5th Column

All talk, no progress, but the camp stands
In London, Bala was annoyed. He had been informed that there was yet another set of proposals from Colombo and that these had not been rejected yet. He called Velu's secret number in the Wanni…

"Thambi, what is happening now?"

"Bala, they have sent us another set of proposals…"

"Yes, thambi, I heard that. But why don't we say that we will study it and then reject it in a few days…"

"It is not simple as that, Bala…"

"Why, have they offered anything more substantial?"

"The answer to that, Bala, depends on who you are…"

"I don't understand, Thambi. Why should it depend on who you are?"

"We have been sent proposals which say we get everything except land, money and security…"

"Which means we are getting nothing, Thambi…"

"I know. But they have told Satellite that we get everything including land, money and security…"

"I would have thought, Thambi, that they would have sent the more acceptable proposals to us and the less acceptable proposals to Satellite…"

"But that is exactly their trick, Bala…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Why, Bala, this way, both parties receive proposals that they don't like. We think we have got less and Satellite thinks we are being given more…"

"What is the purpose of doing that?"

"Why, Bala, we will of course ask for more but more importantly, Satellite would have already been informed that we are getting all that…"

"So, Thambi, are you agreeing to these new proposals?"

"In our usual kind of way…"

"And what do you mean by that?"

"We will say that it can be the basis for further discussions…"

"But why do we want to do that? We can reject it in the same way we rejected the previous proposals…"

"But it is different now, Bala…"

"Why is that?"

"Thamil is saying that there is too much pressure from Canada. They have even been saying we could go on the list of banned organizations…"

"And the Brits didn't give him a visa because we are still on the banned list here and I even heard Uncle Sam make some threatening noises this week…"

"Yes, Bala, so we have to at least show that we are interested in this from time to time…"

"But we have to be careful, Thambi…"

"Why do you say that?"

"Why, most of them are now getting tired of the talks going on and on and they seem to get wise to our delaying tactics…"

"When that happens, Bala, we will accept the interim proposals…"

"But that is not enough, Thambi. I thought we wanted federation…"

"Yes, Bala, but don't you see, it will give them the chance to tell their side that they have almost solved the problem and stopped the war…"

"But what do we get in return, Thambi?"

"Why, we can tell the world that we are ready for democracy. Who knows, we can even give Douglas a place in the interim set up…"

"And then what happens, Thambi?"

"Why, we live to fight another day, Bala…"

"And thambi, what happens to that camp they are disputing?'

"Ah," said Velu, "the camp will not budge an inch. And we might even set up a few more just to show that we are serious in our business…"

Bala didn't want to disagree

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