Token
surrender of arms by the LTTE
The first part of this article appeared last week
It is extremely necessary to remind ourselves of these recent events in our history which most people have forgotten.
Vijaya Kumaratunga firmly believed and sincerely wished that the Tamils should get their just demands within the unitary state. He became extremely unpopular with the rabid Sinhala leadership. J. R. Jayewardene firmly believed that though there were widespread rioting, arson, looting and murder when the Indo-Lanka accord was signed, it would bring peace to the war-torn nation. He was convinced of Rajiv's sincerity of muzzling the LTTE and even capturing Prabhakaran if the LTTE refused to subscribe to the accord.
Except the LTTE all militant organisations in the North-East accepted in principle the conditions of the accord. Most militant organisations who were fighting for an independent state of Eelam, knew and believed that Eelam was only a dream, to achieve a reasonable devolution from the majority community, who obstinately and consistently refused to do so could be brought into the negotiating table only by force of arms.
The Indian Government with whom these organisations had close contacts and the RAW which made the Sri Lankan Government to feel that it would by whatever method available to them coerce Colombo to accept the accord willingly subscribe to the accord.
The EPRLF and other organisations who had their bases in Trincomalee were made to believe that once they achieve power through the ballot under the provisions of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord that they will be in a position to undermine the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government for ever. They were made to believe in the invincibility of the fourth largest Army of the world.
J.R. Jayewardene who was known for his extraordinary skill at statecraft and political acumen, was convinced that the only salvation for Sri Lanka was the Indo-Lanka accord. He thought of the Tamil votes especially the voters in Jaffna and Trincomalee. After the accord he envisioned a majority larger than what he received when he first contested as the President of Sri Lanka.
More than anything else it is the prayer of every single political leader at the helm of affairs to rule a country devoid of war, hunger and poverty. Mr. Jayewardene had virtually eradicated the era of other deprivations which brought about the downfall of the SLFP coalition. His economic policy was on the correct path. Tea prices were booming. People seemed to enjoy the freedom that the open economy brought to Sri Lanka. The dust-bin eaters were not seen or heard of. Gradually Sri Lanka was considered the only country in the sub-continent which adopted correct economic policies.
In 1983 long before the communal riots Sri Lanka was considered one of the four safest places in the world, tourists were flocking in. If the terrorists gave up their fight for liberation and accepted a more peaceful solution with more power to the minorities JR thought that Sri Lanka would be one of the most progressive states in Asia. Like all statesmen who are patriots JRJ sincerely thought of a country devoid of racial, communal and other hatreds.
After the token surrender of arms by Dulip Yogi to JRJ's representative General Sepala Attygalle, there was a massive media blitz. We saw full page advertisements in the national newspapers of the Southern bakers proceeding to Jaffna in order to start their business of making bread. The people in the South dreamt of the day that they would visit Jaffna and partake in a meal consisting of jumbo prawns which are the exclusive domains of the Jaffna people. Buddhists thought of visiting the Nagadipa Vihara. The others recalled how hospitable the Jaffna people were. The politicians thought of the massive development aid that they would receive from the West to develop Jaffna. Very soon people will work together in peace and harmony and develop the country.
They all thought the intransigent LTTE will come to terms with the massive Army of the IPKF. If the Indian Army could capture the entire Sri Lanka within eight minutes then they would only have to land in Jaffna to get the LTTE to surrender. The Tamil politicians thought this was the best solution that they could achieve. They were quite happy that except the SLFP which always had racial overtones, the SLMP headed by charismatic Vijaya Kumaratunga and his wife Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the old left brigade had unequivocally supported the accord.
Rebels in the UNP found that they would be isolated if they do not support the leadership. Mr. Premadasa went into self exile and could not be contacted as he locked himself at his estate. Lalith Athulathmudali found that he was falling from grace and his rival Gamini Dissanayake had become overnight the blue-eyed boy of JRJ. Mr. Premadasa had to come out of the shell. He informed his supporters that he would await the decision of the Supreme Court on the l3th amendment to the Constitution. If the Judges of this country found that the 13th Amendment was in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution, he had no alternative, but to support it. This was only a ploy to get out of the difficult situation he got himself into. The 13th amendment was approved by the Supreme Court without recourse to a referendum.
