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10th August 1997

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Dhamma discussion

The monthly English panel discussion on the dhamma oraganised by the Colombo Young Men’s Buddhist Association will be held from 10 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. at the YMBA in Borella, next Sunday.

The title “Is Buddhism A Religion or A Philosophy?” will be in discussion.


DSG’s house burgled: jewellery removed

Two persons were arrested yesterday in connection of the robbery at the residence of Deputy Solicitor General, Salim Munsoor where gold jewellery and cash were stolen on Friday, Thalangama Police said.

OIC crimes Thalangama Police D. M. Daramitipola said that thieves had entered the DSG’s residence around 2.30 a.m. and removed the drawer of the almirah which contained the jewellery.

The OIC said further investigations are underway.


Blood donation

Workers of Regnis Lanka now on strike have organised a blood donation campaign to be held on Monday 11th at Ratmalana opposite the factory premises.


LTTE will never compromise on Eelam, says Indian editor

By Frederica Jansz

The Editor of India’s Frontline magazine, Narasimhan Ram, has written extensively on Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict and Indo-Sri Lanka relations.

In an interview with ‘The Sunday Times’, Mr. Ram says Eelam in Sri Lanka is a pipe-dream. He says the LTTE can never win Thamil Eelam by force of arms. In support of his view, he cites several factors such as the increasing strength of Sri Lanka , the international situation, India and the geopolitical reality.

Mr. Ram says, however the armed struggle for Eelam cannot be suppressed through military means even in the intermediate term. In reality such a short term policy does not work.

“Even in the next ten to fifteen years this call for Eelam cannot be suppressed, something else has to happen,” he said.

While applauding the Chandrika Kumaratunga government for its efforts to find a fair solution to the crisis, Mr. Ram says the President made a mistake — perhaps the only mistake — by releasing the political package without talking to the LTTE first.

“Of course this is not an obstacle. She has to try and try again. But, a set of proposals should be put on the table. But then again, Governments even in India want to approach the issue in a different way. They feel that if everything is tabled, then the other side gains in a bargaining situation.”

He recalled what Rajiv Gandhi once told him when asked why the Indian premier did not offer a package deal for the crisis in Punjab. Mr. Gandhi had said, “no, they will then ask for more. This is why many governments and negotiators are wary of the other side indulging in a bargaining game.”

However, Mr. Ram says lessons must be learnt and it would have been far better politically if the Sri Lankan government had done this as its credibility would then have been better assured and the timing would also have been more beneficial.

Mr. Ram reiterated that President Kumaratunga should be strongly supported, for her approach to the whole question was courageous and non-chauvinistic.

But the question is how to tackle the issue when the other side is intransigent?

“I don’t think the LTTE will compromise on Eelam,” Mr. Ram said. “It is consistent on this.”

Recalling an informal interview with LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, Mr. Ram said he never heard anything from him to the effect that the LTTE would either propose or even settle for anything short of Eelam. “The LTTE would of course do so for tactical reasons because it wants to win the sympathy and get the support of the outside world. It is remarkable how many political parties and governments have been taken for a ride and paid for it,” he said.

The LTTE will never talk on substance. There is not a single instance where the LTTE negotiated seriously with any government, whether it is the Sri Lankan government or using India’s good offices in India or through India in Sri Lanka, Mr. Ram claimed.

“Never did it get seriously involved in negotiations on the substance of devolution. On the other hand it will say it is committed to Eelam. It puts up proxy demands. When it thinks the Sinhalese will not concede a merger in toto, it will put it forward. Significantly the merger demand was almost conceded in Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement but the LTTE found some other excuse to shoot it down,” he said. Similarly the LTTE will talk of international mediation or a kind of far-out confederation proposal which some of its friends in Britain, the United States and other European countries have put forward, he said.

“These are not to be taken seriously. The LTTE’s official line, the authorized line, according to what is spelled out by Prabhakaran, is it will not compromise on the demand for Eelam.

“Nevertheless, it is an organization which wants breathing space. So it will call for a cease-fire. It will express its readiness to talk peace, but it will only talk preliminaries or talk about pre-conditions to make talks possible and the other side will never be able to meet those conditions. This is the LTTE model of political behaviour,” Mr. Ram says.

Sooner rather than later they break the peace. Of course it is very difficult to say who fired the first shot, so you can invent very plausible reasons to mislead people or to confuse people, blaming the victim.

