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| Sunday, 14 November 2004 |
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Resumption of peace talks : Ball back on Govt. side by Ranga Jayasuriya Norwegian peace facilitators have been making routine visits to Sri Lanka during the last few months, but to no avail. Of course, such shuttle diplomacy between Colombo and Kilinochchi helped the two parties to continue dialogue even in the absence of formal peace talks and also for facilitators to assess developments. But, none of such visits could help resume the deadlocked peace negotiations. Will the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jan Petersen be able to make a difference? Perhaps, it is still too early to answer the question. Any way, the ball is back again on the government's court. The Tiger theoretician, Anton Balasingham told the media that Norwegian facilitator would convey the LTTE's position to the President, only after whose response the Tigers would comment on the resumption of the peace talks. "Though there was no special positive message, the facilitators did indicate that the President is of opinion that the discussions on ISGA, if that is to be the basis of the recommencement of talks, should necessarily be an integral part of the final resolution and hence a process linked to the final political negotiations," Balasingham was quoted as saying. Balasingham went on to say that "it was wrong to link the ISGA with the final resolution because the ISGA is directly and solely intended to address urgent humanitarian needs and the latter is a political process that necessarily involves longer period of time and necessary groundwork in the existing constitution for which the southern polity is not yet ready,". What the Tiger theoretician did not explain, however, was why the tigers were insisting on penury powers, if the ISGA proposals are only to address only humanitarian concerns. Obviously, the ISGA is not simly a humanitarian mechanism, it is a blueprint to legalise the LTTE's grip not only in the Vanni, but also in the much populated government controlled areas in the North East. The Tigers and their sympathisers may be crowing about the constitutional genius of the ISGA proposals submitted in early November last year. But, these are a set of proposals, which have been deviated from the accepted constitutional principles of federalism. This kind of constitutional structure has never been implemented in any part of human habitation as a means of conflict resolution. And this is not a document any self respecting government can fully address. When Thamilselvam visited Western Europe on a month-long tour, he must definitely have encountered such sentiments from the international community. Eventhough his supremo still hovers on an imaginary world of Tamil Eelam, Thamilselvam with all his foreign exposures must be well aware that it is a non-event. But will Thamilselvam be able to confess this to Prabhakaran and who will question the Tiger supremo? Thamilselvam must have learnt from the fate of Prabhakaran's deputy, Mahattaya, who was killed for treachery or Yogi, the LTTE chief delegate at the talks with the Kumaratunga administration in 1995, who was forced to a low profile role after the collapse of negotiations. If any more examples are needed, there is the most recent one, Renegade LTTE commander V. Muralitharan alias Karuna, going underground to save his life. However, the tigers seemed to have placed a greater significance on Petersen's discussions with Velupillai Prabhakaran as manifested by the LTTE theoretician, Anton Balasingham's arrival to the island. Balasingham is expected to assist Prabhakaran in his negotiations with the Norwegian Foreign Minister. Early this week, special peace envoy Erik Solheim arrived in Colombo to make the ground for Petersen's visit. The combination of all these events suggests a high profile visit. Hence there were high expectations. "High expectations - no major breakthrough," was how LTTE peace secretariat website later described the meeting between Petersen and Prabhakaran. Perhaps, Petersen did not expect his visit to be an ice breaker. Before the visit, he lamented that signals from both sides for negotiations did not suggest a resumption of peace talks in the near future. He said he was coming here to facilitate the dialogue between the two parties and sustain the process. The success or the failure of Petersen's visit will depend on the fact whether the two parties are ready to make a compromise on the agenda of the talks. The government's stance, which seems to be consistent is that both "core-issues" and the interim administration should be discussed simultaneously or in other words the interim administration should be part of the final solution. The tigers, on the other hand, want the ISGA be instituted before talks begin on the final solution and only the ISGA proposals to be discussed, that means no proposals from the government side would be entertained. The tigers have rejected the government's counter proposals, even without seeing them. The LTTE political chief, S.P. Thamilselvam has, however told repeatedly that the ISGA proposals were negotiable and that the government could suggest amendments at the negotiation table. It is known for quite sometime that the tigers dislike too much internationalisation of the peace process. Last week, Balasingham insisted that the international community "should not super impose a solution" to the ethnic conflict. "The donor conference held in Oslo and Tokyo and resolutions adopted at those meetings cannot bind our liberation struggle to a particular framework of a final political settlement". Balasingham wrote in his still unpublished book that Prabhakaran operates with in concepts of both internal- and external self-determination and, if the right to self-rule is denied, the tigers have no option, but to seek an independent state. This is indeed not new. This was the substance of the tiger chief's hero's day speech last year. This is an embarrassment to the Wickremesinghe Administration, which during its rule described the change in Prabhakaran's mind as a paradigm shift. "The position advanced by the UNP leaders that a framework for solution had emerged based on these declarations is untenable and unattainable". Balasingham argues that the donor nations could not stipulate parameters for a solution and that solution should come out through negotiation between the two parties. But one thing is clear, that is Balasingham signed on behalf of the LTTE along with Prof. G.L Peiris, the government's chief negotiator, to pursue a federal solution to the ethnic problem. So, the framework for solution has been agreed upon after the Oslo mini-donor conference. The framework is federalism. When Balasingham says that the resolutions at these conferences could not bind the tigers, it is a sign of the LTTE backing out from its previous stance for a federal solution in favour of something wider, perhaps, a confederation. |
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