LTTE wins 'equal partner' status
By Our Political Editor
"We have accepted the status that the Government and the Tigers are equal partners in the peace talks; we accord mutual respect. Therefore, there should be no persistence that the talks should be based on the proposals put forward by only one side.

" Whilst the Government would accept the proposals of the Tigers as the basis for the talks, the Tigers should also agree to consider the proposals put forward by the Government. It is on this basis peace talks had been conducted at international level. Accordingly, we would conduct the talks on the basis of the proposals put forward by both parties, the Government and the LTTE ".

Those were the words of Director General turned Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat, retired international diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala. Like the name change he has so easily effected to his job, one for which he does not want any monthly pay, he has spelt out policy hitherto not enunciated in those terms.

The occasion was his official visit to the Jaffna peninsula. Unlike his unassuming predecessor, Bernard Gunatilleke, a diplomat himself, the suave former UN diplomat has gone high profile, very high indeed. Not many Cabinet Ministers receive the courtesies he gets - salutes from senior officers in the military who greet him as he alights from an air force aircraft, namaskarams from the populace, worthy welcomes from bureaucrats, even a paw from the mine-clearing alsation dog, and what have you. It happened during his visit to Batticaloa. It has happened again when he visited Jaffna this week. All dutifully videoed by a privately hired cam-corder and the tapes delivered for broadcast by media channels.

As he puts it, he is visiting the regional offices of the Ceasefire Monitoring Missions that supervise the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement. So there are two now - the first is the Head of the SLMM, retired Norwegian General Trond Furuhovde. He wants to see how his Peace Secretariat could contribute to a strengthening of the peace process.

But Dhanapala took the opportunity of this visit to make statements that tantamount to enunciation of policy during the Jaffna visit. That he did within earshot of the LTTE's centre of power, Kilinochchi. The medium was an exclusive interview with Uthayan the widely read Tamil newspaper in the peninsula and the Wanni. In other words he was speaking to the people of the north, more particularly to the LTTE.

In doing so, he not only declared the Tigers are "equal partners" in the peace talks who are accorded mutual respect. After all, the dialogue has been with the Tigers whether one liked it or not. But answers to some of the questions fielded by Uthayan makes clear Dhanapala is no ordinary Secretary General, or an ordinary bureaucrat. He seems to have been given the licence to speak policy, something not all Cabinet Ministers are entitled to. Here are excerpts that give a sampling; Uthayan: What is the present status of the peace talks?

Dhanapala: At present, there is a problem of a time frame. We have clearly stated that the Government is prepared to discuss an interim administrative authority. We announced this, being aware of the need for such an authority to rehabilitate the north-east and to deliver humanitarian services.

When considering the interim administration, the LTTE has a right to put forward their proposals for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA). It should not be considered that the Government had ever said this proposal should be confined to the wastepaper basket. Even though the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which is a major constituent party of the Government opposed these proposals, the Government would give due regard and consider the proposals of the Tigers.

If talks are to be held, they should be conducted on an equal basis. This is the practice adopted at international level peace talks. .....I do not know why the LTTE is taking such a long time to reply to the proposals sent by the Government through Norway. We are prepared to go to the conference table at any moment.

Dhanapala then goes on to say that the Government has never said the ISGA proposals should be confined to the wastepaper basket. The international diplomacy in him comes out loud and clear. What he did not say is that when in the Opposition, it was the People's Alliance which publicly declared the ISGA was a blueprint for a separate state of Eelam. Similar sentiments were expressed, equally, if not more vociferously, by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.

Now to an important matter. Dhanapala says even though the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, which is a major constituent party of the Government, opposed these proposals, the Government would give due regard and consider the proposals of the Tigers. Even if she shared that view, until now President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Head of State, Head of Government, Head of Cabinet, Minister of Defence, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, has not made that remark publicly. Nor has her Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse or any other Cabinet Minister. That is how powerful Dhanapala is portraying himself to be. He could say what he wants whether it is in the country's North or South and that seems to translate into Government policy. This time he chose to impart those words of wisdom inthe North.

Then to his learned discourse on conducting talks adopting practices followed at international levels. Dhanapala forgets for a moment that he is not the Secretary General of the United Nations or playing the role of one. If he was, then such international practices, as he defines them, are followed in talks between two countries. Inter-national means between two nations. Has Dhanapala now recognised, on behalf of the UPFA government, the LTTE as a separate nation? Giving the LTTE ' equal partner ' status was bad enough. The JVP led UPFA slammed the UNF Administration for doing this. Now they give them "nation-status". Or is this simply diplomatic balderdash?

No doubt Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar might raise an eye-brow, or two, when he comes to hear that Dhanapala has now given the LTTE ' equal-partner/nation-status', quite apart from the JVP, whose spokesmen are shouting themselves hoarse at public rallies against the ISGA etc.,

In answer to another question, Dhanapala laments "both sides should have talked to each other directly and the failure had led to a lot of misunderstanding and mistrust." He concludes that this situation has been aggravated by the incorrect views on matters carried by the media during this period. It should not have happened, he says.

