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| Sunday, 20 June 2004 |
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Government for a transparent peace process Peace Trail by Ranga Jayasuriya Rule No. 1 in the Government's peace strategy appears to be that the peace process should be transparent and broad-based. Though the Government and the LTTE will be the main partners at the formal negotiations, the Government seems to be conscious that only a process of continuous dialogue with diverse political, ethnic and religious groups could lead to a solution acceptable to a majority of voters, who will have the final say at a referendum. The National Advisory Council on Peace and Reconciliation, as elaborated by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in her national address will be a national forum comprising various political, religious and social leaders whose ideas could be communicated to the negotiating partners. A National Council for Peace chaired by the President herself would be the apex body that will coordinate institutions dealing with peace. Further the President said the Government was ready to discuss with the LTTE interim political measures within the contours of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. This is the Government's peace strategy which would be in motion once peace talks resume once differences on the talks' agenda are sorted out. Following the President's address and the Tigers rejection of her peace offer, last week saw peace facilitation gathering momentum with Ambassador Hans Brattskar flying to Kilinochchi and special peace envoy Erik Solheim meeting Anton Balasingham in London. The Ambassador briefed LTTE political chief Thamilselvan of the Norwegians' efforts to kick-start the peace negotiations and the outcome of the Brussles follow-up meeting to the Tokyo aid conference. Thamilselvan lamented about the lack of progress in the peace talks and the non-implementation of the ceasefire agreement (especially the High Security Zone issue) which have hindered the normalisation process in the North-East and the absence of a proper mechanism to deliver humanitarian assistance. "We will continue to go back and forth between (the government and the Tigers) ... until they reach an agreement on future steps," Brattskar told the media after his meeting. "I feel we are not quite there, but we will continue our discussions. That is our role". And on the eve of forthcoming Provincial Council elections, the common understanding in the peace circles is that only after the elections scheduled for July 10 that any breakthrough in the stalled peace talks is feasible. Interestingly, at his meeting with the Norwegian Ambassador, Thamilselvan lamented that the State media, especially the SLBC Tamil Service is engaged in a vicious campaign against the Tigers, fabricating news reports about alleged fighting between the Karuna and Prabhakaran factions. LTTE's official website had this: "The SLBC Tamil service Thamilselvan lamented, is accommodating a one-hour direct broadcast from the Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) London, an entity that is run by a former Tamil paramilitary group engaged in vicious propaganda aimed at discrediting the LTTE and creating North-East regionalism in the minds of the listeners. But the LTTE political wing leader was wrong. His own "Tamilnet" posted a report on alleged fighting in the East early this week, before it was removed after a few hours, obviously under instructions from the LTTE. Indeed, the reports of alleged factional fighting stem from Karuna's own website (www.neruppu.com) which broke a story on a camp belonging to the Tiger intelligence wing in Pendigalchenai, deep in the jungles of Thoppigala being overrun on Sunday night by the Karuna faction. Meanwhile, the LTTE is now wooing NGOs to work directly with them. On Tuesday (15), Thamilselvan met representatives from UN agencies and International NGOs to introduce them to the LTTE's Planning and Development Secretariat which is expected to function as a coordination unit, identifying needs of the people and formulating plans to carry out quick implementation. At the meeting attended by the representatives from the top UN agencies, Thamilselvan highlighted the "importance of co-ordinating the activities of humanitarian agencies in view of the urgent necessity to upgrade the shattered lives of the war affected Tamil people". The LTTE, in a statement posted on its official website said: "The lack of progress in the peace process, a stalemate political situation in Colombo and the continued suffering of the Tamil people in the North-East, who have been denied the dividends of peace were pointed out by Thamilselvan as important factors in cutting the barriers to reach the people and serve them at the time of need. The delay in institutionalising the ISGA is causing grave concern in the minds of the Tamil people and should not therefore be a cause for postponement of humanitarian delivery". The LTTE's strong worded rejection of the President's peace offer, charging her of political duplicity and trickery, seems to have little impact on the Government. Cabinet spokesman Mangala Samaraweera said the particular statement had first appeared in May and details reported in the media on Monday were an exact replica of the earlier statement. He, however said, the Government was "committed to the hilt" to begin peace talks with the LTTE as early as possible. Minister Samaraweera's pronouncement was countered by the former Government's chief peace negotiator, Prof. G.L. Peiris who charged at a media briefing the same day that the Government was lacking consistence in the peace process. "There is no consistency with regard to the basic aspects of the peace process which is in serious difficulty due to these internal contradictions between the SLFP and the JVP," he said. Minister Samaraweera however sounded pragmatic when he said both the UPFA and the UNP should awake to the ground realities and that there should be some flexibility. He said the Government was committed to carry the majority of the country towards a just and reasonable solution then went on to say: "By the majority, I don't mean the lunatic fringe who will oppose everything, but the moderate majority who are aching for peace...The patriotic Sri Lankans who voted for the Freedom Alliance and the UNP-who are 75 percent of the country". For the country's majority, at the risk of being overshadowed by a highly articulate minority, this would definitely be good news. |
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