Irish and Lankan problems: the differences

The Northern Ireland Agreement - Good Friday Agreement - is now being hailed in certain quarters as an example, and even as a model, for the peaceful resolution of the Tamil problem. The Good Friday Agreement was reached on April 10 this year but on August 15, a bomb exploded in the small town of Omagh in Northern Ireland killing 28 people. The widespread reaction against this ghastly killing, it is said, has even resulted in the 'Real IRA' which is said to have set off the bomb too forsaking violence. Agreements, truces and ceasefires have been reached on Northern Ireland issue before. While the prospects for peace do seem good, only time will tell whether the problem is finally resolved.

There are many similarities and dissimilarities between the Ireland and the Sri Lankan issues. But the message that is attempted to be conveyed by the British Government as well as the Sri Lankan government who invited British scholars who have studied the problem to deliver lectures here is that problems of this nature could be settled, provided parties to the dispute are willing to yield in certain aspects and that there is the determination to succeed.Thus, the prime consideration should be is to examine whether that political will and determination is there among the major players to bring about peace by conceding to some degree what has been held as inalienable rights of each party.

Attempts to bring about a resolution of the Sri Lankan problem have been made before. From 1983 there have been many such attempts. It commenced with the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi twisting Sri Lanka's arm and forcing herself as an intermediary. Then came the Annexure ' C' with the late Mr. Gopalaswamy Parthasarthy as India's negotiator, the Thimpu talks, all parties conferences, and the Indo-Lanka Agreement which once again was forced on Sri Lanka. All this could not bring about that much elusive peace because these were attempts made by India to make Sri Lanka a client state while using northern terrorists as their proxies. After the Indians quit Sri Lanka there were talks initiated by President Premadasa where the LTTE came to Colombo and negotiated, and finally the peace talks between the PA government and the LTTE which too were abortive.

Why talks were not successful is mainly because the LTTE and Tamil parties have certain demands which they consider are non- negotiable. The demands are: recognition of Tamils of Sri Lanka as a distinct nationality and the right to secede; recognition of an identified Tamil homeland and guarantee of its territorial integrity; inalienable rights of the 'Tamil nation' and recognition of the rights to full citizenship and other democratic rights of all Tamils. The LTTE's demands go much further and its demand for a separate Tamil state is non-negotiable although in time of travail they have been speaking of a 'viable alternative'. Successive Sri Lanka governments and the main political parties have been standing by - till the Devolution Proposals were forwarded - for a unitary sovereign state of Sri Lanka. They have considered the non-negotiable demands of Tamil parties to be in conflict with a sovereign unitary state.

Another basic issue is that the main political parties which represent the majority Sinhalese community have been unable to come to a consensus on these fundamental issues. The devolution proposals have brought about further divisions. Despite attempts by Britain to bring about some kind of consensus between the UNP and the PA on national issues, the two parties are drifting further apart.

The Devolution Package which is aimed at satisfying Tamil aspirations too has not received the full blessings of Tamil parties in Parliament. The unit of devolution has still not been agreed on. Meanwhile, the military conflict as well as terrorism continue unabated.

Conflict resolution specialists, NGOs and the like keep telling the nation that the Sri Lanka government has to negotiate with the LTTE. But if the parties representative of the Sinhalese cannot agree on what they are to negotiate with the LTTE and the LTTE has non-negotiable demands such as separate Tamil state, are negotiations possible? This is the main reason for all parties to the conflict going round and round the mulberry bush for 15 years

It is apparent that while there are parallels between the Irish and Sri Lankan situations there are fundamental differences right now which do not make a negotiated settlement on the line of the Irish settlement possible. The most fundamental difference is the lack of a political will to pursue a negotiated settlement. In contrast, the Irish agreement was possible because all parties were weary of the on going violence and were determined to bring about peace.