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| Sunday, 18 July 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Right thinking people hate war - Siddharthan
Question: Could you elaborate on your political past? Answer: My political career began with the 1961 Satyagraha. I was closely associated with Sivakumaran who was the first to commit suicide to evade arrest by security forces. I was actively involved in the TULF politics and one of the founder member of the Tamil New Tigers, the forerunner of the LTTE. I am one of the three to establish the first LTTE branch in London in 1977. The year 1980 saw the split in the LTTE and I took the side of Uma Maheswaran, former chairman of the movement. I entered Parliament for the first time in 1994 and presently serve as the President of PLOTE. Q: How do you assess the present political situation? A: The present situation is not conducive to finding a political solution to the Tamil national question. The UPFA has no majority in the Parliament. There are lot of hindrances to commence negotiations. One thing we must understand is that there will be no peace or development in the country unless a permanent solution is found to the Tamil national question. All political parties in the country should set aside their narrow political interests and differences and give priority to this problem and reach a consensus to commence talks with the LTTE. In my opinion President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is genuinely interested in finding a lasting solution. She was the first leader who had the courage to tell the Sinhala people that Tamils of this country have genuine grievances and the necessity to find a solution to them. At first she was reluctant to have third party mediation or facilitation but later brought in the Norwegians as facilitators. She was also courageous enough to put forward a proposal in the form of a new constitution in Parliament. Our party welcomed and supported that proposal even though it did not meet the aspirations of Tamils. I am sure the President is for the devolution but I believe that she is faced with the problem due to the opposition of some constituent parties in the UPFA that are totally against any devolution. Q: What is your opinion about the Interim Self Governing Authority? A: Our party has been demanding an interim administration for North East from the time of late President Premadasa. The present administration of that province is under the mercy of bureaucrats of the North East Provincial Council. Corruption is rampant and officials act according to their whims and fancies. There is no political direction whatsoever. Provincial Council system was introduced under Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 as a solution to the Tamil national question. However,since the introduction of provincial council system, except for one year, there was no elected council in the North East. Non implementation of any of the acts and pacts made the Tamil people mistrust any government. I hope that this was the reason the LTTE to demand an ISGA now. I wish to remind that President Kumaratunga accepted and gazetted an Interim Administrative Council for North East in late nineties, but she too was reluctant to implement it because of the opposition from the TULF. The present ISGA proposal of the LTTE lacks democracy, but we still hope that negotiations should begin and the differences are sorted out. At the same time, ISGA, the name given to the proposal itself suggests, it is only an interim measure. Therefore, all steps should be taken to find a permanent political settlement. To achieve this, the government and the opposition, especially the UNP, should come to an agreement for a bipartisan approach. In my opinion, both the President and the Leader of Opposition have many a times committed to a federal solution to the Tamil national question. Therefore, at least on this issue, arriving at a consensus will not be difficult. Q: The LTTE says Karuna's matter is a hindrance to commence the talks and it also accuses the army of helping him? A: Basically, Karuna's problem is an internal matter of the LTTE, but still it affects the peace process.Therefore,both factions must try to work out an amicable settlement. I may say it is difficult today as both sides have begun to kill each other. Any citizen of Sri Lanka has the right to seek the protection of the government if his or her life is threatened and it is the duty of the government to provide such protection. If Karuna needs the protection of the government, his life must be protected by it. This issue should not be a cause to stall the peace process or for the resumption of war. Every right thinking citizen of this country hates the resumption of war. Therefore, I firmly believe that the LTTE and the government must be able to overcome this problem and start peace talks. Q: Some say that India should play a major role in the peace process and some others are of the view that its contribution should be limited only to the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the North East. What is your opinion? A: From the time of our late leader S.J.V. Chelvanayagam Tamil people have seen India as their saviour. Tamil leaders now and then had appealed to Indian leaders to directly intervene in our problems in order to find a permanent political solution. After the 1983 riots former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took direct and major interests in the Sri Lankan problem, and in 1987 Rajiv Gandhi signed an agreement with the then President J.R. Jayewardene. After the Indo-Sri Lanka accord all the Tamil militant groups, except the LTTE, joined the democratic mainstream of Sri Lankan politics believing that Tamil national question could be solved within the united Sri Lanka. India played a major role in persuading Tamil militant groups to accept the Indo-Sri Lanka accord and give up armed struggle and to join the democratic mainstream. Unfortunately seventeen years passed by, and no solution is in sight, I firmly believe India has a moral duty to involve in finding a political solution to the Tamil national question. I wish to say that mere assistance in rehabilitation and reconstruction would not help to find a permanent solution to the problem. Most of the western countries too are helping in the rehabilitation and reconstruction. Q: Does the PLOTE, as a party of alternative opinion, accepts the notion that the LTTE is the sole representative of Tamils? A: PLOTE does not accept the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamil people, but for the purpose of negotiations the government should talk to the LTTE only. This is our view. This is nothing new. In 1985, all the militant groups, PLOTE, EPRLF, LTTE, EROS, TELO and the moderate, TULF participated at the talks held in Thimbu. India recognised all the militant groups as representatives of Tamil people. During the time of Indo-Sri Lanka accord India had talks with all the groups. They, except the LTTE agreed the accord and joined the democratic process. LTTE is the only group that continued with the armed struggle for a separate state. Today the reality is that the LTTE is a powerful and dominant group. If we have to establish permanent peace in this country, the LTTE must accept the necessary settlement. Talking to the LTTE alone is nothing new. India had talks with the LTTE during the implementation of Indo-Sri Lanka accord.Later President R. Premadasa also held talks with the LTTE separately. President Kumaratunga too had such talks with the LTTE in mid nineties. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the LTTE and continued talks with it. This is the realisation of ground reality. The LTTE has accepted a federal solution at the Oslo Conference. Therefore, this good opportunity should not be missed, and the hope of the peace loving people is that the talks must resume as early possible. |
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| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
Leader of the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eeelam (PLOTE)
and former parliamentarian DHARMALINGAM SIDDHARTHAN in an interview with
Sunday Observer staffer P. MUTHIAH says right thinking people hate war and
peace process should begin as early as possible.
