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| Truce
survives dissolution
Even Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was away at the Bentota tourist resort complex, was caught unawares. He called off a visit scheduled for next day to Thailand to plunge into consultations with his party stalwarts. Nowhere did this important political development, though surprising but yet expected to the discerning, reflect more than on the stalled peace process. It is this process, the result of the ceasefire that will be two years old next Sunday that brought calm to the battlefields of the North-East. Fears mounted that the United National Front (UNF) Cabinet of Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe, would resign en masse. That is to protest that a six year mandate given to the UNF by the people at the 2001 Parliamentary elections has been curtailed to two years. That was through the action of President Kumaratunga. Such a course of action by Premier Wickremesinhe , it was feared, would cast doubts on the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) he signed with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader, Velupillai Prabhkaran. Even if there was no immediate threat of an outbreak of hostilities, the CFA, the sole instrument that kept the truce would seem to be in jeopardy if Premier Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet resigned. But that was not to be. President Kumaratunga who surprised the nation by a dissolution of Parliament and announcing fresh election appears to have moved with considerable political savvy to curb fears on the future of the CFA. In doing so, she has denied to Premier Wickremesinghe, who once urged her to re-negotiate the CFA, from making any further issue over it. This she did during a meeting with the new Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Major General (retired) Trond Furuhovde. She proposed and won his consent to set up a Committee to monitor the enforcement of the Ceasefire Agreement. The Committee is to comprise Defence Secretary, Cyril Herath, armed forces chiefs, a representative of the Peace Secretariat (functioning under the UNF) and senior representatives of the SLMM. They will not only meet regularly to effectively monitor the CFA but will keep both President Kumaratunga and Premier Wickremesinghe informed. Maj. Gen. (rtd.) Furuhovde will brief the LTTE on the formation of this Committee. It is to function until extended institutional arrangements are in place after the General Elections on April 2. With the LTTE's pledge to uphold the ceasefire and continue to talk peace with the party that wins a mandate at the upcoming elections, securing an arrangement with the SLMM to protect the CFA is indeed an achievement for President Kumaratunga. The latest assurance to Maj. Gen. Furhuhovde came from LTTE's "Eastern Commander, Col. Karuna," whom he met in the Batticaloa district early this week. Earlier, the Defence Ministry, now under her direct control made contact with the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi for the same purpose. Maj. Gen. (retd.) Furuhovde has already discussed the working of the near two year old CFA with Chief of Defence Staff and Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle. It has been pointed out that during the period the CFA has been in operation, the armed forces have made 1046 complaints up to February 10 this year. Whilst the SLMM had made determinations on 617 cases as ceasefire violations, a total of 426 cases are still pending. The SLMM has ruled violations in respect of abduction of civilians, children, establishment of camps in cleared areas, guerrilla movements into cleared areas and similar acts. The pending SLMM determinations include complaints of murder, abduction of soldiers, civilians and murder of civilians. Besides ensuring the CFA remained intact, President Kumaratunga, who is devoting almost her entire time on political issues now, also ordered other measures to ensure developments in the defence and security sector are closely monitored until after the elections. The Sunday Times (Situation Report) last week revealed how President Kumaratunga has not been in a position to preside over National Security Council meetings in the recent weeks. It was also pointed out that the absence of a Minister or a Deputy Minister of Defence was hampering matters relating to defence and security. It has now been decided that Defence Secretary, Cyril Herath will meet every week with armed forces Commanders to keep in touch with immediate developments and also to ascertain their urgent needs. The first such meeting took place last Tuesday. He is to thereafter meet President Kumaratunga to brief her personally. A source at the Presidential Secretariat said this arrangement will continue until after the April 2 elections. In the event of a Sandhanaya (the SLFP-JVP Alliance) victory, there will be comprehensive changes in the defence sector. Such changes, the source said, will include tougher measures to curb corruption in military procurements. The SLFP and JVP which formed the Sandhanaya have made public two documents - a Memorandum of Understanding giving their political objectives and another document entitled "Five noble objectives of Governance." See box story on this page today for the hitherto unpublicised MoU which spells out the working arrangement between the SLFP and the JVP which will bind a future government to be formed by them. Hence the battles in the coming weeks will be in the political field whilst the CFA will continue to hold the truce. Remarkably the LTTE, the UNF and the Sandhanaya have pledge there would be no war in the battlefield. At least until April 2, Sri Lankans can safely look for a winner in the political battlefield. Special
