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Thimpu Talks -
July/August 1985
Joint
report on the proposals for cease-fire, dated 18 June 1985,
submitted to the authorised representative of the Government of India
by the Eelam National Liberation Front
We have carefully considered the set of proposals submitted to us by the
Government of India to bring about a cessation of hostilities between Sri
Lanka's armed forces and the Freedom Fighters of our Liberation Organisations.
Appreciating the mediatory role and the good offices provided by the Government
of India and accepting the assurances and guarantees offered to us, we, the
undersigned Liberation Organisations have made a collective decision to observe
cease-fire for a stipulated time to help to create a congenial atmosphere and
conditions of normality and to facilitate the Government of Sri Lanka to put
forward a package of concrete proposals on the acceptability of which
negotiations for a permanent political solution to the Tamil national question
can be commenced.
While we agree to suspend all hostilities to a limited span of time, we wish
to state that certain terms and conditions outlined in the proposed frame work
for cease-fire place us in a disadvantageous position. We wish to outline below
some of our suggestions and counter proposals:
We agree to observe Phase I of the proposed framework.
Section 2 of Phase I demands from the 'Militants' as a
reciprocal step to the suspension of new settlements to 'cease
attack on civilians - both Sinhalese and Tamils - in the North,
East and elsewhere'. We regret to note that during this phase,
no safeguards or guarantees are stipulated to protect the lives
of innocent Tamil civilians from violence emanating from the
armed forces and armed Sinhala settlers. Though not specified as
a condition in the framework, we suggest that the Government of
India advise Sri Lanka to take immediate steps to put an end to
the continuous military and civilian armed violence against the
people. In case state violence continues during the first phase
involving the killing of innocent Tamil civilians, we shall
consider such hostile acts as a serious breach of the truce
agreement.
We wish to register our serious objection to section 2 of
Phase III which allows the 're-opening of the police stations
which have been closed down' and institutes state power to the
police to carry out law and order functions while the Prevention
of Terrorism Act and the Emergency Laws are in force. Such vital
matters relating to the security and administration of law and
order in our homeland should be elements of a broad framework of
a political settlement rather than an aspect of a cease-fire
agreement. Therefore, we are unable to accept such a proposal.
We propose that the Sri Lankan Government should present a
comprehensive programme for a political settlement following the
declaration of cease-fire between the 10th and 12th week. We
wish to state categorically that the commencement of
negotiations is conditional upon our acceptance of this
political programme. We have taken this position as a
consequence of a long and bitter historical experience of
deceptions and betrayals by successive Sri Lankan governments
who have consistently resisted a fair and honourable settlement
to the Tamil problem. It is also well known that Sri Lanka had
abrogated several pacts and proposals and failed to implement
agreements. We should point out that Sri Lanka also adopts an
invariable practise of prolonging and postponing dialogues to
evade arriving at a practical solution. We do not wish to be
victims of this futile exercise, but rather demand that a
concrete set of proposals in a broad framework should be
submitted to us for our consideration before deciding to
participate in the process of negotiations as stipulated in
Phase IV.
We have resolved that under no circumstances that we will
extend the agreed time of cease-fire.
We also wish to express our disapproval over the usage of the
category 'militants' in the cease-fire document to describe an
united front of major Liberation Organisations, while ascribing
the notion 'Tamil political leadership' to the TULF. Such
categorisations may create serious misconceptions and undermine
our status as authentic political organisations representing the
aspirations of our people.
Finally, we request the date of commencement of Phase I (June
18th) be postponed to a further date to facilitate us to make
necessary cease-fire arrangements. We suggest the 1st of July
1985 as a suitable date.
We would very much appreciate if our suggestions and counter proposals are
considered favourably and also communicated to the government. |
