| |
As an Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) team left for Geneva , important information surrounding the Southern Consensus arrived between dominant political parties stressing on political settlement to the ethnic strife is emanating. While the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP) consensus agrees that the state has the paramount duty to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, it concedes that “the eventual solution to the ethnic issue has to be political in character” through “action at the political level.”
The document says that the Central or Federal Government should be only concerned with national issues such as defense, security, diplomacy, finance, election management, national-level planning, immigration, navigation, and shipping and leave all else to “local administrators.” It talks about power-sharing in a “participatory system” with maximum devolution but does not mention Federalism, unitary, or the so-called “Indian model.” In other words, the documents agrees that an “equitable framework for power-sharing” is necessary where “the Central Government would be invested with all the powers, functions and responsibilities essential for the effective conduct of the national policy” and “other matters will fall within the purview of regional administrators.” It also promises “access to adequate resources” for “regional administrators” so they could “effectively” discharge their duties. It also concedes that this political solution should be acceptable to the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities.
Meanwhile, the LTTE team has left for Geneva from Colombo . Unlike earlier, this time around, the Lankan Government has been extremely forthcoming to grant “safe passage” to the Tamil negotiators and has also lined up an impressive set of political and bureaucrat team to negotiate peace with the Tamils. The LTTE says that an agenda for the talks has not been decided although the Government has proposed a seven-point agenda including “pluralism, democracy, human rights and child recruitment.” The Government had also reiterated that it does not want to get bogged down with the nitty-gritty of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA).
|
|
While the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka and Norway who will facilitate the conversation do not expect any immediate breakthrough, expect that the return to negotiations may ameliorate the situation on the ground and perhaps create an atmosphere for political engagement. The Government will send Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Ferial Ashraff, and Rohitha Bogollagama and bureaucrats Peace Secretariat Chief Palitha Kohona, Presidential Adviser Gomin Dayasiri, and the former Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando.
To ensure that the Southern Consensus does not wither away, the political parties have
agreed to create a high-level monitoring committee jointly headed by President Mahinda Rajapakse and Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe. While the UNP insists that it will support the Government on political settlement and oppose terrorism and human rights violations, there are still unresolved differences between the parties on so-called “crossovers” (a euphemism for political defection). Rajapakse is highlighting the importance of “building goodwill” between the LTTE and the government delegation more than trying to hammer out a solution. He has also instructed the delegation to convince the international community that the Government is honestly looking for a lasting peace.
Unlike the last time, the Government is making all the right sounds and moves. By focusing on peace, political consensus, military victories, and ironing out logistical differences, the Lankan Government is going into the negotiations from a position of power. The LTTE is going into the negotiations from a position of weakness having been cornered on many fronts-- having lost several military confrontations, financial sources in the US , Canada , and Europe , and not getting the support it needed from India .
However, the LTTE had struck out impressively against the Lankan Navy recently if only to show that it still has several punches left and that may be enough for both sides to talk peace with a diplomatic face-saving position and possibly build a road to peace
|
|
![]()
|
