S. Akurugoda

 Secret Pacts are not new to Sri Lanka politics, especially during elections .  Claims of having secret Pacts or secret understanding overrides those of open Pacts.

 The well known Bandaranaike – Chelvanayakam Pact, JR – Rajiv Pact, Ranil – Prabhakaran Pact  were not considered as secret Pacts, since the contents were known to the public, at least at some stage, after the agreements have been signed.

 UNP’s Dudley Senannayake who’s government lasted only 3 months after winning the general election in March 1960 due to insufficient majority in the Parliament , managed to get the support of all the breakaway groups of the S.W.R.D Bandaranaike’s government formed in 1956 when forming the UNP led coalition government in 1965.  

 Philip Gunawardena’s MEP and K.M.P Rajaratne’s Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) were among the breakaway groups, who joined  Dudley in 1965. 

K.M.P Rajaratne,  who  staged a ‘Upawasaya’ (fast) under the old Parliament building premises  as a mark of protest against the delay of the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s government to present the Sinhala Only act,  was considered as  an ultra nationalist until late1960’s.   

 On the other hand, Dudley signed a Pact with S.J.V Chelvanayakam  of  the Federal party (Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi or ITAK) in March 1965, soon after the general election and the main agreements were  based on the changes to the official language status, formation of District Councils and granting of lands under colonization schemes in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. 

 While claiming that he is forming a national government, Dudley gave one cabinet ministerial position to M. Tiruchelvam of the Federal party and brought regulations framed under the Tamil  language (special provisions) Act as a priority. On January 8, 1966 the regime allowed police, even to shoot the protesters who marched against the regulations and Ven. Dambarawe Rathnasara Thero was killed as a result of the shooting.

 On an another claim, the UNP leader, Ranil Wickramasinghe  was said to have entered into a secret Pact or understanding with the murderous LTTE prior to the election in 2002, apparently for mere frustration, due to his continuous failure to grab power since 1994. Having come to power as the non-executive PM, he went into fulfil his secret understanding by signing the so-called one-sided ceasefire with the terrorist outfit thereby dragging the entire nation to the doorstep of Tigers’ den, as at today, leaving little or no room to escape but to give-in to killer Tiger’s every demand, one by one, quite lavishly.

The UNP leader strengthened the hands of the terrorists by allowing to destroy the Long Ranger’s HQ in Athurugiriya, demarcating so-called LTTE controlled areas, allowing the cunning Norwegians to provide the high-tech communication equipment to the LTTE and virtually providing every facility to please the terrorist outfit during his short tenure of office and is now vowed, shamelessly, to strengthened further by guaranteeing outright self rule.The LTTE’s systematic wipe-out of the state security intelligence and army informants while building up their war capabilities, by leaps and bounds, was apparent under his rule.

According to media reports, former UNP General Secretary and Health Minister Tissa Attanayake told that the UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe  and opposition common candidate Maithripala Sirisena had, in an undisclosed Pact signed on Nov. 1, 2014, among other things, agreed to implement the following items affecting the country’s  national security.

(a)      Agreed to reduce the number of troops stationed in the North by 50 percent and dismantle all the High Security Zones and return the lands to their owners

(b)      Agreed to reduce the number of army personnel located in the Northern Province by 50 per cent had been signed to please the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

(c)      Agreed to probe alleged war crimes and to implement all recommendations given by United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

(d)      Agreed to remove  all High Security Zones in the Northern Province and return of lands to their owners

(e)      Agreed to a power devolution exceeding the 13th Amendment to the constitution fulfilling demands of Tamils

(f)       Agreed to cut down 40 per cent of funds allocated to the Defence Ministry and to provide the money for the development of the Northern and Eastern Provinces,

Although both Ranil and Srisena had denounced that the signatures are forged, they didn’t utter a single word against the factuality of the contents of the agreement said to have been signed.

 It is also interesting to note that the items like country’s national security  and its unitary status are not appearing either in  the election manifesto or in any of the open Pacts, known to the public, of the opposition candidate Sirisena up to now.

 By looking at the political history behind personalities operating behind Sirisena, like Chandrika, Ranil, Mangala, Rajitha, Mano Ganesan, Wickramabahu and all those who are joining their campaign  including the latest, Muslim Congress and TNA , the likely  treacherous understanding between them is well and clear whether  such a secret pact is signed or not. 

 JHU  joining hands with the above treacherous elements to form a so-called national government, as they dream, is something similar to what K.M.P. Rajaratne’s JVP  did to form a similar form  of National government led by UNP which included  S.J.V. Chelvanayakam’s  ITAK in 1965.  The fate of JHU will not be different to that of  Rajaratne’s JVP with time to come.   

The above agreements, if implemented in an unlikely event of winning the  opposition candidate, could bring disastrous consequences to the country while paving the way for the greatest ever victory to the separatist and other interested  groups operating within and outside Sri Lanka.