Lanka now Norway's Colony says JVP

தமிழ்த் தேசியம்

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
- Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C

Norwegian Peace Initiative

Lanka now Norway's colony says JVP
Sinhala Owned Sri Lanka Mirror, 1 March 2002

The JVP yesterday held a mass protest rally against the ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE claiming it was an agreement of submission, and had betrayed the interest of the country.

More than 10,000 people from all parts of the country gathered at Nugegoda junction to take part in this meeting where a message by the party's leader Somawansa Amarasinghe was read out.

The JVP leader in his message said with the government consenting to the agreement drafted by Norway, Sri Lanka had virtually become a colony of that country. Claiming that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had signed the agreement secretly, without the knowledge of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and his cabinet colleagues, Mr. Amarasinghe said it had created further disparities which were the root cause of the present war. While one part of the country was ruled by a legitimate government, the other part had been officially handed over to an armed gang.

Instead of looking at ways of unifying the various ethnic groups in the country the government had made the people of all ethnicities to bow down before the LTTE.
"Even if the people fail to defeat the government's attempts to divide the country, we as future rulers will unify the country with the Tamil Eelam which the Prime Minister plans to concede to LTTE. We will rule the country from a middle path and eliminate all differences and divisions", he said.

Launching a scathing attack on Norway and other western countries saying they were practising double standards, Mr. Amarasinghe questioned why they expect only Sri Lanka to bow down before the LTTE's terrorism while they are on a worldwide military and opinion campaign against terror. Many European countries were now trying to form unions and some use common currencies. If unity is strength, will disunity not be weakness, he asked.

"We are neither prepared to be weakened by separation nor to kill each other over borders, water rights and so many other things". If the UNP had the right to have protests such as 'Jana Bala Meheyuma' to oust a government which was elected for six years, the people had the right to protest against the agreement which he claimed had been brought even without the knowledge of the President and Parliament, elected by the people.

Although the Prime Minister had promised to have a countrywide referendum seeking the approval of the people for the final solution, how will government which is unable to have the local government elections in the North East will have the referendum there, he queried. The policy of the UNP on referenda were amply evident in former President J. R. Jayewardene's failing to keep to his promise to have a referendum on the North East merger one year after the Indo-Lanka Accord signed in 1987.

Every clause in the agreement had been drafted in favour of the LTTE. Without sheding a drop of blood or wasting one round of ammunition they are able to effectively control their armed political rivals. Consequences of this agreement could even threaten the stability of the South Asian region, he said.

General Secretary Tilvin Silva said the ceasefire agreement too could be added to the lists of accords which the Sinhala kings had with colonialists in the country's history which eventually led to colonialism.

Through the agreement the government forces and the LTTE had been kept on par, the LTTE was no longer an illegal or a terrorist army. There were no provisions to prevent smuggling of arms. Even the clause with regard to the withdrawal from schools and religious places would be applicable only to the government forces since they were the ones who had set up mini-camps there to protect the Palaly Base, he said.

The agreement said there should be no kidnapping, extortion etc., in keeping with international laws. This law was normally applicable specially when two sovereign countries reached an agreement.

This might even lead to the international recognition of Tamil Eelam which was the thirst of the Tigers.

Parliamentarians Vijitha Herath, Ramalingam Chandrasekaran and Wimal Weerawansa also spoke. A copy of the ceasefire document was burnt as a mark of protest.