The Hindu : Critical issues unaddressed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 20, 2002

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Critical issues unaddressed

THE ANNOUNCEMENT BY the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that it was ready to accept "autonomy and self-governance" in northern and eastern Sri Lanka and that it would consider separation only as a "last resort" needs to be assessed with caution. The announcement and the elaborations on the same by the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, leave too many questions unanswered. Most pertinently the two sides, assisted by the Norwegian facilitators, have not thus far got down to discussing the core issues especially in regard to the tricky question of the merger of the northern and eastern provinces. Neither have the two sides resolved the issue of an interim administration and its control or dwelt on the more sensitive point of disarming the LTTE cadres. While Mr. Balasingham has spoken of the Tamils and the Muslims living within the same state, the pronouncement seems premature when the LTTE has yet to hold exhaustive discussions with representatives from the Muslim side. In a context where the LTTE has not ruled out separation — whether as a last resort or otherwise — categorically, the talk about a "homeland" would appear to contain the seeds of a yet to be abandoned plan to divide the island.

The lack of clarity with regard to the details is of extreme significance since the LTTE has rejected all devolution packages in the past. Most notable among the packages that have been rejected by the LTTE in the past were the Devolution Proposals contained in the address delivered by the Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, on August 3, 1995, which offered substantive autonomy. That package included proposals for re-demarcating the existing boundaries of the North-East province and the devolution of power to the regions so that the people in each could have control over major aspects of their lives, including personal security and the administration of justice. If the LTTE was not prepared to accept that package which appeared to offer the most expansive framework of devolution it is difficult to appreciate what more the Sri Lankan Government can now offer to persuade this organisation to accept a settlement short of one that effectively divides the country. Doubts and misgivings on the score cannot be set aside in a historical context in which the LTTE has never put forward proposals of its own but has instead waited for the Sri Lankan Government to make an offer which they then use as the basis to hike up their demands.

Scepticism about the LTTE's intentions also arises from some ambiguity in Mr. Balasingham's comments on the organisation's search for international legitimacy. After assuming, with rather amazing effrontery, that the LTTE's control over territory has already assumed the status of a "permanent administration" over it (in a context where the interim arrangements have yet to be discussed), this organisation now seeks international recognition for this structure. While the Sri Lankan Government might well try the gambit of negotiating with the LTTE, the according of legitimacy to what has all along been a terrorist organisation is a matter that has to be seriously thought through. In this respect it must be pointed out that the Government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has allowed the focus on the LTTE as a terrorist outfit to get clouded. New Delhi cannot afford to let down its guard or forget the damage that the LTTE has caused to India as well as Sri Lanka. As Sri Lanka's neighbour, India does need to keep in close touch with the negotiations but New Delhi cannot on any account allow for its demand for the extradition of the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran to be diluted or set aside for the momentary convenience of the establishment in Colombo.

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