The JVP's split personality

" During his address at the party's "Heroes' Day" commemoration, JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe set forth four demands for the government in exchange for his party's support."


by Sonali Samarasinghe

(December, 22, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There are two not dissimilar forces at work in this country leading it on to destruction.

Pirapaharan and his men in the north and Somawansa Amarasinghe and his men in the south. The surest sign the LTTE neither wanted peace nor a negotiated settlement within a united Sri Lanka was the role it played in electing a hawkish government set on a military solution.

The surest sign the JVP neither wants peace nor a negotiated settlement et al was the duplicitous role it played in the recently concluded budget vote last Friday (14).

Winston Churchill once defined a fanatic as one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. Perhaps it is this element of fanaticism that still lurks within the JVP polity that propelled them to blackmailing the government with conditions totally unrelated to the budget or the state of the economy when negotiating their 38 votes last month.

Commitment to war

The conditions included a commitment to war and a solution that in effect eschewed not only the APRC proposals but any viable power sharing package rather than a promise of peace or halt to indiscriminate government spending.

During his address at the party's "Heroes' Day" commemoration, JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe set forth four demands for the government in exchange for his party's support. They were: (1) Abolish the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002; (2) Dissolve the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) still busy formulating political proposals to end the ethnic conflict; (3) Ban UN officials from visiting Sri Lanka and not pay heed to their statements; and (4) An oath by the government to protect Sri Lanka's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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