First Step on Road to Eelaamnadu

Victor Gunasekara

At first sight the MOU between the SLFP and the UNP which was signed on 23 October 2006 (given below) seems to say little specific and even sound innocuous. But it is as significant as the MOU which was signed between GOSL and the LTTE in 2002. That MOU paved way for the de facto Eelaam which we have even now which gave a secure base for the LTTE to plan its terrorist attacks on the people and armed forces of Sri Lanka. This new MOU, harmless though it may seem, marks a further step down the same road of capitulation to racist terrorism. It is in fact nothing less than the first step on the road to Eelaamnadu.

On the face of it the two parties agree to "cooperate" on five areas identified in Article 1 of the Agreement and for the UNP to support the policy of SLFP in the areas identified. The areas mentioned are vaguely described as Conflict in North and East, Electoral Reforms, Good Governance, Social Development and the proposed Structure of Collaboration. There is no identification of specifics under any of these five heads. Thus the document is an extremely ill-defined one to serve as a proper MOU.

It is however clear that the main matter is the conflict in the North and East. It is significant that the nature of this conflict is never stated. To state that it is in fact a terrorist insurgency would have been too much of an admission to make. It is not even described as an 'ethnic' conflict. This is to minimize the conflict and detract from its extraordinary character.

Clauses 4 and 5 rule out the military solution. This means that the sacrifice of lives as in the recent Muhamalai operation have been in vain. Negotiation is the only option given even though negotiations with the LTTE have failed in the past. Given the nature of LTTE terrorism negotiation cannot be a solution that could be tolerated. Clause 7 is a commitment to legalize the Amendment to the Constitution which has already been declared illegal by the Supreme Court.
Further it is possible to figure out the policy to be adopted from the stated the positions of the two parties to the MOU. The UNP is against any military solution, and both support devolution to the Tamils in the North and East. Both support the policy of the amalgamation of the two provinces which the Supreme Court has declared to be illegal. From background statements that have been made the policy is to grant "Federalism" of the Indian type. Such a devolution has been urged by India which gave a favourable reception to RanilW in his recent visit to India. MahindaR seems to have finally conceded that his "maximum devolution within a unitary state" actually amounts to a Federal state on the Indian model. Of course this has not been explicitly spelled out and we will have to take it as the most likely outcome.

Tamilnadu in the Indian Union is to be taken as the model offered to the Tamil separatists. Since the term 'Tamilnadu' has already been used to denote a State in India we will have to use a different name for its proposed counterpart in Sri Lanka. I have proposed the name 'Eelaamnadu' to designate this entity.

There will be one big difference. While Tamilnadu in India has been a stable unit Eelaamnadu in SL will not be one. When elections are held for Eelaamnadu an LTTE front like the TNA will be the government in that State. The LTTE will not be satisfied with the Eelaamnadu status. They will soon engineer a strategy that will splinter the Federation just as the Yugoslav Federation broke up into its constituent parts. This will mean that Eelaamnadu will become a separate state — the long-declared goal of the LTTE.

The disintegration will not stop there . It will be in the interests of the LTTE to agitate for a Malayanadu for the Tamils in the upcountry. Whether there will be other parts for Muslims, Karuna-Tamils, etc. too is a distinct possibility. The Helas will be confined to their 'Sinhaleh' but on a small fragment of the present Sri Lanka.

We will have to await the outcome of the Geneva talks scheduled for the end of this month to see how the new MOU will play out.