Political Column

Barely 48 hours after fighting broke out between Security Forces and Tiger guerrillas, President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited political parties supporting his Government for a briefing at 'Temple Trees '.

It began with Army Operations Director Brigadier Athula Jayawardena giving a Power Point presentation on Sunday (August 13). He said that Tiger guerrillas had at 5.45 p.m. on Friday launched attacks on security forces positions in and around the Jaffna peninsula. The Brigadier gave a brief on how guerrilla attacks on Government troops began soon after they blockaded the sluice gates at Mavil Aru. The attacks later shifted to Mutur, then Trincomalee and ended in Jaffna. He pointed out how Muslim civilians were killed in Mutur. He made the point that the security forces were only reacting to such attacks.

On the other hand, Tiger guerrillas were making the same claim - that they were only responding to security forces attacks. Yet, the two sides were pledging allegiance to the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002. Despite these claims and counter-claims, the bottom line is that Eelam War IV had indeed, started.

On Friday evening (August 11), LTTE guerrillas had directed artillery and mortar fire at several security forces positions in the Jaffna peninsula, Brigadier Jayawardena said. He pointed out that 130 mm artillery had been directed at the Palaly airstrip. Air Force raids had destroyed four such artillery guns, he added.

Taking part in the meeting were representatives of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), Communist Party (CP), Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and Muslim political parties.

"This is not a war that we started. All the attacks came from them (the guerrillas)," declared President Rajapaksa. He referred to the murder of the Deputy Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat, Kethesh Loganathan. There have been a number of instances where the guerrillas had unleashed violence. He said security arrangements in Colombo had to be strengthened.

JVP's Wimal Weerawansa was to use the opportunity to take a swipe at the international community. He said the killing of Loganathan was something akin to murdering someone like LTTE's Pulithevan, head of their Peace Secretariat. If such a thing happened, the LTTE would have made a big hue and cry. "The international community would have shouted hoarse about such an incident," he pointed out. He said such killings raised questions on the validity of the peace talks. He said troop morale was at peak, and that the security forces should fight the terrorists.

JHU's Ellawala Medananda raised issue over a report in last week's Sunday newspapers that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had offered to resume peace talks with the Government. He wanted to know from President Rajapaksa whether this was true, and whether his Government wanted to go ahead with it.

It seemed a strange coincidence. Weerawansa interrupted to say "I have just heard that a news conference is under way about such peace talks."
President Rajapaksa was surprised. Weerawansa said the news conference had been summoned by the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat, Palitha Kohona. Government's Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella was also taking part.

As political party leaders supporting the Government watched, President Rajapaksa spoke on the telephone with Rambukwella. The latter replied that the media had in fact been told the Government was ready for peace talks with the LTTE.

A senior Presidential advisor reprimanded Kohona for summoning the news conference, without even a formal nod from President Rajapaksa. He was also pulled up for inviting Defence Spokesman Rambukwella for the same news conference.

Whilst the conference of the political parties supporting the Government, and Kohona's news conference were under way, at the same time, a Tamil newspaper editor received a call from Pulithevan. He was not in the LTTE Peace Secretariat, but, as he said, he was calling from near a battle area where the guerrillas were attacking the security forces. He told the newspaper that media accounts of the LTTE wanting to hold peace talks with the Government were false. There was no such move, he emphasised and he wanted this publicized in that Tamil newspaper.

It turned out that Pulithevan had, in an informal conversation with the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), retired Swedish Major General Ulf Henriccson, sounded him out on what the Government response would be if and when LTTE wanted to resume talks. Henriccson readily agreed to be the post office to pass on any formal LTTE request for talks to the Government. He was indeed conscious that playing a role in peace facilitation was not part of the SLMM brief. That role was exclusively for the Government of Norway. Yet, he felt he was going to do a service by de-escalating tensions if the LTTE wanted to formally say it wanted talks.

As one Presidential aide complained, "Kohona ran to the media without carefully studying what he had been told and without consulting Government leaders. The fact that he had Rambukwella on board gave a different message to soldiers who were risking their lives in the battlefield in the north. Here were two Government voices who were giving wrong signals on a critical issue that involved life and death."

Even surpassing his predecessor, Jayantha Dhanapala, Kohona is known to be very fond of the limelight in the media. So he seized the opportunity with some 'breaking news' that came his way to create headlines.

But the development showed a greater flaw -- that there was lack of or no governance. Nor was there any accountability with different arms of the Government moving in different directions and speaking in different voices.

Most confused were Colombo-based diplomats who kept asking who is in control. Needless to say the reports they would file to their respective governments would give a dismal picture. This is when the economy is receiving a beating and tourist arrivals are dwindling. Tour operators are complaining of en-bloc cancellations.

President Rajapaksa also told political parties supporting the Governnment that he wanted to personally speak to United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. However, he had learnt that he was out of Sri Lanka. So, Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera from the Communist Party asked the President to invite UNP's deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya and others.

It was done and a meeting followed on Tuesday after Jayasuriya consulted Wickremesinghe. It was decided to take M.H. Mohamed and T. Maheswaran to represent the Muslim and Tamils, Gamini Lokuge, as he had been to Kantale to see the refugees, Jayalath Jayawardene because of his long-standing ties with the Tamils, especially in the Mannar area, and G.L. Peiris.

The process was the same. Brigadier Jayawardena gave them a briefing. Rajapaksa was to make clear "I have not begun a war. When people start attacking us, I have a duty to protect the people."

Maheswaran raised issue over the reported Air Force bombing of an LTTE-run orphanage at Sencholai. President Rajapaksa insisted that this was a place where guerrillas preparing for suicide missions were being trained. When Maheswaran raised the issue of shortages of medicines, foodstuffs and the curfew in Jaffna, the President said he would attend to these matters.

