Editorial

Security

Politics

World

Letters

Sports

Obituaries

Archives

by Percy Wickremesekere

The Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE completed one year in February this year. Many have written about the relative gains to the North and the South resulting from this MOU that brought about a firm basis for a cease-fire between the parties.

Critical assessments have been made in this regard and pious hopes have been expressed about continuing with the peace process to a successful conclusion till a lasting solution is found to the issues that led to the war.

However many problems remain to be addressed to bring the country to a situation where one could honestly say that there is no fear of this madness of war erupting again. After a period of over one year without war it is our view that these matters must be looked at more seriously today if the peace process is to become meaningful.

It is true that the two parties have had six rounds of talks in various capitals of the world and have issued communiques telling us how fruitful their talks have been. But these communiques mean very little to the people who have suffered for so long and continue to suffer even today due to the devastation caused by this war.

There are various interested parties that call for a strict check on the LTTE continuing to smuggle arms and ammunition and also recruiting cadres, particularly children, to strengthen their armed forces.

Some spokesmen for the Government including Cabinet Ministers have taken the defence in public that since the Sri Lankan Army is also arming itself the LTTE is also obviously arming itself and there is nothing sinister about it. This only shows how naive these defenders of the Government are.

The Government of Sri Lanka has a legitimate duty by its people living throughout the country to see that its forces the Army, Air force and the Navy are adequately armed and provided for to enable the forces to defend the territorial integrity of the country and ensure its safety from a possible attack from any quarter.

This exercise on the part of the Government cannot be called by the LTTE or anybody else, an attempt to prepare for war against the LTTE. The position regarding the LTTE arming itself in times of peace after a ceasefire is different to the extent that it would be arming itself only or mainly against a possible attack from the forces of the Government of Sri Lanka in the event the peace process breaks down and the ceasefire comes to an end.

It is not fair to say that the LTTE is arming itself to attack the Armed forces of Sri Lanka. In the present situation the LTTE has no guarantee that the war will not break out again in the same way that the Government of Sri Lanka also has no such guarantee.

Therefore the solution to this problem of the LTTE has no cause to fear that there will be any attack from the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka. Once that is achieved the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka also arming itself is in ensuring that the LTTE has no cause to fear that there will be any attack from the armed forces of Sri Lanka. Once that is achieved the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka also will have no need to fear any attack from the LTTE.

This is easily said than done.

After almost twenty years of war we have had one year or little more of peace. Yet we are still working under a Memorandum of Understanding between the parties that recognizes different areas of control under the two parties.

We have to accept that the country is divided into these two areas of control though not completely separated. We say not completely separated because there is not only communication between the two areas but also because the agencies of the Government of Sri Lanka are at work in the LTTE controlled areas though possibly under LTTE control as well.

futility of war

Similarly even in the areas of the North and East said to be under the control of the Government of Sri Lanka the LTTE are at work through their "political offices" directing the agencies of the Government presumably in the interests of the people.

This division of the country is not satisfactory and the longer it remains the more irritants will arise and provide ammunition to the anti peace forces in the South who are today struggling to rouse the Sinhala speaking people against the peace process without much success.

A demonstration against the Government with anti peace and communal slogans even comprising a few hundred thousand people in Colombo cannot be seriously taken as an indication that the people wish to go back once again to a war situation. It is our view that both the people in the South as well as the North do not wish to go back to war.

They have realized the futility of war through their own experience. It is on this fund of goodwill or the will of the people never to return to a senseless war that we must build a lasting structure for peace.

Although the people do not wish ever to get back to war the erstwhile parties to the war the armed forces of both the Government and the LTTE yet have no reason to think that a war will not erupt again. It is this problem that we have to address without delay.

President Kumaratunga has been insisting on what she calls the core issues being discussed from the very beginning of these peace talks. There were others who were talking of the right of self-determination of the Tamil speaking people and various other theoretical issues that should be addressed from the beginning of these talks.

