NATIONAL PROBLEM, NOT NATIONAL PAST-TIME
TN. Sathiya Moorthy
he recent Sri Lanka visit of India’s External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna was not expected to throw up a sudden solution to the ethnic issue. His public statement that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had reiterated his commitment to a ’13-plus’ solution, however, has triggered a ‘national discourse’ on the ‘ national problem’, which was not the case earlier. Once again, the discourse should not be allowed to become a ‘national past-time’.
UNP’S Tissa Attanayake has criticised the Gover nment for not implementing 13-A. It was to be expected. In the same vein, he has also reportedly told the media: “It would be more appropriate to go (in) for a new system of devolution” in case the Gover nment was not happy with 13-A. He said the UNP was willing to play a role in the process as well by coming up with its suggestions and working jointly on a political solution.
The JHU, JVP, and the ‘rebel JVP’ have reacted on expected lines. The JHU and the JVP want ‘rights’ for the Tamils, but not police and land powers, a key element of the Tamil-demand. The opposition to a 13-plus’ solution should end suspicions that the ‘Movement for People’s Struggle’ (MPS) -- as the JVP dissidents are calling themselves -had links to the LTTE.
The TNA has expressed concer n, as ever. It is not without reason. Post-krishna visit, dif ferent Ministers in Colombo have been giving different interpretations to the President’s commitment on ’13-plus’. The bottom-line is that the Government would add a ‘second chamber’ to Parliament but not yield on police and land powers -- or, something to that effect.
Contextualised, the UNP needs to explain if this is what Tissa A has implied while talking about a ‘new system’. The Government too has been talking out of tur n on 13-plus, for long, but it cannot continue to cause confusion by employing the ter mi- nology sans police and land powers. Such contradictions make it all a ‘national pasttime’, nothing more.
The TNA’S decision to accept the reiterated invitation of Easter n Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, and talk to his ruling TMVP should be a welcome departure -- or, a ‘second beginning’ in the post-war ‘Tamil politics’ of the country. The TMVP is not for re-merger, and the TNA should be alive to the ground situation.
The TNA-TMVP talks should not end up as the mock starts that the Alliance had initiated at different times in the postwar past. A whole year has rolled by since the TULF and PLOTE joined the TNA for mally; but there is nothing more to report. Less said about their coming together, to for m a grand combine to discuss the ethnic issue, which also included the EPDP, a partner in the Government.
The TNA’S approach to the Muslim community, starting with the relatively friendly SLMC, too has to sound serious and sincere. The TNA displays the kind of insincerity and lack of seriousness to their partners as they charge the Gover nment with.
The Chandrika-ranil cohabitation may have been the best period to negotiate a political settlement, or enforce 13-A, as it stood. With President Chandrika Kumaratunga having invited the Norwegians to facilitate talks with the LTTE, the presence of a UNP Prime Minister would have ensured smooth sail for a political solution on the side of the Sinhala majority. The LTTE’S morale too was low at the time, thanks to the global mood post-9/11.
That did not happen. Instead, the talks were too structured for producing early results, when the iron was hot enough to be shaped up -- be it the two Sinhala majors, or the LTTE. CBK and Ranil W were too busy torpedoing each other from within the Gover nment than find a way out of the ‘national problem’.
Today, in the absence of exter nal facilitators, who too are wary for their own reasons, the TNA should be talking to all political parties in the country. It should not be a problem as the Government has said that the ongoing talks are only with the ruling SLFP, and not even the UPFA combine.
Already, the steadfastness of the Gover nment has necessitated the TNA to look around for other allies. This is at variance from their early hopes and consequent attitude.
In the absence of such an approach, the TNA seeking to consolidate the polity of the Tamil-speaking people or at best the ‘Tamil polity’ in the country, motives could be attributed to its efforts. Even a solution that could otherwise be negotiated would then become suspect -- as in the past.