Judicious move in trying situation
The decision by President Chandrika
Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to seek immediate talks with the LTTE, through
the facilitation of Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, for
the purpose reviewing the Ceasefire Agreement, is a welcome development
which would go some distance in defusing current tensions. In an
encouraging development, the LTTE has now cooperated with this move to
have talks with the Government.
It emerges as an acid test of the LTTE's sincerity of purpose and we
call on the Tigers to respond positively to this opportunity of forging
ahead with the peace process.
We have been repeatedly pointing out in this commentary to the need
for the State to actively engage the LTTE in kickstarting and
perpetuating the peace exercise and it is our considered view that the
President has taken a step in the correct direction by seeking talks
with the LTTE.
As pointed out by Cabinet spokesman and Minister Nimal Siripala de
Silva, what has emerged as an urgent need is an enforcement mechanism to
put into effect the terms of the Ceasefire Agreement. A review of the
CFA would serve the same purpose and we call on the facilitators of the
Ceasefire Accord and the LTTE to consider this need as highly urgent.
That there is a gaping lacuna in the CFA is all too evident because
at present it is possible for the LTTE to claim that it is for a
negotiated settlement while continuing its killing spree. It is obvious
that such Janus-faced policies are made possible by persisting
limitations in the CFA.
Accordingly, we commend the Government's resolve to persist with the
CFA and call on the LTTE to respond positively to the Government's offer
of talks, for, rising tensions would be in no one's interests, including
those of the Tamil people.
We also consider it correct to remind those sections which have taken
to SLMM-bashing that the latter is not an enforcement body. Its prime
function is to monitor the CFA and if possible defuse tensions
peacefully but enforcement of the accord militarily, lies outside the
SLMM's scope of duties. As for facilitation, the SLMM and the Norwegian
Government could be considered has having fared well in an extremely
trying situation.
In view of the foregoing, the time is ripe for a comprehensive review
of the CFA and we call on the LTTE to cooperate with the State, keeping
in mind the larger interests of all stakeholders in the conflict.
It is also apposite to mention that absolute restraint needs to be
exercised in media coverages of these crucial developments.
Unfortunately some sections of the media have for some time now been
displaying a penchant for deliberately misinterpreting vital
developments in the ethnic conflict.
It is easy to go to war but much, much more difficult to put a
country together again and we in Sri Lanka should know very well the
veracity of this statement having lived through the hellfires of war.
Adventurist and alarmist reporting of events could be tantamount to
beating the war drums. Resorting to war, however, is a non-option for
Sri Lanka, given its futility and inability to resolve our issues.
The Lankan State has done well to seek a re-engagement with the LTTE,
but it must also seek the cooperation of the international community in
a more concerted manner, to pursue its current policy aims. The Tokyo
Conference co-chairs and the donor community, for example, need to see
the dire results of the LTTE continuing on its destructive course.
We hope the brutal killing of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar
would jolt the global community into the realisation that more pressure
must be exerted on the LTTE and that too in a decisive manner to make it
traverse the path of negotiations. |