As for us it was our view that to start with this type of dogmatic approach before the parties were able to even settle down to know each others thinking was the surest way to ensure the breakdown of these negotiations. Now however the time has come after six rounds of talks spanning over one year not only to review the achievements and failures of that period but also to go into rather more deeply the real issues that keep the two areas of control separated.

The LTTE quite correctly says that their people have been displaced from their traditional areas by the setting up of the High Security Zones by the Armed Forces. During the war these and other measures become necessary which cause untold suffering to the people. But if the people are to accept that the war is not going to comeback to their lands then their lands must be restored to them.

The lands are not to be handed back to the LTTE but to the people who were displaced from the land by the setting up of these zones. The armed forces and the Government of Sri Lanka must realize that if there is going to be no war again such a large concentration of forces in lands once occupied by the people of Jaffna is not necessary.

Everyday that passes with such a large presence of armed forces in the Jaffna peninsula displacing the people of the land, more will be the hatred of the Tamil speaking people who will continue to look upon the army as an army of occupation and automatically turn towards the LTTE as their saviours.

This is the worst thing that could happen and this will prevent the people of these areas from considering themselves as people belonging to the same country as the armed forces that occupy their land.

balance of power

On the other hand the LTTE also for its part must realize that any reduction of armed forces in the Jaffna peninsula or any other area in the North and the East should not be replaced by the LTTE forces. The people of these areas will not want the LTTE forces to replace the armed forces of the Government of Sri Lanka.

What they would need is to be left to themselves to attend to their agricultural and other pursuits. Equally the plight of the fisherfolk in these areas who have restrictions placed on fishing in the sea must be reduced without delay. The problems of the ordinary people of both the North and the East must be addressed by both the Government and the LTTE. It is regrettable that neither the LTTE nor the Government seems to be very keen in solving these problems on the ground with any kind of speed.

Both parties appear to be more worried about their balance of power not being disturbed. This may be what is desired if our final aim is only peace between the parties where both can thrive in their own way. But this will make the suffering of the ordinary people increase.

Already the people of the North have to pay a higher price for the goods that arrive from the South due to the taxes / Kappan levied by the LTTE. The LTTE may be happy to maintain the status quo that exists today on the A9 road that brings them millions of rupees per day as income. But they must realize that they are taxing the very people for whose liberation they profess to struggle.

These really are some of the problems of this new found peace. These problems can only be solved if we move from the stage of peace to a stage of integration of the two areas of control by the respective parties. Today many talk about the exchange of visits by the people of the North and the South. But few realize that these visits are by the people of the South to the Government controlled areas of the North.

We have not heard of free passage of people from the South to the LTTE controlled areas of the Vanni. People of the South would certainly be happy to see how their brothers and sisters live in the LTTE controlled territory.

To do this the parties must without delay get down to discuss a mechanism or structure that would lead to the integration of these areas. This must not be understood to mean that we advocate a system of complete control of the North and East by the Central Government led by a Sinhala majority.

This certainly is not what is required.

What is required in the first instance is an integrated North and East with a system of Administration initially acceptable to the present parties that control the different areas. This should be the beginning of the consideration of the so-called core issues. Here again we say that we need not rush to solutions of Federalism of those or that type or self-determination of the Tamil speaking people which would only be an empty slogan in todays context.

To us what is required is a mutually agreed system of administration for the North and East of our country where the people of those areas will be free to govern their day-to-day affairs in the way they want without any fear of opposition by the armed might of the LTTE or the Government of Sri Lanka.

Once we arrive at this it would not be difficult for us to go the extra mile to realize that what is required for permanent peace in Sri Lanka is complete self Government or total internal autonomy for the people of the North and the East with sharing of power at the center as well. If we start on this extra mile the problems of the Sinhalese and the Muslims living in these areas and the boundaries of the North and East will not be difficult to solve. What is required today is a firm determination by all our people to move in this direction.

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager