Panjayath or APRC proposal is 13+ of Mahinda & Co

| by Keshini Fonseka

( April 24, 2012, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Mahinda Rajapakse has become a Master of Deception (MOD) and his deceptive political gimmicks are never ending. His type of politics has surpassed the traditional carrot and stick political manoeuvrings to rug pulling games to dash off any hope of seeing some sense out of his utterances.

Sri Lankan Tamil women look on during the arrival of a visiting Indian opposition leader, in the northeastern town of Mullaittivu, on April 18, 2012.- Getty Images

He is proving to be a scheming artful dodger, who is progressively becoming a specialist in his inventive dodgy politics. With the release of the LLRC report and the Geneva resolution against Sri Lanka, it has become clear his deceptive master strokes can only be dealt with by concerted efforts.

Going through the memory lane, one could see the level of scheming that has gone in to consolidate Mahinda’s power of aligning with the worst scoundrel politicians who would not have even seen ministerial seats in a respectable and responsible government.

Mahinda tries to overcome any pressures by making various promises and even will play his melodramas by appointing commissions, initiating legal challenges with the undue influence on the judiciary, hold elections successively to prevent the mind of the nation to be focussed on the real issues and all these he will be executed with his unbending power to give natural deaths to issues and consolidate his power base further with his extra-ordinary talent of abusing his own authority.

Pressure from India and the west brought about the interim proposal of the APRC headed by Prof Tissa Vitharane. President said about 13+ through APRC and held the Provincial Government election in the east to suppress the international pressures. When the learned Professor released his final report on the political resolution to the conflict, soon after the annihilation of the LTTE, the President conveniently put the report in the storage and the very report is not a major worry for him now.

If the President is talking about 13+ it is the APRC proposal and it must be put on the table to be debated and taken forward with good intentions to resolve the conflict.

Even India has been deceived and is bouncing forward and backward many times on the assurance on 13+ idea. Having played foul games, Mahinda has swung the 13+ proposal again on the forecourt of India when the multi-party delegation headed by MrsSushma Swaraj, met him in Colombo. The deceptive silence maintained by the President’s media man Bandula Jayasekara at the press conference of the delegation when the President’s assertion was revealed, speaks of the returning shot awaited from the President like what he did to the revelation by Krishna, the External Affairs Minister of India.

The President has got some of the senior Keralite civil servants like Mrs Nirupama Rao on his side to return the retraction shots without upsetting the Indian establishment.

The President has said several times about a Gandiyan type Panjayath devolution to deal with the devolution at grass root level. His suggestion have been mere rhetoric so far. This idea has been verbal release only and has not been presented to the TNA even during talks.

It is imperative that India makes plain to Rajapakse that he must put his 13+ on the table without being kicked on its face several times. This is where India must play a mature mediator role to compel Sri Lanka to present the proposal. Any more of bilateral meetings on the subject of devolution, press conferences and then the retractions of Rajapaksa must come to an end.