Editorial

Editorial

Preparing for talks

Regardless of personal politics, all Lankans must keep their fingers crossed that President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s present visit to India, widely perceived as a mission to test the waters in New Delhi on possible negotiations with the LTTE in the short term, will be successful. Although a considerable section of public opinion in this country is convinced that the Tigers must be militarily defeated and the war must be ferociously prosecuted, that must be a last option. If a just and fair negotiated settlement is possible, it must be vigorously pursued. Otherwise this country can only sink deeper in the present mire.

India has at all times been a key player in Sri Lanka’s tragedy. Although memories of the recent past are now fading in the context of the excellent relations between Colombo and New Delhi at present, Lankans must never forget the sad but true fact that it was India that made the LTTE into the monster that it is today. Also it was India, with its infamous "food drop’’ in 1987 when Operation Vadamarachchi led by the late Generals Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Vijaya Wimalaratne was on the verge of success, that signalled that she would intervene if that most likely decisive military thrust was not abandoned.

The rest is contemporary history. The J. R. Jayewardene administration had no option but to sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement of 1987 under which the Indian Peace Keeping Force came here to underwrite a political solution to Sri Lanka’s long festering ethnic problem. Prabhakaran himself, no less than the Colombo government faced with the growing JVP insurrection in the south, was forced to go along with the Indian-brokered terms. Later President Premadasa was to make common cause with the LTTE to get the IPKF out of Sri Lanka and another opportunity to bring the Tigers to heel was lost.

Colombo understands very well that whatever solution is worked out must have India’s concurrence if not support. That is why Oslo too has been at pains to keep New Delhi fully briefed of developments in the Norwegian facilitated peace effort. In fact, Special Envoy Erik Solheim has been visiting the Indian capital as often as he has been coming to Colombo. Nobody is making any secret of the fact that India is kept privy to every development on the peace front here. It is our good fortune that Sri Lanka’s giant neighbour and regional power is today fully supportive of Colombo’s initiatives both on the war and the peace fronts and it is essential that we retain our best relations with India and ensure her continuing goodwill.

The extension by the LTTE of its so-called unilateral ceasefire for the third consecutive month is a clear indication that the Tigers are feeling the heat of international developments. The original intention of the ceasefire was clearly to present a "good boy’’ image to Britain which was due to publish its list of banned overseas terrorist organisations earlier this month. While Sri Lankans are disappointed that London has refrained from publicly branding the Tigers the terrorists they are, what has happened in the United Kingdom may have the advantage of keeping the LTTE on leash, at least outside the war zone in the northeast for the time being. Nevertheless, it is essential that diplomatic and other pressure be maintained at the highest level and with the greatest intensity to secure the banning of the Tigers particularly in the UK and also in other countries in Europe and in Canada where there is a strong LTTE presence. Such action will to some degree de-fang the Tigers by limiting particularly their fund raising capabilities and thereby blunt their weapons procuring ability.

It is also time that the nations prepare for the negotiations between the Colombo government and the LTTE which are likely to begin later this year. Some report say that these talks which will most probably be held at some overseas venue are possible around May. In the first instance, it is essential that the government holds a brief from all parts of the polity and if that is an impossibility, at least from the preponderant majority, to work out a peace deal. In this context there is regrettably no effort principally on the part of the government to improve its relations with the UNP. Both the PA and the UNP must be big enough to rise above their own partisan interests in the matter of presenting a common front to the Tigers. Sadly, nothing of that sort is visible even though talks with the Tigers now seem to be only months if not weeks away. What is needed is the kind of approach that was demonstrated in Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike’s time when Mr. Dudley Senanayake, then Leader of the Opposition, was a member of the delegation that went to India to conclude what was popularly dubbed the Sirima - Shastri Pact on the so-called "stateless’’ people of Indian origin here.

Most analysts believe that it is unlikely that the LTTE will agree to any deal that does not include a permanent merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. That indeed is widely predicted to be a major sticking point if we can get as far as that. There must be very serious thought on how far the rest of the country will be willing to go in breaking that likely deadlock. The best minds available must be commissioned to look at these matters now itself instead of waiting for the agreement on peace talks. The calibre of people who will represent the Sri Lanka government must certainly be superior to those that were selected soon after the Chandrika government was first elected in 1994. We are sure that President Kumaratunga who has since acquired many more political skills will be aware of that necessity.

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