Media bashing is nothing new. But a long-time diplomat like Dhanapala should have known better about how the media in Colombo is being treated by a Government that vowed to be transparent. That too in the all important subject of peace talks.

Whenever there is a development, the story breaks not in Colombo but in Kilinochchi. Every visiting Norwegian peace facilitator, who holds talks with Tiger leaders, end up speaking to the media in Kilinochchi. Not so in Colombo. To make it worse, both the Peace Secretariat and even the Government maintain stoic silence until it is forced to respond to issues that arise from remarks made in Kilinochchi.

There are exceptions of course. Like for example the news release put out by the Peace Secretariat this week that it has approved the purchase of four vehicles with duty free concessions for the exclusive use of the LTTE Peace Secretariat. Dhanapala's Secretariat says "the decision was taken as a gesture to encourage the LTTE in its peace building efforts and to strengthen the peace process as we jointly seek a permanent solution to the conflict within a United Sri Lanka."

Has not the Peace Secretariat fallen for a transparent ploy from the LTTE. Are Sri Lankans to believe the LTTE, which now collects more than Rs 25 million a day by way of taxes, cannot afford to pay a few lakhs of rupees as duty for four vehicles. What about the fleet of luxury vehcles that are reported lost every week in the City of Colombo and the suburbs? Ask any Police officer and he will tell you that all of them end up in the Wanni. How can the UPFA now accuse the former United National Front Government of offering duty free concessions to the LTTE to import powerful radio broadcast equipment for Voice of Tigers. They had done the same thing though the difference is that the Peace Secretariat had put out a news release. That is in the belief that what is formally announced is a good deed.

If Dhanapala is hoping to encourage the LTTE in its peace building efforts, the LTTE was clearly not impressed. The Head of the LTTE Political Wing S.P. Thamilselvan admits they asked for duty-free vehicles, and then go on to have the temerity to argue that it is the duty of the Sri Lanka government to strengthen the LTTE Peace Secretariat by granting these concessions.

For the LTTE it has nothing so much to do with being a "gesture" towards them, but a "duty". But arguably even more significant was Thamilselvan's total rejection of the Dhanapala assertion of two documents at the table. He told The Sunday Times in an interview post-Dhanapala interview in the Uthayan, "we need to first establish or institutionalise the ISGA. While the ISGA is in operation we can talk about a final solution. ...This is a must....We will not change our position on that."

Thamilselvan answered several questions put to him by The Sunday Times. The Q & A appears on Pages 4 and 5. That puts paid to Dhanapala's policy pronouncements directed to the LTTE. We have turned full circle, but remain in the same positions.

Having failed on the Peace Front, Dhanapala will now lend a hand on the Economic Front, another front that is collapsing for the UPFA government. He will lend his vast knowledge and experience in the international circuit to accompany Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama ( or is Amunugama accompanying Dhanapala ) to jet to Geneva next month to plead with the oil sheiks of OPEC to get concessionary terms for Sri Lanka, now reeling from world oil prices and mounting oil bills at home.

There have been some concern whether Dhanapala is the man for this task. Considering the fact that he was in the International Disarmament agency, Arab diplomats in Colombo were doing a double take on his role in inspections of Arab-Muslim countries.

For Amunugama however the task before him these weeks was daunting to say the least. The government was continuing to subsidise Diesel, Petrol and Kerosene at Rs. 12.25 per litre; Rs. 2 per litre and Rs. 9.25 per litre. This meant that each time a vehicle pumped 10 litres of Diesal into a vehicle, the government was losing Rs. 122.25 for that vehicle.

The problems had started from around February this year, when the UNF government stopped pegging the fuel prices to international rates in view of the forthcoming Provincial Council elections. In March, President Kumaratunga dissolved Parliament and did not want to touch the issue until the April general elections, and the July Provincial elections. The result: the government owes LIOC (Lanka Indian Oil Company ) Rs. 1.2 Billion. With LIOC having only 20 per cent of the market and the CPC ( Ceylon Petroluem Corporation ) having the balance 80 per cent, the CPC was owed Rs. 4.8 Billion totalling Rs. 6 Billion or Rs. 6,000 Million fuel bill outstanding for the government, with prices rising.

Even if Dhanapala and Amunugama fall at the sandals of the OPEC oil barons in Geneva next month, the chances are that world crude oil are going to continue to be upward mobile, sending the already unbearably high cost-of-living skyrocketing to outer space. The JVP, numbed by the rapid developments at the Treasury, can only stand and stare as they come to terms with how international markets operate, and how they influence small, fragile economies like those of Sri Lanka.

Amunugama could not oblige JVP demands to retain subsidies any more without crashing the economy. Thus, on Friday he put on a brave face, to an otherwise ageless one. And unlike the conventional politician, he talked straight to the point.

