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Crocodile tears of Elephants
Tuesday, 28 June 2005 - 3:22 AM SL Time
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Lo and behold! The UNP has some points of disagreement with P-Toms or the JM as it is popularly known. One thought the UNP was on all fours with President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the JM, going by the way it encouraged her to sign it, come hell or high water. After the horses have bolted, it is asking the President to close the stable doors!
The UNP has become so concerned about the Sinhalese and the Muslims, all of a sudden. It has said: `Since no provision is made for representation of the Sinhala community, the implication appears to be that the nominee of the Government will be a Sinhalese. The United National Party has consistently adopted the self-evident position that the Government of Sri Lanka represents all the people of Sri Lanka`85 It is our view that clear provision should be made for the representation of the Sinhala community`85 Since the Government of Sri Lanka is not obliged to nominate a member of the Sinhala community to the High Level Committee, there could well be a situation in which the Sinhala community goes unrepresented. We think that this is unacceptable.`
The UNP has hit the nail on the head. The implication of providing for separate representation for the Tamils and the Muslims on the High Level Committee is that the government represents the Sinhala community. It has thereby lent credence to the LTTE's claim that Sri Lanka has a 'Sinhala government.' As the UNP rightly points out the government cannot and doesn't represent any particular community, a fact that became manifestly clear in the manner in which the government so brutally crushed the protests by the Sinhala organizations against the JM. The government can on no grounds seek to justify this lacuna.
`It is unfortunate that the MoU referred to as the P-TOMS,` says the UNP, `was signed by the Government without the participation of the representatives of the Muslim community in the North and East`85There is a regrettable gap in respect of Muslim representation. When the peace process was embarked on under the aegis of our Government in 2002, the UNP considered it important to make appropriate arrangements to give effect to the principles of participation by the representatives of the Muslims in the North and East. At the fourth session of peace talks held in Thailand we insisted on the inclusion of a Muslim delegation and saw to it that this provision was explicitly contained in the Tokyo Declaration`85`
The pot is calling the kettle black! So far as we can remember, the UNF government pulled the wool over the eyes of the Muslims during the peace talks. Having agreed to include a Muslim delegation from round two onwards, it began to call rounds sessionssession of the first round etc., Unless the LTTE had unilaterally suspended the talks, there would still have been something like thirtieth session of the first round. Mr. Rauff Hakeem, who is today urging the Muslim ministers in the UPFA government to resign in protest, could not say boo to a goose when he was a minister of the UNF government. He took it all lying down.
The UNP, which is shedding crocodile tears over the non-representation of the Sinhalese, did not touch the Sinhalese organizations with a barge pole during its talks with the LTTE. It also had the chutzpah to claim that there were only three parties to the peace process, the UNF, the LTTE and the Norwegians. Where were the Sinhalese, the Muslims and the democratic Tamils who are averse to terrorism and amenable to a peaceful settlement acceptable to all communities'
Of late, the UNP seems to have acquired a sense of status! Of the government nominee on the Regional Committee functioning as Deputy Chair under the LTTE Chairman, the UNP says, `As in previous agreements, provision should be made for representatives to be nominated by the Government of Sri Lanka, but not to function as Deputy Chair. The later provision entails an unacceptable relegation of the status of the Government of Sri Lanka.`
We couldn't agree with the UNP more! Similarly, we cannot help asking: Who, by the way, granted the LTTE parity of status in the peace process; and who recognized some areas in the country as being controlled by the LTTE, giving rise to the notion of 'a line of control''
The UNP couldn't have prepared its carefully drafted points-of-disagreement document within a couple of hours of the presentation of the JM to Parliament. It must have had prior knowledge of the document and the lacunae therein. If so, why did it urge President Kumaratunga to go ahead with the JM even without presenting it to Parliament' And why did it wait till a fait accompli was thrust upon the country to make its points of disagreement public'
We reckon that the UNP is playing a political game. Having suffered an ignominious defeat at the last general election because of its subservience to the LTTE, the UNP induced the President also to commit a similar blunder by granting the JM. Having facilitated the signing of the JM and thereby got into the good books of the LTTE, now the UNP is pointing out the lacunae in the JM in order to gain political mileage in the south.
Now that the LTTE has got the JM and is sanguine about getting more from a future UNP government, it won't mind the UNP's 'vote catching' tactics.
The UNP is once again running with the Sinhalese and the Muslims and hunting with the Tigers.
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jay-r
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 827
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27 Jun 2005 21:44:41 GMT Report for Abuse
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| It is reported that according to a recent survey of the reptile and animal biological survey tha since of late, 'The crocodiles do no shed tears'. So I withdraw my above caption. |
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