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Peace and World Opinion

The comments on the Sri Lankan peace process made by the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States, Richard L Armitage comes as no surprise to those who have watched the international community's attitude towards our tentative progress towards finding a long-term solution to the national question.

Armitage has called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to make clear that it has renounced violence so that it can be freed of the proscription the US has imposed on the organization. He also asked the Tigers to honour their pledge to end the recruitment of children into the ranks of its fighting forces and respect the democratic and human rights of all peoples living in the North and East.

These comments are consistent with what Armitage told the November Peace Support meeting held in Oslo in the presence of the LTTE's theoretician Anton Balasingham.

They are also in line with the international community's new resolve to act against terror in all forms.

The US and other states, which have banned the LTTE, did not simply lift their proscription orders because the Sri Lankan state decided to temporarily lift its ban to engage the peace talks with the Tigers. They are awaiting concrete results, and proof that the Tigers have really changed their former ways before they can un-ban the organisation.

Armitage in his recent remarks made in the US has said that his country would consider lifting the ban when it is convinced the LTTE has "moved beyond the terror tactics of the past."

These observations serve to remind us that the peace process in Sri Lanka is not being conducted in isolation. This is not an exercise where the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE can engage in a manner where international norms and standards can be ignored.

The Lankan process is being closely monitored by friendly countries and on the way the parties to the conflict would have to satisfy the international community that the final result would lead to creating a stable, secure, pluralistic democracy in Sri Lanka.

In this context recent incidents in the North have been unfortunately responsible for raising tensions between the government forces and the LTTE.

The horrific incident in the seas of Delft where a standoff between the Navy and Tiger cadres ended with four LTTE men committing suicide in full view of the Ceasefire monitors was the most serious. The LTTE admitted it was their fault that the stand off ended in such a tragedy, but to this date has not offered a reasonable explanation as to why they were transporting an anti-aircraft weapon in a clandestine manner through government-controlled waters.

The second serious incident was the deliberate provocation of the security forces personnel at Manipay when LTTE cadres including some women created an incident that required the Police to disperse them using a riot squad.

The LTTE has also used this tension to pressure the Jaffna Municipality to defer the opening of the reconstructed library, which was to be a symbol of healing between North and South. An angry council resigned en-masse after the incident, alleging that they had been put "under severe pressure," by the LTTE.

These incidents are unfortunate and place a heavy strain on the progress towards peace.

The sad part is that the government and the LTTE have progressed well at the head table of the peace talks, but the commitments made at the negotiations and the spirit that the talks are being conducted in does not seem to have percolated to the ground where tensions have risen.

It seems also to indicate that the LTTE cadres on the ground are still in a confrontational mode and are not geared for peace and accommodation.

This is what Armitage and other international observers of the peace process have been constrained to note in recent days.

The Tigers have emerged from the Vanni jungles to occupy a place on the world stage because they have made a public commitment to peace. But their actions on the ground must match their words.

They have to realize that the world - and indeed the rest of Sri Lanka - needs to see a genuine transformation of the LTTE if their acceptance into the world community is to be guaranteed.

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