Does Sri Lanka's Signature Campaign Have Tiger Stamp?
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COLOMBO, Feb 2 (OneWorld) - Amid suspicion that it is a rebel-backed drive, students in the northern city of Jaffna are launching a signature campaign on February 4 - Sri Lanka's Independence day - with a slew of controversial demands to the international community, including one to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The campaign, organized by the students of Jaffna University in the predominantly Tamil Northern province, will be launched on the country's 56th Independence Day. The signatures are in support of a memorandum to be submitted to all diplomatic missions and donors, in a plea to bring the fractured peace process back on track. The memorandum will include six demands, asking the US, UK, India and Australia to revoke the ban on the LTTE and accept the Tigers as sole representatives of the Tamils. Interestingly, the announcement of the signature campaign comes a few days after British High Commissioner Stephen Evans rejected a request by a Tamil minister to consider reversing the ban on the LTTE in the UK. Last week, Evans told Hindu Affairs Minister T. Maheswaran that the UK could not consider the option until the LTTE disbanded its deadly Black Tiger suicide brigade. "The demands, such as lifting the ban on the LTTE and recognizing them as the sole representatives of the Tamils are evidence of the fact that the signature campaign is a part of the LTTE's propaganda campaign," says a South Asian diplomat based in Colombo. Diplomats stress that the countries that have banned the LTTE have done so on solid grounds. He holds that it would be entirely against the principles of democracy to grant the LTTE the recognition of the status of the sole representative of Tamils, when there are so many other Tamil parties with representatives in Parliament who oppose the LTTE. Perhaps the least contentious of the demands is one to exert pressure to end the power struggle between the President and the ruling United National Front government. The US, European Union, India, Japan and Norway are among the countries that have written to both the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, urging them to resolve the Constitutional crisis soon and revive the peace process. Says peace activist Jehan Perera of the National Peace Council, "The fact that the acceptance of the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamils is one of the demands gives the impression that the memo is an LTTE brainchild in the guise of a civil society movement." He adds, "No democratic civil society will advocate the domination of a community by one entity, thus killing political pluralism." Among other demands are the recognition of the Tamil freedom struggle, vacation of Tamil areas by government troops and setting up an interim governing body for the Northern and Eastern provinces based on proposals submitted by the LTTE. Says Perera, "The demand for the withdrawal of the troops from the Tamil areas has the potential to earn the sympathy of the international community. But unless the LTTE complies with the human rights standards the world expects, it is unlikely they would be sympathetic towards it." Ironically, as analysts point out it was the LTTE's decision to suspend the peace talks in April 2003 that brought them to a halt. Also, the President's move seven months later to take over the ministries of Defense, Interior and Media was a big blow to the entire peace process. "The fact is that the stalled peace process needs pressure from all directions," says political analyst Upul Joseph Fernando. Fernando adds, "At first glance, it is clear that it would be difficult to meet the bulk of the demands in the signature campaign. But then collective demands will be a manifestation of the growing frustration of the Tamils who are suffering because of the stalled peace talks." Agrees the senior vice-president of the main Tamil party, the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Joseph Pararajasingham. "The memo reflects the aspirations of the Tamils. Especially, vacating troops from Tamil lands and recognition of the LTTE as the sole representative of the community are the key demands of the people," says Pararajasingham. Interestingly, TULF, several of whose leaders were gunned down by the LTTE, accepted the rebels as the sole representative of Tamils in the run-up to the 2001 general elections. It was clearly a survival strategy. While the pro-LTTE media has reported that the Jaffna district consortium of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was among the organizers of the signature campaign, the consortium on Saturday denied the reports. "Ours is an independent body. We do not get involved in politics and did not play any role in the signature campaign," said consortium spokesman S. Sothinathan. |
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