JR may have spent many sleepless nights, but he finally thought the establishment of provincial councils would effectively negate the possibility of the LTTE fighting for a separate state. All politicians had pundits who have little knowledge of the ground situation in Jaffna and said, that no terrorist organisation can survive without the support of the people. When the Indian Army landed in Sri Lanka the Generals were garlanded by the Jaffna Tamils. It was a day of joy and liberation they thought. Prabhakaran who had survived all these trauma and setbacks and defeats todate always believed in a Tamil homeland consisting not only the North and Eastern provinces but Tamil Nadu and Mauritius Islands. The Tamils had vast numbers but had no state of their own.
When Prabhakaran waged war against the Indian Army, all the plans precipitation and hopes of Rajiv Gandhi, JRJ and others were shattered. The theory of eliminating the Tamil people from the clutches of the LTTE was a distant dream.
The LTTE annihilated the other terrorist groups and became the sole representatives of the Tamils in Jaffna. The theory that devolution and sharing of power with the Tamils could alienate the Tamls from the LTTE is not based upon any logic or good reason. It is a strategy conceived by those who live in ivory towers. If the majority of the Tamils hate the LTTE can anyone give one reason why there are demonstrations in foreign countries where thousands of Tamils outside Sri Lankan embassies proudly carry portraits of Prabhakaran.
An idealist would say that they do it due to pressure from the LTTE leaders stationed in those countries and fear of reprisal to their immediate families living in Jaffna. Even if we accept that this is for the sake of argument then it must be considered that the LTTE has spread its vicious tentacles to other countries and has proliferated into every nook and corner of the earth where Tamils live. Then we are back at square one. Whether by force of arms or by the force of conviction the Tamils are supportive of the LTTE. They have no alternative but to support the cause of the LTTE. When Prabhakaran decides for peace the Tamils must think but of peace. When Prabhakaran decides to wage war. Tamils must back him with their money, property and their children. The Tamils in Jaffna are mentally conditioned to believe in an independent homeland for them, which they proudly call Eelam.
Therefore, with the all the fanfare, the 13th amendment was passed by Parliament and we were burdened with the Provincial Council system. If anyone seriously look around and decipher for himself the advantages of the Provincial Council system as against the previous systems, one would come to the irresistible conclusion that the Provincial Council had become a heavy burden to the tax payer and the poor people of this country as well. The North Eastern Provincial Council was established with great fanfare. Varatharajah Perumal became the Chief Minister.
To show his genuine interest in appeasing the Sinhala majority he selected intellectuals like Dayan Jayathilake as Ministers in his Cabinet. Dayan Jayatilleke soon found out the true intentions of Varatharajah Perumal. Even with the limited power, Varatharajah Perumal wanted to drive out the Sinhalese from the North Eastern Province. The Sinhalese traders disappeared mysteriously. The true racist nature of Perumal was quite visible. Varatharajah Perumal's end came with the hoisting the Eelam flag in the city of Trincomalee.
After President Premadasa declared his intentions of sending back the Indian Army, RAW funded a separate Tamil terrorist group called the 'Tamil National Army'.
At that time JRJ's human rights record was dismal and Premadasa was accused of killing innocent youth in the South. His army which had already been branded as a barbarian force could not have fought the TNA. Military hardware worth millions of rupees were left with the TNA by the outgoing IPKF in order to destabilize the Sri Lankan Government. Premadasa quickly responded to the appeal by the LTTE for arms to crush the TNA.
The LTTE ruthlessly annihilated the TNA and all other militant liberation groups. Varatharajah Perumal went into exile and never came back to Sri Lanka. The merged North and the Eastern Provincial government collapsed.
