Thursday, May 16, 2002
Thursday, May 16, 2002 |
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By Nirupama Subramanian
Noting that there had been a "slowing down" in the implementation of the truce agreement, the weekly argued against moving to talks as a way of sustaining the momentum of the Norwegian-facilitated peace initiative. "It would be foolhardy to attempt further discussions when the first and most basic deal — the permanent ceasefire — is clearly not being implemented. In any case, the Government, perhaps wary of a Sinhala backlash, is still refusing to tackle the deproscription of the LTTE," it said. The Government said it would consider the LTTE demand for lifting the ban on it before talks, but local newspapers have reported that it might go in for a "temporary" removal of the proscription or a "suspended" ban. Reacting to the reports, the LTTE made it clear that it would not take part in the talks before anything less than a full removal of the proscription, imposed after the suicide bombing in January 1998 on the country's most revered Buddhist shrine, the Dalada Maligawa, in Kandy. The LTTE is also unhappy that the Army has not moved out of school buildings though the truce agreement gave the military 160 days from the day the ceasefire took effect to do this. Soldiers were to have moved out of temples in the region within 30 days and also draw up a schedule of withdrawal from other public buildings by the same day. Another bone of contention is the restriction on fishing. Under the truce agreement, the restrictions must go by the 90th day. The LTTE leadership last week summoned parliamentarians of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance and asked them step up their campaign for the full and quick implementation of the terms of the ceasefire. The Cabinet spokesman, G.L. Peiris, said recently that the Government was confident of holding talks with the LTTE by the end of June and that "nothing had happened" for a reassessment of this calendar. Originally, the Government had announced talks in the second week of May. The Sunday Times quoted the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as saying that the date for talks would be fixed after May 24, the 90-day deadline for the implementation of many provisions of the ceasefire agreement. But the Tamil Guardian criticised Mr. Wickremesinghe for playing to the majority Sinhala gallery by telling senior Buddhist monks last week that he would never concede a homeland to the Tamils and that he would seek the people's approval before setting up a northeast interim administration. "Whilst his comments might restore his Sinhala nationalist credentials, they have not done him any favours amongst the Tamils," the newspaper said, commenting that the "power struggle" for the leadership of the majority community was threatening the peace process. This is the second successive week that the publication has talked about a delay in the talks.
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