by T. Sabaratnam; published April 6, 2004
Weekly Review
Peace talks may suffer under UPFA
Buddhist Lobby
The Buddhist lobby succeeded today in forcing President Chandrika Kumaratunga to dump her nominee and appoint its choice as the new prime minister, indicating the hurdles that lie ahead of her in taking forward the peace process.
Kumaratunga wanted to appoint her advisor and former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar as the prime minister, but top Buddhist priests and her party seniors compelled her to appoint former opposition leader Mahinda Rajapakse, 58, as the new prime minister.
The Buddhist lobby told Kumaratunga that the appointment of Rajapakse, a devote Buddhist who had the blessings of the Maha Sangha, would please Sinhala Buddhists, who voted overwhelmingly for her party, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Kadirgamar is a Tamil Christian.
They also told her that appointment of Kadirgamar would affect taking forward the peace process as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) despise him. Kadirgamar, as foreign minister, led the campaign to get many nations to ban the LTTE.
“Peace search is going to be difficult. Kumaratunga will have to satisfy the Buddhist lobby,” said an analyst.
He said the Sinhala Buddhist southern Sri Lanka chose Kumaratunga because most of the voters believed Kumaratunga’s campaign that former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was yielding too much to the LTTE, which fought the Sinhala Buddhist-dominated Sri Lankan state for over two decades demanding the creation of a separate state for the northeastern Tamils.
“Sinhala Buddhists voted for her because they believed that she would handle the peace talks better. They think that she would not yield to the Tamils too many concessions,” the analyst said.
Kumaratunga anchored her campaign onslaught on the charge that Wickremesinghe is yielding too much to the LTTE and she would do a better job, while Wickremesinghe struck to the slogan that he brought had peace and he needed a mandate to complete that process.
“If you elect the UPFA there will be war. Elect me to bring permanent peace,” Wickremesinghe kept repeating.
The new prime minister has said that his top priority would be to talk peace with the LTTE. But he wants India to be involved in the talks.
He told reporters soon after he was sworn in at 11 am today, “We want India involved as soon as possible. I have always wanted India to play a role in Sri Lanka – .”
He clarified his statement by adding that India’s participation does not mean that Norway should step down as peacebroker. Norway was originally invited by Kumaratunga to facilitate talks with the LTTE. The ceasefire agreement which Norway arranged has held for the past two years.
Forming a Stable Government
“India is already playing an active diplomatic role,” an analyst quipped. He was hinting at the role Indian envoy in Colombo, Nirupam Sen, was playing. He had a meeting with Kumaratunga Monday night before she took the decision to appoint Rajapakse as the prime minister. Rajapakse’s first engagement as prime minister was scheduled to be with Nirupam Sen tonight (Tuesday).
Sen met Kumaratunga yesterday (Monday) at a time when she was torn by tremendous pressure by the supporters of the two contestants for primership; the Buddhist lobby on behalf of Rajapakse and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which backed Kadirgamar. The JVP detests Rajapakse because he is openly opposed to the JVP and carried with him the southern Hambantota district, the stronghold of the JVP, in the election. He topped the preference votes with 107,603.
Analysts like Jehan Perera, a political analyst at the National Peace Council, an independent research institute, support the appointment of Rajapakse.
“Rajapakse is a moderate. He is one of the few liberals within the party. He is approachable to a wide spectrum of the people,” Perera said. Rajapakse has been a legislator since 1970 and enjoys wide support among the rank and file of the party. He hails from a reputed southern family of parliamentarians. He entered parliament when he was 24.
“My first priority will be to obtain the support of other parties to form a stable government. We are confident of obtaining the support of other parties,” Rajapakse said.
Sen is playing a role to help Kumaratunga to stabilize her government. He has already spoken to Ceylon Workers Congress leader Arumugan Thondaman who has five members. With two more expected to be given by the United National Front (UNF) led by Wickremesinghe it may have two. Sen also has influence with the other Indian Tamil member, P. Chandrasekaran of the Up-country People’s Front. With the EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, over whom Sen has a great hold, Kumaratunga will have one more than the required 113 members.
