Can TNA play guarantor for LTTE?

"The TNA and the larger Tamil community need to acknowledge the impossibility of the situation arising out of a military situation. They charge the Sri Lankan State with wanting to find only a ‘military solution’ to the ethnic issue."

by N. Sathyamoorthy

(November 17, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Independent of the unanimous resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu State Assembly, there is little chance of the Government of India getting involved in the ‘ceasefire demand’ in Sri Lanka. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it that much more clear at his meeting with Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa at New Delhi. Singh reiterated the Indian concerns on the humanitarian front and reiterated New Delhi’s position on a non-militarist, political solution on power-devolution.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly was due to meet for the annual winter session during the week anyway. The resolution coincided with President Rajapaksa’s scheduled Indian visit for participating in the BIMSTEC Summit, of Bay of Bengal nations. It was however for the first time in recent times that the two mainline Dravidian parties, namely, the ruling DMK and the Opposition AIADMK shared similar views on any subject, including the ‘Sri Lankan Tamil issue’.

Yet, it is also true that the DMK shared the views of the AIADMK and its own Congress’ ally about the LTTE. Octogenarian Chief Minister M Karunanidhi recalled that the two phases in the DMK’s approach to the Tamil issue – before and after the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. On that score, all mainline parties at the national level hold similar views. The statutory Review Committee too has approved of the Centre extending the post-assassination ban imposed on the LTTE by yet another two-year term.

It is thus that the friends of Sri Lankan Tamils, whether in India or elsewhere, need to look at their genuine demands for India to get re-engaged with the ‘ethnic issue’. It was never off the Indian radar at any time. The exit of Norwegian facilitator meant that India has to re-double its efforts.

New Delhi has continuously engaged Colombo on the issue even after the assassination. Leave alone the ban on the LTTE, it is also the ‘trust deficiency’ attending on the outfit that has made international players to engage it in any meaningful dialogue for a political settlement. India is not alone in it.

This has also been the position of President Rajapaksa. The UNP Leader of the Opposition, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has endorsed the same in the ongoing budget session of the Sri Lankan Parliament. Translated, it implies a mainline ‘southern Sinhala consensus’ on the subject.

On power-devolution too, there is substantial consensus of the kind in the Sinhala polity. By endorsing the Thirteenth Amendment that his party had opposed when enacted in 1987, President Rajapaksa has yielded to the UNP position. All along, the UNP too has given a carta blanche of sorts for the President to proceed further on the devolution front.

Critics of the current Indian position need to acknowledge that it was Prime Minister Singh who took the critical step of engaging the Tamil Nationalist Alliance (TNA) two years ago. He thus became the first Indian Prime Minister in six to talk to any Sri Lankan political outfit identified with the LTTE in the 15 years after the Rajiv Gandhi assassination. The fact that Rajiv Gandhi’s widow, Sonia, heads the ruling UPA coalition at the Centre and also the Congress leader of the combine should have added to the poignancy and the seriousness with which New Delhi had approached the subject.

The Indian initiative came despite the Sri Lankan Government’s decision to keep the TNA out of the APRC process aimed at arriving at a consensual approach to power-devolution. During his Colombo visit for the SAARC Summit earlier this year, Prime Minister Singh held talks with the TNA leaders. The TNA remains to follow up on his open invitation for them to come to Delhi for further talks.

For its part, the Sri Lankan Government has promised to engage the TNA when the APRC process led to negotiations with the Tamil community for a final political settlement. It is time thus for President Rajapaksa to fast-track the APRC process. As may be recalled, the Majority Report and the Tissa Vitharana Recommendations, the latter stands in the name of the APRC Chairman -- contain pointers to a meaningful power-devolution package.

The TNA and the larger Tamil community need to acknowledge the impossibility of the situation arising out of a military situation. They charge the Sri Lankan State with wanting to find only a ‘military solution’ to the ethnic issue. The LTTE’s approach has been no different. Both have their own reasons, not all of them unjustified.

The TNA has implicitly acknowledged LTTE’s claim to being the ‘sole representative’ of the Tamil community for negotiating a political settlement. It has not abdicated, as yet, its right to play honest broker for and on behalf of the larger Tamil community, at the very least. After all, the TNA has 22 members in the 225-seat Parliament, and has been airing its concerns, both inside the House and outside.

The LTTE has offered a second ceasefire now, after the one declared during the SAARC Summit. The Government still insists on the LTTE to lay down arms before commencing talks. If the offers are real, the deadlock is also real.

The situation now demands an honest under-writer for LTTE’s good behaviour. The international community is unwilling to trust the LTTE. India cannot do that either. The TNA may need to internalise the concerns and come out with suggestions that could convince the Sri Lankan Government of the genuineness of the LTTE’s ceasefire offer. In doing so, it would also want to address the concerns of the LTTE, as well.

The alternative could be for the LTTE to let the TNA talk to the Government on power-devolution. It can continue with the military holding operation, as it is doing now.

(The writer is Director, Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), the Indian policy think-tank, headquartered in New Delhi. Email: sathiyam54@hotmail.com. The article originally published by the Daily Mirror, Colombo based daily news paper.)- Sri Lanka Guardian