President Kumaratunga, Mr. Ram says perhaps is almost naive initially in her perception of the LTTE, but yet the PA government deserves a lot of commendation for a courageous effort, because it is not just a question of the LTTE - the government has to convince the world that it is sincere and Ms. Kumaratunga, Mr. Ram maintains has achieved that objective.

Mr. Ram also says Tamil extremist camps are trying to demonize President Kumaratunga and the government. India, he says cannot go along with that.

“With this whole analysis of the situation where the Sri Lankan government is being blamed by some of the friends of the LTTE. After all what choice do they have? There exist two tracks. Here is a state which is trying to exercise its legitimate authority. What is the point of the LTTE saying the military option to the crisis must be stopped and a negotiated settlement found when it is responsible for killing not only innocent Sinhalese and Muslims but Tamil moderates as well? The most recent being TULF MP A. Thangathurai.”

Mr. Ram says the LTTE is a Pol Potist organization, using terrorist, fascist methods. In such cases a government has to defend its territory, exercise its authority. There is no point in appealing to the Sri Lanka government to give up military operations without putting corresponding pressure on the other side which again no one is in a position to exert because the LTTE does not listen to anyone.

The LTTE, he says is not accountable to anyone including Tamils. It claims it has a mandate from the Tamil people to establish Eelam. This is not true, he says.

The LTTE justifies its claim by pointing out at the 1977 elections results in which the TULF received overwhelming Tamil support for call for a separate state.

“That was not a mandate for an armed struggle. The people were fed-up, and authorized the TULF to do whatever it was going to do,” he said. Today there is a twisting of facts when the LTTE refers to this mandate by the Tamil people — it is bogus. Eelam is a pipe-dream,” Mr. Ram says. “This is how the situation reads today.”

However we have to keep on trying and not give up. But one must be chastened by the experiences of the past and not fall into the LTTE’s trap again, Mr. Ram says.

“Now there is an LTTE model of political behaviour which enables us to predict what the LTTE will do on a future occasion. A stalemate has now occurred because while a process has been set in motion by the Sri Lankan government, the other side which is not a part of that process, has opted out.

Speaking on the devolution proposals, Mr. Ram says the odds are against the package at the moment. The intensity of the conflict should not be exaggerated, he says. “It is pretty intense if accounted in terms of the casualty rates. But most of the time it has been a low intensity conflict. This type of conflict takes a huge toll in economic terms, in political and democratic terms and in human terms. In terms of human life and well-being.”

The LTTE, he says, can keep this guerrilla war going. It cannot hold Jaffna perhaps but it can still keep the war going.

“What option is there? It’s a trap - we have to put our heads together and find a solution,’’ Ram said.

The political package, Mr. Ram says is one of the most far-reaching sets of proposals put forward as a solution to the ethnic crisis. ‘‘There is no question about it,’’ he says. “It’s not called a federal framework. It’s a union of regions model which involves partitioning of legislative, judicial and executive power.”

Unlike India, he says, which has three lists — the central list, the state list and the concurrent list with the authority of the jurisdiction at the centre prevailing — the Sri Lankan devolution proposals have no such thing.

Mr. Ram cautions, however, that one of the main weaknesses with the proposals is the absence of judicial review, because in a federal set-up the higher courts or the supreme court must not be side-lined. “Disputes between the states and the centre on questions of jurisdiction and other powers, there will be conflict. There are problems of that kind and the powers to dissolve regional councils and to dismiss chief ministers and the board of ministers surely go against federalism,” he says adding that these weaknesses however could be overcome in negotiations.

“There are two or three issues. One is the substance of devolution. The other is the unit of devolution.”

Mr. Ram says today the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has become more assertive, more conscious and has witnessed innocent Muslims being butchered or driven away by the LTTE. So it is asserting its position more. And the Tamil moderates, especially the TULF, have come to a virtual agreement with the SLMC on the question of the unit of devolution — that of forming an autonomous region for the Muslims in the Eastern Province. Even within Tamil areas in the north and east they want safeguards, quotas and so on. So these arrangements have naturally to be entered into in a democratic process. With that qualification there could be a significant advance in terms of content and devolution of power, Mr. Ram says.

“It’s not as though it is smooth sailing. But, it’s a good package,’’ he says. “In any case there is no other choice. No other alternative. This is the best on offer. It’s not a question of ‘either, or.’ You can improve now, negotiate and take it on in the best way possible. There are ways reasonable, rational and democratic. Progressive political organizations would go about it.