The Central Government had to import and spend millions of rupees worth of equipment, vehicles and other material to establish the infrastructure of the Provincial Councils.
In a country which is almost like a tear drop there are hundreds of politicians holding various offices. Outwardly and inwardly the Provincial Council system does not show any better development of the country compared to the former system. Instead of few corrupt politicians we have hordes of them now. The North Eastern Provincial Council is governed by a Governor. Jaffna has been wrested from the terrorists, but the Government has lost control of a major portion of the land mass in the North- Eastern province. The majority community has been saddled with the Provincial Council system created to satisfy the aspirations of the Tamil population.
All political leaders who love the country crave for a settlement of the ongoing ethnic conflict, and have put forward their own solutions to the conflict achieving the same goal by different methods, President Premadasa sincerely believed that the ethnic conflict could be settled if the leadership was sincere in settling it. He had his own formula. As the Prime Minister of J. R. Jayewardene's Cabinet he became a thorn in the lndo Lanka relationship when he publicly accused the Indian Government for training the terrorists. He thought the Congress Government headed by Indra Gandhi and later by Rajiv Gandhi were only interested in making Sri Lanka a subject state of India. He believed India was indirectly responsible for the destabilisation of the region and was responsible for arming, training and feeding the terrorists.
So at a temple he built at Battaramulla known as Chitta Vivekashramaya he said he wanted the IPKF to leave the country before a certain date. He was courageous enough to state that if the IPKF stayed back in Sri Lanka even one more day after that he would call the IPKF an invading Army affront to the national security of Sri Lanka. This was a time that he was having peace talks with the LTTE. His theory was simple. If a father finds one of his children playing the truant will he call the next door neighbour to correct him.
He thought the Tamils and all other communities are brothers of one family. What he did not want to accept was that Prabhakaran was again playing games. To his utter shock peace talks ended when Police Stations in the Eastern Province were attacked. Prabhakaran has not shifted an inch from his primary goal of achieving first an independent homeland for Tamils carved out from the North Eastern province to a Tamil confederation involving Tamil Nadu, Eelam and any other country where there is a sizable Tamil population. R. Premadasa paid the supreme penalty for his believing in a peaceful settlement with Prabhakaran.
The next game the LTTE played was with Chandrika Kumaratunga. Tamils overwhelmingly supported Mrs. Kumaratunga. She was the only leader in the SLFP who had a consistent policy on the ethnic conflict. She was for devolution, she was for peace, she was for giving the Tamils whatever rights they claim they lost. The theoreticians in the SLFP were confronted with the rabid chauvinistic policies of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.
From the time of the Sinhala Maha Sabha, to the formation of the SLFP and then the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike portrayed to the Sinhala Buddhists that he was their champion. He promised that he would make Sinhala the official language of the country within twenty-four hours. He grouped together the Pancha Maha Balawegaya, and most people consider that he fathered the present ethnic conflict with his short sighted policies. The daughter was different.
She believed in the Marxist socialist theories where all people are equal, except the leadership who are more equal than the others. In order to win the votes of the minority she found some speech made by her father soon after he arrived in Sri Lanka from Oxford, wherein he had spelt out a Federal Constitution. The publicity campaigners on behalf of Chandrika were made to do overtime to erase the unpleasant memories of racial conflicts between Sinhalese and Tamils due to the language policy of SWRD. She spoke of the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact.
The publicity campaign was so well organised that although S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike policies were seen as adverse by the minorities, there was Chandrika with her new campaign managers portraying SWRD as a true sincere patriot who loved the Tamil people. After becoming victorious, having won 62% of the total polled and every single area where Tamils were in a majority, she was helped to a great extent by the shifting of the stand that took place on the ethnic conflict under D.B. Wijetunga. After victory she was prepared to end the ethnic strife. She sent officers to discuss peace with the LTTE. The LTTE in return got a huge stock of cement which they used to build bunkers and was getting ready for battle. Chandrika like Premadasa never believed that the LTTE would turn turtle and not support the Government.
- To be continued
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