Close ceasefire loopholes

THE principal aims of the Government-LTTE talks on February 22nd and 23rd have been lucidly outlined by Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa.

Put simply, the main objective of the talks is to ensure a halt to the killings. Second, the State wants to create "a very peaceful atmosphere here so that democratic traditions would prevail."

Nothing could be so plain to see. If earnest deliberations on substantive issues in the conflict are to begin, LTTE-inspired bloodletting must be halted first. If not, a growing atmosphere of ill-will could have a dampening and stifling effect on negotiations.

The steady and disquieting rise in these ceasefire violations by the LTTE since February 22, 2002, which stand at 5,464, including 562 killings, makes ceasefire-strengthening talks an urgent necessity.

As mentioned before, lawlessness and murderous violence could not be winked at by the State in view of its obligation to protect our citizens wherever they may be.

This is in addition to the consideration that an enabling environment needs to be built in the country for launching negotiations on substantive issues.

It is vitally important at this point in time that the LTTE establishes its earnestness and sincerity in seeking a settlement to the conflict based on equity. The killing spree it has been engaged in, in these past four years, does not convey the impression that the Tigers are bent on reaching these standards.

However, the State is committed to a negotiated settlement and it is obliged to explore every means of achieving this end. Hence the upcoming talks on strengthening the Ceasefire Agreement. We hope the sides would exert every nerve and sinew to ensure a stable ceasefire.

Meanwhile, we hope our peace facilitators and monitors would take deep cognisance of the continuing LTTE intransigence. The deficiencies of the ceasefire are such that they are facilitating LTTE brutality and enabling the latter to get away with it, with complete impunity.

Accordingly, we hope these loopholes in the ceasefire would be addressed by the parties and closed to ensure a stable security environment in the country.

The tendency should not continue, particularly among foreign backers of the peace effort, to treat the Tigers as a species of incorrigible school boys.

As we said recently the LTTE needs to make the transition from combative aggressiveness to a reconciliatory mode of behaviour. The Tigers should be alerted to this necessity and helped - if needed - to get into the correct mindset for talks.

It is vitally important that the democratic process is strengthened in the North-East. This is also a chore for the State but it could not be accomplished in full without LTTE cooperation. On this score also, halting LTTE brutality is a dire necessity.

We do not see how the democratic process in the North-East could be strengthened as long as the LTTE continues with its brutal conduct.

For, such behaviour stifles the common will and without the common will freely manifesting itself there could be no democracy. It is for these reasons that the ceasefire should be strengthened.