DE-PROSCRIPTION, SUSPENSION AND PEACE
Mr. Tyronne Fernando the cabinet minister of foreign affairs has said in London, according to "The Island Sunday Edition" of 3rd February, that the government had no plans to de-proscribe the LTTE but could temporarily suspend the ban if the LTTE disarm and come for peace negotiations. He has said that "if they (LTTE) become violent, the government could reimpose the ban". The minister has also said that the LTTE must drop their separate state demand if they want the ban revoked and come up with an alternative to Eelam that the government can consider. He has said " we got a mandate at the last election to resolve this problem by negotiations. Norway is at present preparing the ground to start these talks and we will have to wait and see whether we can make peace with the LTTE this time." Finally he has not forgotten to "accuse the JVP of trying to stir up the people unnecessarily"
I wonder how veera Puran Appu would have reacted to the above views of a person who has claimed that he is a descendant of the former. I am not quite sure whether veera Puran Appu knew any English - certainly he did not have the misfortune of going to Oxford and if he had gone to Oxford most probably he would not have become a freedom fighter who fought against not only political colonialism but also against cultural colonialism - but he would have known that even if the LTTE was de-proscribed the government could have proscribed it again. So why suspend the ban on the LTTE when the government could have de-proscribed it. One could easily see that it is only a play of words and suspending the ban or de-proscribing has the same effect. Proscription, de-proscription, suspension are all temporary acts in this "impermanent" world and Mr. Fernando and the government could go ahead and de-proscribe the LTTE, then proscribe it again, de-proscribe it after some time and become the laughing stock of the non international community as the so-called international community of the few western governments and their agents would have appreciated very much the commitment of the government to achieve "peace". The government or Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe could have even shared the Nobel Prize for peace jointly with Ms.Chandrika Kumaratunga, for trying to achieve peace in the country. One good thing about the Nobel peace prize is unlike the other Nobel prizes it is not an achiever's prize but a prize given for trying. Even if peace is achieved it is going to be a temporary phenomenon until the next outbreak of the war and in the context of Sri Lanka where peace has become synonymous with piece(s) of the country the so-called peace will be immediately followed by a full scale war between two countries. It will make way for fresh peace attempts and the Nobel prize for peace could be awarded to all those Deshamanyas in the so-called business community and the other peace brokers. In fact a separate Nobel prize for peace in Sri Lanka could be awarded annually so that all the splinter peace groups would get a chance of receiving a piece of the peace prize.
The minister has tried to hoodwink the Sinhala people living in UK. He has said that the government could suspend the ban if the LTTE disarm and come for peace talks. What does he mean by disarming. A ceremonial handing over of a pistol by Thamilchelvam or somebody else to the army commander, as happened under a previous UNP government. The LTTE has already come with an alternative for Eelam and the minister could not be unaware of it. The alternative for an Eelam is an Eelam! Of course the LTTE is happy to hide behind the words confederation which is nothing but de facto Eelam. Thus if the Norwegians could arrange a meeting between Thamilchelvam and the army commander where the former handing over a pistol to the latter is telecast live to the whole world, and if Anton Balasingham or Prabhakaran himself tells the Norwegians that they are prepared to settle down for a confederation and promises to behave well then all is set for a suspension of the ban of the LTTE. Of course the minister has thought about the LTTE trying to be naughty again. He has said in his Oxford wisdom that "if they (LTTE) become violent, the government could reimpose the ban". So the LTTE would behave well listening to the minister and our Nobel aspirants could try harder not to achieve peace but to win the prize. How did the minister come to the conclusion that the "government has got a mandate at the last election to resolve this problem by negotiations". The minister and the government and the Deshamanyas and the other peace brokers could rest assured that the government has not got a mandate from the Sinhala Buddhists for any negotiations with the LTTE. By analysing the results of the last general elections it can be shown that the majority of the Sinhala Buddhists have voted for the PA and the JVP whose campaign against the UNF was mainly based on some understanding between the UNF and the TNA, which has become the parliamentary wing of the LTTE. In this regard I am not thinking of the combined vote of the PA and the JVP which exceeds the vote for the UNF, as in that case one could easily say that the UNF and the SLMC together got more votes than the PA and the UNF. I am considering the way the Sinhala Buddhist electorate has voted. The PA and the JVP together have got at least three hundred thousand Sinhala Buddhist votes more than the UNF. That the government has got a mandate from all the communities including the Sinhala Buddhists is another myth that the Deshamanyas and the other peace brokers are propagating.
The minister has referred to the Norwegians as well. Yes we know that Norway has been preparing the ground as the minister has said. They have been digging to bury the Sinhalathva for the last so many years and they have been at this for two reasons. Firstly they are an instrument in the hands of the USA and the UK governments. The Hindu newspaper in an editorial had commented on the connection between Norway and the USA. Secondly as the "Economist" has said Norway is to gain financially from the "peace project". They can afford to throw away a few Nobel prizes in the process as they would gain at the end of the exercise. The Sinhala Buddhists have no faith not only in the God of the Jews, who has been made a universal God but in the Norwegians, who believe in that God, as well. It is not simply a question of one's beliefs but it stems from cultural colonialism that started five centuries ago. The PA government that felt the pulse of the Sinhala Buddhists in the later stages of its rule stopped all negotiations on negotiations and asked for the removal of Eric Solheim who is a personal friend of Tamil racism. Norwegians have recommenced the digging to bury Sinhalathva, or preparing the ground as the minister says, only after this government came to power through a majority of votes of the non Sinhala Buddhists.
