Political Column

Political Column

"No way Norway'' - LTTE echoes JVP sentiment?
By Our Political Editor
Nobody consulted the Tamil United Liberation Front when the LTTE decided to gauge Tamil opinion before the Paris talks that were aimed at considering the government's Interim Administration proposals. The LTTE spoke to TELO, PLOTE and such former armed groups, and also spoke to members of grassroots organizations. But, the TULF was pointedly left out.

When Thamilselvan, the LTTE negotiator and political wing leader, visited the Eastern Province days before the Paris talks began, he didn't meet any of the three TULF Batticaloa MPs - Pararajasingham, Thangavadivel or Krishnapillai.

This is, then, the situation on the ground, with regard to Tiger policy regarding the Interim Administration proposals. The LTTE brooks no nonsense -- and wants no soft-peddling of issues by elements which they do not seem to fully trust. Or trust at all.
Members of the LTTE's Constitutional Affairs Committee, who took part in the discussions chaired by S.P. Thamilselvan in Paris, were: Mr. S.P. Thamilselvan, Leader- Political Wing, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Col. Karuna, Special Commander for Batticaloa and Ampara districts' Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Dr. Jay Maheswaran, Economic Advisor Planning and Development Unit, Mr. Selvin Ireneuss, Director- SIHRN,(Sub Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs - NE), Prof. Sornarajah, Professor of Law- National University of Singapore, Fellow, Centre for Petroleum and Natural Resources Law, University of Dundee, Scotland, Prof. P. Ramasamy, Professor- Political Science, National University of Malaysia, Dr. Manuelpillai Paul Dominic, Professor of Law- University of Sydney, Professor of Tax Law- University of Western Sydney, Mr. Shiva Pasupathi - P.C, former Attorney General, Sri Lanka, Mr.Visvendran LLB (Hons), Legal Advisor, Chartered Engineer, MIGEM, Mr. V. Rudrakumar, Constitutional Affairs Advisor.
Meanwhile, V.T. Thamilmaran LL.B (Hons.), LL.M, attorney-at-law and J.P, wrote to The Sunday Times saying that he “categorically” denies that he was a member of the LTTE professional legal team as was reported in these columns last week.

Indeed, Mr. Thamilmaran, a senior lecturer at the Colombo Law Faculty, was in the LTTE’s list, but he did not go and insists that he was in “no way involved in drafting” any proposals (on behalf of the LTTE) in response to the SL Government’s proposals for a Provincial Administrative Council.

“Although I was invited to participate in the Paris meeting of the LTTE, I declined the invitation for the simple reason, as I was afraid, that my participation in that meeting wouldn’t be viewed in a proper perspective and that thereby it might possibly lead to undermining my independent, impartial and objective manner of contributing to the ongoing peace process”, he says in his letter.

Unconfirmed reports
Unconfirmed reports coming from Paris say that the LTTE's Paris-talks approach was not very flattering to the Sri Lankan Government. The LTTE took up position that what has been granted in the government's Interim proposals were far from adequate -- and reports here in the South were that the LTTE will take up a maximalist position, asking the Sri Lankan Government much more than it has been willing to accommodate via the Interim Administration proposals.

But, at least the situation in the South of the country was beginning to show much more clarity, even as the LTTE was deciding its position.

It is all-systems-go, in the South. Both the Opposition and the Government are on the ready to contest Provincial Council elections. In this backdrop, in fact, the real political equation for Sri Lanka in the near future seemed to boil down to one key question. Which was simply: Can the President of Sri Lanka takeover the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior and possibly call for elections or otherwise form a new government?

Other things being equal, one consideration that this depends on is, as considered in this column last week, whether Rauff Hakeem's position can be destabilized to such an extent that Hakeem may one day get up and decide to leave the UNF government?
But Hakeem's position seems these days to depend more on the Danish than the Norwegians! That's just to put it in jest. But the fact is that Hakeem is not just about to get up and go, because his commitments with the UNF government are not just with regard to the peace effort.

Hakeem's helmsmanship
The Oluvil Port which was put on the shelf (almost) by the PA government has been born again under Hakeem's helmsmanship of the Ministry of Shipping, and the Danish are working on the Oluvil harbour's infrastructure. It is unlikely that Hakeem will leave the UNF government when he is at such a crucial juncture in establishing a key harbour in the East, a province that contains most of his core constituency.

