by T. Sabaratnam, Colombo, May 4, 2004
Weekly Review
Bala Coming Back
A full-scale effort to resume peace talks stalled for over a year will be made this week, Colombo and Kilinochchi sources said.
“Talks will start soon. I cannot say it will start immediately. A few procedural and other matters have to be sorted out. Preparations for the talks will start immediately,” Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim said.
The government and LTTE sources said preparation of the agenda for the talks would be the next task. It will be strictly time bound.
“There is no dragging on as in the case of Ranil Wickremesinghe,” a government spokesman said. LTTE sources said they would prefer to adopt a phased program, each phase completed before moving to the other. Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told Frontline, published in Chennai, that the government would like to take up core matters concerning the permanent political solution along with the day-to-day affairs.
LTTE Political Wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan said on Monday that they had made it clear to Solheim that their proposal for the setting up of an Interim Self-Government Authority (ISGA) should be the basis of the talks.
Norway and the LTTE have upgraded the consultative process by bringing in Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen and Tiger theoretician and negotiator Anton Balasingham. Peterson is coming to Colombo on Sunday. Balasingham will leave London with his wife Adele on Thursday and reach Kilinochchi, through Colombo, on Saturday.
Peterson will meet Kumaratunga on Sunday and Tiger leader Velupillai Pirapaharan on Monday. Balasingham will participate at that meeting.
Kilinochchi sources said Balasingham would assist Pirapaharan to work out the program and strategies for the upcoming talks.
Peterson’s decision to travel to Sri Lanka and Balasingham’s recall to Vanni followed the meetings Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen had with Kumaratunga on Sunday and Solheim had with Thamilselvan on Monday.
Solheim briefed Kadirgamar on Tuesday on the results of the discussions he had with Thamilselvan. Kadirgamar, after consulting the President, told him to proceed with the formulation of the agenda and other modalities for talks, informed sources said.
Thamilselvan told Solheim at the conclusion of the 2-hour meeting that the LTTE was satisfied with the position indicated by the government and fully prepared to commence the talks at any time convenient to it.
The President conveyed to the LTTE,
· that Norway would be the facilitators,
· that the government was prepared to take forward the talks from the position where it was left, which meant that the government and the LTTE would be the sole parties to the talks,
· that the Government is fully committed to comply with the Ceasefire Agreement, and
· that the LTTE’s ISGA proposal would be the basis for talks. The ISGA proposal, first issued last October, called for self-rule with broad autonomy in northeast Sri Lanka.
Thamilselvan reiterated to the Norwegian facilitators the LTTE position that the Tamil people of the northeast had proclaimed their aspiration for self-rule with wide autonomy through their votes at the April 2 parliamentary election, which Tamil National Alliance won with a massive majority.
He also told the Norwegians that the April 2 results had proved their claim that they are the sole representatives of the Tamil people of the northeast.
He also made clear the LTTE’s commitment to peace and the ceasefire agreement.
Thamilselvan sent clear warnings to the government,
· that the government should take steps to implement the agreements already reached,
· that incidents like the recent attacks on LTTE positions at Ayithimalai in Vavunativu, which they suspect were carried by Karuna group with the connivance and support of the army should cease, and
· that any attempt to prop up the Karuna group would have a serious impact on the peace talks.
Solheim told the media in Kilinochchi that their consultation with the LTTE was “constructive and informative” and said that they remain optimistic about further progress.
Thamilselvan said, “We are fully prepared to resume negotiations on the ‘same principles and in the same atmosphere’ as the talks held under Wickremesinghe.”
“Talks can begin when the government of Sri Lanka says it is ready,” he added.
Indian Factor
Encouraged by this response, Solheim widened the scope of his discussions in Colombo by meeting the Indian envoy Nirupam Sen and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. Originally, he was only to meet the Tamil National Alliance.
Solheim briefed Nirupam Sen about the progress achieved during the discussions with Kumaratunga and Thamilselvan.
India’s role in the peace process had been widely discussed during the election campaign and thereafter. Kumaratunga and her coalition accused Wickremesinghe of sidelining India and promised a bigger role for India in any future talks. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse made it a point to meet Sen before he met other envoys.
Kadirgamar visited India last week and requested Foreign Minister Jaswant Sinha to play a bigger role in the peace process. Sinha told media on Monday at Chennai that he had asked Kadirgamar to spell out the role his government wants India to play. Kadirgamar had told him that he would consult the president and get back.
Later Kadirgamar told The Hindu that India could play a major role in the reconstruction of the war-damaged northeast.
Tamilselvan told the media at Kilinochchi that the role of India was not raised by Solheim. Later Solheim told the media that neither Kumaratunga nor Kadirgamar raised the question of the Indian role during their Sunday discussion.
