CONTEXT OF THE ACCORD: INDIA'S GEO POLITICAL INTERESTS

The Indo Sri Lankan Peace Accord should be considered in its context - a context made public by the exchange of letters of the 29th of July 1987 between the President of Sri Lanka and the Prime Minister of India. The exchange of letters makes it clear that if Sri Lanka had not responded to India's concerns about the use of Trincomalee and the use of foreign broadcasting facilities, then India would have continued to support the Tamil militant movement until such time that Sri Lanka did respond. The Peace Accord had everything to do with the elemental premise of India's strategic policy in the Asian region -namely to deny any intermediary role to extra regional power in the Asian region. But the legitimate geo political interests of India in the Asian region are not more important than the legitimate political interests of the Tamil people. And, the two are not necessarily incompatible. Indeed, it may well be that one cannot be achieved without the other. And it is this political reality which the Peace Accord appears to have failed to recognise.

FAILURE OF THE ACCORD TO ADDRESS ITSELF TO THE THIMPU DECLARATION

The central failure of the Peace Accord is its refusal to address itself to the national aspirations of the Tamil people -aspirations which were crystallised at Thimpu in 1985. The Thimpu Declaration sought to question openly and directly the claims of an exaggerated Sinhala nationalism which had for decades sought to masquerade as a Sri Lankan nationalism and which had sought to assimilate and integrate the Tamil people into a so called Sri Lankan nationality by denying the existence of not only the Tamil nation but also the Sinhala nation in Sri Lanka. But the Peace Accord refuses to recognise the Tamils of Sri Lanka as a nation. The Accord refuses to recognise the existence of a homeland for the Tamil people and seeks to evade that issue by the subterfuge of a referendum. The Accord seeks to devolve power on nine provincial units, and thereby enable a Sinhala dominated Central government to control and regulate the exercise of such devoted' power. And the extent of the power so devolved on the provincial units does not go even as far as that which was provided in the Bandaranaike - Chelvanayagam Pact of 1957 -and excludes land alienation. In the critical area of finance, the Peace Accord contemplates not even devolution of power but an administrative decentralisation which will in fact increase the power of the Centre to manage the provinces.

THE FAILURE OF THE ACCORD TO RESOLVE THE CENTRAL ISSUES OF THE STRUGGLE

The Peace Accord will do nothing to prevent continued state aided Sinhala colonization of the Northern and Eastern Province because this is a matter of national policy and therefore within the control of the Central Government. The Peace Accord will do nothing to prevent standardisation of admission to Universities, because that too will remain within the ultimate control of the Central Government. The Peace Accord will do nothing to secure an equitable allocation of resources to Tamil areas, because such allocation will be within the discretion of a Sinhala dominated Central Government. The Peace Accord will do nothing to control the exercise of Emergency Powers under which thousands have been held without trial, because such Emergency Powers will continue to be vested in the Central Government. The Peace Accord will do nothing to prevent the operation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act whose provisions were described by the ICJ as a blot on the statute book of any civilised country because this too will be within the legislative competence of the Central Government. The Peace Accord will do nothing to prevent the operation of the 6th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution -an amendment which was described by the ICJ as a violation of democratic freedoms. On the contrary, the Peace Accord will give its own sanction to such violation. And the Peace Accord will do nothing to energise and mobilise the Tamil people to work for the rehabilitation of their homeland, because the Peace Accord refuses to recognise the existence of that homeland.

THE STAND OF THE LTTE

And so let us ask: was Velupillai Prabaharan and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam wrong when they said that the Agreement had been concluded keeping in view the interests of India and Lanka? Were they wrong when they said that the Accord did not take care of the problems of the affected people? Were they wrong then they chose to stand by the Thimpu declaration which called for the recognition of a homeland for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka? What does reason say?

TAMIL NATIONALISM CANNOT BE SNUFFED OUT: IT CAN BE REASONED WITH

Reason says that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi should have lent his powerful support to secure constitutional frames which recognised

the existence of Tamil nationalism rather than to a Peace Accord which sought to deny its political force. Tamil nationalism cannot be snuffed out. It can be reasoned with. And to reason with Tamil nationalism you must first recognise it. And to recognise it you must understand it. Tamil nationalism is not a mere intellectual concept. Nor is it a matter merely of a people securing food clothing and shelter and their material conditions of existence. Because, that would deny to Tamil nationalism its rich cultural heritage. Tamil nationlism is all these - and more. It is all these together as an integrated whole - an integrated whole which is greater than the sum of its constituent parts -and an integrated whole which has taken shape through a process of opposition and differentiation. Every inside has an outside. And it was continued Sinhala discrimination during a time period of several decades, which consolidated the growth of Tamil nationalism. That which was treated separately, became separate. And it is when you understand all this that you will also understand the growing political force of Tamil nationalism and its power to direct and influence the conduct of thousands.

THE SUPER POWERS AND STABILITY IN THE INDIAN REGION

It may be that both the Soviet Union and the United States may take the view today that the stability of the Indian region will be secured by supporting Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government. But Rajiv Gandhi's government will secure stability in the Indian region only if it has the strength to openly recognise that both India and Sri Lanka are multi national states - and only if it uses that strength to put into place constitutional structures which reflect that political reality. And so by all means let us support Prime Minister Gandhi if he is willing to lend his powerful support to secure a constitutional structure in Sri Lanka which recognises the political force of Tamil nationalism. The Tamil people do not take an exaggerated view of nationalism. The Tamil people are not chauvinists. Nations do not exist by themselves. They coexist with other nations. The question is: on what terms? The Thimpu Declaration set out a reasoned and principled framework within which the Tamil nation and the Sinhala nation may live in Sri Lanka. And the Indo Sri Lankan Peace Accord cannot achieve its stated aim of securing peace and normalcy in Sri Lanka by denying that reason and that frame.

THE WAY FORWARD

The way forward at this critical juncture in the Tamil struggle is clear. It is by strengthening the capacity of the LTTE to represent the Tamil people that the Tamil cause will be furthered. And today, upon the LTTE has fallen the heavy and onerous duty of mobilising the strength and support of the Tamil people around the Thimpu declaration.

But, if the struggle of the Tamil people is an appeal to reason, then let us recognise that we cannot mobilise our strength by denying the force of reason amongst ourselves. We cannot go forward by annihilating those with whom we may disagree. Democracy is not an useful cliche to be uttered from platforms - it is only through the practice of democracy that the resources of a people can be mobilised.

The passive acquiescence of the Tamil people yielded to the reaction and the heroism of the militant movement. But out of that militant response has come the purified stand to which Mahatma Gandhi gave his life and which Thileepan of the LTTE exemplified. True non-violence requires even greater courage than violence. It required more than ordinary courage for Thileepan to renounce violence and to say with Mahatma Gandhi: yes, I am prepared to give my life for my people but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.'

A people who have gone through an armed struggle, become strong. They are also purified and perhaps the time will come when the Tamil people as a people will have the strength to follow the path that Thileepan has shown. And so let us reason with each other to unite and let us unite around reason - and it is only then, that we shall acquire the strength to translate our words into deeds. Let us as a people stand up together in support of the Thimpu Declaration and let us strengthen the capacity of the LTTE to represent the Tamil people and give coherence and direction to the Tamil national struggle.