Apart from meeting Sen, the new prime minister was to meet the Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte Chapter and Asgiriya Chapter tonight (Tuesday) to obtain their blessing. He is expected to make use of this opportunity to get their assistance to win over the support of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) which fielded Buddhist priests at the election. It has nine members.
There were rumours that the five members from Batticoloa and Ampara might support the government. Karuna’s men, Visu, Thurai and Robert, summoned the five MPs to a meeting at Thenagam in Karadiyanaru on Monday. Four of the five MPs attended. They are: T. Kanagasabai, K. Thankeswari, Kingsley Rajanayagam and K. Pathmanathan attended. S. Jayanantha murthi did not attend.
Thurai told the MPs not to speak about Tamil nationalism or a Tamil homeland, but to talk about regional development. They were also warned of dire consequences if they fail to obey the order.
They and other TNA parliamentarians are meeting in Colombo tonight (Tuesday). How the five MPs are going to act will be known after the meeting.
Minority Government
While Kumaratunga and Rajapakse are striving to attract smaller parties to make a stable government, Wickremesinghe is trying his best to prevent the CWC and SLMC joining the government. He had talks with the TNA and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). CWC leader Arumugan Thondaman and SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem had assured him that they are remaining with the UNF. He will have further talks with the two leaders. Earlier there were rumours about moves by Kumaratunga to draw the CWC into her coalition.
Wickremasinghe told a news conference yesterday (Monday) the peace process is endangered. No minority government will last long, he said. The last minority government Sri Lanka had was in March 1960 and ”it lasted for two months.”
“Everything is in trouble, if you don’t have a government with a majority,” he said.
And added, “I am saying that if you haven’t got a government with a majority in the parliament, then everything else is suspended. Whether it be the peace process, or the economy or the administration — everything is in suspense.”
Wickremesinghe maintained that the peace process should be continued as the entire country had accepted it. “In my view the peace process has been accepted by the country,” he said.
He insisted that the peace process should be continued from where it was suspended with the Tokyo declaration.
“The new government has to show that they can continue the peace process,” he said.
Despite these attempts, Kumaratunga’s advisor, Kadirgamar, said on Sunday that recommencement of the peace talks with the LTTE would be the new government’s “top priority.” He told the Tamil daily Thinakural that Kumaratunga would not take the EPDP leader into the cabinet as that would hinder the peace talks.
That position adopted by Kadirgamar would stand in the way of secret overtures currently being made by Karuna to induce TNA members from Batticoloa and Ampara to join the government.
The Tamil Position
The TNA swept all the four Tamil majority electoral districts, Jaffna, Vanni, Trincomalee and Batticaloa in the northeast province. In Amparai where Tamils are in a minority, it won one seat. In Jaffna the TNA polled over 90 percent of the votes polled.
Tamil people overwhelmingly rejected Tamil political parties and former parliamentarians who failed to reflect Tamil aspirations. TULF president V. Anandasangaree, who created a series of difficulties for the TNA and who contested the Jaffna electoral district as an independent group, was totally rejected. He and his group was able to collect only 6000 votes.
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) was able to secure only one seat in Jaffna polling a mere 20,405 votes. In the entire northeast it polled a paltry 24,995 votes. Varatharaja Perumal’s EPRLF, that fielded candidates with the EPDP, was eliminated. PLOTE, which contested Vanni, was rejected.
Two of the four militant groups, TELO and EPRLF (Suresh faction) which joined the TNA, falling in line with Tamil aspirations, have been elected, getting two members each.
The Political division of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a communiqué (http://www.lttepeacesecretariat.com/mainpages/n04044.htm) issued on Monday that Tamil people have delivered a clear message to the “Sinhala Nation and the International community at large” that they prefer a political solution to their problem. The communiqué said the Tamil people had also declared that the political solution should accept their basic aspirations – Tamil Homeland, Tamil Nationalism and the Right for Tamil Self-Rule.
The communiqué added that if the Tamil national problem is not politically resolved on that basis the Tamils would fight to establish Tamil sovereignty in their homeland on the principle of self-determination.
The communiqué said that, by giving Tamil National Alliance (TNA) (http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=74&artid;=11463&cms;=1) a historic victory, the Tamil people have performed their historical duty and have sent a clear message to the Sinhala Nation and the International community.
The communiqué added that this is the first time since the 1977 elections that the “Tamil people have expressed their aspirations more resolutely and unambiguously….”
During the 1977 elections, the Tamil people overwhelmingly approved the landmark Vaddukoddai resolution of 1976 (http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=74&artid;=8861&cms;=1), which called upon all Tamils to work towards the goal of a separate state of Tamil Eelam. On April 2, 2004 Tamil people have proclaimed almost unanimously that they stand behind the Interim Self Governing Authority the LTTE has presented as the interim arrangement till a permanent solution is worked out.
TNA leader R. Sampanthan reiterated that stand in a statement he made, following his victory, at the Trincomallee Secretariat on Sunday. He said: We solidly stand behind the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal submitted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Tamils also have expressed their firm stand that they are fully backing the ISGA proposal through their verdict in the Friday poll. The trials and tribulations of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamil people now languishing in refugee camps should be brought to an end very soon with the formation of the ISGA where the Tamils should be allowed to reconstruct and rehabilitate their war devastated province.”
Eviction and Reaction
The decision of Karuna to expel northern Tamils from Batticoloa and Ampara districts followed their refusal to finance him after he defected from the LTTE on March 3. Northern traders control over 90 percent of the Tamil-owned trading network in these two districts. Over 95 percent of the business establishments in Batticoloa Town are owned by northerners. They financed most of the public activities till March 3. Tamils and Muslims control business activities in Batticoloa and Ampara districts.
Stung by the refusal to provide funds, Karuna’s men summoned the Tamil traders in the last week of March for a meeting at Thenagam in Karadiyanaru. They kept away.
The traders were then called individually to Karuna group’s political office in Periya Uppodai and asked to contribute funds. Thurai, Karuna Group’s Development and Administration head, told them that they had stopped collecting taxes, but needed voluntary contributions. The traders refused to make contributions.
Karuna, to win popularity, announced the cessation of the collection of taxes and blamed the Vanni leadership for imposing that system, a week after breaking away from the LTTE leadership.
Thurai, annoyed and angry, then threatened them. “We do not want to see you all in a pool of blood. So, get out of here.”
A delegation of Jaffna traders met Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, president of the Traders Association of Batticoloa, on March 28, two days before he was shot, and complained to him of Thurai’s threat. Sathiyamoorthy’s arrogant reply was: “Karuna will not change his decision to function independent of Vanni. It is the Vanni leadership that should alter its stand. I don’t know what you will do. But you all go to Vanni, beg or dance, and get Vanni to change its stand and its decision to brand Karuna a traitor. Unless you do that there is no hope for you.”
Northern traders declined to do that. They told Sathiyamoorthy that that was a dispute between Karuna and Pirapaharan and they should settle that matter themselves.
Karuna’s cadres sprung into action on March 30 evening, a few hours after Sathiyamoorthy was slain. He and his brother-in-law were shot dead at 8.30 in the morning.
“I got a telephone call at 3 p.m. The caller told me to close the shop immediately,” Sivapathasuntharam, who has run a retail shop in Batticoloa town for the past 28 years, said. “I thought they are asking us to close the shop as a mark of respect for Sathiyamoorthy.”
But things took a different turn. A leaflet, distributed by Karuna’s cadres, said they had established that Sathiyamoorthy was killed by men sent by Pottu Amman and Pirapaharan. The leaflet asked the people of the north to vacate Batticoloa immediately.
A little later, Sivapathasuntharam said, a three-wheeler fitted with a loud speaker blared: Jaffna people should quit within 24 hours. Those who own shops should lock them up and hand over the keys to us. No one should take anything with them. This is a strict order.
