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| Sunday, 20 June 2004 |
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ISGA proposals and the 'F' word by Lalith Edrisinha The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the winner of the 'most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world' award, has from time to time appeared in the guise of the peace lover, the dove, the aggrieved party that has been cast in the mould of terrorist by the man eating Sinhalese who are really the killers. Since the release of the LTTE Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals in November 2003, it has come into the open, calling on the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to resume negotiations for the peaceful resolution of what is generally referred to as the North-East conflict for which on their part the ISGA proposals form the basis.
These proposals, we are told, have been prepared by legal and constitutional experts, most of whom are well versed in the ethnic crisis since the post-independence era. Now, any man in the street will tell these high powered experts that the implementation of Provision 17 of the ISGA which calls for the immediate withdrawal of the GOSL armed forces from all occupied areas in the eight districts that shall comprise the ISGA namely: Amparai, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullativu, Trincomalee and Vavuniya, is tantamount to rolling back the Sri Lankan State from those eight districts. In short, it is plain to anyone whether expert or not that the ISGA proposals taken in toto are a blueprint for the establishment of the State of Tamil Eelam. But of course these are only proposals and have necessarily to be dealt with in the spirit and the hope that the LTTE will recognize that the setting up of a separate state within the confines of the island of Sri Lanka is out of the question as far as any GOSL is concerned. What is interesting is that the ISGA proposals go far beyond known federal structures in any part of the world. But the Tiger often refers to a federal system in the same breath that it talks of the ISGA proposals. This may not be duplicity for duplicity is an art and craft not meant to be recognisable as so. It may be downright arrogance to flaunt a system that is confederal as federal. But then the Sinhalese are known to be 'modayas' are they not? This arrogance springs from what later generations of Tamils were brought up on. Tamil mythic charter Dr. Carlo Fonseka has this to say about the Tamil mythic charter in WIDER, a publication of the World Institute for Development Economic Research published in Helsinki in 1990. The answers to the questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? When did we come? What kind of world are we in? What is our place in it? What is our ultimate destiny? What the Tamils learn in recent times have been reformulated and articulated with a resounding militancy. Who are we? We are Tamils, the inheritors of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, the world's oldest civilization. Where did we come from? From South India. When did we come? Long before the Sinhalese did, because we had only a narrow strip of sea to navigate. What kind of world are we in? In our homeland Tamil Eelam, upon which the murderous Sinhalese barbarians have encroached. What is our place in it? Supreme - intellectually, culturally and scientifically - over the innumerate, dull-witted Sinhalese whose reproductive prodigality has reduced us to a minority. What is our ultimate destiny? To preserve Saiva Siddhanta and to pursue with the majestic ferocity of tigers the Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam vision of the Tamil domination of Asia. This must surely be heady wines which intoxicate the brains of some. The reference to 'dull-witted Sinhalese' gives an inkling into the tone in which statements are made from to time. For example, referring to President R. Premadasa, it was said that the LTTE made use of him and then did away with him when he was no longer necessary. Or the very recent comment when confronted with the information that the Army Commander had alerted the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission that the Army was aware that the LTTE had constructed an airstrip. 'Oh! we congratulate the Army Commander for having at last found this out' smacks of the attitude of the Tamil towards the dull-witted Sinhalese. Recently LTTE's political wing leader S.P. Thamilchelvan told this newspaper "We have clearly stated during our talks with the UNF government that we are prepared to negotiate a final solution. When the talks were held in Oslo, Norway in 2003, we even said that we were prepared to consider a solution on the basis of a federal structure. Therefore we are prepared to resume the talks on the basis of the ISGA and to gradually progress towards a final settlement". So what the LTTE is hinting at is that the final settlement will be the withdrawal of the Sri Lankan state apparatus from the areas (land and sea) as seen to be the traditional homeland of the Tamils. So, from the confederacy as set out in the ISGA proposals the natural follow-up would be the state of Tamil Eelam. What has to be negotiated is a rethink of the hardline advocated in the ISGA proposals. Would that not shatter the dream of the Warlord Velupillai Prabhakaran? |
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