| by Gunadasa Amarasekera
“The ongoing crisis in the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu, over accountability issues here, should discourage those pushing for devolution of power under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. A hostile Provincial Council Administration in the Northern or the Eastern province in Sri Lanka could be inimical to the post war national reconciliation process”. (Friday, March 29, 2013, The Island)
( April 11, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The above statement by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa we believe should not only open the eyes of those advocating the implementation of the 13th Amendment, but also of those who have started advocating elections for the Northern Provincial Council. Changing the slogan – Implement the 13th Amendment - to holding elections in the Northern Province may look innocuous but let us not fool ourselves into believing that they are any different. They are identical. Holding elections in the North is to create the Northern Provincial Council with all the powers bestowed to it by the Constitution - by the 13th Amendment.
Kautilyan maneuvers
With what glee our enemies, the Western powers and India cottoned on to the off-handish statement made by the President sometime ago was amply demonstrated by incorporating it in the Geneva Resolution, and the Statement by the Indian delegate highlighting it and elaborating on it. It was one of those Kautilyan maneuvers resorted to by the President to which we have got used to over the last two three years. That was no binding promise.
However, when Minister Susil Prem Jayantha, the spokesman for the UPFA comes out with the promise of holding elections in the Northern Province in September it cannot be treated lightly. We have to assume that there is a serious intention on the part of the Government to carry out this promise. Of course, the reason that he has offered is that it will stop the allegations leveled at us by the Western powers!! Well, I suppose this is how we have acted right along, trying to counter allegations and appeasing our enemies. This is what made the Government appoint the LLRC. The only purpose it served was to have provided a bludgeon to our enemies to pound us at every turn over the past few months. “Implement your own LLRC. This chorus chant was drilled into our ears ad nauseum. Now it will be hold elections in the North!
Since Minister Prem Jayantha’s statement has not been contradicted by the powers that be, we will have not only to question the wisdom of such a move but also to debunk it and nip it in the bud straight away. We owe it to those thousands who sacrificed their lives to save this country.
What justification is there (other than to counter allegations) to hold such an election at this moment.
If elections are contemplated have all those Sinhalese and Muslims being resettled? They have been there for generations before Prabhakaran chased them out. The argument that Presidential elections were held without such a move holds little water. The voter need not be at a particular place to vote at the Presidential election.
Do the voiceless Tamils who are not enamored by separatism have found a way of expressing their preference by way of a political party or leadership of their own? They are still suffering from the fear psychosis instilled by Prabhakaran. The fact that these poor people are not agitated by what is happening in Tamil Nadu and are not prepared to march to the tune of the TNA separatists is ample proof that they are not for separatism.
Reconciliation is no magic wand; it cannot be imposed or contrived. It has to come from within and that needs time. It is obvious that such a transformation is taking place at the moment. Those demonstrations in Killinochchi and Jaffna bear witness, as such an election at this time will only help to destroy it taking us back to square one.
The outcome of such an election in the North is only too obvious. It will put the TNA separatists in power, they will not be even contested. Their infighting at the moment may be a ruse to deceive us.
After challenging the Geneva Resolution, the decision to hold elections in the North to establish a provincial council dominated by separatists, tantamounts to taking in through the backdoor what was thrown out from the front.
Suicidal
That such a move is going to be suicidal for the Rajapaksa regime is made obvious by the silence maintained by its opponents. Of course, Ranil Wickremesinghe who has always espoused separatism will welcome it gladly and silently knowing too well what would follow. The rest too would remain silent. The corrupt opportunistic SLFP backbenchers dare not speak anything to displease the leader. The JVP who performed this task sometime ago, would remain silent having forfeited its mandate, the DUNF of Sarath Fonseka would also remain silent.
Ominous silence
This is an ominous silence. Once the government takes this suicidal leap, all this silence will be gone. They will all take to the streets. They will be there in thousands spewing all the venom and asking for the scalp of the President for betraying the country. “Eelam has been given on a platter after sacrificing sixty thousand of our youth.”
This probably was what Alan Keenan of the Human Rights International Crisis group envisaged when he said, that “the day will come when people will no longer back President Rajapaksa”.
