Lobby

Last weeks twin bomb attacks in Colombo and Nugegoda once again put the terrorist/national/ethnic issue to the forefront of discussion in Parliament as the debate on the Committee stage of the budget concluded its second week. Although the issue of national security was not one of the scheduled subjects of discussion for last week, in the aftermath of the bomb attacks as well as the speech by LTTE leader Vellupilai Prabhakaran, the issue came to the fore and resulted in some heated arguments within the Chamber particularly between the JVP and TNA MPs.

It was JVP Parliamentary group leader Wimal Weerawansa who decided on Tuesday to make a special statement to the legislature analysing the LTTE leader’s speech and ask the Government to formally end the ceasefire agreement of 2002. “Prabhakaran has accused the Government of unilaterally abrogating the ceasefire agreement and hinted he is no longer bound by the CFA. Unwittingly he has given an opening to the Government to formally end the CFA” Mr. Weerawansa said.

By the following day there was more reason for the JVP members to ask the government to go further and ban the LTTE as news reached Parliament that an attempt had been made on the life of Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda.

The same evening, TNA Jaffna district MP M.K. Sivajilingam attempted to bring an adjournment motion in the House to condemn the air attacks by the Air Force in “LTTE controlled areas” in which the MP claimed several civilians were killed. Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara had allowed the motion to go ahead after amending it to delete any reference to “LTTE controlled areas” but when Mr.Sivajilingam presented it, JVP MP Weerawansa objected strongly stating that the TNA MP had used the expunged term. There were several heated exchanges following this between the two sides with Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva and UNP MP T. Maheswaran too joining the fray. Eventually the time allocated for the adjournment motion came to an end and it could not be taken up for debate but it gave the opportunity for another TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah to also raise the issue of the validity of the CFA from the government. “Under the CFA, areas have been designated as Government controlled and LTTE controlled. Does the government still accept this position or not”, he asked.

By Thursday when Parliament met again, there was more bad news following the bomb explosion in Nugegoda which had taken a heavy toll of civilian lives. The day started with Minister Devananda making a lengthy statement in Parliament which was well received by government and JVP members. Minister Devananda scoffed at attempts made by Prabhakaran to kill him and said he is unafraid of the LTTE leader and was not a coward to run way from such cowardly attacks.

Minister Devananda said that at the time of the signing of the Indo-Lanka accord in July 1987, LTTE casualties stood at 630 dead but last week the group announced over 19,000 have been killed. “If the LTTE had accepted the Indo-Lanka accord, all those young lives could have been saved,” he said. He also spoke on the need for an “interim arrangement” for the north and east for normalcy to be restored there. It would be interesting to see if the JVP which has been zealously backing the EPDP leader when he takes on the LTTE would also back his proposals for an interim arrangement which would be based on devolution of power to these areas.

Following the Minister’s speech, Mr. Weerawansa proposed that a minutes silence be observed in the memory of those who were killed in the bomb attacks on Tuesday.

TNA MPs too stood in silence having condemned the attacks on civilians but they wanted civilians killed in the military operations in the north and east too remembered in the same manner as those who died in the south. In June last year, Mr. Weerawansa called for a similar observance of silence in memory of the Kebithigollewa claymore mine blast victims and that instances led to ugly scenes in the Well of the House between the JVP and the TNA over the discriminatory manner in victims of violence were being remembered.
It was another instance which highlighted the ethnic divide in the country illustrating the manner in which politicians from north and east and those from other areas have come to view the situation in the country.

When TNA MP Sivajilngam got the opportunity to present his adjournment motion, he asked the government to stop air raids in the Wanni area as they killed civilians. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said there was no possibility of doing so. He said it was LTTE members who are killed in the precise and meticulously planned air attacks and there was no way the Government would act in a manner that would only help Prabhakaran who is now cornered. However a line to say that the LTTE uses civilians as human shields and there are instances they too get killed may have done a little to soothe the concerns of the Tamil politicians.

Certain members in Government seem eager to please the JVP and go along with many of their suggestions. But so far the Government has decided to keep mum on the demands to end the CFA and ban the LTTE but as the final vote on the Budget comes up on December 14, the Government may show its willingness to act more decisively on these two matters. Such a move is bound to lead to reconciliation between the JVP and the Government and bury the UNP plans to force an early parliamentary election.

Civilian deaths and a House on fire