Karu Jayasuriya was to tell the President that the UNP delegation came "not to praise him or to criticise him", and that his party "condemned terrorism in all its forms", However, he said the UNP was of the view that there should be a political settlement, and asked the Government to put forward its proposals for such a settlement.

He referred to the influx of refugees from the East into areas like Negombo, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Kegalle and Anuradhapura, and urged they be re-settled as soon as possible.

"We are addressing all that," replied Rajapaksa.

The All-Party Conference was formulating a set of proposals, he said, and added that these proposals would be ready in two months. He then said that some Muslim political leaders were exploiting the refugee situation.

Jayasuriya then said that claymore mines had now come to Kandy and Colombo, and that the stability of the South was questionable.

The President responded by saying that the Government was taking precautions, and that the closure of schools was one such step. He then, urged the UNP to co-operate with his Government, saying that it was one of the two parties that had the experience in handling this situation.

On the way out, Jayasuriya switched on to cricketing parlance. "If you want our co-operation, you must play according to ICC rules," he said, a clear reference to the President's backstage moves in wooing UNPers to cross over with the offer of portfolios in order to swell his parliamentary ranks.

Taken aback, the President responded by saying, "It was your former leader, J.R. Jayewardene who made those rules and not us".

An appeal to stop the ongoing fighting and begin peace talks came this week from the United States. It was conveyed by Steve Man, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs in the State Department. On hand was Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera and President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga. Rajapaksa took the opportunity to explain that he had been acting with great restraint. He said when the third in command of the Army, (Lt. Gen. Parami Kulatunga) was killed by the LTTE, the Government did not retaliate. But the LTTE was continuing with violent attacks and he had no option but to order the security forces to hit back. He traced the events that followed the LTTE blockade at Mavil Aru. Once again Rajapaksa said, "I did not start it. Those who started it must stop."

The LTTE attempt on the life of Pakistan's outgoing High Commissioner, Bashir Wali Mohamed, on Monday had thoroughly angered President Rajapaksa. He was concerned that security in and around 'Temple Trees' had not been adequate for such an incident to take place. He later telephoned Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to express his regrets over the incident and to assure that adequate protection was being provided.

Another significant event came last Wednesday when the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan made a 25-minute telephone call to President Rajapaksa. With him at the time was Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and head of the Government Peace Secretariat Palitha Kohona.

Annan was to express concern over the fighting in Sri Lanka and wanted a halt to the fighting. He said the Government should resume peace talks and advised Rajapaksa not to abandon the peace process.

Rajapaksa once again traced the history of the recent LTTE attacks and declared that his Government was only playing a defensive role. Annan made a specific appeal to allow UN agencies to carry out relief work in affected areas. The move came after the Defence Ministry had placed tighter controls on UN and other international agencies operating, particularly in the East. Human Rights issues also figured in the conversation.

Later that evening, the President briefed the Cabinet on the current security situation. Foreign Minister Samaraweera also made a statement in which he emphasized the point that the Government ought not to lose sight of a political solution to the ongoing conflict. He had earlier held meetings with Colombo-based diplomats on a bilateral and multilateral basis. They were given accounts of the current state of affairs in the North and East.

Minister Samarasinghe outlined arrangements being made to rush food supplies to the Jaffna peninsula. He said a vessel had already been chartered for the purpose and would next week carry 3800 metric tons of food items to the beleaguered people in those Provinces.

There were also other politically significant developments. The SLFP Central Committee met on Thursday night to discuss its response to contentious issues that have been included in the 20-point common minimum programme the JVP has put forward to the Government. The JVP says it will join the Government only if these are accepted. But the Central Committee was of the view that some of them were difficult to accept, like for example a call to urge the Government of Norway to withdraw from the peace process and to abrogate the Ceasefire Agreement. Both these measures, the Central Committee felt, would lead to severe repercussions that will affect the national interest. Another demand, a de-merger of the North and East, it was pointed out, was a matter for the Courts to decide. Yet another demand -- to curtail the Cabinet to a maximum of 30 Ministers, was also a difficult task, it felt. There was also the underlining fear, of the JVP eventually swallowing up the SLFP.

The same evening, the JVP's politburo met to discuss matters relating to its offer to join the Government. Speakers said that if the SLFP continued to put off a decision and was hesitant, the JVP would go its own way. One of those who staunchly backed this position was former Minister, and Trade Union leader K.D. Lalkantha. The next round of Government-JVP talks will be held this Wednesday. That should portend which way the Government-JVP axis will head in the near future.

The JVP's politburo also discussed the anti-war rally organized by one-time Janavegaya Marxist Kumar Rupasinghe's NGO. Weerawansa was critical that the meeting was allowed to be held in Colombo, when the troops were fighting Tiger guerrillas in the North and East.

He said the presence of Government politicians (Mervyn Silva and Dilan Perera) gave a wrong message to the troops on the ground. Probably the best aside came when he said that people who held a rally against war and spilling blood had waged exactly that on a group of Buddhist monks. Their robes had been removed and the members of the clergy were assaulted by those who wanted to stop the fighting.

Rupasinghe has declared that he would continue with the anti-war rallies and hoped to get a larger crowd the next time round.

All in all, President Rajapaksa and his Government face a serious dilemma. With only two months to go for the budget, the economy is taking a severe pounding. The ongoing fighting has made the prospects of a resumption of peace talks in the immediate future unlikely.

On the other hand, the prospects of a stable Government with the JVP, which is imposing difficult demands as far as the Rajapaksa administration is concerned, are diminishing. Has Rajapaksa, who was elected as President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for six years, painted himself into a corner in just eight months? How and why this came about will be food for thought for many Sri Lankans.