To talk or not to talk …

The Island Editorial
Courtesy The Island 05-02-2007

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s tour of Vakarai on Saturday, even before dust had settled on the battlefield, has had a far more devastating impact on the LTTE than the military onslaught that drove away hundreds of battle-hardened Tiger cadres who had ruled that township for over ten years. Although many will doubt the wisdom of a presidential visit to the war torn areas at this particular juncture, it has helped expose the sorry pass that the LTTE has brought itself to through its sheer frenzy of rage and obduracy. A few months after the LTTE launched its final war, having collected billions of rupees and forcibly conscripted thousands of children and adults for that purpose, Prabhakaran is not in a position to make his annual Heroes’ Day speech out in the open, let alone holding a military parade. Even in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster, he failed to come out of his hiding at least for a few minutes to reassure the people, whose destiny he claims to control. The lame excuse of his concern for personal security should not be trotted out, as he is full of boasts that the Sri Lankan military is no match for his outfit! If the President could visit the heavily infiltrated East, why can’t Prabhakaran make a speech in the refuge of the heartland of his terror empire, Kilinochchi?

Prabhakran has not only let down his cadres and the economic refugees in affluent countries striving to perpetuate the conflict here so that the question of their being sent back doesn’t arise but also disappointed the local arm chair defence analysts—their motto being Api venuven Koti (Tigers for us!)—who are apparently hoping and praying that the LTTE will bounce back. It was only the other day that a wire service quoted an unnamed diplomat saying that the LTTE had to do something to regain parity! That sheds light on the thinking of some members of the international community urging the government to restart talks.

It is against this background that the President’s offer from Vakarai to the LTTE should be viewed. He asked the LTTE to lay down arms and come for talks. The reaction of the LTTE to his offer was not known until this edition went to press, but it is a foregone conclusion that the outfit will reject the offer lock, stock and barrel.

Anyone who is urging the LTTE to renounce violence and return to the negotiating table of its own volition is barking up the wrong tree. We heard the donors repeating their call for negotiations, the other day in Galle. Why they urged the government to resume the stalled talks is baffling. The onus of restarting negotiations should be on the party that walked away from the talks. The present peace process is dead in all but name as the LTTE walked away from talks on more than one occasion. During the UNF government, which signed the present CFA with the LTTE, the LTTE unilaterally stalled the talks by putting forth its ISGA demand and rejecting the counter proposals. If the UNP’s contention that its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe would have won the Presidential Election (2005) but for the LTTE-instigated polls boycott is true, then the LTTE deliberately ruined whatever chances there may have been of the peace talks being revived under his watch by engineering his defeat. Thereafter, it scuttled talks with the Rajapakse administration, having promised war less than two weeks after the presidential election.

Using talks to strengthen itself militarily and torpedoing them thereafter have been part and parcel of the LTTE’s strategy. As the European Parliament pointed out last year, the LTTE has rejected devolution at the District, Provincial, Regional and National levels.

The LTTE has faced ignominious defeats in a series of battles so far and lost the Eastern Province save a few pockets of resistance. Amidst speculation that the government is contemplating a northward push from the Eastern theatre with the LTTE being engaged at several points simultaneously, so as to exert a severe strain on its limited resources, especially manpower, the LTTE and its sympathizers are trying to play the same old game—playing for time through another round of bogus talks, on its terms. Hence, we have its international allies going hell for leather to kick-start the talks.

While negotiations are the way forward, it is imperative that those who call for talks ensure first of all that the LTTE won’t use a future peace effort to further its military interests once again. They must coerce the outfit to make a firm commitment to a negotiated settlement by publicly renouncing its separatist goal. Pressure is the key! They must also spell out what action they will take to make it fall in line, if it tries to scuttle the talks, which is very likely. Above all, talks must not be confined to the government and the LTTE. All stakeholders must have representation in the peace process. Remember, the EU has said in its resolution announcing the ban on the LTTE: … [The EU] recognises that the LTTE does not represent all the Tamil peoples of Sri Lanka and calls on the LTTE to allow for political pluralism and alternate democratic voices in the north and east parts of Sri Lanka which would secure the interests of all peoples and communities... any restoration of the peace process should seek the involvement of a wide range of communities and political organizations in Sri Lanka, including Northern Muslim representatives.

Let that advice be heeded!