
Three essential matters for resuming peace talks
Editorial comment in Tamil Daily “Uthayan” of 07 July 2005
After the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE signed the
agreement on P-TOMS confidence that the stalled peace talks
could be taken forward to find a peaceful resolution to the
ethnic issue has been widely expressed at many levels. In
particular the international community is eagerly expecting
this to happen.
However, two weeks after the agreement on P-TOMS has been
signed there is no progress in the peace talks, nor is there
any progress in the P-TOMS implementation. On the contrary the situation is tensed to the extent that
the LTTE has placed a deadline regarding the matter of
transportation for the LTTE cadres. After the signing of the P-TOMS and following some signals
that peace talks could be restarted from the political
leadership in the government, apparently the international
community is eager to find out the position of the LTTE. This concern of the internationally community must be
welcomed. Yet, it must also understand the ground situation.
It is said that the LTTE is taking steps to inform the
international community at many levels about the situation.
Apparently LTTE is informing and will inform the
international community that there are three stumbling
blocks to resuming the peace talks. One issue is the shadow war against the LTTE planned and
carried out by the security forces in the east. Security
forces are staging behind the scene activities, trying to
portray that the security forces and the intelligence wing
are two different unconnected entities. Under the banner of
Karuna, the intelligence unit is bringing together rogue
elements to carry out the shadow war to break the power of
the LTTE in the east and to destroy their structures. LTTE
is fully aware that the government has given its full
blessing for this activity. LTTE believes that it is
meaningless to hold peace talks with a government on one the
hand when the same government is carrying out a shadow war
on the other hand. Second issue is the suspicion among Tamils whether the
government will implement the P-TOMS agreement that was
signed after a lot of pushing and pulling. Ranil government
which had a majority in parliament allowed SIHRN agreement,
signed between the government and the LTTE for the
rehabilitation of Tamil people affected by the war, to die.
This in spite of the fact that it was signed as an part of
the peace process. In this context, Tamil people do not
believe that an agreement with a minority government will
result in any benefits, or aid, or relief for the Tamils.
They are expecting that this too will be allowed to die. Therefore, it is meaningless to think that just because
P-TOMS agreement has been signed the time is right to
restart the peace talks. Tamils think that such a view is
unacceptable. If the government can demonstrate that it has
the will to implement what was agreed in the P-TOMS, then
ripe atmosphere for the resumption of peace talks will be
created. The third issue is that there is no strong political
leadership in the south of Sri Lanka. Breakdown of the
coalition, prevailing confusion, and increased tension has
created a volatile situation. The ruling group has lost its
majority. There is also confusion whether president in power
will last for just another three months or whether she will
last for another fifteen months. The political tension in
south is the worst ever. There is no purpose or fairness in
LTTE restarting the peace talks with a weak government that
is in a confused state. Thus the LTTE will explain, and has explained to the
international community that,
- The time is not ripe yet for restarting the peace talks
and
- The efforts to create such an environment must be taken
with commitment in the south. If the stalled peace talks is to be resumed, the shadow war
conducted in the east with the blessing of the government
must first be brought to a stop. The P-TOMS agreement must
be speedily implement. A strong political leadership must be
created in the south. These three are the basic
requirements.
07 July 2005
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