police team to probe Safe House raid This is a follow up to findings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry by former Appeal Court Judge, D. Jayawickrema. It will focus on the Police role in the raid and is to begin with the interrogation of ASP Kulasiri Udugampola of the Kandy Division. He has already been sent on compulsory leave by the Police Commission on a recommendation made by Police Chief, Indra de Silva. The ten man team is headed by Senior Superintendent of Police, Asoka Wijetilleke and will be assisted by ASP Neville Guruge, currently attached to the Vavuniya division. The Police Chief has directed DIG (CID), Lionel Goonetilleke, to temporarily release three Inspectors, two Sub Inspectors, a Sergeant Major, a Sergeant and a Woman Police Constable to assistSSP Wijetilleke. The Sunday Times learns that investigations will commence next week. Besides questioning ASP Udugampola and other Police officers connected with the raid, the team is also to question any Army officer or other rank whose name will transpire during the probe. Thereafter the Police are to forward their findings to the Attorney General's Department for further action. A move by the United National Front Government to have a Parliamentary Select Committee probe some aspects of the Presidential Commission's findings and related matters have proved futile. The appointment of the Parliamentary Select Committee has lapsed with last week's dissolution of Parliament.
Sandhanaya limits Cabinet to 35 Of the full number of members of the Executive Committee, the JVP and the SLFP have declared that 50 per cent plus one will be allocated to SLFP members. One third of the number will be allocated to JVP members while the rest will be distributed. These measures are all contained in a third unpublicised Memorandum of Understanding. This document containing the working arrangement between the two was also signed on January 20 by Maithripala Sirisena on behalf of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Tilvin Silva on behalf of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Two other documents signed on the same day and made public. They were the Memorandum of Understanding spelling out the political objectives of the two sides as well as a document titled "Five Noble Objectives of Governance." Here is the unpublicised MOU: MEMORANDUM
OF UNDERSTANDING 1. Since the Commissioner of Elections has proclaimed an election for the North and Eastern Provincial Council it will not be possible for him to recognise a new political party at this juncture. For this reason the registered Political Party having its own political bureau and office bearers and comprising solely of present members of the SLFP and JVP entitled Eksath Janatha Nidahas Peramuna will be converted to a political party which will be an alliance of the two above mentioned parties (and other political parties and organizations). The name of this party will be Eksath Janatha Nidahas Sandhanaya. Accordingly the Constitution, Office Bearers, the Political Bureau and other related organs will be changed in terms and conditions of this Memorandum of Understanding. All documentation incorporating such changes will be sent to the Commissioner of Elections forthwith. In the event of the Eksath Janatha Nidahas Sandhanaya not being recognized by the Commissioner of Elections on legal grounds, the two parties which are signatories to this MOU are bound to establish a new political party or make necessary changes to an existing recognized political party which will satisfy the legal requirements set out by the Commissioner of Elections, so that a legally valid political party would be created to ensure that the terms and conditions of the MOU would be satisfied. Further, if for some reason such a political party is not recognised by the Commissioner of Elections, the parties which are signatories to this MOU reserve the right to contest elections separately. 2. The name of the political party jointly established by the SLFP and the JVP will be Eksath Janatha Nidahas Sandhanaya. (EJNS) The symbol of this political party will be …… The official address of the party …… 3. The EJNS hereinafter referred to as the "Sandhanaya" will make provision in its Constitution for other patriotic progressive political parties to become a constituent party within the Sandhanaya. 4. A Steering Committee comprising four representatives of the SLFP and four representatives of the JVP will be established (hereinafter referred to as the Steering Committee). This Committee will have the responsibility of ensuring prior consultation and agreement regarding political decisions of the Sandhanaya and its political methodologies as well as ensuring agreement on the decisions and methodologies of the Government set up by the Sandhanaya. It will also monitor the progress of such a government in relation to the programme for national salvation and ensure that decisions are implemented. The recommendations of this Committee after receiving the approval of the Executive Committee of the Sandhanaya should be put into effect in both the Sandhanaya and the government established by it. Further, the decisions of the Steering Committee should be jointly supported in the executive Committee. 