by Malinda Seneviratne
A strange silence has descended on what the government likes to call "The Peace Process". We do know that Balasingham unilaterally pulled out of talks. We do know that the government’s "peace initiative" has been reduced to sending one proposal after another offering Balasingham variously formatted Interim Administrations. And we do know that Balasingham is returning these pledges of eternal and undying faith in him unopened. All the noise we’ve heard over the past few weeks have been coming from other quarters, those who (not without reason) suspect the government’s bona fides with respect to a "negotiated settlement". The SLMM whose deafness and blindness have already been well established have proved to be dumb as well. It is not surprising that massive numbers turned out in Gokannatitta recently to tell them, "Please leave!" And not too politely either.

This silence on the part of the government can mean one of several things. Maybe the government and Balasingham have exhausted all possible topics for conversation. This is hard to believe, because so far we have seen less dialogue than monologue. The government delegation has acted so much like Balasingham’s echo that the very term "government delegation" seems out of order. The word "political marionette" comes to mind. Perhaps the silence is deliberate. Balasingham made promises in Hakone regarding human rights and the upholding of democratic norms. Balasingham, not wanting to concede the substantial prize of accountability and a visible improvement in performance, had to keep away from Tokyo. He has gone underground. And Ranil Wickremesinghe, to all intents and purposes, seems to have happily followed him. In short, six rounds of much publicised talks have produced a couple of worms.

Ranil promised Balasingham a "Tamil Nation" in the guise of an interim administration prior to the elections. He promised us peace. Almost two years later, he is still promising us peace and doing his best to keep his promise to Balasingham.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his election campaign, portrayed himself as the prince of peace, a visionary, a great leader with courage. He has now showed the true length and breadth of this "stature" that he marketed during the campaign. He admitted to a gathering of Asian liberals and democrats, that he does not have substantial experience as a peace maker, and that he "has to feel his way and seek to find solutions, constantly testing and experimenting to find better ways of achieving that goal "which sometimes seems so far away." This, he has the "courage" to admit, epitomises the activities of the past month or so. Thus, over a year into the "peace process" he admits he is bereft of ideas. He is lost. Or, probably more true, he has been waylaid. His loss has been Balasingham’s gain and this has to be expected since the entire drama was scripted and orchestrated by Balasingham.

Ranil-Balasingham

The Ranil-Balasingham alliance had strong support from the so-called anti-war civil society, largely made up of individuals and organisations who are funded by western interests. So we had "One Sri Lanka", "SOLO-U", "National Peace Council" who were painting the streets with doves, holding hands in public and writing love letters to each other. This, I prefer to call, Balasingham’s Pussy Cat Brigade. Their theatrics was the Southern equivalent of the Pongu Thamil exercises in the North. Where’s all the bubble and fizz now? We don’t see any agitation, no holding hands, not even an effort to talk about core issues. And not a word about process.

The pussy cats are not yet done, however. The peace talks have collapsed, and so we have a new wave of paid advertisements to create the illusion that "peace is really happening". Balasingham’s civic arm, i.e. his hand-holding people, are hard at work to put the blame on the Sinhala Buddhists. Last week we saw a couple of interesting (and revealing!) advertisements in the form of messages from an organisation calling itself "the National Anti-War Front," supposedly a coalition uniting over 75 civic groups for a peaceful Sri Lanka. So interesting that I will do them the favour of quoting the text in full.

The first advertisement carried a visual of a clenched fist with the following shout: "clenched fists cannot receive". The message? "Our refusal to give will also prevent our receiving. The only way to peace in Sri Lanka is when all political powers and parties agree to share power and in doing so freely empower the people. Sharing of power will usher in a new era where citizens of this land will be responsible and accountable. It is the only way to open the doors of prosperity and economic growth. Clenched fists only cause pain." (Emphasis theirs).

The National Anti-War Front would have done much better if they had been less clenched-fisted with their wording. They could have addressed the missive to Balasingham and talked about how his refusal to give has prevented the Tamil speaking people from receiving freedom and the right to live in peace.

The second advertisement is patently mischievous. Inserting in small print, their understanding of "the true meaning of Esala", these terrorists in respectable clothing have insinuated that it is the Buddhists who are being tight-fisted and that if they "give" then they will "receive". But again, they succumb to the Freudian Slip.

