Who's afraid of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna?
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna campaign against any negotiations based on the ISGA proposals of the LTTE is gathering steam, even as the cost of living goes through the roof. Wimal Weerawansa the JVP's know-it-all mob orator definitely must have a hard time keeping his hair-style in place, as he goes from meeting to meeting lambasting his own government.

What is the JVP against? Is it against the ISGA proposals, or any negotiations based upon these proposals?? Is the JVP against the government formulating its own set of proposals for an Interim administration while trying to bring about a compromise between such a set of proposals and those that have been presented by the LTTE?
The JVP does not care.

Its political project of the moment is to oppose. The same way the JVP opposed, more than a decade back, the Provincial Councils, which have several years later offered the JVP the best arena for its brand of slash and burn politics.

But playing opposition while in government is a game for pyromaniacs -- and the JVP is now on a suicidal trajectory. Obviously the party is using the rascal's device of patriotism, in saying that it is opposed to the ISGA proposals which call for the handover of a good part of this country's coastal resources and seas to the LTTE.

But everybody else who is sane in the South of the county is also opposed to the LTTE's maximalist demands. But what the political and intellectual elite has failed to place in perspective, is the fact that negotiating on the ISGA proposals is not the same as accepting the same.

The state must respond to the only set of political proposals ever made by the LTTE since way back in Thimpu and this response must come at the negotiating table, at which the government is entitled to reject any part of the ISGA document.

If the Israelis could sit down with Arafat and negotiate the creation of a Palestinian Authority what's the rationale for the JVP's rejection of any negotiations based on the ISGA proposals?? It could only be that the party views a jingoist position on the ISGA as a good political platform to mobilise masses to strengthen its own political base. There were similar political players in Israel, and former Premier Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a man who belonged to a group of such rabble-rousers.

The disappointment here is that the political elites of this country are unable to expose the LTTE's treachery in trying to pull the rug from under the government's feet, while the government's peace policymakers take some first tentative steps towards engaging the LTTE towards a constructive dialogue. It’s treachery alright, when a coalition partner tries to subvert its own coalition government - it's definitely an act of treachery towards the coalition of course. But it's also an act of treachery towards the country that the JVP is trying to scuttle one of the few processes by which the nation could attempt to return to a secure period of peace.

The JVP's stand needs to be intellectually taken apart and the people educated on the simple fact that negotiating an Interim structure is not the same as accepting the maximalist position of the LTTE. But the intellectual elite of this country is asleep, lacking the imagination these days to challenge anything except perhaps the size of their paychecks.

If the JVP goes on with the same momentum in its campaign to "demonise'' the ISGA proposals as a negotiating platform, it could build the critical-mass that is needed to compel the government to abandon moves to negotiate based on these proposals. This is why the JVP needs to be intellectually challenged, and its insidious campaign deconstructed exposed, nailed, and buried -- fast.

One way of doing this is to appeal to the people over the heads of the JVP's slick (and slick-haired) leadership by saying that the JVP has been unable to deliver on the promise of a better standard of living for the masses.

When a party in government cannot get any sort of grip on a spiralling cost of living, and is at the same time trying to put a spanner in the only type of manoeuvre that's essential to get the LTTE back to the negotiating table, it is a ridiculous state of affairs. But today, only newspaper cartoonists are succeeding on a daily basis in making the JVP look ridiculous. Particularly in the Sinhalese papers, the JVP is being mercilessly lampooned by some very clever artists who take the mickey out of the JVP's regular loudmouth Wimal Werawansa who made a rock-concert of a noise about the cost of living before the UPFA coalition was elected to power in April of this year.

But all the good work of demolishing the hypocrisies of the JVP cannot be left to the cartoonists -- however clever and laudable their work maybe. The political elite of this country should put the JVP in the dock.

If the JVP is in the dock for being unable to improve the economy, it will be increasingly difficult for its rabble-rousers to make shrill noises about negotiations based on the ISGA proposals. The JVP can and should make a lot of noise against the ISGA proposals per se, and say that the LTTE's maximalist demands are not acceptable.

But in the meantime the JVP must make it clear to all and sundry including the vulture-like international community that the party is not opposed to any negotiations based on these proposals.

The JVP is not doing that. Therefore a great deal of ambiguity prevails about whether there is unanimity within the government about moving forward with the peace initiatives. The JVP indicates that it is not opposed to negotiations one day, and goes back on this position the next. One thing is certain. The JVP is not going to do a Rabin on Chandrika Kumaratunga if she goes forward with the contemplated negotiations on the ISGA proposals. The government has however not unambiguously indicated that it is going ahead with the negotiations on the ISGA, while formulating a set of proposals of its own as a response.

If the government takes the initiative, the JVP's shrill noises will begin to look comic. But the government, not having a plan of its own to do anything about the cost of living and the deteriorating living standards, seems to be in no position to say that it is imperative to get the negotiations underway to stabilise the economy. Therefore the government is allowing the worse-case scenario to develop - not getting a grip on the economy while letting the JVP take the political initiative.

But if the government cannot do it the political elite can do it. Show that there is a need to respond to the LTTE's only set of political proposals and to negotiate based on these. Point to the economic benefits that would accrue if an Interim Authority is set up therefore creating the conditions for a viable and longstanding peace. Say that if Israel can do it we can. Tell the JVP to get lost - - or make a clear unambiguous statement to the effect that it is not opposed to negotiations based on the ISGA.

After such a statement is made it can have all the meetings it wants opposing the ISGA itself (..and tear a lot of gelled-over and slicked-back hair in the process…. )

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