Future of Sri Lanka - some reflections

Ranjit Wimalaratne

TAMIL PARTY: As it was the situation seemed bleak. A long standing problem that was initially caused by some representatives of pre-war Ceylon National Legislature asking for 50-50 status for the Tamils where they were only 18% of the population.

This put the Sinhalese leader in a defensive position and later in 1956 led to a Sinhalese only policy which made matters worse.

Since independence many governments came and went only aggravating the problem but not really looking for a solution but patch it up and getting by generously granting ministerial portfolios to any Tamil party that voted with the Government.

Separatist movements aided and abetted by Indira Gandhi worked in order to destabilise a market oriented and westward looking Government of JR. Anti-social elements got access to them. Crime increased. Respectable political leaders opposing any of these political or anti-socials were eliminated.

Remaining leaders set up their own security with the help of the criminals giving them access to the polity.

The "CFA" signed at the orders of the Norwegians giving LTTE access to large parts of land in the North and East to set up the base for terrorist activity under the guise of "political work".

That is where we are now. An on-going separatist war in the North and wanting to wage a war against corruption in the whole island.

Comes a modern leader, aware of all these facts and offering something the separatists cannot refuse, a final solution.

At the same time unlike his predecessors he takes on the terrorists. The LTTE is currently banned in most important parts of the world. LTTE tactics are clear to the whole world and that they are not for a political solution.

Their funds and activities are being monitored all over and restrictions are set up. Recently a move to remove the LTTE from the banned list of terrorist in the EU failed.

The Sampur defensive attack was the right decision. The LTTE should be neutralized. It is not a political organisation but a terrorists outfit.

Karuna on the other hand is a political outfit which has taken up arms in self defense and should be accommodated. If the LTTE does so they too should be. We did after all accept the JVP.

All Sri Lankans should be accepted as long as they accept democratic norms and means to achieve their goals.

A federal set up as the Indians have will be best suited to us.

But be aware ! The federations should not be demarcated along ethnic lines but along economic lines.

Take an example from Austria, a country no larger than Sri Lanka. It has at least 7 regions all based on socio-eco-geographic basis. None are ethnically oriented.

It is important to do away with the regions created by the colonials with no logic but to redraw the regional boundaries avoiding any future division along ethnic lines and to prevent a recurrence of the history of the past two decades dragging the country into a economic down fall and political chaos again.

As for Sri Lanka, we may have to separate Mannar, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Vanni into entities in an appropriate manner while a similar thought is given in breaking up Western province, the South and the others.

An all party, ethnically mixed geo-political-eco group of intellectuals should be appointed to study a viable remarcation while understanding that ethnically divided provinces is not the aim. The study should be given a limited timeframe to come up with a report and the Government should implement it as soon as possible.