Sri Lanka
Perspectives: September 2016
Col R Hariharan
Constitution making and reconciliation pains
The painful process of
constitution making has continued amidst pulls and pressures from Sri Lanka
nationalist fringe on one end and the Tamil and Muslim minorities sounding the
alarm over the various proposals aired by political parties. Major contentious
issues include the Tamil demand for a federal structure, merger of Northern and
Eastern provinces opposed by Sinhalas and Muslims and powers to be given to the
provincial set up, current status of Buddhism and other religions in the
constitution and the continuation of executive presidency.
Five of the six parliamentary
sub committees set up to examine the proposals have submitted their reports to
the steering committee headed by the prime minister for formulating a new
constitution. However, the sub-committee on economic affairs was yet to submit
its report. Once that is submitted, the steering committee would finalize the
draft. The draft proposal would require two thirds majority approval in
parliament. After parliamentary approval a referendum would be held before the
new constitution comes into force.
However, strident
demands of sections of Tamils under the leadership of Northern Province Chief
Minister CV Wigneswaran made at a recent massive rally in Jaffna have disturbed
political leaders from the ruling Unity coalition as well as the Joint
Opposition. The heat generated by it would probably help Basil Rajapaksa,
brother of former minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to rally Rajapaksa-loyalists,
fighting for political space, to form a new political party soon. It has
already given a boost to the Sinhala Buddhist fringe party the Bodhu Bala Sena,
which was sidelined with the rise of Sirisena to power.
In a massive show of
strength CV Wigneswaran led the protest march of thousands of people in Jaffna
demanding immediate solution to long standing demands of Tamils. The
demonstration organized by the Tamil Peoples Council (TPC) was held under the
banner of ‘Ezhuga Thamizh’ (Rise up Tamils). The demands included
withdrawal of army, end to state sponsored Sinhala colonization, international
investigation into war crimes against Tamil people, erection of Buddhist
symbols and statues in the North etc. The TNA which has already been projected
to the government both inside and outside parliament disassociated itself from
the rally. Smaller partners of the TNA coalition including the EPRLF and PLOTE
participated, the main component Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) and Tamil
Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) did not take part. Obviously, the main
objective of the TPC led by Wigneswaran was to use the smaller members of the
TNA coalition and pro-LTTE fringe elements to challenge P Sampanthan’s
leadership of the TNA and the ITAK’s domination of Tamil political spectrum.
The Tamil political schism and power struggle and the emergence of extreme
elements could delay the constitution making process.
President Sirisena at
the UNGA
President Sirisena
attended the 61st session of the UN general assembly (UNGA) in New
York on September 21. However, his UN address covered only Sri Lanka’s progress
in various fields with only a brief reference to the reconciliation process. He
said: “The government is totally committed to the reconciliation process to
establish lasting peace. That would definitely prevent occurrence of another
war in our country. Terrorism lasting three decades has ended and now we have
undertaken the process of reconciliation among different communities.” He
emphasized the need for international support to Sri Lanka to successfully face
these challenges.
Among others, President
Sirisena met with President Barack Obama and the US Secretary of State John
Kerry on the side-lines of the UNGA. He explained the challenges the government
faced from the destabilizing forces in the North as well as South, who wanted
to deter the reconciliation process. However, he said that despite differences on
the policies of the unity government, there was agreement on broad policy
formulation. Kerry congratulated the President on the government’s achievements
and reassured US support to the Sri Lankan government.
UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon’s
farewell visit to Sri Lanka during the month had created a minor controversy
when his speech bracketed Sri Lanka along with Rwanda where the UN felt
responsible for the massacres that happened. This drew widespread condemnation
from all sections of society. However, when the Secretary General met with
President Sirisena during the UN general assembly meet, he clarified that his
remark had been misunderstood as he never intended to compare Sri Lanka with
Rwanda as projected by certain media. He highly appreciated President
Sirisena’s total commitment to good governance and reconciliation.
Sri Lanka-India relations
Sri Lanka government has decided to pull out of the 19th
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit conference to
be held in Pakistan in November 2016 stating the “prevailing environment” was
not conducive to hold the conference after deliberating over the decision for
two days. Sri Lanka enjoys extremely cordial relations with Pakistan
particularly for its timely help in meeting its requirement of arms during the
Eelam war, when India could not fulfil its needs Without directly referring to
India’s surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Pakistan Occupied
Kashmir, Sri Lanka’s statement in SAARC expressed solidarity with India’s
decision to carry out the operations, stressing “the need to deal with the
issue of terrorism in the region in a decisive manner”. Thus Sri Lanka became
the fifth country deciding not to attend the SAARC.
Two other India-related issues which had caused some
concern in Sri Lanka came up during the month. Sri Lanka appears to have
decided at last to give up the India-Sri Lanka joint project to set up a
coal-fired 500 MW power at Sampur in the Eastern Province which had been
delayed by a decade for various political and environmental reasons. However,
India which has signed eight agreements with Sri Lanka relating to the project
has not been informed of the decision. The Advocate General has informed the
Supreme Court of the decision to opt out of the joint venture as the government
preferred the project to use Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) or diesel instead of
coal for power generation in keeping with its environmental policy. However,
the Ceylon Electricity Board engineers’ union president Athula Wanniarachchi
said the Sampur project was the only option to overcome the electricity demand
at a low unit cost in 2017 and 2018. He alleged that diesel power plants coming
up in Hambantota and Kerawalapitiya were being awarded to friends of the
government though they would generate power at a higher cost.
India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Ms Nirmala
Sitharaman was in Colombo for talks on finalizing the Economic and
Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA). She said India would invest $2
billion in Sri Lanka in the next three to four years. On the ETCA, she met
senior ministers and discussed the terms of the agreement which had some issues
that need to be sorted out. Though both the countries are keen to finalize the
agreement, opposition from IT and medical professionals, trade unions and
sections of business have held it up. Sri Lanka’s Minister of Development
Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama said the two countries
would complete the negotiations as soon as possible. The ETCA is widely
expected to be signed by end of the year.
Miscellaneous
LTTE leaders buy their way out: In a startling revelation Minister
of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera has revealed that over 200 LTTE members
including several prominent leaders managed to obtain safe passage out of the
country after they paid money to an official of the Ministry of defence during
the Rajapaksa regime. The matter was under investigation now. The
minister was speaking at an awareness programme for heads of media institutions
on government programmes to build ethnic reconciliation and on the newly
established Office of Missing Persons (OMP).
Tamil fringe elements assault Sri Lankan
envoy: Pro-LTTE Tamils belonging to the local fringe outfit Naam
Thamizhar Katchi (We Tamils Party) sporting T shirts with V Prabhakaran’s
picture assaulted Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Malaysia Ibrahim Sahib Ansar
within precincts of the Kuala Lumpur international airport on September 4. A
day earlier, the Tamil group assaulted the chief priest of a Buddhist temple at
Sentul, Kuala Lumpur. Though the incidents may appear minor ones, it assumes
significance as the actual target was former Sri Lanka president Mahinda
Rajapaksa who was visiting Malaysia to attend the 9th International
Conference of Asian Political Parties held from September 1 to 3. (The former
president was probably visiting Kuala Lumpur to avoid attending the Sri Lanka
Freedom Party (SLFP) convention held on September 3 after losing control over
the party.) A strong pro-Tiger lobby exists among Malaysia’s sizeable Tamil
minority population. According to well known columnist DBS Jeyaraj when the Tamil
activists learnt of Rajapaksa’s visit they wanted the government to ban his
entry into Malaysia as they considered him a war criminal.
Written on September 30, 2016
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