But the government was still unsure about its possible performance at an election. Let's put it this way. As said, the pivotal factor in Sri Lankan politics today is whether the President can dissolve parliament, takeover the Interior and Defence Ministries and in effect stage, what can be called in loose terms, a constitutional coup d' etat. But apart from this consideration, or in view of this consideration, both the Government and the Opposition are at the moment amassing their troops and getting ready for battle. This battle will technically begin on the electoral front -- when the Provincial Councils go for the polls.

The government's main plank is the peace dividend. Key government leaders met MPs last week in several locations in the island and told them to carry to the grassroots and to the people the following message:

Peace dividend
They said: "There are those who want today to send out the Norwegians, to tear up the ceasefire agreement, and to disband the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. All of this can be done. But at what cost? If these measures are taken the result that is almost certain is that there is going to be war. But look at the scenario if there is peace.
Even though there are problems, and even though there maybe innumerable setbacks in forging a real peace, the fact is that there is a peace dividend that almost everyone can partake of.''

"Rural electrification and Road Development has been undertaken by the government at a rapid pace, and 75,000 jobs were created recently (to quote government sources) in 18 companies that were formed in Naula and Bakamuna. Loans are also coming via the ADB and the Chinese government for rural electrification and infrastructure creation, but these loans need counterpart funds. The government is also seeking investment, and a government Ministerial delegation is currently dialoguing with 300 Malaysian investors. None of this can be accomplished if there was no MoU, if there was no SLMM and if the Norwegians are sent out.''

That's the government's short-term agenda in quintessence. The JVP, on the other hand, thinks of its anti Interim Administration march as being equivalent to the Satyagraha march that J. R. Jayewardene launched against the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam pact, many years ago in history, eventually scuttling it. Many analysts have said that this JVP march has that kind of significance -- yet it was not clear that this position was reflected on the ground.

The JVP for instance have been calling for the Norwegians out since before the Norwegians were actually here. But, it is now curiously clear that there is some sort of unwitting meeting of minds between the LTTE and the JVP on the Norwegian factor.
From Paris, there are reports that the LTTE is dissatisfied with Norway, and that the LTTE believes Norway is being used as a conduit for applying "American and Indian pressure on the LTTE.'' The LTTE therefore reportedly prefers Norway out of the negotiation process -- and is rumored (unconfirmed reports say) to prefer Finland as a third party mediator in future.

Tamil media
The Norwegians have not fought shy however of asserting their presence. At an NGO sponsored seminar for Tamil media personnel in Vavuniya, Thomas Stragaland a high-ranking official of the Norwegian Embassy here in Colombo for instance, spoke about the need for the Tamil media's cooperation on the government's Interim Administration proposals.

A Centre for Policy Alternatives seminar in Jaffna was held this week, also on the subject of media and suicide. Apparently, there was dissatisfaction over the way the "Tamil media' in Jaffna was reporting suicides.

Whether these are seen by the LTTE as Norwegian intrusions or Norwegian advocacy of the "American and Indian agenda" is another matter -- but the fact seems to be that both the LTTE and the JVP, for reasons of their own, want the Norwegians out of the equation.

The PA, on the other hand, also had a former Finnish President addressing them, and with the LTTE (reports unconfirmed) said to be hankering after the Finnish, the coincidence is a little eerie. However, Martti Ahtisaari, the Finnish conflict resolution specialist, told his audience at the Presidential Secretariat that the two key parties in the South need to close ranks if they are to reach any kind of compromise with the LTTE.

The President however had a somewhat lean week -- - except when she fired off a letter to the Minister of Power and Energy complaining about frequent power cuts, but her interview with NHK correspondent from Japan was replete with pathos. The NHK correspondent was badly injured in the Town Hall bomb attack on the President, and the two compared notes on their individual recoveries from this trauma.

So then. There was no expectation that the government will be treated gently when the LTTE comes out with its counter-proposals this week. The fact that the LTTE almost wants to completely alter the direction of the process, with a possible move to change the mediator, was unsettling to the government.

But this was also expected to pass, at least according to more optimistic quarters. Erik Solheim met the LTTE delegates in Paris, even though the meeting was at an unofficial level. It was hoped that whatever differences would be patched up there. At the end of the week, what seemed to be clear was that the country seemed to be again at a crucial crossroads, and the key players, The Government, the Opposition and the LTTE were all engaged in efforts to derive maximum advantage by manoeuvering from their current strategic positions in the political landscape.

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