A POST WAR LESSON IN
POLITICS
The Jayalalithaa hijinks
in India and the inevitable fallout of that situation, is having
its still more inevitable repercussions with the more vocal
sections of Sri Lankan society particularly among the Sinhala
majority, making their views known loud and clear.
There are calls for boycotts on Indian made Maruti cars -
made in op-ed columns in English language dailies. There are
calls also, to pull out all Sri Lankan players from the IPL.
Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera has made his own contribution to the
evolving discourse by echoing the sentiments of the Defence
Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, about what he says would be the
precipitate action of holding Northern Provincial Council
elections, if they go ahead as planned.
Giving his reasons, he says that the people of the North are
not quite weaned away from the fear psychosis, resultant from
decades of conflict. Though they have in no uncertain terms
rejected the idea of a separate state by refusing to join the
crazy clamour originating from the direction of Chennai, these
people are yet unable to make independent decisions for
themselves, due to the overbearing presence of the TNA, the
known quisling of the Tamil Tiger rump groups.
A Northern PC election he says is tantamount to
implementation of the 13th Amendment which he says should be
repealed.
That the 13th Amendment was forced upon us seems to be a
settled principle in the continuing dialogue among the Sinhala
intellectual elite in Colombo.
It would be hard to argue with that. Forced or otherwise, it
remains a part of our constitutional document. As S. L.
Gunasekera himself once said, if it is in the law books, it
cannot be observed in the breach.
Of course the 13th Amendment, with the two thirds majority
that the government has, can be removed or surgically excised
legally, from our constitutional document which is what Dr.
Gunadasa Amarasekera advocates.
The problem with that may be that what India gives, India
might not want taken away so easily.
Curiously, the Sri Lankan government can in one way, disown
the LLRC report as there is no binding force in law that the
LLRC be implemented, but the 13th Amendment remains part of our
constitution, and cannot be similarly wished away unless there
is a further constitutional amendment.
But, Dr. Gunadasa contends that the TNA which has been a
quisling of the Tigers and is now being perceived as being in
tow with the Tiger rump, has not proved its bona fides. In
veiled fashion, some top level TNA leaders have been continuing
to make arguments for separatism, even though the official TNA
position is that the party’s separatist agenda has been given
up.
Advocating separatism is against the Sri Lankan constitution
and MPs for instance are required on oath to affirm that they
will not promote the cause of secession.
In a court of law, the TNA’s bona fides on this score might
not stand to scrutiny, and taken together with the fact that the
situation in the North can be categorized still as ‘post war
transitory’ there is a good case as any for the government to
desist from holding Provincial Council elections in the North.
But that prognosis is as far as local politics is concerned.
The plain truth is that in the international community – so
called of course – there is (no doubt an unwarranted) call for
Sri Lanka to carry out all constitutional provisions mandated in
the 13th Amendment.
That’s why the decision making political establishment is
between an unenviable rock and a hard place. Dr. Gunadasa’s
apprehensions about the unraveling of war gains may be correct.
He says the 13th Amendment in effect is Eelam through the back
door.
The TNA has not, bona fide, shown that things could be
otherwise. But the Geneva resolutions etc., seem to be guiding
us in the direction of Eelam without one shot. What then is the
solution in the face of this vexed dilemma?
A plan has to be devised to neutralize this undue
international pressure, but that’s easier said than done. The
least that can be said for the moment, is that yet, fortuitous
circumstances may intervene in the future. We live in hope. |