"Sri Lanka Government Proposal for a Non-Binding Referendum is Meaningless" - Anton Balasingam
Press reports Friday quoted Sri Lanka's Chief Negotiator, Prof. G. L. Peiris, as saying the United National Front (UNF) government is "earnestly considering" holding a non-binding referendum on the Norwegian peace initiative. Mr. Anton Balasingam, Political advisor and theoretician to the LTTE has commented on these reports.
"It is meaningless to ask the people for an opinion at this stage when sufficient progress has not been made on core political issues," Mr. Balasingham said. He added that a referendum on the peace process was unworkable as a significant proportion of the Tamil people in the island are unable to vote. "A referendum is impractical in the Tamil areas. A million Tamils are refugees abroad and another million are internally displaced and efforts to resettle the IDPS are proceeding very slowly,and these voters' absence would render the elections meaningless." "We are surprised at the government's announcement of these proposals without discussing the matter with us. We have been repeatedly assured by the government, even at the last round [in Hakone, Japan] that it has the overwhelming support of the Sinhala people for the peace process,In the light of these assurances, we feel a referendum is illogical and unnecessary" Mr. Balasingam said.
04 April 2003
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Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
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