5. The acceptance of the political parties as constituent, members of the Sandhanaya will require the approval of the SLFP and JVP. However, this condition will not apply to all those parties presently members of the People's Alliance (PA). If the Secretary of the Sandhanaya is to enter into an agreement with any such new party entering the Sandhanaya the terms and conditions should be discussed and approved by the Steering Committee. 6. Any change or amendment to the Executive Committee, Constitution, Name, Symbol or Address should have the approval of the Steering Committee. 7. The office bearers of the Sandhanaya comprises Leader, Chairman, General Secretary, National Organiser, Treasurer and six Assistant Secretaries and six Vice Presidents. 8. Of the above office bearers, Leader, General Secretary and the National Organiser will be from the SLFP while Chairman, one Deputy Chairman and one Assistant Secretary will be from the JVP. 9. The Executive Committee will include the office bearers and members nominated by the respective parties. The Executive Committee will be the highest institution of the Sandhanaya. Of the full number of members; *
50% + 01 will be allocated to the SLFP members. 10. The quorum of the Executive Committee of the Sandhanaya is one third. At least a member of the SLFP and one member of the JVP should be present to constitute the quorum. 11. Except in the case of correspondence with the Commissioner of Elections, the Election Commission, Returning Officers and the Secretary General of Parliament in respect of matters pertaining to electoral representation all other correspondence regarding the Sandhanaya will be signed jointly by the Chairman and Secretary. All letters sent by the Secretary of the Sandhanaya should be copied to the President. 12. The Leader of the Sandhanaya, will have the power to preside at meetings of the Executive Committee and other Sandhanaya meetings as well as exercise powers to summon meetings of the Sandhanaya. In the absence of the Leader, an Executive Committee member nominated by the Leader will preside over meetings of the Executive Committee and the other meetings of the Sandhanaya. 13. Powers to appoint members to represent his party's representatives to the Executive Committee and where necessary to remove such members and appoint others in their place will be vested in the Secretary of the relevant political party. 14. The Leader of the Sandhanaya must summon a meeting of the Executive Committee at least once in three months. In the event of not less than one third the number of members of the Executive Committee making a request in writing the Leader will a week of receiving such letter summon a meeting of the Executive Committee. If the Chairman of the Sandhanaya makes a written request to the Leader to summon a meeting of the Executive Committee, the Leader must afford priority to such a request. 15. The SLFP and the JVP will nominate a representative each for the purpose of releasing statements to the media. Such statements must be issued jointly by these representatives. 16. If a proposal is submitted to the Executive committee of the Sandhanaya by a member or a constituent party such a proposal should be circulated in writing to all members of the committee at least seven days prior to a meeting of the Executive Committee. 17. When the Sandhanaya contests the forthcoming General election the numbers allocated to the JVP relating to the District list and National list as depicted in the Annex should be allocated to the JVP. 18. Once a Government establishes consequent to General election, the Sandhanaya the number of Cabinet Ministries and their functions and the number of Deputy Ministerships should be allocated as referred to in the annexure. 19. Though the General Secretary of the Sandhanaya is the Secretary of the Party recognized by the Commissioner of Elections, responsibilities regarding members returned at a General Election and those appointed to the National List will remain with the General Secretaries of the respective parties. Decisions regarding such members will be taken by the respective General Secretaries. 20. The number of Ministers appointed to the Government established by the Sandhanaya subsequent to the forthcoming General elections should not exceed 35 in number. 21. In allocating the functions of the different Ministries in a Sandhanaya Government every attempt will be made to rationalize and streamline such responsibilities after discussion by the SLFP and the JVP. 22. All appointments and removals in respect of positions in respect of Sandhanaya Government should be taken in agreement with the Steering Committee. An attempt will be made to take decisions on personnel on the basis of objective criteria. 23. When the Sandhanaya forms a Government in the allocation of time in Parliament and appointment of representatives to various Committees the JVP will be afforded a reasonable ratio based on numerical strength. 24. Any changes or amendments to the matters agreed on in this MOU may be affected on the basis of mutual agreement. 25. If any dispute arises regarding the contents or interpretation of the words and phrases therein the matter in dispute will be discussed by the two parties with a view to a final settlement. We certify that we are bound to abide by the terms and conditions set out in this memorandum. Signed;
Signed;
Date 20 January 2004 |
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