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Fund
cuts cripple polls office An elections
department official said the process of computerizing the entire
voters list and thereby minimizing impersonation had been hampered
by a ten percent slashing of funds by the Treasury. He said the
computerization had been done only in Colombo and partly in Gampaha
but they were unable to proceed due to the lack of funds. The official
said that under the computerization process, they would only have
to put in the National Identity Card number of a voter and that
would curb impersonation. Meanwhile,
the People's Alliance is protesting against alleged frauds in the
annual registration of voters. Former Minister
Nimal Siripala de Silva said the PA would move a motion in parliament
asking for more funds to be released to the Elections Department
so that a department officer could accompany the grama sevaka niladharis
when they go out to draw up the householders list. The PA alleged
that some grama sevakas were deliberately keeping out PA supporters
and including UNP supporters in bogus lists. Responding to this, an Elections Department official said political parties were entitled to send their representatives with grama seveka niladharis in the drawing up of new voters' list. But the parties were not sending anyone and they could not expect the department to carry out their duty. Right
of reply "Although
there were a few signs of an unsuccessful or aborted hartal in the
town of Trincomalee, there was no indication whatsoever of human
activity or of poster display against the four-day mobile xervice
in the district by the Minister of Lands. "However,
due to the signs, although frail, of a possible instigation, the
security services were not happy about the minister's visit to Trincomalee.
On the other hand, it was envisaged that the people who were to
participate in the mobile service would face inconveniences, if
transport facilities were disrupted by unknown elements. Therefore,
the minister's visit and the Mobile Service were both cancelled
at the last moment." News Editor's
note: The Sunday Times is aware that the hartal had been called
by a front organisation of the LTTE as they were not happy about
land distribution taking place in Trincomalee before a final settlement
is reached. TULF General Secretary R.Sampandan himself was quoted in our last week's story as saying that the land distribution was a complex question that needed to be solved once an interim administration structure was established in the North and East. We stand by our story. Pluralism,
political diversity, human rights and interim setup The Norwegian
mediators (they ceased to be facilitators long time ago) are presently
engaged in shuttle diplomacy in trying to work out a common ground
for direct negotiations between the Government and the LTTE on the
subject of establishing a North-East interim or provisional administration.
As such it is premature to comment on the proposal(s) which in any
case is in the process of evolving. What I wish to place before
the readers are some fundamentals that need to be taken into account
while shaping an interim arrangement for the North-East. In fact,
this intervention is prompted by some concerns I have relating to
the on-going process. At the outset,
it must be noted that following the decision by the LTTE to suspend
its participation in direct, official negotiations and not attend
the Tokyo donor conference, the public discourse has shifted to
interim arrangements and interim administration. Matters such as
human rights, popular participation and core political issues, which
were beginning to claim their due place in the peace agenda in the
run-up to the Tokyo donor conference, have been placed in the backburner.
It is therefore imperative that we remind ourselves once again of
the fundamentals. Firstly, it
is important to take cognizance of the fact that there is a vital
difference between interim arrangements prior to the reaching of
a negotiated political settlement and transitional arrangements
following a political settlement. In this, we need to recognize
that Sri Lanka is not in a post-conflict situation. It is only the
guns of the two standing armies that have fallen silent - and, even
there, only against each other. The causes that led to the conflict
remain unaddressed. The Government and the LTTE have displayed pathological
aversion to addressing the core political issues and to initiate
a process of constitutional reforms aimed at a negotiated political
and a constitutional settlement to the ethnic question. That there
are detractors is no excuse, just as much as detractors did not
impede the signing of a ceasefire agreement and are not impeding
the on-going initiatives at arriving at an interim arrangement. The second
fundamental relates to the question of the composition of the proposed
interim arrangement for the North-East. Representation of the Muslims
and the Sinhalese in the proposed interim arrangement is in the
process of being addressed and should not pose too much difficulties.
Suffice it to say that the issue of regional minorities need to
be factored into any interim-arrangement and cannot wait till a
final settlement. Another vexed
issue relating to the composition of the proposed interim administration
or the provisional administration relates to political diversity
and the role of the non-LTTE organization. It must be recognized
that the history of the Tamil resistance against State repression
and discrimination did not begin with the LTTE; neither would it
end with the LTTE, if that State repression and discrimination persists.
It is remarkable that just as much as LTTE has shown tremendous
resilience in the face of adversities, some of the non-LTTE ex-militant
Tamil political parties, which have faced the brunt of LTTE's pursuit
of hegemony through the force of arms, are still in the political
arena and simply refuse to turn over and play dead. This is despite
the spate of political killings which have reached the proportions
of a killing field in the North-East. They, like the LTTE, have
also made tremendous sacrifices in resisting state repression and
discrimination against the Tamil people. To exclude them from an
interim arrangement just because they do not conform to the LTTE's
way of seeing and doing, is to deny the Tamil people their fundamental
right to political diversity and freedom of association. This is
particularly important, if any interim arrangement preceding a final
negotiated political and constitutional settlement becomes protracted
without any possibility of direct elections to a North-East devolved
unit. This brings
me to the question of popular participation in the task of resettlement,
rehabilitation, reconstruction and development - a basic task that
the proposed interim administration would be entrusted with. One
lesson that could be learnt from the experience of the now defunct
Sub-Committee on Immediate Humanitarian Needs (SIHRN) is that as
long as the central and regional bureaucracies suffer from inertia
and inefficiency, and as long as the LTTE sees any institution dealing
with rehabilitation, reconstruction and the development as its own
appendage that has no existence independent of itself, the people
of the region are not going to benefit. Likewise, an interim arrangement
aimed at primarily giving pride of place to the LTTE by marginalizing
civil society may serve to strengthen the organization, but at the
expense of weakening local community initiative, participation and
capacity building. The mere replacement of SIHRN with an interim
administration without a corresponding transformation of the key
actors, and appropriate checks and balances and countervailing measures,
would be counter-productive as far as the interests of the people
of the North-East are concerned. Another important
plank in any interim arrangement is human rights. As a group of
human rights activists and intellectuals noted in a recent joint
statement, to which I was a co-signatory, since "interim"
arrangements have the power to help shape long-term political and
social developments, it is imperative that human rights guarantees
must be built into any new administrative structures for the north
and east from the very beginning. Clear and enforceable human rights
"benchmarks" must be made central to the process of monitoring
the disbursement of reconstruction funds. The right to life and
right to livelihoods of all persons living and working in the north
and east must be guaranteed, with full respect for their economic
and social rights. Any interim arrangement that does not make human
rights principles and concerns integral to its functioning will
undermine the potential for lasting peace in Sri Lanka. In sum, to
me peace, whether it interim or final, has no meaning if it is not
firmly grounded on the principles of pluralism, political diversity
and human rights. Further, the task of addressing core political
and constitutional issues aimed at a final settlement cannot be
delayed any longer. I do recognize the complexities in the process
of transformation, but I am certainly not going to be content with
arguments that rely on pragmatism, practicability and ground realities
that seek to dodge these vital issues. (Kethesh Loganathan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and Head of its Conflict and Peace Analysis Unit. The views expressed are his own.) |
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