WHO WANTS JTF AND MERGER
The second round of Thailand talks between the government and the LTTE terrorists scheduled to begin on the 31st would most probably revolve around the establishment of a so-called joint task force (JTF) for "humanitarian and reconstruction activities in the north and the east". The JTF is supposed to constitute a partnership between the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE. According to the proposed terms of reference for the JTF, "it shall strive to be a flexible and adaptable mechanism for improving the living standards of the population in the Northern and Eastern provinces of the country". Though the "initiatives of the JTF are expected to benefit all ethnic communities in these areas" it "shall consist of three members representing the the GOSL and three members representing the LTTE". "The Royal Norwegian Government (RNG) shall be represented as the facilitator of the JTF". "The JTF shall be a designated agency reporting to the Prime Minister's Office", and is not to be appointed by the President.
It is clear that like the nineteenth amendment, that was introduced to please the LTTE and the Norwegians and the other western powers, the JTF, which is also being initiated by the LTTE is not consistent with the constitution. However, unlike the nineteenth amendment there is no bill to establish a JTF and the government is being compelled to bypass the parliament in order to capitulate to the demands of the LTTE by the Tamil racists and their patrons the Norwegians and the Anglo Saxon world. The Norwegians, who got themselves invited as the facilitator for talks between the GOSL and the LTTE by the President herself, are now involved with the politics of the country to the dissatisfaction of even the person who is supposed to have invited them. The Norwegians are being backed by the other western powers who have a vested interests in the affairs of the country. This is not to say that Tamil racism and LTTE terrorism are orchestered by the west. I do not believe that anybody or any nation could orcheter the lives of the others and other nations. The individuals and the nations and the countries have a certain degree of freedom and pure determinism is applicable, at least in theory, only in Newtonian Physics. However, our thinking is conditioned by the west and they are in a position to control our affairs through various means, the most effective being the theories and concepts created in the west. This is part of cultural colonialism.
The west having created and baptised Tamil racism has suported it against Sinhalathva from the very beginning. If somebody thinks that the west does not know that the percentage of Tamils in the eastern province is around 30% then he or she lives in a dream world. The west could be changed not by "educating" them since they are aware of what has happened and what is happening, but by either creating a public opinion against Tamil racism in those countries or by having true national leaders in Sri Lanka who could stand upto western pressure. If Canada is forced to take some measures against Tamil racism it is because there is a public opinion against Tamil racism in that country even on a small scale. As far as the public in the USA are concerned Sri Lanka is a non entity and the state department is free to carry out its policy on Sri Lanka without any obstacles. As long as we continue to have leaders trained and "supplied" by the west, in the absence of any public opinion against Tamil racism in the west, we would not be able to change the western partiality towards the the LTTE.
The JTF is the next step in a process (the so-called peace process) of capitulation. With the MOU the government took steps to equate the LTTE with itself. The lifting of the ban on the LTTE was in the direction of equating the Sri Lankan armed forces with the LTTE terrorists. The establishment of the JTF is another step in the same direction. With the JTF the LTTE would be treated as an equal partner with the LTTE as far as the northern and the eastern provinces are concerned. The LTTE that has been recognised by the GOSL as well as the TNA as the sole representative of the Tamils is now further given recognition as the only representative of the north and the east. Does the government think that that the LTTE represent the Sinhalas and the Muslims as well in the eastern province? Has Norway pressurised the government to accept this position?
The Sinhala people only respond to situations without realising what is happening as a whole in the background. They will opose the JTF without opposing the tactics of the Tamil racists and the general policy followed by the government. The establishment of the JTF only for the northern and the eastern provinces agrees with the policy of asymmetrical devolution of the Prime Minister. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe.expressed his policy in the campaign for the Presidential election in 2000. Even at that time we said that asymmetrical devolution would lead to a confederation that will pave the way for an Eelam. The Norwegians who are waiting to recognise the Eelam as soon as it is declared must have had a hand in formulating the concept of a JTF. In order to deceive the Sinhala people the Norwegians have in parallel taken an interest in the development of the Hambantota district. This is in order to show that they are not only interested in developing the northern and the eastern provinces but the Hambantota district as well. They would no doubt claim that they have been helping the government by giving aid under various projects and that this is not new to them. However the initiatave taken by the Norwegians this time to develop the Hambantota district could not be in the interests of the people living there.
The JTF is a special institution that is to be created in order to "develop" a particular province or provinces. In the other provinces there are provincial councils that are involved with the development of those provinces. If a task force has to be appointed to develop a particular area then it should come under a particular minstry and should comprise the government officials who would work under the direction of the relevant authorities. What is the role of political parties in such task forces? A task is appointed by the government and not by a political party, even if it is the governing party of the day, and certainly not by an armed political organisation. In the proposed JTF for "the development and the improvement of the living standards of the people" there will be three members from a terrorist organisation that has not been elected by the people. Under what administrative or legislative procedure the JTF would be established? How could the LTTE be the sole representative of the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people living in the northern and the eastern provinces. The LTTE that does not recognise these two provinces as the homeland of the Sinhala people is to represent them in the JTF! This is a violation of the fundamental and human rights of the Sinhala people living in the two provinces. However, this does not mean that a JTF comprising representatives of Sinhalas, Muslims and Tamils and of all political parties should be appointed to "develop" the north and the east. There is no need for any such JTFs in any form. The existing legislative and administrative structures could be used to develop the northern and the eastern provinces, considering the fact that they are two different provinces and not one province. There should not be any special administrative and legislative bodies for the northern and the eastern provinces that are not found in the other provinces. That would violate the fundamental rights of the people in the other provinces. Any asymmetric treatment, in the spheres of administration and legislation, with respect to the northern and the eastern provinces would violate the fundamental rights of the people in the other provinces.
