Mr. H.L. de Silva P.C. is an outstanding and senior lawyer whose views are respected by all sections of the political spectrum. He is one of the few Sri Lankan lawyers who has been forthright in his comments about the many constitutional changes that have been proposed in recent years. On Tuesday, as the Chief Speaker at the launch of the book titled Abomination (On the ISGA proposals) by well-known and even more outspoken lawyer. Mr. S.L. Gunasekera, he clinically dissected these proposals for an Interim Self-Governing Authority as proposed by the LTTE with devastating effect. (His speech will be serialised in The Island, commencing today)
Mr de Silva did not mince words in saying that these proposals had been made on the assumption that it would be ‘ a voluntary acceptance by the Government of Sri Lanka on its own death and demise and a precursor to the birth of then state of Tamil Eelam’. His conclusion was: ‘Negotiating with the LTTE on the basis of the ISGA is about as meaningful as seeking an agreement on terms of the epitaph for Sri Lanka that is to appear on its grave -stone’. Pointing out to the impossibility of the ISGA proposals being accepted particuarly because of the constitutional provisions, he asked whether anybody in his right mind would think that the government of Sri Lanka is prepared to consent, even notionally, to its dissolution and extinguishment as a single sovereign state by engaging with the LTTE in the name of peace.
Strangely, despite all these reasons adduced, it does appear that some sections of our political leadership having earlier expressed grave reservations on this proposals, are now prepared to negotiate. Others who opposed it the moment it was presented are now hemming and hawing about commencing talks with these proposals as the only basis for negotiations, as demanded by the LTTE.
The Tamil National Alliance, as puppets of the LTTE, demanding that talks commence immediately is no surprise. But now the UNP, which said that they were in disagreement with certain parts of the proposals, are now willing to commence discussions on the basis of the demands made by the LTTE. The CWC supporting the proposals on a racist basis coupled with its characteristic opportunism is also no surprise. The SLMC is opposing it on the grounds of Muslim representation being denied. But most surprising of all is that the SLFP leader Ms Chandrika Kumaratunga who breathed fire and brimstone on these proposals and called it a blue print for a separate state has strangely gone silent and appears to be hemming and hawing. Only the revolutionary JVP and the JHU of the Buddhist monks are still opposing it tooth and nail. On Monday at a meeting of the National Patriotic Front they clearly expressed their vehement opposition and a speaker for the JHU said that they would not hesitate to topple the government if they went ahead with the proposals. .
President Kumaratunga’s desperate attempts to secure a two- third parliamentary majority for amending the constitution which would enable her to contest for presidency for the third time, is well known. But if she risks creating the ISGA, the precursor to a separate state, as she herself has said, she has not learnt from her experiences. Former diplomat and Press Secretary to President Kumaratunga, Mr. Jayanath Rajepakse in a recent article in The Island pointed out that a main reason for the defeat of the PA government in 2000 and the UNF this year. The main advisors of both governments, he said, had ignored the major section of the Sri Lankan population, the Sinhalese.
One of the forces pushing the government hard to the negotiating table appears to be the ‘international community’ involved in the ‘Peace Process’. They are not unaware of the implications of these proposals and some leading officials have told their legislatures that these proposals are tantamount to a precursor for a separate state. If then what is their indecent hurry to get the government to negotiate on the terms of the LTTE? They are treating the Sri Lankan nation as a bunch of kids being enticed with a bag of sweets-the loan package of $(US) 4.1 billion. This money can’t wait they say. These funds are nothing more than the collective annual loan package of four years instead of the loans being given each year.
The objective of this arm twisting, to say the least, is not clear and goes against all what they have been saying on Sri Lanka: A united Sri Lanka and ‘no’ to a separate state.
Lawyer, S.L. Gunasekera has lucidly analysed the implications of the ISGA. In his speech at the book launch he pointed out that inspite of these proposals being out in November last year, there has been no defence or justifications of these proposals. Let those defenders of the proposals emerge from whereever they are and answer Gunasekera.
Abomination is a book that is a challenge to the advocates of the ISGA and those who are parroting ‘Peace’ and for commencement of negotiations on terms of the terrorists.
(http://www.island.lk/2004/09/29/editorial.html)
