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| Sunday, 19 June 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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P-TOMS:
A stepping stone to activate peace process by Rashomi Silva
However they warn that the failure to sign the P-TOMS could send wrong signals to the international community as well as justify the LTTE's demand for a separate state. The P-TOMS consists of three tiers, the Apex Body, Regional Committee and the District Committee. While the functions of actually allocating and disbursing the donor funds will be retained by the Treasury, the task of the Apex Body which consists of three members, one each from the government, the LTTE and the Muslim community would be formulating policies. The Regional Committee with ten members - five from the LTTE, three Sinhalese and two Muslim members, would be responsible for evaluating and approving proposals forwarded by Divisional committees. There would be six Regional committees, one each for Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullativu districts. The lowest level or the Divisional Committees would identify needs, review and generate project proposals. The Divisional Committees headed by government Divisional Secretaries would comprise elected members of Parliament and members of INGOs and NGOs. Care would be taken to send an adequate Muslim representation and ensure gender balance. Dr. Pakiyasothy Saravanamuttu Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. I believe the signing of the P-TOMS is necessary to ensure relief to people in the North-East who were affected by the tsunami tragedy. This also gives us an opportunity to build trust and confidence between the government and the LTTE and would in an indirect way help to review the stalled peace process. In the meantime, not signing the P-TOMS could send wrong signals to the LTTE as well as to the international community. The LTTE might get the feeling that the government is not willing to share power, even to carry out relief programs whilst the international community might interpret the present situation as an inability of the government, and get the impression that the state is disfunctional and there is anarchy in the country. Therefore I feel that it is important to have the P-TOMS signed not only from a humanitarian point of view and peace building context, but also to send the correct signals to the international community. Responding to the allegation that the funds for tsunami relief will be utilised by the LTTE to strengthen its war machinery, he said it was not possible since the LTTE would not be getting funds directly and given the structure of the relief mechanism, utilisation of funds will be the responsibility of the government, the LTTE and the representatives of the Muslim community. Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne, Leader - New Left Front. This is a very appropriate and timely decision. We at the New Left Front will extend our support to the mechanism. We have already mobilised our supporters and trade unions to help the government in this endeavour. I appreciate the structure of the mechanism which is working from bottom up. District level committees, which comprise elected representatives would take decisions on the rehabilitation activities, giving an opportunity for democratically elected members to take decisions even in the LTTE controlled areas, which were beyond their control before the signing of the P-TOMS. There are villages, towns and districts in the North-East governed and administered by the LTTE political wing, which is an equally militant and dictatorial force just as their fighting wing. In a way the mechanism would pave the way for the democratically elected members to take decisions at least on certain issues in the areas governed by militant dictators, hence the P-TOMS could act as a bridge between the dictatorial leadership and democratically elected leadership. In the meantime, if we did not go ahead with the P-TOMS that would justify the LTTE claim that the government is uncompromising and would not even give humanitarian aid to Tamil majority areas. This will also signal to the international community that the government is impotent and every thing that happens in the country is determined by racist, barbarian forces. In that sense I feel that not signing the P-TOMS would be an indirect way to help the LTTE to achieve its aim of a separate country. Hassan Ali, Secretary Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. We see this process as coupling tsunami rehabilitation with the peace process' through P-TOMS, which we cannot approve. The Muslim community was the most affected by the tsunami, but we as a party representing the community have been marginalised in the P-TOMS discussion as well as in the decision making process. For example, we were told that there will be 5:3:2 ratio representation of the LTTE, Muslim and the Sinhalese at district level committees. But we were not consulted when they worked out that ratio and we feel we are being left out. We have told our grievances to the international community and to Norway who was trying to bring about an accord between the government and the LTTE but nothing has happened so far. What we feel is that tsunami rehabilitation could be carried out best, through Divisional Secretariats, Kachcheries and through other regional administrative bodies. But certainly we do not show our protest the way the JVP does. Dr. Vigneshwaran of the EPDP. We support the P-TOMS. The mechanism is trying to bring about some political and ethnic pluralism, to the North-East. But we feel that there is still room for improvement. For example, in the district level body, the representatives will be the elected members of Parliament. This can be made more inclusive by taking representatives from democratic political parties operating in the North-East, even if they are not represented in Parliament. We make this suggestion mainly because the majority of the people in this country do not consider the last General Election held in the North-East as a free and fair one. Amends for this can be made by including members from recognised political parties such as EPDP in the district level committee. When asked if the EPDP resents the inclusion of the LTTE at all levels he said: "We do not argue the inclusion of the LTTE even at the highest level of mechanism. In fact, we consider the LTTE inclusion and participation has a crucial importance. It justifies two grounds. The first one is that this will give the LTTE some sort of responsibility in the development of the society and the economy of the war battered region, and the second point is, it is vital to have LTTE consent and support to carry out any activity in the LTTE held areas. Experience has shown that even in the government held territories they can sabotage plans and activities if they wished. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
The Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure P-TOMS also known as
the Joint Mechanism (JM) drew praise from experts in different fields and
from activists in the peace front as a mechanism designed to accelerate in
return of normalcy to the lives of the tsunami affected in the North-East.
Most of them are hopeful that the P-TOMS would be a stepping stone to
activate the stalled peace process. 
