It's a right royal mess the Tory rebels and other critics of Prime Minister John Major have created for grand old party. They certainly are gunning for the party leader, and nothing could have illustrated this all too bluntly than the "revolt" on a ban on handguns, the Firearms Amendment Bill.
The rebel leader was none other than the respected Sir Jerry Wiggin, once a Cabinet Minister. "Justice demands proper compensation for those who are losing their livelihoods through no fault of their own," he said.
He made his point and carried the day. The result? Home Secretary Michael Howard told the House that compensation for some 160,000 firearms outlawed by the new law, as well as defunct shooting accessories, would now rise to nearly 150 million pounds. Reporting the outcome of the debate, Liam Halligan, added that owners of .22 hand guns, required by the new legislation to keep their weapons at gun clubs, "would be compensated for inconvenience".
The Home Secretary was convinced that the government had met the legitimate anxieties of the MPs. "I believe this is on the whole a fair package."
Mr. John Carlisle, a dogged opponent of the government's initiative, told the press: "There are lot of unhappy Tories who reluctantly supported the government. I hope the Home Secretary will take note when the Bill enters the Lords."
Nicholas Budgeon, a fellow party dissident, was equally frank. This was an ill-considered move, a panic reaction. That's how he saw the scene. But why "panic reaction"?
The short answer is terrorism, or more plainly, the Dunblane massacre. No vote was taken and the Firearms Bill became law.
The Scottish Nationalists took a harder line. They demanded a total ban. However when the leader of the party, Mr. Alex Salmond advocated a complete ban on hand guns in Scotland his case was overwhelmingly rejected. While 205 MPs said "No" the supporters of a total ban could not mobilize more than 25 MPs. The shadow Home Secretary Mr. George Robertson tried to make the best of an adverse opinion current.
"We remain firmly in favor of a complete ban on hand guns... but.... there was no prospect of the amendment being passed.
Determined to remain on the offensive however, Labor moved to a somewhat friendlier front to open up with heavy weapons, not hand guns. The Labor Party has a Bill ready to "reform the House of Lords". The direct target is the hereditary peer not the man honored for his (her?) services to Queen and Country. The party chose the right man to break the (good) news!.... Lord Irvine of Lairg. The New Statesman, left-wing and pro-Labor, quoted Lord Irvine who threatened to "use every weapon at its disposal" to restructure the House of Lords.
The Labor policy makers are trying hard to give the issue a class character. Lord Irvine is tipped to be the next Labor government's Lord Chancellor. Labor would "flood the Lords with new peers." If impressed, the Tories are not intimidated. Viscount Cranbourne impressed on the Labor Party that crucial changes should not be debated in "committee room but in the Commons chamber."
Meanwhile drivers in the "car pool" will strike. Tory Ministers may have to walk to work!" Except of course those who are regarded as "high security" risk!
While the Labor Party smelling victory strives to keep the class war going, a drivers' strike next week is bound to give the media an exciting day.... certainly to the TV crews with cameramen looking for a Tory aristo sweating it out as he walks to work! The drivers earn about five pounds an hour plus allowances. The unions launching the strike will make an exception of Prime Minister Major and three of his minister the Home Secretary, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Patrick Mayhew and the Defense Minister, Michael Portillo.
While Labor strives to retain its image of the "poor working man's party" (leader Tony Blair notwithstanding) the Conservative Party has been hit by an internal crisis, that involves no less a person than the Paymaster General, accused of lying. The Europeans, certainly the richer, delight in calling "Great Britain" little England. And that's the sort of taunt which hurts British pride so hard that public opinion polls promptly reflect anti-Europe swing. 'Complete isolation' was how the Political Editor of the Times, described the British government's present position in the negotiations for a new European Union (EU) Treaty.
The British view is that the treaty is "far too integrationist and too centrist". The problem seems to be more than economic, or even political. It is psychological, summed up in the 'Great Britain - little England' anti-thesis and transformation, the title of a popular paperback.
But it is more than the trauma of a country that had built one of the great empires of history which included India, the jewel in the crown. It is also the psychological impact of a two-way pull across the Channel, fellow Europeans, and across the Atlantic, the American cousins. It is no secret that the Anglo-American is a very special relationship.
The current debate highlighted the European Union and Britain's role mostly because the European elite recognizes the uncertainties that arise from a (psychologically) "divided Britain". Will these problems create difficulties for the EU? When David Davis, the Foreign Office Minister gave evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee, he listed a number of "reforms" which Britain finds difficult to support.
"He also made no attempt to disguise the lack of support for the UK's agenda," observed Peter Preston. But he had to admit though that only Britain and Denmark were hostile to proposals that would concede a far larger role to the European Commission and the European Court of Justice, in areas such as Justice and Home Affairs? Surely such a change would represent a direct abridgment or erosion of national sovereignty.
Not surprisingly the Opposition Labor Party, now quite confident that it would form the next government, has its own Euro-sceptics. Nigel Spearing for example. He was, says the same commentator, "appalled at the possibility that the UK might ultimately lose this battle". But it is the Conservative Party which has an uphill task early next year that must make up its mind on how far it will (or can) resist the continental pull. Great Britain and little England can be a major power.... no pun intended.... in Europe but not in the world of the 21st century when Japan, China and may be India will certainly carry more clout. In any case, the precise indices of power may be clearer only in the next decade, old-style geo-politics may be represented by regional organizations.
