope they would not send their letters of resignation.

In the light of the JVP leaving the Government its majority in Parliament would be slightly reduced. But we have made arrangements for the continuity of the Government.

Meet Ranil

I have held discussions with UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe umpteen times during the last several years to seek a working arrangement between the Government and the UNP. But he did not like to work according to a joint program. But many others in the UNP liked such a program.

In forming an alliance between the SLFP and the JVP, we clearly discussed about solving the ethnic problem. They tried to slip away but discussed it for nearly five months. We proposed that instead of war we should find a solution encompassing all parties including the LTTE. We agreed to an extensive devolution of power. The JVP agreed to the devolution of administrative powers. What we have proposed now was a program to devolve the administration to a two km belt from the coast."

She said the Tsunami Relief Council cannot levy taxes in those areas. It cannot utilise funds according to its discretion. On June 15, I sent a reply to the letter sent by the JVP opposing the Tsunami Relief Council.

An awareness was also created among the people through the State media giving all correct details about the Tsunami Relief Council. From last January several JVP leaders had been apprised about the Tsunami Relief Council by Ministers Lakshman Kadirgamar and Mangala Samaraweera.

The LTTE's agreement for it was received on April 29. All details about it was divulged to the JVP by me on May 6. They opposed it on the premise that a sovereign government could not enter into an agreement with a terrorist organisation.

The President said: "The JVP took up arms in 1971 much before the Tamil people did so. The SLFP formed an alliance with the JVP and formed a government because it gave up its wrong path and entered the democratic mainstream. Why can't the opportunity the JVP got to give up terrorism and enter democracy be given to the LTTE. Was it because they were Tamil and not Sinhala Buddhists. I consider this as a petty minded policy.

Earlier, the JVP opposed the Provincial Council system. 113 members of the Mahajana Pakshaya who contested those elections were gunned down. Now they are participating in the Provincial Councils after contesting them.

The JVP had overcome their earlier misconceptions. I trust that they similarly change their misconceptions about the Tsunami Relief Council. Then the JVP too could obtain membership in the Tsunami Relief Councils."

The President said certain governments in our country had successful economic policies. But they were sabotaged by instigating communal clashes. This had been the practice since 1958. Today in addition to communalism attempts were made to whip up religious tensions.

Moment of truth

A moment of truth will dawn for each and every country. However tormenting and fearful it would be the time had now come to make that decision.

The government was taking steps to perform that task with wisdom and a sense of responsibility.

She said the next elections due was the Presidential election. "Our party would nominate its candidate at the proper time. A lot of groundwork had to be done to ensure victory at that election.

I have appraised Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe about the Tsunami Relief Council. Although he declined to attend discussions earlier he had now changed his decision.

I am happy that he has now agreed to support the Tsunami Relief Council proposal in Parliament. I request the people to shelve petty differences and act in the interest of the country at this decisive moment."