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CONFLICT RESOLUTION
TAMIL EELAM - SRI LANKA
All Party Representative Committee (APRC):
a Continuing Farce - 2006/2008
Interim Report is a sham - Professor Kumar David
[TamilNet 3 February 2008]
"The Interim Report of the APRC is a sham for two reasons; the
Committee set aside its prerious 18 months and 63 meetings of
deliberations and trotted out the Presidential diktat pretending it
was its own finding, and secondly the APRC is collaborating in a
deception game since this interim palliative is all that the
government will ever want out of these worthies; the government will
sell this interim hogwash to India and the Co-Chairs," says Prof.
Kumar David in an opinion column that appeared in "Island" weekend
edition.
"For the government, the APRC has served its miserable purpose; so
say not just this correspondent but also Lal Wijenayake and Batty
Weerakoon of Professor Vitarana’s own Party (LSSP) Polit-Bureau,"
Prof David writes.
APRC Report is a sham: Kumar David
Pointing that the APRC debacle again proves the "political
opportunism" that is plaguing Sri Lanka, he accused the APRC for
acquiesing to Rajapakse's designs to forestall the progress of
APRC's work-in-progress, a devolutionary draft constitution.
"The President says he is committed to a political solution, he also
says he will not compromise with the terrorists (code for LTTE) and
the armed forces will crush them into a pulp soon. His inner
powerbase, the civilian-military complex, is more hawkish; they
speak of the need for the minorities to learn their place.
"Decoding all this into everyday language, government philosophy
reads something like this: The military strategy is the main thing,
the dog that wags the tail; the tail is the political settlement,
the silly APRC and fond Tissa; after victory a bone will be thrown
in the direction of the ethnic minorities," surmises Prof. David.
On the 13th amendment, Prof David says, "[T]he creation of elected
Provincial Councils in the North and East, supplementing the
prevailing de facto military government, will be a step forward; it
will provide an avenue through which local people can be empowered,
to a small degree, after so long. More important, if the Councillors
are genuine elected representatives, the people will have an
alternative legal structure through which to counter repression,
abduction, and the like, whether at the hands of the armed forces,
state protected bandit gangs or the LTTE.
But adds, "an appointed Interim Council will be an obnoxious
imposition if the membership consists of worthies who are no more
than government sycophants and Mafiosi selected from state
patronised bandit gangs."
Prof David recommends that the "President must extend an invitation,
and then the TNA must accept – let us hope the trip to Kilinochchi
to solicit approval is successful. Such approval will also signal
something far more important; that however indirect and tenuous,
some kind of political process of dialogue between the government
and the LTTE has been set in motion." |