But the LTTE is not like that. It is profoundly anti-democratic. Therefore, it is not going to give this a chance. It has already rejected the package,” he says.

Commenting on the plight of the Tamil people, Mr. Ram says they are not given much choice.

“Opponents to the LTTE have been disarmed and cannot stand up to the organization within reason. It may not be merely by a force of arms that the LTTE rules, but there is also an emotional appeal — that without the LTTE the position of the Tamil people would be nothing. This is the reality,” he says.

“At the same time the LTTE will not function within a democratic framework. So the Tamil people in such an instance will not be able to express their opinions freely.

It is hard to say what the Tamil people want. The LTTE may not represent the overarching views of the Tamil people, but it has entrenched itself through armed force, intimidation and emotional links with the people, without which it could not be carrying on this guerrilla war,” he says.

“What the people want if they are given a chance is hypothetical at this stage. We hope they will be reasonable but on the other hand they can be misled.

It cannot be tested in the present situation.”

As long as Prabhakaran remains the leader of the LTTE he will not allow the organization or the Tamil people to accept any solution short of Thamil Eelam, Mr. Ram says.

“However if Prabhakaran is killed or in some way eliminated there is still no guarantee that the LTTE will accept anything short of Eelam, but there is a chance. There are many factors against the LTTE at this stage — the US has branded it as a terrorist organization. India has proscribed the group. I would say the killing of Rajiv Gandhi was more than a crime.

It was a major blunder on the part of the LTTE,’’ he said.


Rupavahini finished him off.

What happened to our confident dazzling Jayasuriya ( Sana ) last week? Sana, chasing Lara was at 326 at the close of play on Tuesday, and catching up with Lara looked like a breeze.

But, the cricket Board and the media finished him off. The cricket Board offered free tickets, ( not too bad a move ) but the Rupavahini capped it all by announcing that free tickets are offered to cricket enthusiasts to witness the “historic occasion.”

Apparently, they had concluded the record was already broken. Who tried to cash in on the probable popular occasion we do not know, but the misplaced clairvoyance probably put massive pressure on Sana. How could he let this throbbing stadium down, and Rupavahini and the whole jazz-band as well? As the pressure built up, he gave a dolly catch. The rest is history — more than historic. Rupavahini finished him off....


Tips and traps of angioplasty

A conference sponsored by the Asia Pacific Society of Cardiology will be held at Royal Palms and Tangerine Beach Hotels, Kalutara from August 15 to 17, and will be attended by around 200 eminent cardiologists from the Asia Pacific Region.

The course directors for the workshop will be experienced Angioplasters, Dr. A.B. Mehta from Jaslock Hospital, Bombay, Dr. Mathew Samuel, from Apollo Hospital, Madras, the current President of the Asia Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology and Dr. Ashok Seth of Escorts Hospital, New Delhi.

The objective of this meeting is to exclusively discuss Angiofilms on complications, crisis situations and their solutions. Emphasis will be more on interaction with opinion leaders from the Asia Pacific Region and discussions pertaining to problems. An exciting, challenging session on ‘What would you do” for difficult and unusual cases has been planned.

The Sri Lankan team from the Institute of Cardiology, National Hospital, led by Chief of Cardiology, Dr. Nihal Thenabadu, will participate in the sessions.

Also cardiologists from General Hospital Kandy, General Hospital Galle and Sri Jayawardenapura General Hospital, will attend.

Some members of the Faculty would also be conducting case demonstrations at the Nawaloka Private Hospital on the 14th with our local cardiologists.

All this has been made possible with the generous support of Bard International and will be an interesting, educational experience for all participants and in particular, for our young cardiologists, an excellent opportunity to improve their skills.


ICRC urges respect for humanitarian laws

By S.S. Selvanayagam

The ICRC’s mission in Sri Lanka will be more meaningful and beneficial to all if the government and the LTTE could come to an understanding in honouring obligations under international humanitarian laws, an ICRC official said.

The ICRC delegate in Batticaloa, Victoria Romana addressing at a workshop on ‘International Humanitarian Law’ at Batticaloa Municipal Council Chamber said the ICRC was facing difficulties because of this lack of understanding between the parties to the dispute. “Many people ask me why the ICRC is silent when international humanitarian laws are violated or not respected. We should be neutral and we cannot talk. The main activity of the ICRC here is to visit detainees, look into their welfare and inform the family members about their conditions and whereabouts.

“We cannot issue statements to the media condemning the activities of the government or the LTTE”, she said.


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