New strategy by LTTE cohorts - Minister Weerawansa

By Uditha KUMARASINGHE

At a critical phase of his political career he divorced himself from his Marxist gurus and coalesced with the UPFA to root out terrorism from the country. True to the style, he lambasted all unpatriotic forces. Minister Wimal Weerawansa never hesitated to express his forthright views on any political issue irrespective of the consequences.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer Construction, Engineering Services, Housing and Common Amenities Minister Wimal Weerawansa said that the country had to suffer the rigours of terrorism over three decades. We had to painfully tolerate the deliberate attempts by various foreign elements to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. Therefore, the choice before the voters in the three provinces is to decide between the LTTE terror-hit three decades and the post-liberation three year period of national renaissance.

Minister Weerawansa said at present the pro-LTTE elements have formulated a new eelam strategy in place of the old eelam strategy of Velupillai Prabhakaran. Diplomatic war is the new eelam strategy launched by these elements. All pro-LTTE elements have since rallied round the new strategy. They try their best to realise the eelam dream through diplomatic and political means. It is essential to defeat this plan by all means.

The Minister said that the political parties with the ultimate objective of dividing the country or those with a communal identity should be banned. If such political parties are allowed to distort the mindset of the people to realise their narrow political objectives and promote racism it would result in the eventual destruction of the country. Some Muslim and Tamil political leaders who speak about national harmony turn communalist when they go to Muslim and Tamil dominated areas, he said.

Here are the excerpts of the interview:

Q: After the LTTE had been militarily crushed, it is the LTTE remnants, its sympathizers and godfathers who have now declared an all-out war to set up Tamil eelam in Sri Lanka. How do you assess this situation with special reference to the Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) resolution?

A: The establishment of an eelam state in the North and the East was not only LTTE Leader Velupilai Prabhakaran’s utopia, but others too.

Prabhakaran gave leadership to mindless terror to realise his strategic goal. Various other groups too gave political support for it. Even today these groups are active. Tamil Nadu factor is the key element in their campaign.

However, Tamil Nadu is not in a position to break away as a separate Tamil state from India. Therefore, they are determined to launch their struggle from Sri Lanka. That is why former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi who does not look into the grievances of his people is shedding crocodile tears on behalf of the people in the North and the East.

The true situation is that no person in the North and the East has undergone severe hardships compared to the people in South India. Both Karunanidhi and Sampanthan, are today with one leg in the grave. Their intention is once again to lead the next generation of innocent Tamil youth on this destructive path.

We should also realise, that they have formulated a new eelam strategy. Diplomatic war is this new eelam strategy. That is why a US sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka was passed at the UNHRC sessions.

As the initial step of this plan, India, Spain and Benin have been entrusted the task of observing human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile Karunanidhi had held the TESO conference while the Tamil eelam protagonists who do not have a front organisation have engaged in their campaign internationally. In Sri Lanka, TNA caters to the interests of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora. All these groups have rallied round under their new eelam strategy. At present they try their level best to achieve their goal of eelam through diplomatic and political means as they failed to achieve it through terror. It is essential to defeat this campaign.

Q:Sri Lanka’s Action Plan on LLRC has been submitted to the UNHRC. It was reported that South Africa was willing to help resolve Tamil grievances. How do you analyse these developments?

A: Actually we don’t need assistance from others to sort out the problems faced by our people. The best assistance that they can give us is not to create unnecessary trouble here, since the highest damage has been done to the country by those who came in the guise of assisting us. Troubles created by such international forces are very much bigger than what is created by our opponents here. Therefore, our people are really scared of even hearing the word, international assistance. They could witness themselves the drama enacted by certain foreign elements under the cover of “international assistance” I don’t think South Africa or any other country should intervene to sort out the problems faced by any community in Sri Lanka. We are a country where there is peaceful coexistence among all communities. So we are capable of sorting out our internal matters.

Sri Lanka’s Action Plan includes the LLRC recommendations which have since been implemented. It has also outlined the program to be implemented by the Government in the near future. The Government would implement the suitable recommendations in the LLRC and it is entirely up to the Government to do so. If the UN enquire about the progress, we would comply with that.

Q: Prominent politicians have regretted communal issues being raised at the Eastern Provincial Council elections as detrimental to national harmony. Would you like to add your comments on this?

A: Some Muslim and Tamil leaders who speak about national harmony turn communalist when they go to Muslim and Tamil dominated areas. Some of TNA and SLMC Parliamentarians have proved this through their actions. There is another group within the Tamil community who attempts to promote elitism as well.

This is the catastrophe faced by this country. My personal point of view is that all political parties which have a communal identity should be banned in Sri Lanka. If such political parties are allowed to distort the mindset of the people to realise their narrow political objectives and promote racism among people, it would lead to a massive tragedy in the future.

If we don’t realise this and take action right now, a situation will be created in future which would push the society once again into sorting out problems with recourse to weapons. In a country which faced the threat of terrorism, if somebody still attempts to promote racism among the communities, he is not fit to live in this country.

I would like to say without any hesitation that political parties formed with the ultimate objective of dividing the country or with communal identity should be banned.

Q: Is there a possibility of ensuring a free and fair election when allegations are levelled against the misuse of state resources specially the vehicles?