“A little later an armed group of youths came in a Hiace van. They came to me. I was in the cash counter. One shouted: “Have you not heard the loudspeaker announcement? Close the shop, hand over the key to us and go,” he said,” Sivapathasuntharam, who is now in Colombo, said.
He added: I pleaded with them. I told them, Thambymar, there are lot’s of things in the shop. How can I leave them and go?” They replied with disdain, “That’s not our concern. We came to implement and order.”
Sithamparanathan said he realized the futility of arguing with them. He closed the shop, handed the key to them and went home. He then hired a van and came to Colombo.
Kanthasamy, owner of a shop in Kallady, was not that meek. He shouted at the armed cadres. He was having a bath at his home after locking the shop for lunch. Armed youths went to his house and asked him to come to the shop as they had to search it as they had received information that there were firearms hidden inside it. He went with them. They inspected the shop and found nothing.
“I was shocked when they told me to lock the shop and hand over the key to them. I asked for the reason. They told me that Jaffna people are not cooperating with their leader Karuna Amman and permitting me to live in Batticoloa was a security risk. I locked the shop, handed them the key and walked home. They followed me to the home. They ordered me and my family to leave Batticoloa immediately. I got angry. I shouted at them,” Kanthasamy said.
“Why should we leave? I am prepared to die here. I will not leave,” Kanthasamy shouted.
One of the cadres raised his gun to hit Kanthasamy. His wife and children begged him not to hit Kanthasamy.
Kanthasamy was still defiant. “Even if I go I will take with me all the things I had bought with the sweat of my labour,” he shouted.
The cadres raised their guns again to destroy the television set and the deck. Kamthasamy’s wife told them that they would leave without taking them.
They hired a van and came to Colombo.
Kanthasamay said his neighbours had informed him that his shop and house had been burnt by Karuna’s cadres after looting.
Kannan, the owner of Rajeswary Stores in Batticoloa town, was not allowed to take any money when he set out with his family to Colombo in a van. His neighbours would not allow him to travel empty handed. They made a hat collection of over Rs. 10,000 and gave them an emotional send off. His friends told him that their departure is temporary and they would be welcomed back.
Kannan believes that his friends reflected the real feeling of the people. “It’s the work of Karuna and his cadres. I know very well that the people are not with them.”
Reports reaching Colombo seem to support Kannan’s view. Tamil residents of Batticoloa who prefer to frequent shops owned by Tamils are now forced to buy their provisions from Muslim stores. This is causing resentment and is cited as a practical example for Karuna’s thoughtless actions.
Public resistance to Karuna’s eviction order surfaced last week when doctors from Jaffna, including seven specialists, left Batticoloa under police protection. Battocoloa Hospital staff staged a demonstration against the Karuna group.
The feeling that Sri Lankan Army intelligence is behind Karuna’s revolt is gaining ground. The suspicion that Sathiyamoorthy, who was a former UNPer and a military intelligence agent, is eroding Karuna’s support. There were also rumors that army intelligence agents were seen in Batticoloa when Karuna’s cadres executed the eviction order.
Reports say the new phase of the LTTE campaign against Karuna would take the form of popular agitations. The first of that series would be against the eviction of the Jaffna people. The slogan would be that Karuna’s action is endangering the future of the people of Batticoloa and Amparai and Karuna is helping the Sinhalese to capture the east.
Signs of the success of such a campaign is already visible. Over 1000 of Karuna’s cadres have left saying that they are not prepared to fight Tamils. They have said they would return if their services are needed to fight the Sinhalese. Desertions are marked particularly in the Ampara district.
Latest reports from Ampara said Bava, a senior LTTE member and political head of Ampara, had defected to Vanni with another senior member.
Defiance to Karuna’s orders has also begun. Karuna made a big show of Sathiyamoorthy’s funeral. His body was taken to many places and people were forced to pay respects to him. He was declared a Mamanithan (Great Human Being) and his and his brother-in-law’s bodies were buried at Annai Poopathy Memorial Ground. Their bodies were dug up on Saturday night, taken to a desolate place and burnt with tyres.