Thursday, March 3, 2016

Will ETCA hit Ranil the way ’87 Accord hits JRJ

J. R. Jayewardene_3PM_Ranil_Wicramasinghe
J.R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987 using his intelligence in a farsighted manner. He viewed the northern war as cancer. He knew that the war was a creation of India.

by Upul Joseph Fernando

( March 2, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Editor of the Indian Express newspaper Shekar Gupta interviewed then the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2008 in which Mahinda made very interesting observations. Mahinda claimed the Indo-Lanka Agreement signed in 1987 was the best solution to the ethnic crisis and praised the introduction of the 13th Amendment as also the best solution and noted that former Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi had thought wise in 1987 ( two decades before that interview) to propose a viable solution. This is what Mahinda told Shekar in brief about the IPKF presence in Sri Lanka following the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord: “President Premadasa committed a grave error by demanding the withdrawal of the IPKF. It soured Indo-Lanka relations. The Sri Lankan community should have been thankful for the services rendered by the IPKF. They sacrificed their lives for the unity of Sri Lanka. If the IPKF was permitted to stay a bit longer, we would have gained the victory? But Premadasa succumbed to the pressure mounted by southern extremists and sent the IPKF away”.
The same Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked and criticized the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 and the IPKF as an Opposition MP on 26 May 1989 in Parliament in the following manner; “The IPKF had been brought here. The country has experienced many problems as a result of its presence. The IPKF was brought to suppress the Northern people, kill the Tamils and Muslims, violate their fundamental rights and that scenario had spread to the South (interruptions by the government benches). Read this Amnesty International report. It says…’ In late 1987 there were increasing allegations that members of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) deployed in the North and East as part of the July peace accord were responsible for rape and other acts of brutality against Tamil civilians'”.
Continuing his speech Mahinda charged that the IPKF which was brought here as a peacekeeping force was raping innocent women in those areas.
Opposition Member (in support of Mahinda): Not a peace force but a sex force…
Mahinda Rajapaksa: Yes, the IPKF had turned an Indian Sex Force. They are raping women there. They must be indulging in rape for women to give birth to Indian nationals in the North in the future. People are killed and women are raped in the North. See what’s happening in the South? When the southern youth rise against such brutality in the North, they are being burnt on tyres.
‘ETCA drawn up in a manner similar to CEPA is harmful to the interests of Sri Lanka. Even 15 years after signing the Free Trade Agreement with India, the main commodity Sri Lanka exports to India is areca nut’,– Prof. G.L. Peiris (08.02.2016 Mawbima).

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