Recapturing the democratic space

JUN 27 2016

Last week, a very senior foreign official, who had previously served as his country’s topmost diplomat in Lanka, during the height of the war, told in Jaffna that the present moment in Lanka constitutes the best opportunity to find a political solution. Every diplomat who visits Lanka suggests the same. Even the main Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance, characterised it as such and expressed hope during the election campaign last year that by the end of this year a political solution would have been signed!

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe signed a peace agreement with Prabhakaran a decade ago. Then SLFP President allowed Wickremesinghe to make such an agreement. Hence it was a moment all bourgeois liberals got together to find a solution by negotiation with Tamil nationality. TNA too supported the action of Wickremesinghe. We lost that opportunity because of the chauvinist activities led by Mahinda Rajapaksa and Wimal Weerawansa.

Ceasefire agreement

The Parliamentary elections of December 5, 2001, resulted in a victory for the United National Front (UNF) alliance led by the United National Party (UNP). The UNP had campaigned on a pro-peace platform and pledged to find a negotiated settlement to the Sri Lankan civil war. Within days of the UNF victory, the LTTE announced a 30-day ceasefire. This ceasefire was formalised on February 22, 2002, when the UNF Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE signed a Norwegian mediated permanent ceasefire agreement.

In September 2002, peace talks began in Phuket, Thailand, but in April 2003, the LTTE suspended talks citing a number of reasons. However, on October 31, 2003, with the ceasefire still functioning, the LTTE issued their proposals for an ISGA.

The ISGA would have broad powers such as the right to impose the rule of law, collect taxes, run the administration and oversee the rehabilitation process in north and east, and it would be controlled by the LTTE until elections were held. Crucially however, the LTTE had dropped their demand for an independent Tamil Eelam in favour of regional autonomy. There was a tremendous possibility for a solution and Ranil Wickremesinghe’s intervention was compared to that of Abraham Lincoln in removing black national oppression. However Sinhala chauvinists upset the situation and opened the era of blood and tears.

Rights of Tamil people

Why is the current moment being called an opportunity?

The frequently heard answer is that it is an opportunity because again the liberals represented by two main southern parties are in the same government. It is true that both main parties are in the government and that this has never happened before. We cannot omit the heroic venture of Ranil Wickremesinghe in 2003. But this assumes that a political solution has not been arrived at owing to bi-partisan elite driven Sinhala politics.

Also, it assumes that there were no forces in the south that fought for the right of self determination of Tamil people. No, that is incorrect. In 2003, Prabhakaran opted for internal self determination in order to help the forces in the south that stood for the rights of the Tamil people. Though he was not committed to self determination, it is the opposition of the day that has impeded a political solution that the then sitting government was willing to settle for.

We cannot underestimate the struggle of Sinhala masses that constitute not only Sinhala Sama Samajists but also many radical groups spread throughout the Sinhala areas.

It is incorrect to say that the Sinhala, who accept Buddhist consciousness, will automatically and firmly identify a unitary Sri Lanka.

Any constitutional arrangement that deviates from the unitary character is understood to threaten the territorial integrity of the state. The Sinhala Buddhist attachment to a unitary state is driven by larger social forces that have been fed by insecurities that are deep-rooted in the everyday life of the Sinhala Buddhist community.

Electoral politics

These Sinhala Buddhist forces are hugely influential in electoral politics and there is no political party in the South that is not affected by its influence. Such arguments got bashed in the last two elections. It was not only a successful election campaign but also anti-racist, anti-fascist, political campaign where masses came out with slogans condemning racism and Sinhala chauvinism. These masses are still alert and active.

Hence it was surprising, early this year when the resolution to set up a constitutional assembly was being debated on, a section of the government and their party colleagues in opposition insisted and succeeded in deleting a reference in the preamble that the new constitution would aim to resolve the national question. However they agreed to discuss the document proposing substantial devolution. That is a great step forward.

We have to fight back and recapture the democratic space and march forward. Struggle for recognition of nationality is a protracted struggle with repeated one step back two steps forward.