The minster like many other leaders of the UNP has accused the JVP. I have a feeling that the government might de-proscribe or suspend the ban on the LTTE and impose a ban on the JVP as a previous UNP government did in 1983, for something that the JVP was not involved in. The JVP in spite of its Marxist rhetoric is mainly a party of the Sinhala Buddhist youth who are children of fifty six and the UNP governments have always been very harsh on the JVP and not on the LTTE, indicating clearly where the UNP stands in politics with respect to nationalism. The JVP has not tried to stir the people unnecessarily. It has only expressed its views on the de-proscription or whatever of the LTTE. Though the minster may not know this is what the prime minister had to say in his "policy statement" on the 22nd of January 2002 in the parliament. "The main issue for the commencement of talks with the LTTE is the international and local ban on the LTTE. The LTTE has stated that if it were to come for talks the ban imposed on the organisation locally should be lifted. On the other hand international opinion stresses on the need to commence talks towards achieving a political solution. One aspect we should seriously consider is whether we should lose international co-operation at this juncture due to the ban impose locally. My opinion is that the alienation of the international co-operation would pave a way for the realistaion of the motives of the LTTE. We are not prepared to let go of this last chance foe peace".
It is clear that the prime minister and the government have been considering the de-proscription of the LTTE. It was not for nothing that the prime minister met the Mahanayake Theros over this issue. It is also clear that the so-called international community meaning the Anglo American countries in particular and the counties that belong to the western (Judaic) Christian civilisation in general want the ban to be lifted. Some of the high commissioners and ambassadors of these countries went to the extent of showing that the ban on the LTTE in their countries is independent of the de-proscription of the LTTE in Sri Lanka. What they meant by such statements was that Sri Lanka could (read should) go ahead and de-proscribe the LTTE but the ban in their countries would remain. What did the prime minister mean when he said that "one aspect we should seriously consider is whether we should lose international co-operation at this juncture due to the ban imposed locally"? The government is clearly under pressure from the western Christian countries, the born again Christian Deshamanyas and their so-called business community, the Tamil racists and Tamil racism now completely under a Christian ideology since the TNA became the parliamentary wing of the LTTE, the NGO's and the civil (sival in Sinhala) societies financed by the western Christian countries to de-proscribe or suspend the ban on the LTTE. The JVP has not been acting in a political vacuum or in a dream world but has been responding to the intentions of the government.
The LTTE was banned in Sri Lanka long after it was proscribed in India. The LTTE had been involved with terrorist activities for some time but both the UNP and the PA government did not take any action to ban the LTTE. However, as has been said earlier a previous UNP government did not have to think twice to ban the JVP together with the NSSP and the CP in 1983. The LTTE was banned finally after its attack on the Dalada Maligawa on the 25th of January in 1998. Now to lift the ban on the LTTE it should have been proved that the LTTE is innocent of all the charges made against it. The LTTE wants the ban to be lifted not because the ban is an obstacle to the so-called peace talks. The lifting of the ban wound be tantamount to legalising all its terrorists acts including the attack on the Dalada Maligawa and also its claims such as the Tamil homeland, self determination etc., and claims to be a so-called national liberation movement ( a movement that has taken up arms against not only the state but against the innocent Sinhala people by bombing them slashing their bodies into pieces, killing Sinhala infants for merely being born into Sinhala families is not a national liberation movement, leaving aside the fact that there has been no Tamil nation anytime or anywhere in the world, but a Tamil racist terrorist movement based on a Christian ideology and being supported by the western Christian countries and the born agains (in Sri Lanka they are born against the Sinhala Buddhists) and the NGO's, hell bent on depriving the Sinhala nation, the Sinhala culture, the Sinhala language and Sinhala history their due place in the country.) and to have equal status with an elected government. India has clearly understood what the LTTE wants. They know that the LTTE wants to have so-called peace talks in Tamil Nadu so that the LTTE could become a legally recognised organisation in India. As it is, the LTTE is a banned organisation in India and even if a Christian Eelam (no Hindu Eelam will ever be established) is established with Prabhakaran as the leader and recognised by the western Christian countries, the LTTE would continue to be a banned organisation in India and Prabhakaran a wanted man for the murder of Shri Rajiv Gandhi. The LTTE is only interested in "correcting" this situation. The Sri Lankan government, unlike the Indian government could be pressurised by the so-called international community or the international communion and the non national forces are having a field day campaigning for de-proscription without any threats or restrictions from the government. It is only those who are against the de-proscription or the suspension of the ban that come under attack from the leaders of the UNP.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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