They point out, "A man of peace renounced his life of affluence, comfort and selfishness and took to a path of love, compassion and tolerance in the pursuit of the truth." They couldn’t be more correct. Balasingham should renounce violence for starters, and not a vague statement that he is "committed to a political settlement". Let us renounce our racism, selfishness and chauvinism, they plead. Is Balasingham ready to do that? Is he ready to apologise for the cleansing the North and East of Sinhalese and Muslims? Is he ready for democratic reform and create a level playing field where he, unarmed, would compete with other unarmed political groups? If his hands are not in the "giving" mood, then wouldn’t it be logical that he cannot receive? This message should be returned to the sender.

After capturing power, Ranil Wickremesinghe did not waste any time. We saw the key offensive weapon of the armed forces, the long-range undercover unit exposed, disarmed, humiliated and slaughtered. We saw the MoU. Then the failed Balasingham Amendment (the 19th). We had the ho-ha about High Security Zones in the areas liberated from the terrorists when in the terrorist held "high security zones" are not discussed and in fact they are no-go zones for even the SLMM. We had high tech telecommunication equipment courtesy Norway being shipped to Kilinochchi. We had Ranil Wickremesinghe agreeing to federalism. We saw him looking the other way while Balasingham massacred leaders of rival Tamil speaking political groups. And we saw all this being called "peace". In short, which Balasingham ticked off items from his agenda, Ranil Wickremesinghe white-washed all these crimes and acts of aggression in the name of supporting the peace process, chanting intermittently "this is the last chance", "this is the last chance".

Hakone was an unforeseen turn of events which forced Balasingham to alter his agenda. So he broke away from the talks, offering the patently lame excuse that "the Norwegians are working out an agenda to please the international community while ignoring the difficulties faced by the people on the ground". So he demands "a new, re-defined agenda". In other words, he wants everyone to get back on track and go along with his agenda. Ranil has not refused to do this. This is how the notion of an interim administration entered the agenda all of a sudden. And let us not forget that we are still to hear one word about the core issues.

What does all this prove? Each negotiation process, from the Thimpu Talks onwards, has seen Balasingham winning ideological concessions. Balasingham has conceded nothing. He remains tight-fisted. This time around, without any discussion whatsoever on the core-issues he is obtaining a legitimising document from Ranil Wickremesinghe. If Ranil, as he claims, doesn’t know what to do or where he is going, he could have done some homework about the productive paths that peace initiatives can take. Northern Ireland and South Africa come to mind. The logic is simple: a peace agreement followed by the establishment of democratic institutions, elected representatives assuming office, establishment of rule of law and then the elected representatives taking the peace process forward. Balasingham is too selfish to broad base and democratise the process. He is too much of a terrorist to honour a commitment on human rights issues. Ranil is too unimaginative and too servile to tell Balasingham that this and not Balasingham’s agenda will lead to peace. A true peace process is essentially a dismantling of terrorist networks and the establishing of democratic institutions accountable to the people. This, Balasingham does not want to happen.

In all these matters, Ranil is maintaining a strict silence. The "civic front" of Balasingham has been ordered to keep quite on matters democratic and concentrate on further disarming the Sinhala Buddhists ideologically. The third front, the one led by Prabhakaran, is the only one making noise. Preparatory noise, we have to conclude.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, has failed to deliver on his promises to Balasingham. When he pleaded that we support his peace effort, he was essentially telling us not to disturb or disrupt the implementation of Balasingham’s agenda. He vilified in public those who refused to go along with his appeasement plan, calling them war-mongers. And he dared to ask publicly, "if not this, what else?" He was asking, "Is there an alternative to the creation of a terrorist state in the North and East?"

Today, he has been forced into a corner. The man who signed the MoU without soliciting any suggestions from the opposition or anyone else, the man who de-proscribed the terrorist without consulting the people, has had to change his tune. In Embilipitiya he urged all political parties to submit their proposals regarding the peace process without exerting pressure on the government to abandon its quest for peace. He wants to be the sole-representative of the Sinhalese. The negotiations must go through him, with other political parties having the power only to offer suggestions. This is not what is called broad-basing the process. This is not democratisation. Like Balasingham, he wants his slice of political monopoly. And this is a man who won just 46% of the vote through a grand multi-party, minority-party-led coalition. The Sinhalese have every right to say "No!"

The problem is not that Ranil Wickremesinghe has not delivered the goods, but that he just cannot do it, for his political survival is in the hands of Balasingham. He has forfeited his credibility. He has no right to forfeit our sovereignty, independence, history and heritage. What should the people do? That, the people will have to decide.