(May 13, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Although, with the recent assassinations and beginning of the war, things looks gloomy, there are many positive developments I see in the present situation. We should build on these positive developments, and move towards a solution. Let me take one such development, the Supreme Court has deemed that the North-East merger was illegal. What then is the course to follow with regards the de-merger; there are demands that it should be re-merged and counter demands that it should remain so. The way round this is simply to allow the people of the Eastern province to decide by means of a simple referendum. The question posed at such a referendum should be simple; "do you wish to join the North to form a single province or to remain separate?" To allow India, the International Community or the LTTE to decide this is patently unfair and undemocratic.
The government should ensure that no undue influence is used on the electorate at such a vote. The two parties to be watched for use of violence, at such a vote, would be the LTTE and the Karuna faction. Fairness, if ensured at such a referendum, would add much to its ultimate legitimacy.
A devolution package must be given to the North as well as the Eastern provinces. In the event that the Easterners vote for separation from the North, an asymmetric devolution could be provided for the two provinces. The present provincial council system, it must be recognized, are a white elephant. The fate of this white elephant could be decided by an island wide referendum. The fact that the PA and UNP have undertaken to collaborate on the national issue is a positive development. I believe a reasonable devolution package, which is not a stepping-stone towards separation, will be supported by the JVP. A good model would be the Scottish model. It has its own parliament and large amount of autonomy on issues such as Health and Education. In the case of the North and the East, additional matters, such as land, could be added. However, Federalism we must remember has always been a device to make a nation state, which did not exist historically, examples being India (ancient kingdom of Bharatha did not include the South) and the USA (constructed by invasions in the 17th to 19th centuries). We do not have to follow this model. Sri Lanka has been a united country during large parts of its history. I used the Scottish parliament only as a model; the actual devolution package should be arrived at by negotiation amongst stakeholders, within a time frame; and the necessary constitutional changers made in parliament. Negotiations only with the LTTE could be wrongly perceived as between the Tamils (sole reps ofthe LTTE) and the government (sole reps of the Sinhala people), and only favour the agenda of the separatists. With the UNP-PA agreement and the JVP support for devolution without federalism; we have moved into a positive phase. That is for a just and sustainable solution to the major problem facing our country.
Dictates by the so-called International community, the UN or India are both unfair and will not work. They can, of course, make suggestions, if they do so sans any other agenda, it would be very helpful.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
If Sri Lanka is to survive sinhalese and the tamils must both unite to fight the biggest terrorist group in south asia the RAW. This organisation is the curse of south asia whether it is SL , bangaladesh or nepal and a reflection of Indian Imperialism.
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