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A Political Solution, but not to cater only to Tigers

L.Peiris

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary General
Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process

Ref: your article -A Political Solution, but not to cater only to Tigers -18.02.08

As an intelligent educated Sri Lankan who has done immense work in countering the serious disinformation propaganda network of the Tamil terrorists, Sri Lankans do appreciate your valuable service. However in the interest of constructive discussion your view on the APRC leaves much to be desired.

The All Party Representative Committee (APRC) which has taken 1½ years to present proposals is a joke. The majority of its members are from the minority communities. The thirteen political parties that signed the proposals are the minority of the democratically elected representatives of the people of the country. Two parties namely the UNP and the JVP which together hold the majority of the democratically elected representatives of the people of the country, has made it clear that they do not agree with these proposals. As such it is not criticism but a fact that these are not the proposals of all parties, and that the parties involved in discussions are supporters of the government, because of the ministerial positions they enjoy. They may have widely divergent views on the ethnic question, from the point of minorities but this cannot be an achievement as the consensus reached on the many issues are not the views of the majority people in the country. The money wasted on this committee would have helped thousands of underprivileged children. There is absolutely nothing new or of essence that has come out of this committee.

During the past decades the Sri Lankan governments have been led by weak individuals with a subservient attitude towards foreign governments allowing them to meddle into the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. As you have stated "From the very beginning, the LTTE has consistently stood out, not for any settlement, not for elections, but for an unelected absolute control of an interim administration, even while continuing to destroy all opposition to it amongst Tamils". This unfortunately will not change just like you can’t change the spots of the tiger. Finally President Rajapakse has shown courage and determination to eradicate LTTE terrorism, by empowering his armed forces to take the war to the terrorists and exterminate them.

The 13th amendment may show the opportunities for the general public to fulfil their needs through the decentralization of power. But in devolution unless very clear lines are spelt of the authority of the central government and the authority of the provinces, it could easily lead to a division of the country. Defence, Foreign Affairs, Immigration & Emigration, Judiciary, Law Enforcement, Education Policy and such matters which affect all Sri Lankans irrespective of the province they live, should not be decentralised just to satisfy any minority community or communities. Sri Lanka is too small a nation to have different provincial policies on national issues in different provinces for a 20 million national population. The only benefit of decentralising will be employment for tiers and tiers of free-loading politicians and their appointees.

The 13th amendment was introduced through a Gazette notification to merge the Northern and the Eastern Provinces without the consent of the people of Sri Lanka at a referendum. Once merged no President or government had the courage to de-merge the North and the East. It was left to ordinary civilian stalwarts like H L De Silva, Gomin Dayasiri etc. to take the matter to the High Court to nullify this illegal merger. Police powers, which by and large belong to Provinces under the 13th amendment, are one such contentious issue because once devolved it will be difficult to retract. It is better to be safe than sorry and amend the 13th amendment so that police powers remain centralised in this island nation, where weapons and security of the nation are involved, and to maintain the unitary status of Sri Lanka.

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