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Twenty one national organizations of Sri Lanka charged that the current Thailand negotiation of Colombo government with Tamil Tigers was conspiring on sidelining the Parliament and President of the Indian Ocean Island Republic and covertly allowing the LTTE to assume the powers of a separate state by right of illegal occupation. The organizations convened to the Narada Center of Colombo by parliamentarian Dinesh Gunawardena said the first step towards this was the setting up of an administration, the Joint Task Force, different from the one in the rest of the country. The proposed organization called the Joint Task Force now being discussed at the direct talks between the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration and the terrorist organization, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Thailand, that would be used as an administrative unit of the North and the East would not report to the Sri Lanka parliament and the President, protested the Conference of National Organizations, the coalition of 21 organizations. The organization consisting of the Alliance of Sinhala Members of Parliament chaired by Dinesh Gunawardena , the Desha Premi Bhikku Peramuna , the Sinhala Jathika Sangamaya led by S.L.Gunasekera, the Thavalama Foundation and others said there is no democratic or any other acceptable basis for this unit to be established and it would eventually allow the LTTE to assume the powers of a separate state by right of illegal occupation . Calling the Joint Task Force a disastrous move the twenty one organizations, named The Conference of National Organizations said ever since the signing of the MOU between the government and the LTTE, the government seemed to be yielding to all the demands of the LTTE one by one which would eventually lead to the creation of the state of Eelam. The new conference further said, “On top of the agenda second round of govt. LTTE talks to be commenced in Thailand on the 31st Oct will be setting up of a Joint Task Force. It is intended to be used as an agency for the administration of the Northern and Eastern provinces ostensibly for development and administration. It will comprise three representatives each of the government and the LTTE. The proposed organization will report to the Prime Ministers office but the parliament nor the president will have any role to play in it.” The Conference of National organizations said with the coming into operation of the MOU and the removal of the ban on the LTTE the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE on the one hand and the government’s security forces and the LTTE armed cadres on the other hand had been accorded equal status. By setting up the joint task force for the North and East this position would be further augmented. Within the JTF both the government and the LTTE would have equal powers. The LTTE would represent the entirety of the North and Eastern provinces. There was however no democratic or any other reasonable or acceptable basis for that. The next step of the devised structure would be the establishment of an interim administration followed by a confederation of two states – one representing Sri Lanka and the other combined Northern and Eastern provinces. The confederation would eventually pave the way for Eelam that would be immediately be recognized by a few western countries led by Norway that would fulfill the goal of the Elamists the national conference warned. The organization further said, “Clearly the UNF govt. is bent on sidelining the President and its objectives covertly is to allow the LTTE to assume the powers of a separate state by right of illegal occupation. The first step towards this is the setting up of an administration different from the one in the rest of the country.” “We are strongly against this kind of asymmetrical devolution of powers to the north and East. Moreover it is in violation of the constitution and laws of the land. We appeal to the President and the Prime Minister not to take this disastrous move.” “There is no justification whatsoever to treat the LTTE as the sole representatives of the Tamil people. Who conferred this power on them? Is it by the barrel of the gun and the tacit support they received from some western countries? The tigers are still operating armed cadres illegal police and courts. The people in those areas are denied their basic human rights, democratic rights freedom and organizations are debarred for opposing the LTTE dictatorial directives. Besides, the LTTE continues to further expand their armed cadres by recruiting abducted children and amass military equipment to be in readiness for action. The Sinhala population at Dehiattakandiya, Mahaoya, Padiyatalawa, Wevgampattu north, Ampara, Lahugala, Gomarankadawala, Seruwila exceeds 90% of the total population and are 80% in Morawewa and Kantale. The Sinhalese people own over 50% of the land in the eastern province. However the entirety of the eastern province was populated and administered by the Sinhalese over centuries. Even today a large number of places of archaeological and Buddhist religious interests exist throughout the Eastern province. In these circumstances it is not understood how LTTE can claim to represent the entirety of the North and East. In fact these areas can be called the cradle of Sinhala civilization.” The statement signed by the 21 organizations said that the LTTE claim for a separate state in the North and the East was based on the specious and so called Thimpu principles, namely that they were a distinct nation, and that Northern and Eastern provinces constituted Tamil homeland. They therefore claimed that they were entitled to right of self-determination. A preponderant majority of Sri Lanka people belonging to all communities in the country had totally rejected this claim. The conference further said even in regard to demographic, geological and archaeological and accepted democratic principles, the two provinces are sharply different from each other. The two provinces were merged temporarily under emergency regulations after the Indo Lanka accord. These emergency regulations were no longer valid and it was accepted that the merger itself was a dead letter. The only factor now common to both provinces was the existence of one governor for both provinces, the statement said. In all regards the arrangement was temporary and had no validity legally any longer, the statement emphasized. “Under the circumstances,” the statement said, “ the need for continuing the two provinces as one for administrative purposes is not justified. At this juncture it would amount to the betrayal of the rights of both Sinhala and Muslim people who constitute 70% of the population of the Eastern province. The LTTE is clamoring for the continuance of this situation because by the merger they expect to run their fascist rule for both provinces. The only way to protect the rights of the Sinhalese and Muslims is by recognizing Eastern Province as a separate administrative authority as prescribed by law. It would thus be seen that the best way to end this unfair situation of denying the Sinhalese and Muslim people of their inalienable rights is to (1) Recognize eastern province as separate for all purposes immediately and to appoint a Governor for the eastern province as prescribed by law. (2)Stop the establishment of a Joint Task Force which will deprive the rights of the Sinhalese, Muslims and sections of the Tamil community opposed to the LTTE.” The statement was signed by the following organizations of the Conference of National Organizations: 1 Alliance of Sinhala MPs 2.Sinhala Mahajana Peramuna 3.Organisations of Sinhala Associations of U.K. 4.Chintana Parshadaya 5.Deshapremi Bhikku Peramuna.6.Sri Lanka Ekiya Sanvidanaya 6.Bodu Handa 8.Lanka Bauddha Raksana Sabha 9.National Joint Committee 10.Sinhala Jathika Sangamaya 11.Success,Colombo 12.Dharma Vijaya foundation13.Desa Resa 14.All Ceylon Buddhist Women’s association 15.Dhammacharini organization 16. National Council of Buddhist 17.Lakvesi Peramuna 18.Association for the protection of cultural heritage 19.Association of educational Prfessionals 20. Tawalama foundation 21.United lawyers association (EOM) (02/11/02 go2lanka.com) |