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The dual effort of the IC to side with both the Tamils and the
G.O.S.L is a farce that has got to end. I am overwhelmed by the fact
that we have to remove the crucial obstacle to peripheral power,
which is
[a] The Unitary Constitution and
[b] The inability to amend it in any form under the
provisions of the existing Jayawardena Constitution.
There are some who advocate interim Constitutional reforms, but
under what provisions of law could this be accomplished? Our
greatest obstacles are not only the Jayawardena Constitution, but
who can determine its validity. Any challenge, as I have previously
suggested as to the validity of the Constitution, would be ruled
upon by the SL Supreme Court, who are hardly likely to invalidate
not only the Constitution, but their right to rule upon it. Any
valid challenge of the Constitution challenges the Supreme Court�s
very existence under it.
This raises an interesting theoretical possibility, namely,
challenging the right of the SL Supreme Court to rule on the
validity of the SL Constitution, based on a conflict of interest.
Can we get the IC to accept this and determine which international
judicial body can rule upon this issue. Will the IC strengthen its
collective backbone to go this far?
From a Tamil standpoint, we have to separate Tamil rights from the
innate prejudice that has been attached to the LTTE, which important
international parties have branded as a �Terrorist Organization�
Even politicians abroad who sympathize with the Tamil cause are
fearful of being accused of supporting a terrorist organization. The
G.O.S.L capitalizes on this phenomenon, while the IC ignores the
reality that the LTTE and the LTTE alone are the exclusive
protectors and advocates of Tamil rights, supported as they are by
the TNA. To deny this and the fact that the LTTe is the only other
party to the conflict would be to send the Tamils naked to the
negotiating table.
What can be done to ease this unease. We must highlight the fact
that the U.S. government and its loyal allies fully support the
right of the Iraqis and Afghans to have democratic rights, but fail
to grant the same right to the Tamils of Sri Lanka. They fail do so
by adopting a conflicting dual policy of insisting that Tamil rights
must be recognized on the one hand, while at the same time
glamorizing the consistently
discriminatory democracy practiced by every Sinhalese government
since 1948.
The time has come when major nations like the U S should cease to
play diplomatic chess and state without reservation where the
fundamental problem exists in Sri Lanka. There is no question that
the Unitary Constitution is the sole underlying backbone that allows
for the unceasing discrimination that has been practiced from the
word go; it is the curse to be eliminated; yet nothing effective is
being done to accomplish this.
Everyone accepts the validity of the present Constitution and
expects the Sinhalese majority to abandon their advantages under it
voluntarily. Why should they? Why will they? This is a pipe dream of
the I.C which they refuse to abandon Unless and until they do,we
will be bogged down in this quagmire. Everything else is useless
fodder by the wayside.
The eternal debate as to who violates the CFA; the argument as to
which party to the conflict the is morally repugnant; the
disagreement as to who, having experienced power, has become an
unrestrained tyrant are dribbles of dirt that detract from the
underlying problem highlighted in this contribution.
It is time that the I.C. recognizes the need for the moral right to
transcend the written rules. The I.C. cannot continue to act as if
it is chloroformed. They must break away from the current restraints
and transform the atmosphere with a bold stroke. of abandoning the
present Constitution as an act of international diplomacy and
commencing to address the peace process from there. They must cease
to play the game of comforting the afflicted and not afflicting the
comfortable. That dual role is an unmitigated farce that must be
purged forthwith.
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