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| Sunday, 3 July 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Post-tsunami politics: Passion replaces compassion by J. Vitarana
While victims of tsunami endure a Spartan living sans even basic necessities throughout the tsunami zone, politicians in Colombo are wrangling over who should disburse relief, who should control foreign funds. Oblivious to the sufferings of the hapless victims they go at each other's throats over possible threats to state sovereignty and territorial integrity which are more imaginary than real. Battle lines are drawn with state forces on one side and agitated mobs including suicide squads, those that take up to slow suicide in the form of fast unto death, on the other. We also hear calls for Buddhist fatwas however remote they may be from the teachings of the Compassionate One. Fundamentalists are taking over the mobs and reason has retreated in the face of the avalanche of blind faith and passion. The JVP The JVP seems to be ultimatum-friendly. First, it gave a week's ultimatum to the President. A week passed and the JVP had to leave the Government. That it did so with a heavy heart was too obvious. Now it has given an ultimatum to the Prime Minister. We do not know how the PM would react. Most probably the JVP would have to grind its teeth and extend the deadline or write off the PM as an ally. We do not know who will be the target of the next ultimatum- the Finance Minister, the Foreign Minister, the Tourism Minister or Ports and Aviation Minister. Since ministers are aplenty the JVP could repeat the same game for another six months at least. Politics of brinkmanship has misfired. The JVP finds itself lonelier with each passing day. They promised to forge a New Alliance. Yet there are no takers still. Their social political program has shrunk to a single project - opposing P-TOMS. The best such a shortsighted and limited program could attract is the JHU and some disillusioned nationalists who have lost their way. What the new program of the JVP seeks to forge is not a class alliance but an alliance that binds people on racist lines across class divisions. Debate on P-TOMS The JVP, like the UNP is trying to capitalise on the apprehensions of the Muslims concerning P-TOMS but has also warned about a future demand by them for autonomy. What is thus revealed unexpectedly is pan- Sinhala nationalism in spite of their professed internationalism. The debate on P-TOMS has seen many a fact distorted and fiction substituted in its place. For example, there were apprehensions raised last week regarding an alleged threat to the existence of military bases and installations in the Northeast. It was alluded that the P-TOMS would force the dismantling of high security zones etc. As the Government had clarified such matters have been dealt with in the Ceasefire Agreement, which prevails over the P-TOMS according to Clause 2 (f) of the latter. This Clause 2(f) says: The Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), dated as of 23 February 2002, between the GOSL and the LTTE, shall continue in full force and effect, and nothing in this MOU shall be construed to prejudice such agreement or alter its terms in any way." Similar misinterpretations were made regarding the disbursement of foreign funds for tsunami relief and rehabilitation in the Northeast. Donor funds will be maintained in a separate Central Bank Account and money allocated for specific projects would be transferred to the Regional Fund set up under the P-TOMS with Treasury approval, whereupon they will be utilised for agreed concrete projects. Indian position Attempts were also made to misinterpret the position of the Indian Government on P-TOMS. We could recall how the Opposition Media and the JVP-JHU combine tried to make the people believe that India was opposed to it. When India openly welcomed the move following the visit of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to New Delhi their lies were exposed. After the signing of the P-TOMS they have once again published media reports quoting an unnamed spokesman of the Indian Foreign Ministry that India had reservations about it. This forced the Indian External Affairs Ministry to issue a statement on Friday reiterating the Indian Government's support for P-TOMS. Presidential poll While P-TOMS has taken centre of political debate the UNP has escalated its Presidential election campaign. It has promised mass agitations. Though nominally supporting the establishment of the P-TOMS, it has nevertheless, not failed to identify itself with the Sinhala and Muslim opposition to it, which has irritated the TNA. Strangely enough, the UNP's obsession with the Presidential polls has a beneficiary effect on the government in that it is assured of some degree of stability till the Presidential polls despite its lack of a parliamentary majority. According to UNP calculations it stands a better chance of winning a Presidential election rather than a General election This is specially so in view of the fact that the government has not nominated its Presidential candidate. The JVP too, knowing the possibility of a reduction in its parliamentary representation in case it has to go it alone would like if the Presidential election precedes the General election. Obviously it is waiting to strike a deal with the SLFP Presidential candidate so that they could forge another Alliance for the General election, which in their estimate should improve on their parliamentary representation. Hence their moves to isolate the President and her close allies. Anyway much water would flow under the Kelani Bridge before the General elections and none could now predict for certain how the polarisation of political forces and their realignment would be then. The MEP The MEP has cut a sorry figure. It has come vehemently against the P-TOMS but has decided to stay with the government much to the annoyance of the JVP and the JHU. Perhaps, its decision has been taken in the larger interests of the Party in the long-term rather than on political expediency of the moment. What a contrast with the immaturity of the JVP! The Muslim dimension The Muslims are perturbed. It is partly due to misapprehensions and mischievous propaganda and partly due to genuine fears. The government should allay these fears and apprehensions. It should be remembered that dealing with a seasoned militant organization like the LTTE is not an easy task and the government was handicapped by the disunity in its ranks during the negotiations. The rabid chauvinist politics of the JVP and the JHU and the patronage extended by sections of the SLFP emboldened the Tigers and gave them a better leverage vis a vis the international community. P-TOMS is an agreement between the GOSL and the LTTE. It was necessitated by the fact that both are in control of territory in the Northeast. This agreement gives each of them to enter the other side for tsunami relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Muslims do not control territory just as the Sinhala people. Hence the allegation that they were not made a signatory to the P-TOMS is not well founded. The state represents all communities living in the territory of their control as far as the P-TOMS is concerned. But it has not abdicated its rights and duties concerning all citizens living in the entire territory of Sri Lanka. P-TOMS does not signify any loss of sovereignty of the GOSL. It does not amount to granting ISGA, as some would make us believe. It is an administrative measure and nothing in it prevails over the right of the GOSL to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. |
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