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G. L. PEIRIS AND ANTON BALASINGHAM AGREED IN OSLO NORWAY TO DIVIDE SRI LANKA
INTO CONFEDERATE STATES UNDER A NEW SYSTEM By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles Anton Balasingham, the Chief negotiator for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and G.L. Peiris have announced that they have decided to accept a confederate system of government as a solution to Sri Lanka's civil war. Tamil Guardian, the main London based organ of the LTTE quoting Balasingham said he and his Sri Lankan counterpart G. L. Peiris had studied Canada's confederate system as an applicable system of government to Sri Lanka. Anton Balasingham speaking to the Sinhala service of the BBC said both parties have agreed to a government of a "Federal structure, which would satisfy aspiration of our people." Canada is a confederacy or a union of different states, which were former colonies of the British and the French. The constitution of the confederacy has built in power allowing states to breakaway, creating separate states. In contrast, the Indian federal system of government does not grant its states such powers. If a state acted unconstitutional the Indian Central government has the power of dissolving state governments and take over the administration under a governor appointed by the President. A separate state called Eelam had been described as the aim of the civil war waged against Sri Lanka by the LTTE for the last two decades, killing moiré than 60,000 people from both sides. When asked whether foreign affairs, defense and Finances would be in the hands of the central government of the confederacy Anton Balasingham said they have yet to go through details. When asked ,under such a system, whether the LTTE would be disarmed Anton Balasingham once again evaded the question by telling that question did not arise. He said at the moment violence had been completely renounced under a cease fire agreement and the question of the security of the Tamil people would have to be taken up later. The terrorist group that has never faced an election in the country claims it maintained an army for the security of the Tamil people. The issue of the Tamil Guardian of December 4 writing about the terrorist group's interest on the Canadian model of a confederacy said, "Mr. Balasingham told Tamil Guardian that he also had subsequently held a very useful discussion with the experts on how the Canadian model applied the Tamil question." Tamil Guardian further said, "Diplomatic sources told AFP the negotiators were looking closely at the political arrangement in Canada, where the predominantly English speaking West and the French dominated East remain in a confederation..." The French speaking Quebec on many occasions in the past has attempted to secede from the English speaking West of the country. In contrast , Sri Lanka, with a history of 2000 years never existed as a union of divided states like the modern Canada or separate states in the pre-Canadian colonial days. Reporting about the LTTE's decision to accept a confederate model for Sri Lanka, the New York Times said, "The announcement - essentially a statement of intent - appears to end the two-decade quest by the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam, or L.T.T.E., one of the world's most ruthless guerrilla groups, for a separate state." (EOM) (06/12/02 go2lanka.com) |