TNA turns turtle with its list of impossible demands
Ever since the LTTE lost the war, the TNA members have been bravely able to walk out its shadow and present the acceptable face of moderation in their quest to find a lasting solution to the grievances that beset the Tamil populous of Lanka and the TNA, led by R. Sampanthan and guided by M. A. Sumanthiran, has done a marvelous job adopting one common Sri Lankan identity whilst engaged in the pursuit of its goals.
Until now.
Standing at the crossroads of a new presidential election and wondering how best to squeeze the last drop of juice from the Sinhala parties’ lemons, the TNA has felt emboldened enough to drink of the Palmyra tree and, dropping all pretenses to issue both the SLPP and the UNP with a 13 point star studded ultimatum telling both parties, ‘If you want our support to help you woo the Tamil voters’ hand, this is our price’.
When their stance has always been that they are prepared to find a solution that will satisfy the just grievances of the Tamil people within a unitary status, they have flung this reasonable demand to the lagoon winds and opted instead to mound the high horse of intransigence.
Their modified extreme demand that is the first of a widely publicised list of 13 demands states, “A solution to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue must be found by setting up a new federal constitution rejecting the heretofore unitary constitution accepting the nationhood of the Sri Lankan Tamils and recognising its sovereignty and accepting that Tamils under the provisions of International Law are entitled to the right of self-determination.”
The first demand in its own right, put a full stop to any further discussions, for the Sinhalese majority will not even consider the establishment of a federal state coupled with the right to self-determination in Sinhalese eyes this would amount to the establishment of a de facto state of Eelam on Lankan soil. And unless the UNP or the SLPP have a death wish, they would not wish to be seen dead in negotiating the demand.
Not to mention that the other demands are even less amenable. Both former President Rajapaksa and present President Sirisena are on record as stating that they will not betray the Lankan armed forces, no doubt the present two candidates of the two parties are of the same unshakeable view. If asked, their immediate reaction would be “over my dead body”.
But look what the TNA has brought to the negotiating table, the indigestible second course from the menu is as follows: “Fullfledged independent impartial International mechanisms through the International Criminal Court/International Arbitration Tribunal must be set up to inquire into the War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity and Genocide committed during the final stages of the war.”
The third demand reveals that TNA is hopelessly out of touch and has got its timing wrong. At a moment when the Muslim terror attacks on churches and hotels are still afresh and evergreen in the public mind and the spectre of terror is continuously paraded to loom over the public head, the TNA has the gall to call for the abolition of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Without trying to suggest ways to trim its application in certain instances, the TNA curtly demands the Prevention of Terrorism Act must be withdrawn.
And the fourth demand is that “all Tamil political prisoners must be freed unconditionally”. This takes into no account what these prisoners have been charged with, what the definition of political prisoners is, just a blanket label to cover all Tamil prisoners as political prisoners and therefore by definition and by right they should be set free without any questions asked.
Enough? Do you want to hear the other nine? Neither the SLPP nor the UNP did.
It was reported in the Daily News on October 15th that:“when SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa was asked about the TNA’s proposed solutions to the North-East problems, his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa had interjected saying that people in the South were facing greater problems than those confronting the Tamil people. Both Gotabaya and Mahinda had said most problems confronting people in the North and East and that of the South were similar”.
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s blunt answer was to reject all the demands out of hand. So did Sajith Premadasa. For these were not demands put forward by the Tamil National Alliance in conjunction with the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), the Peoples’ Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam ( PLOTE), the Illankai Thamil ArasuKatchi (ITAK) and TPF, that either the UNP or the SLPP could have entertained in any manner without risking the wrath of the majority community.
Later addressing a rally in Beliatta on October 21, Mahinda Rajapaksa stated that “We have to make a decision as a nation. We did not put an end to the war by allowing people in the North to come to the South and vice versa.”
On October 22, the Tamil parties had a response of their own. The ITAK declared that it would not support either Sajith Premadasa of the UNP or Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the SLPP as the President.
If this step is carried out, it will suit the Rajapaksa’s fine. A complete boycott of the Northern Tamils would be Manna from Heaven to make the Pohottuwa bloom. In 2005, a secret understanding with Prabhakaran’s LTTE to force the Northern Tamils to give that year’s Presidential poll amiss had resulted in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s narrow victory over Ranil Wickremesinghe where he won by a majority of only 150,000 votes. If the same could be engineered without asking for it, it would be a bonus and would clench victory for his brother Gotabaya.
For the UNP, however, this would be bad news. Its game plan is to win as much of the majority community vote and the majority of the minority vote. Thus, it is puzzling why the TNA had stood solidly behind Ranil Wickremesinghe in the UNP’s time of crisis last year when Rajapaksa was appointed Prime Minister, should now turn turtle and deny the UNP candidate the chance of victory by putting impossible demands before him.