TNA leader Sampanthan expressed his doubt about the sincerity of Kumaratunga. He asked Solheim whether Kumaratunga is engaged through this process to win TNA’s 22 votes or to win international funds. Solheim told him that Kumaratunga had told them that she was not reviving the talks for the sake of TNA votes. Sampanthan and other TNA members laughed and Solheim joined.
SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem told Solheim that the Muslim community wanted representation at the peace talks as a third party. Solheim replied that he would place that request before the government and the LTTE.
Kumaratunga was asked about her position on that matter in a discussion she had with the voters of Kalmunai through satellite communication. She said the talks would be between the government and the LTTE and the government would persuade the LTTE to accommodate the Muslims as a third party. The LTTE still holds the position that the talks should be between the government and the LTTE and that it would talk to the Muslims to accommodate the Muslims’ interest in any solution worked out.
The president will have a problem with the Jathika Hela Urmaya (JHU) and the JVP in carrying them along with her during the peace process. The JHU has already launched an onslaught on her. The JVP, which earlier opposed Norway as a facilitator, has now changed its stand. Its propaganda secretary, Wimal Weerawansa, has said Norway’s role would be acceptable if it does not exceed the facilitation role. Now that they are in the government, the JVP will have to adjust its policy in the matter of the ISGA also. The LTTE has taken up the position that the problem of the Sinhala extremist opposition is not their concern. Kumaratunga should handle it.
Kumaratunga’s other problem is to obtain a majority in parliament before May 18. She has given up hopes of enticing the JHU. She is now trying to draw in members from the SLMC and the Ceylon Workers Congress. Four of the five SLMC MPs are in revolt.
Tamil Unity
Tamil unity is emerging as the main focus of all sections of the Tamil people living in Sri Lanka following last week’s police firing in Kandapola, a suburb of Nuwara Eliya, which killed two Tamil youths.
Former Hindu Affairs Minister T. Maheswaran, now a representative of Colombo district, gave notice to an adjournment motion for May 18, the next date the parliament meets, to discuss the Kandapola shooting. Efforts are on to make all Tamil MPs to wear black arm bands to signify their protest and proclaim their unity.
The May 18 session of parliament has already assumed importance as on that day the Ranil Wickremesinghe-led opposition will try to prove its majority in parliament by capturing the important posts of deputy speaker and chairmanship of the committees. The opposition elected its candidate, W. J. M. Lokubandara, as Speaker on April 22.
The Hill Country Tamils, normally referred to as Plantation Tamils, exhibited their unity and solidarity on Monday when they crippled tea and rubber production by not working in protest against the police killing of Tamil youths, Weerasamy Jeyarajan and Alagan Wimalanathan.
A simple traffic accident on Wednesday morning, in which a three-wheeler owned by a Muslim was knocked by a van driven by a Sinhalese, resulted in an argument between them. Sinhalese thugs attacked the Muslim and the Tamils who went to defend him that night. The police, who were summoned to manage the situation, took the side of the Sinhalese and opened fire on the Tamils without any warning killing two and wounding over thirty.
“Kandapola attack had created a situation where safety and security of Hill Country Tamils have become their major problem. It had created a situation similar to the one in 1985,” Upcountry People’s Front leader P. Chandrasekaram said. In 1985 Hill Country Tamils retaliated for the first time when they were attacked by the Sinhalese.
Ceylon Workers Congress president Arumugan Thondaman went further. He said that if the police were to favour the Sinhalese, then the Tamils would be forced to look after their own security.
Thondaman, who met with President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Sunday at Nuwara Eliya, requested stern action against the police officials who were responsible for the killings of the estate youths.
Several upcountry trade unions have charged that chauvinist elements in Police ranks were behind the shooting. They warned the newly-elected United Peoples Freedom Alliance Government of severe repercussions if it failed to arrest the police and army officers responsible for the killing and to take legal action against them.
Police had resorted to the usual cosmetic deception of transferring the police inspector of the Kandapola police station and the two offending police constables, the ruse it always adopts to safeguard accused officers.
Political analysts say the Kandapola shooting had united plantation Tamils, who are fractured into several trade unions. On Monday they unitedly downed their tools and marched in unison condemning police ethnic partiality. They openly carried banners critizing the police. “Stop this partiality” said one banner.
Kandapola had also united the entire Tamil community in Sri Lanka. “We are all Tamils,” is the emerging slogan. “Tamils first,” is the new slogan. Tamils first, they say, and regional differences second.
To Kumaratunga the Kandapola shooting has come as a bane. It has complicated her effort to win for her government a majority in parliament. Her government is still in a minority. It has the support of only 108 lawmakers of the total 225.
Originally published May 5, 2004