Like waiting for Godot, no?
Soon August will be upon us. Here in the UK the Blair government is bracing itself for a possible summer of discontent as a long dormant trade unionism begins to flex its collective muscle and threatens strike action.

In Sri Lanka, the only worrying issue appears to be the rising cost of living that threatens to disrupt the stratosphere.

The urgency of talks between the government and the LTTE that dominated the political scene nearly six months back, seems to have receded. Talk of impeachment, of inner party squabbles and friction, sitting in the UN Secretary-General's chair and surveillance equipment in handbags take pride of place in the media and doubtless titillate a people otherwise burdened by their daily existence.

First it was said that talks between the two sides would start in May. Then it became June because certain deadlines set out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had to be met. So the country held its breath and waited for the 30-day deadline to pass.

It did, but there were no signs of enhanced activity on the side of the negotiators who had been named with some fanfare. In the green corner were so and so. In the yellow corner were so and so.

Then came June. It passed quickly too, but the so and sos were still not putting their heads-or whatever they were planning to put together- and soon we were in July. Still not even the slightest sign of negotiations.

So an exhausted people await the sixth month while a deafening silence fills the air.

The government appears to have taken a vow of silence, though some politicians who were not mandated by the prime minister to talk on the subject of war and peace, do so as though they were privy to every move or lack of it. The LTTE whose designated chief negotiator has not return to land on the waters of Iranamadu, and like Moses, divide the waters and lead his tribe to the negotiating table.

The Thais who have been holding their breath and waiting to see Bangkok returning to the news after their last effort to bring peace to Cambodia, must surely be wondering whether this was all a hoax.

Almost everything is now available in the North, but at a price. The LTTE has its own tax structure and shop owners and businessmen have to pay those taxes- or else.

They naturally pass on these taxes to the consumer who has therefore to pay taxes twice over- those charged by the government as announced in budgets and approved by parliament and the LTTE tax which has been imposed without any parliamentary authority but by the edict of Tiger overlords.

These Tamils who have been to the north recently say that foreign exchange transactions take place in banks run by the LTTE or by persons who are authorised money dealers.

All this while I was under the impression that the opening of new banks within the country have to be with the approval of Sri Lanka's monetary authority, that there is a Banking Act and that the country's Central Bank supervises the functioning of local banks to ensure that they abide by the rules and regulations set out.

I may be wrong of course, but if such monetary and fiscal issues which should rightly be the province of the central government have been usurped by a body of persons who have never been elected by the people, who have not been given the mandate to do so-and if given, certainly not through any publicly advertised and held election or referendum, then are not the laws of Sri Lanka being violated with impunity?

I also read in this newspaper last Sunday that the LTTE is operating bus services from Jaffna to Colombo and back along the A-9 highway with the help of some private bus operators.

Whether such operators were coerced into doing so or were selected for their loyalty one does not know just now. But one thing is certain- these operators have to pay the LTTE a tax to run these services. Doubtless that tax is being passed on to the passengers.

In short the people living in the North or LTTE-held areas are paying taxes twice and more than people in the rest of the country, for the luxury of living under Mr. Prabhakaran.

Supposing a secret ballot was held in the LTTE held areas asking the people there whether they are agreeable to paying the prices and taxes demanded of them and if it was held without any coercion, intimidation and violence, how do you suppose the vote would go?

The other day LTTE cadres on a trawler which was transporting heaven only knows what, reportedly held two foreign monitors virtually hostage when they arrived to inquire during a confrontation with the navy.

The very people invited to your home and to mediate in a dispute are then treated in a manner that is hardly hospitable. The Monitoring Mission has already reported that the LTTE (and the government too) has committed a series of acts such as intimation, abduction, kidnapping and harassment in violation of the MoU.

If the LTTE is able to violate not only the MoU but also Sri Lanka's laws with impunity and therefore act as a de facto state without any agreement what on earth is the hurry in having talks- in Bangkok, Tierra del Fuego or wherever.

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