But this conference took place while a double whammy was being delivered by our judiciary against Tamil Eelam. First, was the overthrowing of the 19th amendment, without which the interim administration was out. The second was the sentencing of the sungod himself to 200 years hard labor.

LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham's reaction to the first seems to be to give up the need for a formal interim administration. Hardly surprising, he was already getting it without legal sanction. Balasingham also attempted to overcome the 19th amendment setback by calling for a new parliamentary election to get a bigger majority for "his" side, the UNF. It was both cheek and desperation by perhaps the real driving force behind the present government.

At the second judgment, he was livid, lodging a strong protest to the government delegation. He said it was "absurd" and "ridiculous". G. L. Peiris, it is said, told him that the courts were independent. The Tigers also reacted with forced marches of children protesting against the verdict. It was the Tiger equivalent of the UNF Janabala Meheyuma march. In the latter, non-participation risked one's job from employers; in the other, one's life from Tigers.

But Balasingham was clearly shaken; underneath the bluster there were distinct signs that in spite of a government ever ready to yield to Tiger demands, reality was catching up. Defeated in war, a survey now indicated that Northern Tamils were defeating Tiger opinion by rejecting separatism. The LTTE, reflecting Jaffna mood claimed it was returning property, seized from its citizens, (while expanding illegal taxation). The LTTE also promised to hand over property of Muslims thrown out of Jaffna and now being used by Tiger sympathizers.

Balasingham also said he would allow multiparty democracy, making fools of the TNA which declared themselves puppets of the LTTE and indirectly fools of the UNF which had accepted unelected Tigers as sole representatives of Tamils.

As reality and the legal noose tightened, the bluff clearly was being called. The man, who in the Wanni answered on Prabhakaran's behalf saying he was the theoretician, must be frightened. He is probably liable for the same crimes. For some of his crimes against humanity, the charge can be filed in any country.

A highly overrated mediocrity, he seems not to have understood that an interim council was illegal without an impossible constitutional change which numbers (thanks to the JR constitution) would not allow. Again unable to do simple arithmetic, he had called the UNF victory "overwhelming". It had only a one-man majority while a plurality in the South especially the Buddhist majority voted against it. And it is the first post Independence government with most key positions held by non-Buddhist families.

Fudged key issues on the claimed homelands were also emerging. SLMC members in a tough letter to the Prime Minister pointed out that their problems (the adjective was "enslaved") arose with the Indo-Lanka accord which merged the Northern and Eastern provinces. They spoke disparagingly of the "then UNP government proclaiming that the merger was temporary" and added that "the Muslims who are one of the communities of this country were driven into shame when the Government asked them to speak with India in matters connected to this accord". They are now being asked to speak with Norway.

Under cover of the peace talks, the building up of the separate state through the expanding legal, taxation, banking and administrative structures continues openly. Two LTTE "Police Stations" were opened in the Eastern Province last week, one by the AGA for Batticaloa. Here the Tiger flag was hoisted while the country's flag was absent. Minister Peiris, our apparent protagonist against Tiger demands in the talks, down played this saying that it was a process happening in LTTE areas for some time. This was patently untrue of the two new stations.

My commonsensical view of the law is that Peiris and the AGA are publicly justifying and so abetting the establishment of an illegal, parallel state apparatus. That to my commonsensical eye is treason, a strong crime. (In the 19th Amendment case such commonsensical views prevailed over the verbiage of Peiris)

This becomes important as there are now talks of "concerned citizens" going to courts challenging headlong this issue of creeping Tamil Eelam. After their recent verdicts there is a strong feeling that the judiciary will act in the country's interest. One move is to arrest Balasingham, for contempt under Sri Lankan law, for his remarks on the judgment when he next goes through Katunayake. Could Peiris, the AGA and similar persons be next on this legal block for knowingly abetting creeping separatism?

Compared to his Constitutional Affairs Minister Peiris, the Prime Minister seems to be actually more informed. When heckled in Parliament with shouts of "Eelam! Eelam!" he pointed out that separatists called their entity Tamil Eelam. "Eelam", he correctly said was the name for the whole country. He should have added that Eelam is the Tamil pronunciation of Sinhala. In fact the first inscription describing the country as Sinhala is from a 3rd C BC inscription in Tamil Nadu. And Tamil Nadu, where Tamil separatism first arose, is where the LTTE is being today hunted and thrown into jail. The sungod is wanted there to be hanged for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi. Only our non-Buddhist dominated government celebrates him.

The latest UNF offering to the sungod: the refusal of a visa to Tiger critic Paul Harris of the Britain's most right wing paper, Telegraph. A right wing government deporting a right wing reporter!

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