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| Sunday, 22 December 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Church bells will ring in first anniversary of LTTE ceasefire announcement by Ananth Palakidnar The chimes of the church bells following midnight Mass on December 24 this year will have more significance. It will not only mark the birth of Jesus Christ, but will also mark the completion of one year of the ceasefire announcement by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It was on December 24, 2001 that the LTTE announced their unilateral ceasefire, indicating their willingness to engage in talks with the newly formed United National Front (UNF) Government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The UNF government cautiously announced the cessation of hostilities in response to the ceasefire. In the aftermath of the ceasefire agreement, several questions were raised over the genuineness of the Tigers, their commitment to engaging in the talks and how long they would stand by their ceasefire agreement. The LTTE responded by extending the unilateral ceasefire until February 2002, seeking a more positive response from the UNF government to enter into political negotiations. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Veluppilai Prabhakaran in the Vanni in February 2002, saw the ceasefire being strengthened officially and both sides agreeing to have monitors from abroad to oversee it. The word ceasefire was first used in the North-East conflict scenario, when the Tamil militants engaged themselves in the first ever negotiations with the government of President J. R. Jayewardene in June 1985 in Thimpu, the capital of Bhutan. During that period, along with the LTTE, four other Tamil militant organisations (EROS, EPRLF, PLOTE and TELO) fighting against the Sri Lankan armed forces agreed among themselves to observe a ceasefire in order to take part in the Thimpu talks. The first unofficial ceasefire by the Tamil militant groups was, however, short-lived, lasting for less than ten days following a shooting incident in Vavuniya which resulted in the death of around twenty civilians. The militants accused the army of being responsible for the incident. In 1987 all five Tamil militant outfits were compelled to disarm following the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord between the Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayewardene. The quiet atmosphere which remained in the North and East following the Indo-Lanka treaty lasted only for three months, from July to October, 1987 with the LTTE launching an assault on the Indian armed forces following the deaths of twelve of its senior cadres who committed suicide en-masse at the Palaly army camp. The fighting which broke out between the Indian forces and the LTTE continued for nearly two years until the withdrawal of the Indian troops in 1989. In 1990, the LTTE came forward to engage in talks with the Government of President Ranasinghe Premadasa and both sides agreed to observe yet another ceasefire. It was during this that the political wing of the organisation called the People's Front of Liberation Tigers (PFLT) was officially registered as a political party. This was announced by Dr. Anton Balasingham at a media briefing held at Hotel Galadari where he was staying with his delegation to engage in talks with the Premadasa government. The ceasefire between the LTTE and the armed forces in 1990 lasted for four months. In 1994, the People's Alliance government led by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga began negotiating with the LTTE and both sides once again agreed to enter into a ceasefire. The goodwill which blossomed between the PA regime of President Chandrika and the LTTE lasted for a little more than a hundred days and was shattered with the LTTE's massive attack on two naval fighter crafts anchored at the Trincomalee Naval harbour. Six years later, after many intense clashes followed by periods of uneasy situations, the current ceasefire between the LTTE and the UNF Government came into effect with the Chirstmas midnight Mass last year. The present ceasefire remains significant in many ways as it has paved the way for a greater understanding between the Government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the LTTE. Even the leader of the political wing of the LTTE S. P. Thamilchelvan in one of his recent comments made in Killinochchi said that they would continue to stand by the ceasefire and respect the peace process carried out with Norwegian facilitation. The LTTE in its Martyr's Day revelations on November 27 this year announced that 17,400 of its cadres have attained martyrdom in the two decades of conflict in the North and East. According to defence sources, losses from the armed forces side stand around 20,000, with around 70,000 civilian casualties. The ceasefire which is currently in progress will be completing its first anniversary on December 25, 2002. But its continuity and the constructive outcome of the peace process still has to be worked at for, as the delegates from the UNF government and the LTTE keep stressing that there is a long way to go to reach the final settlement to the ethnic conflict. |
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