Videoconference to unite Prabakaran & President Rajapakse

Shenali Waduge

I suggested this prior to the previous round of talks that didn’t lead anywhere except burden the public for expenses incurred by the Government delegation.

I am now resending this suggestion now that once more the Co-Chairs, Donors and International Community are pressurizing the Government of Sri Lanka to take flight to Oslo or Geneva for “peace talks”. Sri Lanka’s parliamentary representatives should remember at all times that this is not a time for a holiday when men and women who join our Armed Forces to save the nation from terrorism are dying on a daily basis. We need to soon get our house in order because we cannot throw stones from glass windows. We need to really think nationally at this juncture.

Mediators, peace envoys and the like are just messengers carrying what one party says and informing the other. There is no need to go all the way to a foreign country especially when the final decision will rest with two people – the President of Sri Lanka or Prabakaran. If the final decision lays in the hands of these two men – the ground work can be done by both their advisors but the time is ripe for both of them to actually have a face to face dialogue. Understanding the risk for both parties, it is once more suggested that a video link be created for this purpose.

However, with the present upscale of violence by the LTTE and the manner in which they spring surprise attacks on the Armed Forces and innocent civilians on a daily basis, all of us question why any talks should take place if the issue of “peace within Sri Lanka” is not happening at this very moment in time.

We assume peace talks are a preliminary step to entering a negotiated settlement that both the Government & the LTTE has agreed upon.

If the Government is prepared to enter talks to negotiate a settlement there is need to also remember that the LTTE is not the sole representative of the Tamil people.

On the part of the LTTE, if it so wants to and has accepted to negotiate & work towards a final solution – it MUST STOP ALL ACTS OF VIOLENCE & accept other Tamil parties who will and should be also part of that negotiated settlement.

The armed forces belong to the sovereign Government and no one can question their right to defend. Thus, there is greater necessity for the LTTE to initiate action to see that they immediately stop their acts of terrorism if they are sincere in their claims to enter “peace talks”. However, if the contrary is happening is there any reason for talks? Please take account of every man the LTTE is eliminating. Will the Norwegian peace keepers, India, Mr. Akashi and the international community respond to this? It becomes more apparent that the LTTE is taking the entire international community, the Co-Chairs, Donors and perhaps even the Norwegians for a ride!

It is for this reason that the suggestion that the two main leaders of the GOSL and the LTTE discuss and debate issues directly via videoconferencing instead of having messengers sent to and from resulting only in more burdens on the public.