A: People are well aware of the past elections conducted in the country. If we ask an average person, he will say whether the elections held today are free and fair or not when compared to the previous elections. Today people have no fear of vote-rigging as the National Identity card has been made compulsory. There is also no fear of looting ballot boxes. After the J.R. Jayewardene, regime such incidents have not been reported in the recent times. The incidence of misuse of state property during election campaigns is also very much less compared to the past. However, the Government has taken all possible measures to prevent the misuse of even a small percentage of state resources. Compared to the elections in developed countries still we are not in a good position. We have achieved a considerable progress in the conduct of elections compared to the past. Violence and malpractices have drastically dropped. These are very positive developments which have further improved today.

Q: What made the NFF to contest Trincomalee independent of the UPFA? Are you sure of the victory?

A: Except Trincomalee district, the NFF contests all other districts under the UPFA banner. What happened in Trincomalee was that some of the UPFA provincial leaders opposed former MP Jayantha Wijesekera contesting the PC election from the UPFA ticket.

They were well aware if Wijesekera contested from the UPFA he would have definitely won. However the President made efforts to provide him an opportunity to contest from the UPFA., though some UPFA provincial politicians opposed. Therefore the NFF decided to contest separately. After the SLMC decided to contest the Eastern province, separately, Wijesekera could have been given the opportunity to contest from the UPFA.

When the war against terrorism was launched, Wijesekera as a provincial leader bravely faced the threats of terrorists. When the terrorists did not allow the hoisting of National Flag in Trincomalee, he had the courage to hoist the National Flag. Terrorists attacked his office as well. Therefore, we are not ready to leave alone a leader like Wijesekera who fearlessly fought for the people in Trincomalee.

That is why the NFF decided to contest alone and we are very much confident of Wjesekera’s victory.

Q: Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne’s political performance is a mere “one man show” with no visible public support. Would you like to comment on his addressing the recent TESO meeting in Tamil Nadu?

A: Dr. Wickramabahu doesn’t have a vote base, and pretends to the world that he is a political leader of socialist outlook. By doing so he could receive funds from the Fourth International or somewhere else.

Once his speeches appear in the newspapers, he sends those paper cuttings to them and after that he could get money from those international organisations. Dr. Wickramabahu knows whatever the comments he make it does not have any impact. That is why he attends pro-LTTE campaigns in various foreign countries.

He participated in TESO conference in Tamil Nadu not attended even by the TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan. Actually Sampanthan would have represented the TESO conference from Sri Lanka. Due to his absence, Dr, Wickramabahu decided to participate thinking that he would become the most controversial character.

When he does such things, he can get more foreign funds. But I think nobody should oppose his moves. Dr. Karunaratne does not do any government job at the moment. Therefore, he tries to depend on his “self-employment” and we should not be worried about it.

Q: Water-cuts to paddy farmers and power-cuts have been made big political issues by the Opposition. What is the UPFA’s strategy to counter these arguments?

A: No Government will deliberately impose water cuts or power cuts. Whatever Government in power it attempts to ensure an uninterrupted supply of water and electricity to the people.

A Government cannot gain any advantage by causing inconvenience to the people but only by fulfilling their needs. Anybody can realise the ongoing power cuts and water cuts are not deliberate moves by the Government. We have to face the natural calamities due to climate changes. The working class and the institutional heads should act with responsibility in facing this national challenge.

Q: One positive evidence of LTTE still being active in the country is the recent outbreak of violence at Vavuniya prison. What would have been the situation if all Army camps were withdrawn from the North in keeping with the so called demilitarization moves advanced by certain interested parties?

A: Withdrawal of military camps in the North is not a request made by the Tamil community. This is by some separatist Tamil politicians. The establishment of military camps in the North has become an obstacle to these politicians to mislead the Tamil people in the North with their separatist political agenda. That is why they insist through US, UN and Karunanidhi to withdraw Army camps in the North. The US has set up their military camps in some other countries, but they request us to withdraw the Army camps in the North.

If this Government does not withdraw the security forces from the North, these elements will attempt to form a Government willing to fulfil it. That is why these elements try their best and exert every possible pressure to topple this Government. The pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora wants a Defence Secretary like the one they had during the of former UNP regime who calls them, “machang”. That is why we call upon the people that whatever the challenges, we should defeat this plan.

Q: What is the UPFA message to the voters in the three provinces where there are PC elections?

A: People in these three provinces have to think back that the country had to face the ruthless terrorism for over three decades and they lived in fear. We had to painfully tolerate the deliberate attempts by some foreign forces to interfere in the internal affairs of our country.

Therefore, the choice before the voters in the three provinces is to decide between the LTTE terror-hit three decades and the post liberation three year period of national renaissance. If the voters believe their fear of death has been eliminated, peace restored, ethnic harmony strengthened and infrastructure developed in an unprecedented manner during the post-liberation three years, I call upon them to vote for the UPFA. This is what the voters in these three provinces have to think about.

Q: You were politically baptised by the Marxist JVP. But today you are supposed to be a socialist under the NFF umbrella. Are you still committed to socialism when it has been abandoned by most of the countries?

A: Models of socialism vary from country to country such as South Korea, Cuba and China. Some of those models may be suitable for us while some may not.

What I mean by socialism is eliminating inequality and reduce the gap between haves and haves- not as much as possible. It would alleviate the unrest in the society. Socialism is an ideology which has created the socio-economic vision of equally distributing wealth in the society.

We have not given up that vision. But I believe, such a social transformation cannot be made in a country such as Sri Lanka without a wide range of patriotic and national movements. There is no change of our vision but there is a change in the manner we act to realise it.