Talking to terrorists

The Sunday Edition of The Island quoted spokesmen of the UNP and the TULF saying that the Nallur Bomb was a ' clear signal' to the government that it should resume unconditional negotiations with the LTTE. On the other hand it could also be argued that it was a resounding slap by the LTTE to those who are now saying it loud and clear that the government should negotiate with the LTTE.Sane persons who want to talk peace do not send bombs as invitation cards for negotiations. If the bomb is indeed an invitation to talks, then it amounts to sheer terrorist blackmail.

This guessing game of whether the terrorists want peace or not is certainly to the advantage of the terrorists. If they do want to negotiate, then the message should be clearly spelled out. A sovereign government, despite its anxiety to bring about peace, cannot sue for peace on bended knees. If the TULF want peace talks then with their contacts, could ask the LTTE to come out with a statement spelling out that they want to smoke the peace pipe. The UNP , which has a definite role to play in any kind of negotiations, too should call upon the LTTE to make their intentions quite clear. Crying out for unconditional peace talks with the LTTE not making any kind of statement is playing into terrorist hands. Let those foreign governments who are acting behind the scenes too call upon the LTTE to spell out whether they want to recommence negotiations.

The Nallur Bomb is a sad and tragic event. Such events have taken place before and will take place in the future as well unless the megalomaniac in the Wanni jungles gets a bout of sanity. This bomb should not result in the government being stampeded to plead for peace talks.

We have pointed on many occasions in these columns that if negotiations are to be held, then the agenda should be clearly defined. There can be flexibility but before sitting down for talks but it is essential that what is negotiable should be decided on before. The LTTE and even the so called moderate Tamil parties have not forsaken their call for a separate Tamil state. They have spelled out certain demands which they say are non- negotiable and these demands are directly in conflict with the concept of a unitary sovereign state of Sri Lanka.

Those who call for negotiations believe that once the talks commence barriers which are said to be insurmountable can be overcome. That has not been the experience gained from the talks held at Thimpu under the J.R. Jayewardene government, talks in Colombo under the presidency of Mr. Ranasinghe Premadasa nor the peace talks held in Jaffna after President Kumaratunga took over the reins of power.

Not much is known about what transpired in these talks. There has occasionally been an inadvertent leak such as when in an interview with the Time Magazine President Kumaratunga revealed that she had offered Prabakaran the Northern Province. Quite obviously he refused and wants the Eastern Province too and perhaps even more.

During the last two weeks there has been much publicity given to the Northern Ireland Peace Agreement and its relevance to Sri Lanka. Readers will recall that the British Government took a tough stand against Irish terrorism to the extent that even the voices of terrorist leaders like Gerry Adams were forbidden to be relayed over BBC which the resorted to imitation of their voices.Why peace was possible in Northern Ireland was because the IRA and other Irish organisations clearly gave up the demand for separation of Northern Ireland from Britain. Britain in very clear terms gave assurances that it had no intention of holding on to Northern Ireland and was willing for the people of Northern Ireland to determine their destinies. At the referendum held the people of Northern Ireland in no uncertain terms voted for the Good Friday Agreement.

When calls for talks with the LTTE are made-- conditionally or unconditionally-- a broad agenda must be agreed upon. In the Irish issue,Britain under the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher and particularly under John Majors had made contacts with the IRA. This would have resulted in the contentious issues being narrowed down before successful negotiations commenced.

Perhaps the LTTE has sent a signal by sending one of their terror supremos for talks with Dr.. Jayalath Jayawardana .But it could be the usual ploy of the LTTE to begin talking peace when militarily they are in a bad way. Perhaps even a better reason would be that Western nations which have provided safe havens as well as permitted collection of funds for terrorism in Sri Lanka ,are now cracking down on the LTTE.

If talks are to commence, then the LTTE should first express their desire for talks and a broad agenda for subjects of discussion be fixed.