Travelling to Batticaloa via Polonnaruwa, beyond Welikanda it is war zone. Not that Colombo is not affected by war. But here, beyond Welikanda you can feel the war. It is in the air. Soldiers in camouflaged uniforms, bunkers built with locally available materials like coconut trunks, check points, barriers, queues of travelers at every checkpoint, body search, convoys of army vehicles and armored cars. The war is in the atmosphere.
And still, the life is normal in Batticaloa.
The soldiers manning check points admit that there are enough LTTE men in the so called cleared areas. They are from the Pistol Gang of the LTTE, they say.
Last week the LTTE had gunned down one TELO member and one policeman.
The splinter groups like TELO, PLOTE, EPRLF are there in the 'cleared' areas. Some helping the army in identifying possible LTTE infiltrates. Their activities are limited. Their mobility is limited.
But the local people don't seem to have a good opinion of them. "They are just warming their chairs," quipped one NGO official who wished to remain anonymous.
And then there are the NGOs busily running hither and thither in Double Cabs and Pajeros helping the affected local people.
The ICRC too is present. It is doing rehabilitation work apart from its routine functions. It is distributing fishing nets to those who had lost their nets due to war in the 'uncleared area'. Locals respect the ICRC delegates for their work.
Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) goes out in the 'uncleared' areas to conduct clinics and monitor the health situation and watch out for any possible epidemics.
Despite the work they do, many NGOs have come under severe criticism by some.
"What does an NGO do here? Projects. 'Projects dot'. That is it. They don't follow it up. They don't even see that their projects are successfully implemented, they just give training. Training dot. They have done little that is concrete here," one Eastern University lecturer said.
'One of my students was absent for lecture for two days. She had been to a workshop conducted an NGO to train them to make flower pots. When she came back I asked her whether she had any serious intentions in taking up flower-pot making as a means of income. She simply said no.' Then why did she attend the workshop?
'Because,' she said, 'my sister's friend's brother organized it and he wanted me to attend it because there weren't enough to attend the workshop.
Such tomfoolery too is happening.
And life is going on.
"They (NGO) are living a luxury life, running about in luxury vehicles and staying in posh hotels," a hotel attendant said.
But NGOs go ahead in their task. 'Damn if you do. damn if you don't, so we will go ahead with our services,' an NGO official said. Majority of the people respect the NGOs and NGO officials.
And life goes on in Batticaloa.
Shanthi 18 (not her real name) is a school going girl. Now she is seriously thinking of joining the LTTE. Her father is considering to give her in marriage to a soldier who had been harassing and threatening him with death for the past two months. Her father didn't complain to the authorities for fear. She doesn't go to school for fear of being abducted by the soldier and his gang. She thinks it would be better for her to join the LTTE and die than getting forcibly married.
'We are helpless,' her father timidly accepts.
A Human Rights activist said this is only the tip of the iceberg. A lot of such incidents go unreported because of fear of repercussions, he added.
Life is still normal in Batti. But the town goes dead by six in the evening.
Meanwhile LTTE wouldn't forego its share. It sends a note asking for a thundering sum from a businessman in a 'cleared' area. The businessman duly delivers the sum at the time and point indicated in the note.
'One can't escape them (LTTE),' business circles say.
One sunny morning we crossed the last checkpoint in the 'cleared area,' going into the Tiger territory. A lazy soldier at the checkpoint who wouldn't bother to trouble us, let us pass.
Then we had to set our wrist watches half an hour back. The LTTE doesn't follow the new time.
We didn't encounter any LTTE checkpoints in its 'territory'. We saw only three armed men on our visit.
But the govt. can still reach these areas by air. It can still exert pressure by shelling these areas. Or by strafing from the air.
On December 1, LTTE shot dead two security personnel in Kiran. The forces started an indiscriminate shelling at the village the whole week. Two civilians died in the shelling. A total of thirteen civilians were injured, including a four-year-old child. The people of the village were openly warned by the forces that if such incidents take place in future they would have to pay dearly for it.
Thurai, the Political Leader of the Eastern Region refused to give an interview. But he readily gave permission to go deeper into their territory and see how life is going on and take photographs.
We then set off to Karadiyanaru, where we met another top LTTE official, believed to be very close to Prabhakaran. He agreed to give an interview.
'We will cripple the Sri Lankan economy, because the govt. needs money to carry out the war. If the economy is crippled it can't wage the war,' he said.
'Our targets are economic targets. We have stopped attacking religious places as such acts tend to turn international sympathy against us. We have learnt from the mistakes we made in the past. We have stopped such acts.'
Ironically he referred to the govt. controlled areas as 'Uncleared areas'.
'We welcome any peace process. And we also welcome British mediation,' he concluded.
The local population is frustrated and have become numb to atrocities done against them.
'We are governed by two governments,' people lament. Leave us alone we can get on well with each other and we can look after our problems,' said a priest. 'We will go on screaming until you (both the LTTE and the govt. forces) leave us alone,' he said.
And life goes on in Batti, because life has to go on. But the famous fish in Batticaloa lagoon don't sing any more.
Continue to the News/Comment page 5 - * Three vie for BASL presidency, *Appointment of Judges job of President says GL, *Voice of the Bar always loud and clear
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