Balasingham failed in Celigny

A. A. M. NIZAM

GENEVA TALKS: The Geneva talks that estranged the artificial war phobia and the fraudulent hawkish icon attributed to President Mahinda Rajapakse ended with a signed protocol forcing the terrorist outfit to meet again in Geneva in the 3rd week of next month and assess the progress of the protocol.

The vanquished reactionary forces and the pro-LTTE NGO moles eagerly anticipated the talks to collapse with a view to generate a conciliatory impression for the terrorist outfit and blame the Government for endangering the peace prospects, and thus quash the international acclamation earned by the President and the Government within a short span of time.

The flurry of baseless newspaper articles and e-mail messages embedded with misinformation, distortion of facts and misinterpretation written by reactionary agents and NGO moles immediately after the conclusion of the Geneva parley demonstrate the dimension of discontent caused to the trounced political elements by the successful outcome of the talks.

Contrary to the negative propaganda floated by the reactionary vested interests, a plethora of Sri Lanka's veteran journalists who have acted as the guardians of the nation both at times of distress and joy and continue to exercise their national responsibilities objectively regardless of threats and duress, reporting from Chateau de Bossey in Celigny where the talks were held, have given factual accounts of deliberations that transpired during the two days' sessions, external oppositions the delegates encountered, the effective presentations made by individual delegates, the consequential impression delivered to the participant international community and the true nuances embedded in the final communiqu of the protocol.

Even before Sri Lanka's delegation left our shores the perturbed and distressed UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and his associates predicted doom and claimed that LTTE will achieve success in forcing the Government delegates to agree to dismantle the High Security Zones and disarm the Karuna faction whom they shamelessly misquoted as "paramilitary" forces.

Although these points had been the prime objectives of the LTTE the bullying and intimidatory tactics of Balasingham failed to gain currency this time as in the previous rounds of appeasement.

Balasingham's threat to quit the talks at the end of day one also failed to get the Sri Lankan delegation cowed to his coercion.

President Mahinda Rajapakse who maintained a direct rapport with the delegation in Geneva is reported to have firmly instructed the delegation not to budge in and let Balasingham walk out if he desired to do so.

The Sri Lankan delegation had stood firm in the presentation of facts and in carrying out their assigned responsibilities and the reports indicate that they had made their addresses beyond the LTTE communicating directly to the international community that attended the sessions.

Minister Ferial Ashraff's delivering of her accounts about LTTE's child recruitment in English despite Tamilselvan's insistence to deliver her address in Tamil and IGP Chandra Fernando's disclosures relating to details on murders and ceasefire violations carried out by the LTTE disregarding Balasingham's interruptions and facts and figures exposed in Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva's statement about LTTE's human rights violations substantiate that the Sri Lankan delegation targeted their addresses mainly towards the participants of the international community.

For the first time the Government delegation had brought up the issue of ethnic cleansing carried out by the LTTE in the North and the plight of the thousands of victims languishing in refugee camps (Mr. Nimal Siripala de Silva's statement).

The Government delegation has also succeeded in shattering NGO sponsored myth of branding Karuna group as a paramilitary organisation sustained by armed forces and compel the LTTE to accept the fact that there are no paramilitary forces attached to the Government forces but only independent armed groups exist.

Facts reveal that it was Kumar Rupasinghe who coined the preface of "paramilitary" to the Karuna group with the devious motive of undermining the Sri Lankan forces in the face of international community.

It is also encouraging to note that several hundreds of Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese in Switzerland and the neighbouring European countries have flocked to the meeting venue to protest against the LTTE and condemn them as murderers, oppressors of Tamils and children.

In Switzerland alone there are about 40, 000 Sri Lankan Tamils and the emerging Tamil opposition towards the LTTE is a welcome sign.

Also these protests against the LTTE have negated sinister attempts made by one of the NGO moles to organise a pro-LTTE seminar in Geneva with the participation of some brainwashed Sri Lankan undergraduates especially flown to Switzerland by his Norway funded NGO.

Another achievement made by the Government is the substitution of Switzerland to replace Norway as the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission although this agreement was made outside the Geneva Talks.

Politically enlightened Sri Lankans may recall that it was the Norwegian Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission who attempted to accord legal status to the Terrorist Naval contingent and who tipped off the LTTE about a planned attempt to confiscate an armed shipment.

The talks have succeeded in forcing the LTTE to confirm that:

* It will not commit acts of violence against Sri Lanka Government's military and Police;

* It would fully cooperate with and respect the rulings of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission;

* That no group or person other than Government security forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations, and

* That all issues concerning the welfare of children in the North and East, including the recruitment of children were discussed.

President's Counsel H.L. de Silva, in the meanwhile, has dispelled the new allegations being made by the UNP and their cohorts that the infamous 2002 Ceasefire Agreement was not amended at the Geneva Talks as being claimed by the Government.

Mr. De Silva points out that the Geneva Talks had resulted in an amendment to the existing Ceasefire Agreement by virtue of the "Supplementary agreement" signed between the two parties at the end of the talks last week.

He says that "Although the LTTE initially did not agree to any amendment to the ceasefire agreement prior to the two day talks, it later agreed during talks to abide by the issues raised which were not part of the original document," He explains that "If you have an original document and if anything is added to it that amounts to an amendment.

So the eight paragraphs that are in the joint statement signed at the end of the Geneva talks is an amendment. It will supplement the existing agreement."

He further says that "The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has been tasked to monitor the "Supplementary agreement" and report on its progress at the next round of talks to be held in Geneva from April 19 - 22".

President Mahinda Rajapakse deserves the admiration of all Sri Lankans for meticulously selecting and preparing the Sri Lankan Government team for the Geneva talks and training and guiding them to stand firm and uphold the integrity of the nation in contrast to the previous indecent appeasement approach.