‘United We Stand, Divided We Fall’

By N Sathiya Moorthy

(July 14, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Tamil Nationalist Alliance (TNA) needs to be congratulated and encouraged for taking a pragmatic view of the post-war situation. It may have taken some time for the TNA to readjust itself to the ground realities, yes, but the time taken for such realisation is short and relatively swift.

TNA Parliament member N Sri Kantha’s declaration, “Untied we stand, divided we fall” is not only an acknowledgement of the ground realities as the Alliance sees it. It is also a reiteration of the emerging post-war situation as the Sri Lankan Government and the Sinhala polity too should acknowledge. It could not have come at a more opportune time in the contemporary history of Sri Lanka.

The TNA declaration came only days after the four-party combine participated in the inaugural meeting of the All-Party Committee on Development and Reconciliation, chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. There could not have been a better climate for re-launching the negotiations with the Tamil community, now represented by the TNA, among others, as only President Rajapaksa has been appealing to them ever since his elevation in November 2005.

Time was when President Rajapaksa would publicly invite slain LTTE supreme Velupillai Prabhakaran for one-to-one talks, aimed at a political solution. Not only did the LTTE’s actions go against the ‘wait-and-watch’ approach that Prabhakaran promised at a time. They also betrayed the impossibility of the environment that would have made a mockery of any negotiations – as the two rounds of LTTE-aborted Geneva Talks showed in subsequent months.

President Rajapaksa is apt in proclaiming the need for substantial political support for ensuring that any peace package at this stage did not go the way of the India-Sri Lanka Agreement and the Thirteenth Amendment, the ‘Chandrika Packages I & II’, and also the CFA architecture put in place by then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Clearly, he is not placing a premium on his Government obtaining an absolute majority – if not a two-thirds majority – in Parliament, only with political stability and greater acceptance in mind.

President Rajapaksa’s constant reference to a parliamentary majority in this context owes to his continuing apprehensions, bordering on anxiety, to the need for ensuring that any political package acceptable to the Government and the Tamil polity obtains a non-controversial parliamentary package with ease. With the TNA having 22 MPs hinting at a willingness to approach the issues and solutions with the pragmatism that it deserves, there is now a need for the Government to reciprocate in a fuller measure.

What makes such a possibility a greater probability is the kind of power-devolution package since outlined by Minister Tissa Vitharana, the Chairman of the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC). The fact that a week after his revelations have not met with any controversial comments from any section of the national polity, it needs to be surmised that there are none. If there is any from now on, it needs to be construed not as constructive criticism but as a political ploy – be it by sections of the Sinhala polity, Tamils or Muslims.

It is too early to predict if the TNA will continue to participate in the all-party committee, or walk away in a huff – but its continued presence will also be dictated by visible improvements that the Government can show up on the ground, in terms of relief for and rehabilitation of the IDPs. It is an occasion for the Government and the larger Sinhala polity and the Sri Lankan State to convey to the Tamil people and polity that they care. They need to convey it in ways that the message gets across and the Tamil victims of war and violence can feel it, too.

The TNA too should realise that the job in the hand of the Government is not any less daunting than the war that that it has won. There could well be slip-ups on targets and deadlines, and TNA should ask itself every now and again if it could have done a better job of them, if in power. No doubt, motives can be attributed to every such slip-up, but the Tamil polity and people need to see if there is truth or justification behind such charges – as has been made in these past weeks after the conclusion of the war.

If taken to a logical conclusion, it can be a win-win situation for all, including the international community that was legitimately concerned over the Sri Lankan developments over the past years, and particularly so over the past months. That would still only be a beginning. Reconciliation in comparison is all-embracing. Power-devolution will only be a significant part thereof.

For the Government, it has both the occasion and the opportunity to further demonstrate that the LTTE and the larger Tamil community are two different entities, to be handled in two different fashions. That would be a beginning. Reconciliation in comparion is all-embracing. Power-devolution will only be a significant part thereof.

For the Tamil polity and society, they need to acknowledge that the Sri Lankan State and polity are much larger than individuals and institutional framework however entrenched they may look at a given point in time. Their engagement is with the State and the nation, not just the Government and the leadership. There is no one-for-all brush for all. their differences if there has to be permanent and lasting reconciliation in the social, political and economic lives of Sri Lanka.

Keeping up his promise, Minister Vitharana should now approach the UNP, JVP and JHU on the one hand, and also the TNA on the other, with the APRC Draft, if finalised. These parties also need to act with maturity and responsibility. They all need to put the collective past in the past, if they have to march together into a bright future.

-Sri Lanka Guardian