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| Sunday, 12 October 2003 |
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LTTE killer squads may disturb peace War or Peace in Sri Lanka by T.D.S.A. Dissanayake (Last Instalment) History repeated itself at the General Election of 2000 when President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga established a minority Government with 108 Members in a Parliament of 225. Just before that General Election M.H.M. Ashraff was killed when his helicopter suddenly exploded in mid-air. All on board perished. Rauf Hakeem, the Deputy Leader of the SLMC under The late M.H.M. Ashraff, the new leader of the SLMC also demanded the maximum from the Government. In sheer exasperation President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga sacked him from the Cabinet on June 20th 2001. Her minority Government collapsed immediately resulting in a General Election. The UNP won with the assistance of SLMC. Thus the SLMC, like the CWC, is a vital component in the balance of power between the UNP and the SLFP. That is common knowledge. Sri Lanka now has 1,000,000 expatriate workers in the Middle East of whom over 300,000 are Muslims. Many Arab nations, particularly Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, employ our Muslims on a preferential basis. According to the Census of 2001, the Muslim population of Sri Lanka is 1.4 million of a total of 19 million. Of the Muslim population of 1,400,000, more than one-third live in the Eastern Province, where the petro-dollars have accounted for a new affluence. That has happened ever since the J.R. Jayewardene era which popularized expatriate labour and increased their numbers from 60,000 in 1977 to 600,000 in 1988. Besides, free education which had a very significant impact on our society in the first generation after Independence had the corresponding impact on the ultra conservative Muslim population of the Eastern Province in the second generation after Independence. Due to the Civil War the demographic pattern in the Eastern Province has changed radically with the exodus of the Tamil community, especially to Canada. (See table in box) Consequently a current trend in the Eastern Province is that the Muslims, now accounting for 40% of the population and substantially more than the Tamils, look upon themselves as the logical majority of the Province. Consequently, gone are the days when they passively accepted the leadership of the Tamils. With the disastrous record of the LTTE in the Eastern Province of having perpetrated death and destruction on the Muslims, the natural reaction of the Muslims is to assert their rights. Such thinking spells the doom of the very concept of the North-Eastern Province as a single Tamil speaking Province, a concept so dear to the hearts of the Tamil community in general and the LTTE in particular. The natural concomitant is the de-merger of the North-Eastern Province through a Referendum, as explicitly provided for in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, duly enacted in 1987. In my judgement that should be done in 2004 sometime after the Provincial Council Elections. Such a de-merger would be welcome also to the 26% Sinhalese in the Eastern Province as well as the 74% Sinhalese throughout the nation. The concept of a North-Eastern Province, which accounts for two-thirds of the coastline and one-third of the land mass of Sri Lanka, is anathema to the Sinhalese wherever they live. Their serious misgivings will be allayed by a de-merger of the North-Eastern Province through the mechanism of a Referendum in the Eastern Province, expressedly spelt out in Article Thirteen of The Constitution. That leaves the burning question, how will the LTTE react to such a hypothetical Referendum scheduled for 2004. The LTTE claims to be the sole representative of the Tamil people. That evokes laughter amongst other terrorist groups, notably the Eelam People's Democratic Front (EPDP) led by Douglas Devananda (EPDP - District of Jaffna) who was a Cabinet Minister from 2000 - 2001 and is now a Member of Parliament in the Opposition and M. Anandasagari (Federal Party - District of Jaffna) the leader of the Federal Party, the largest political party in the North. They both have shown commendable zeal in standing up for what they perceive to be correct, namely the LTTE has received no mandate to represent the Tamil people, let alone be the sole authority to represent the Tamil people. This year the LTTE has seen for itself that: (a) Though the Government of Sri Lanka has lifted the ban on the LTTE, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, India, the United Kingdom and the mighty United States not only continue their ban but treat the LTTE as a pariah in the international community. (b) The LTTE boycotting the Pledging Conference in Japan on June 10th and 11th 2003, in no way diminished the importance of that conference in the eyes of the international gathering. (c) The LTTE has in no way won new friends on the international scene since February 22nd 2002. In fact the LTTE has publicly expressed misgivings on Norway the only nation on the face of the Earth that is bending over backwards to accommodate the LTTE. If the Government of Sri Lanka, given a mandate by Parliament to hold a Referendum in the Eastern Province, implements such a decision both wisely and skillfully, the LTTE may still let loose their killer squads to disturb the peace. In my judgement that will have only a marginal impact on the overall issue. As of now Sri Lanka Tamils, like the Sinhalese and the Muslims, are overwhelmingly opposed to war. Anybody promoting war currently in Sri Lanka, would be completely out of step not only with the nation but also with harsh reality. A separate Eastern Province for the Muslims is the cost of peace for the LTTE, which cannot win in peace. A separate Northern Province for the Tamils is the price of peace for the Sinhalese, who cannot win in war. Thus a Federal set up with one Province for the Tamils, one Province for the Muslims and seven Provinces for the Sinhalese, is the only just equitable solution to our vexed ethnic problem. May our people, especially the Sinhalese, Sri Lanka Tamils and the Muslims have the wisdom to accept that this is the only viable solution and work towards a stable Peace, which has eluded us for so long. The End |
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