.

Are constitutional changes the answer?

Thursday’s killing of Neelan Tiruchelvam by an LTTE suicide bomber raises the obvious question of whether constitutional changes that the government plans to present to Parliament this month can bring the much desired peace to Sri Lanka. It is well known that Tiruchelvam provided the input from the Tamil side into the constitutional package that the government hopes will pave the way for peace. The Tigers replied with a suicide bomber who brutally snuffed out the life of a remarkable man who had tirelessly worked to produce an accommodation that would hopefully meet Tamil aspirations without doing harm to Sinhala rights.

The hardliners on the Sinhala side have long been convinced that there cannot be peace in this land without militarily eliminating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and their megalomaniac leader who claims to be the sole representative of the Tamil people. The Tigers have not only murdered the flower of the Sinhalese leadership, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and R. Premadasa to name just three, but have also claimed the lives of Tamil leaders like Appapillai Amirthalingam who inherited Chelvanayakam’s mantle and many other elected parliamentarians of the TULF. Tiruchelvam’s loss is not only that of the Tamil people but of the whole nation which needs men of his calibre at the helm.

As President Chandrika Kumaratunga said in the message issued soon after the brutal assassination of a gentleman who epitomized what was best in humanity, Tiruchelvam was tragically lost to the country and society at a decisive period of our political life when his services would be most needed. He had perhaps a unique ability to interact harmoniously with the key players of all political groups on both the government and opposition sides and use his sincerity of purpose no less than the sharpness of his mind and his many other talents to narrow differences and work towards acceptable compromises.

It is no secret that the TULF, no doubt recognising his capability, chose him in preference to Chelvanayakam’s son, S. C. Chandrahasan, for their National List seat in Parliament. He lived up to the expectations of those who backed him and has over the years played a vital role in giving both voice as well as muscle and sinew to the aspirations of the Tamils of this country to live in honour and dignity with the Sinhalese. Brought up in the finest liberal tradition, educated at Royal College and the Universities of Peradeniya and Colombo at a time when communal differences never stood in the way of steadfastly enduring friendships and respect for each other’s points of view, Neelan Tiruchelvam was no communalist. His marriage to a Muslim is proof of that, though nobody who knew him would ever look for such proof.

This is the man who fell victim to those who have been appropriately labelled as beasts in a moving eulogy in yesterday’s issue of The Island. "Talk to the beasts," he has exhorted as many other equally well meaning eminent people from politics, the clergy, academia and the business world demand even today. But what dividends have such talk ever brought? Prabhakaran certainly, and some among his hierarchy have long regarded peace as a trap. The country is all too well aware of how President Premadasa who gave the LTTE arms and money in the mistaken belief that a common stand against India was necessary was well and truly suckered. Several hundred policemen in the east had to pay with their lives for that folly. President Chandrika Kumaratunga fared no better with LTTE frogmen sinking three naval vessels in the Trincomalee harbour to send the message that the ceasefire was over.

The doves, of course, continue to coo. In a message issued in connection with Dr. Tiruchelvam’s death, an NGO seeking peace bemoaned that it is a tragedy of mainstream politics in Sri Lanka that it has been unable to "constructively engage" with the LTTE to end the war. How many more lessons must the Tigers teach us before the light will dawn that the solution must be military? Can Prabhakaran ever be trusted in the light of contemporary history? Peace talks to him have only been a means of gaining time to wage war. Even those Tamils that once upon a time thought that "our boys" are teaching "them" a lesson have begun to see the light.

Targeted as they are, the TULF has always refrained from specifically accusing the LTTE of killing their leaders. They have chosen instead to condemn the act rather than name the perpetrator. The TULF, after all, is not an armed organisation like the EPDP or some of the other Tamil groups and are not physically or temperamentally equipped to protect themselves. Nor have they taken out insurance by adopting a pro-LTTE line as others in the Tamil polity have done. So nobody should blame them for not naming the Tigers as the perpetrators of last week’s dastardly crime because there is no sense in further aggravating the beasts who are already stalking their prey. But should other national parties be equally taciturn in this regard as some have been?

It is clear that the government intends to press on with the constitutional amendments commonly known as the package as its response to the need for peace. The Neelan Tiruchelvam assassination is the LTTE reply to this intention. In such a situation the need to subdue the LTTE militarily is paramount. There seems to be no other way.

| NEWS | PROVINCIAL | POLITICS | DEFENCE | FEATURES | LEISURE | BUSINESS | SPORTS | ADS |