The LTTE and the hypocratic western powers who have backed terrorism in Sri Lanka, while acting against terrorism in most of the other countries (didn't they back the Russian Prime Minister in the recent hostage crisis in Moscow, against terrorists who are supposed to have links with Al Quaeda?) are interested in creating an interim administration from the northern and the eastern provinces. As an interim adminstration is not possible under the constitution they are looking for other means. An established JTF that only reports to the Prime Minister's office would play the role of an interim adsminstration for the time being until it is recgonised and established as an interim administration. It is clear that the Tamil racists and the west are now trying to bypass the parliament and the President to esatblish the interim administration that would pave the way to a confederation and an Eelam. As a Tamil racist has recently stated in the Tamil Canadian website "the public has to get used to these power sharing arrangements." He has further said: "It is our view that the central governments authority should be confined only to foreign affairs, defence, currency and inter-province communications. All other functions including education and health should be vested in the Northeast administration." This is nothing but a confederation that would be the sprinboard to declare an Eelam.
It may be that the government that does not see eye to eye with the LTTE and the west in this exercise is trying to establish a JTF with a different format, especially with the participation of the Muslims. It would be only an eyewash and in principle the Sinhalas and the Muslims and the non racist Tamils should oppose any version of the JTF. What is envisaged is a JTF for the northern and the eastern provinces. It should be pointed out that the UNP government in 1987 did not want the merger of the two provinces. The two provinces were merged as a result of the Indo Lanka agreement and a referendum was to be held within a year in order to decide on the merger. President JR Jayawardane publicly said that he would canvass against the merger at a referendum. President Premadasa has expressed his opposition to the merger in stronger words. The UNP position was against the merger and to my knowledge the party has not taken a decision in favour of a merger. It is the same with the SLFP, the MEP and the JVP. Even the Tamil parties such as the EPDP do not favour the merger of the two provinces. The Muslims have been against the merger and their demand for a separate zone for the Muslims is conditional. They do not want a separate zone if the northern and the eastern provinces are not merged. As a consequence of the opposition to the merger none of these parties would want a JTF for the merged northern and the eastern provinces.
It is widely known that even India that forced the Indo Lanka agreement did not want a merger. The merger was included to please the LTTE, however as a compromise the clause on the referendum has been added. The referendum has not been held for fifteen years and the Indo Lanka agreement is a dead letter today. Moreover the two provinces were merged under emergency regulations and with the lifting of the emergency the particular regulation has become null and void. The two provinces are not merged today and except for the fact that there is one governoer for both provinces there is no legal connection between the two provinces.
The Tamil racists including the LTTE wanted the two provinces merged so that the Muslims and the Sinhalas who constitute more than 70% of the population in the eastern province, would become a minority in the combined provinces. The Tamil racists were only following their tactic of converting a majority into a minority through devious means. The homeland theory they created in order to justify the claim for a separate state and the merger has been proved to be nothing but humbug. Even people such as the late Neelan Thiruchelvam had to admit that the homeland theory was not valid. It is ridiculous for the Tamils who established permanent settlements in the present eastern province, as a result of colonisation by the Dutch and especially the British, even after the Muslims were settled in those areas by the Sinhala kings, to claim a homeland in that province. It is the backing of the western powers that has kept the Tamil racist claim for homeland, merger, and autonomous administration going for so long.
With the exodus of the Tamils in the recent years the Tamil population in the country has come down and it could be estimated that not even 10% of the total population want a merger of the northern and the eastern provinces. No major political party other than the TNA that has no alternative but to toe the LTTE line has campaigned for the merger. Norway and the western powers are pushing the government of Sri Lanka to accept the LTTE position that is rejected by the owerwhelming majority of the people including non racist, anti LTTE Tamils who have been silenced by the LTTE terrorists. The President can stop all these arm twisting by the west on behalf of Tamil racism and terrorism by appointing a separate governor to the eastern province. The two provinces are demerged legally and there are no constitutional obstacles to appoint a separate governor. Any development in the eastern province could be carried out within the existing adminstrative and legislative structures. If any of the institutions are not functioning at the moment the President could take steps to revive them. The hypocriric west wants the Sinhalas and the Muslims to bow down to Tamil terrorism in the name of "peace" that has become a manthram to the NGO "intellectuals" who are being used by the west to deprive Sinhalathva its rightful place in the country.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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