Talking to the Tigers

The Tigers in the Wanni jungles, if they possess any sense of humour, must surely be guffawing at the antics of political leaders in Colombo on the subject of talking to the Tigers.

The latest statement of UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe that the government should hold unconditional talks with the LTTE has drawn heavy political fire from President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her ever faithful state controlled press. President Kumaratunga declared at the District Convention of her party that she would . 'never hold unconditional talks with the LTTE'. UNP MP Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane who is alleged to have met a LTTE representative,Tamil Chelvam, in the jungles of the Wanni is reported to have been quizzed by the CID in connection with an alleged 'UNP- LTTE plot to topple government'.

Allegations and rumours of political conspiracies and plots against the government are heard very often but so far no concrete evidence has been produced. In the case of Dr. Jayawardana' s arrest, we will not comment because investigations, we understand, are still proceeding.

Experience has revealed that talking to terrorists can be considered a very virtuous and a far seeing political move as well as it being considered as high treason. It depends on a person's political objectives as well as his position in the current political spectrum.

Readers will recall how a young radical Chandrika Kumaratunga along with her progressive film star husband, Vijaya, went over to Madras and held talks with the terrorists who were attempting to carve out a separate state in this island. The progressives, dyed - in the--wool communists, NGOs with dubious political agendas, all hailed this visit as a sincere desire to bring about peace while others called them very unkind names.Even today, this meeting with Tigers is cited to show that President Kumaratunga unlike run-of-the-mill politicians was daring enough to venture into unknown territory.

UNP leaders as well as opposition politicians too have held talks with terrorist leaders of all varieties in India and Sri Lanka, both officially and unofficially.

There was also a rare incident of an Island reporter D.B.S. Jeyaraj filing a story from Jaffna on how he was speaking to a LTTE leader Mahattaya while the LTTE were fighting the Indian troops in the streets of Jaffna. Jeyaraj was arrested and the Island editor summoned to the fourth Floor and CID special investigator the late Mr. Terrence Perera thundered that we had ' consorted with the enemy' and 'committed treason' However, a few hours later, Jeyaraj's friend Ram of the Hindu who was said to be one of the architects of the Indo- Lanka agreement spoke to President Jayewardene and the issue of 'treason' was dropped.

After President Kumaratunga was returned to office on a 'mandate for peace' she immediately went on to talk with the Tigers and sent a special team to Jaffna. Talks went on for a number of sessions with the flag of 'Eelam' on the negotiating table. Those like The Island who warned against such unconditional talks were called ' warmongers' by the president herself.

Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe , the UNP leader has been silent, too silent, about negotiating with the LTTE. According to political traditions of this country, when PA started negotiations with the Tigers, he should have taken to the streets saying that the 'country was being parceled out to terrorists'. But he remained quiet and inactive. When the British Government in an attempt to get negotiations with the LTTE going, as a first step, wanted the president and the leader of the opposition to sign letters of agreement pledging that where matters of national interests were concerned they would work in consultation with each other, Wickremasinghe agreed.

After a lapse of more than a year after the event,he is now calling for unconditional negotiations. Some political analysts believe that this is a ploy by the UNP to win 400,000 Tamil votes in the Eastern province which Chandrika won on her mandate for peace. The president, however, sees a dirty political plot being hatched between the UNP and terrorists.

Before deciding on talking with the terrorists the question should be asked about the subjects down for discussion. Apparently there is none. The LTTE has rejected the Devolution Package and wants all troops in the North and East to return to the position they were before 1994! The basic issue of the unit of devolution has not been decided on even by the constituent parties of the PA!

With British scholars being invited by the Ministry of Justice to deliver lectures on the Northern Ireland Agreement and its relevance to Sri Lanka, we thought conditions were being created for talks with the terrorists. But the rhetorical onslaught from Kurunegala have sent those Colombo peacenicks running for cover.