His audience was a Regional Development seminar where he told the participants that the country cannot afford subsidies any longer and that for the next two or three years the people will have to live without subsidies. He told them as far as fuel is concerned, the next time they have to fill their tanks they will have to pay " a little more ". The writing was on the wall. The people needed to brace themselves to higher prices.Already, electricity consumers utilising over 900 units (most do), would have to pay an extra five per cent.

As Amunugama spoke, employees at the Sapugaskande oil refinery had launched a lightening strike. They had feared the government was going back on its word not to privatise the CPC. Already, the government had reneged on a deal with SinoPec, the Chinese-Singaporean oil company and was doing business with Hindustan Petroleum, yet another Indian oil company.

With LIOC and HP, there was always the long-term national interest of Sri Lanka at stake. Indo-Sri Lanka relations have not always been as bonhomie as they are now. With two Indian oil companies taking charge of a larger slice of the Sri Lankan oil distribution exercise, national interest was a matter to be reviewed.

But the immediate issue was how to cut the soaring oil bill. Each month on the 14th, international oil prices are reviewed, and at midnight on Friday, the UPFA government had no alternative other than to raise the price of petrol by Rs. 3 and diesel by Rs. 4 per litre, but keep the price of kerosene intact.

There will no doubt be an immediate impact on the prices of food items. Together with the increasing demands of the LTTE coupled with the increasing cost-of-living to face, a disgruntled voter could only grumble; "Rata Perata; Koti karata; Api walata".

The price increases are however not commensurate with the oil bill still to pay. And if Amunugama, the Finance Minister says that the people will need to face increased prices for the next two to three years, he must know what he's talking about.

Ominous talk of pruning subsidies
By Harinda Ranura Vidanage
The LTTE seems to be slipping deeper into an organizational crisis as it keeps on losing its rank and file to hostile fire from a renegade group, but the core issue apart from the renegade group is that it has lost grasp of internal problems. Recently they lost one of the most valuable assets the LTTE leadership acquired in the post cease fire era in the form of Dr. Jay Maheswaran.

A highly qualified town planner and a former advisor to the Australian government was brought in as a member of the Tiger negotiating team during the 2002, 2003 peace talks. Later he was assigned the overall responsibility of mapping the reconstruction of the whole of North East under LTTE control. Suddenly he seems to have distanced himself from the task entrusted and left the country on a personal assignment abandoning the LTTE.

The LTTE has begun to crack under its own militant ideology being unable to cope with the conditions of negative peace under the ceasefire. As the LTTE weakens so does the pressure applied on the government to achieve the objectives of the ISGA. But a very significant factor in the process is why wont the government acknowledge the fact of slow disintegration of the LTTE structure, even knowing details of the high value individuals being lost to the organization.

Weakening of the LTTE cannot be seen as a good sign because it could be a threat to internal security of the country. The Tigers could aim at targets in Colombo both to cover its loss of strength and to force the government back to the negotiating table to discuss the ISGA. The government it looks is not willing to exploit the current weak position the Tigers are in. This surely may be what the top advisors tell the president and her government.

Furthermore it is possible that some of these advisors may have had a hand in the drafting of the ISGA for the LTTE. The whole equation of the LTTE being strategically covered by the government is quite apparent with what Karuna said in a wide ranging interview with the Asia Tribune. He categorically said it was careful collaboration of the LTTE, Sri Lanka Government Forces and the Scandinavian monitoring mission that dislodged him from power in the East. Sources linked to the renegade rebel leader suspect, the Colombo killings of Karuna associates is not just the work of the Tigers but logistical support for the hit squads being provided by other powerful formal institutions.

'Militant Buddhism' is the newest term some international media institutions have used to explain the introduction of the anti conversion bill. Now that the Supreme-Court has conveyed its determination the bill in all probability would face stiff opposition in getting through to the statute book.

Many, both politicians and lay people, hold different views on what the impact of this piece of legislation would be on democracy and its practice. President Kumaratunga publicly expressed her displeasure over the bill, while many powerful Ministers in the government have decided to put down the bill as well, the media minister was heard calling it a barbaric act. This means that the state media would definitely go for a low intensity campaign to negate the bill.

This week's cabinet meeting saw JVP parliamentarian minister Anura Dissanayake having a lone one to one chat with President Kumaratunga. A joke was made of the metamorphosis of the JVP firebrand into a tamed friend of the UPFA top brass, as both the President and Prime Minister in their overseas trips were accompanied by him. The JVP is highly worried about President not coming to the opening ceremony of the renovation of thousand tanks project launched by the Agricultural ministry.

With all state media institutions hoping for a grand show with the participation of President Kumaratunga the JVP is desperately trying to woo her to attend the event. The President is concerned about her security specially in view of the PSD alerting her of these inability to provide security on two consecutive days.

With all these developments one man is wanting to grab all the publicity to himself declaring that he will run for presidency next time. It is the former prime minister and presently leader of the UPFA Ratnasiri Wickramanayake. He seems to have already begun the run-up to the presidential race in 2005. Making the situation more hilarious was the public announcement of the finance minister Sarath Amunugama in reference to the various subsidies that are being given to the consumer. This declaration could be ominous.

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