By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Nov 8 2002 (IPS)

The scepticism that has greeted the Tamil Tigers’ softening of their positions in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict shows the challenge that the government faces in getting acceptance of any peace deal between the rebels and the state.

Tiger guerrillas, who have been fighting for a homeland for the country’s minority Tamils for 19 years, surprised even their ardent supporters when they said at last week’s peace talks that they would enter the democratic political mainstream.

But even as they prepare to do this and allow more room for dissent in rebel-controlled areas, many people here are watching how each and every step in the current peace process goes.

”I don’t believe them (the Tigers). There are inconsistencies in what they say à all the time,” argued S Sivathasan, an ex-parliamentarian and high-ranking member of the Eelam People’s Democratic Front, a Tamil political party and arch opponent of the rebels.

Clearly, the government, which faces criticism from some politicians and hardline groups among the country’s Sinhala majority, has to bridge the gap between ”the words (of the rebels), the agreement (in the peace process), and the ground reality”, says political analyst Jehan Perera.

”I know there is a lot of scepticism over rebel announcements,” says Perera, media director at the National Peace Council. ”But it is up to the government to hold the rebels accountable. My own feeling is that the rebels would keep to their side of the bargain.”

Nearly a week after the second round of talks in Thailand ended on Nov. 3, many are still talking about the unexpected announcements the Tigers have made so far.

At the first round of talks in September, Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said the rebels no longer aimed for a separate state but for genuine regional autonomy in the north and east, the areas where most Tamils live.

At last week’s talks, Balasingham said the rebels wanted to enter the democratic political mainstream after a political solution is reached in a conflict that has cost the lives of some 64,000 people.

The rebels also said other groups within the Tamil community were free to engage in the democratic process, remarks that were in sharp contrast to how they did not brook opposition from Tamil civilians or groups in the past and had opponents threatened or killed.

The Tigers pledged to stop recruiting children into their fighting units, a pledge that Sivathasan recalls they made to the United Nations years ago but did not keep.

Last week, the two sides created a joint panel that will oversee rehabilitation efforts in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

The rebels and the government also agreed to start discussing the more difficult core political issues in coming negotiations. Thus far, an interim administration in the north and east has been seen as a temporary step before a permanent solution is found.

In the future, government officials close to the negotiations said, both sides were expected to look at administrative models for the north and east that would grant greater autonomy to the current provincial councils, introduced in 1987 in an Indian-brokered attempt to end the conflict.

Some models of federalism they are expected to consider are that of Canada, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have different relationships between the central and regional administrations.

But there may be other ways by which the government could have a chance to better sell the peace package to appease its Sinhalese majority.

A veteran journalist and military analyst, who requested anonymity, says the government and the rebels could resort to a prolonged ”armed truce”, with Colombo using the peace dividend to develop the south and rebuild the north and the east.

”Under an armed truce, both sides are armed and continue to arm themselves but won’t fight,” he said. ”This situation would continue for a while. The economy will prosper under a peace dividend, and the government would use prosperity to soften hardline elements in the south on the prospects of the rebels controlling the north and the east.”

Analysts believe the government is gradually moving toward legitimising the rebels’ legal, revenue collection, banking and administrative structures already in place in the areas they control.

Thes rapidly-growing structures have drawn criticism from hardline Sinhalese political parties and President Chandrika Kumaratunga, arch foe of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ruling United National Party. These critics have accused the rebels of quietly carving out a separate state and the government of turning a blind eye to this.

”I think the government will gradually recognise these (LTTE) institutions but make sure they come under some form of standardisation. These systems are compatible with a federal system and I don’t think the government would try to dismantle them,” says the NPC’s Perera.

For now, many are watching how the Tigers carry out the commitments they have made so far.

For instance, media carried reports this week of complaints by Paul Harris, a Colombo-based British journalist for the ‘Daily Telegraph’, who said the government had refused to extend his visa because he was ”a threat to national security”.

Harris, who has been critical of the LTTE and has close contacts with the opposition People’s Alliance, Kumaratunga’s party, claims the Tigers, despite their stated openness to criticism, pressured the government to ask him to leave.

Vinton Somadasa, a taxi driver, says this is one reason why he still does not trust the rebels. ”The Tigers are still bringing in arms from outside. Why? It must be to be ready for another battle.”

Excerpt:

By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, Nov 8 2002 (IPS)

The scepticism that has greeted the Tamil Tigers’ softening of their positions in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict shows the challenge that the government faces in getting acceptance of any peace deal between the rebels and the state.

Tiger guerrillas, who have been fighting for a homeland for the country’s minority Tamils for 19 years, surprised even their ardent supporters when they said at last week’s peace talks that they would enter the democratic political mainstream.

But even as they prepare to do this and allow more room for dissent in rebel-controlled areas, many people here are watching how each and every step in the current peace process goes.

“I don’t believe them (the Tigers). There are inconsistencies in what they say à all the time,” argued S Sivathasan, an ex-parliamentarian and high-ranking member of the Eelam People’s Democratic Front, a Tamil political party and arch opponent of the rebels.

Clearly, the government, which faces criticism from some politicians and hardline groups among the country’s Sinhala majority, has to bridge the gap between “the words (of the rebels), the agreement (in the peace process), and the ground reality”, says political analyst Jehan Perera.

“I know there is a lot of scepticism over rebel announcements,” says Perera, media director at the National Peace Council. “But it is up to the government to hold the rebels accountable. My own feeling is that the rebels would keep to their side of the bargain.”

Nearly a week after the second round of talks in Thailand ended on Nov. 3, many are still talking about the unexpected announcements the Tigers have made so far.

At the first round of talks in September, Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said the rebels no longer aimed for a separate state but for genuine regional autonomy in the north and east, the areas where most Tamils live.

At last week’s talks, Balasingham said the rebels wanted to enter the democratic political mainstream after a political solution is reached in a conflict that has cost the lives of some 64,000 people.

The rebels also said other groups within the Tamil community were free to engage in the democratic process, remarks that were in sharp contrast to how they did not brook opposition from Tamil civilians or groups in the past and had opponents threatened or killed.

The Tigers pledged to stop recruiting children into their fighting units, a pledge that Sivathasan recalls they made to the United Nations years ago but did not keep.

Last week, the two sides created a joint panel that will oversee rehabilitation efforts in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

The rebels and the government also agreed to start discussing the more difficult core political issues in coming negotiations. Thus far, an interim administration in the north and east has been seen as a temporary step before a permanent solution is found.

In the future, government officials close to the negotiations said, both sides were expected to look at administrative models for the north and east that would grant greater autonomy to the current provincial councils, introduced in 1987 in an Indian-brokered attempt to end the conflict.

Some models of federalism they are expected to consider are that of Canada, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have different relationships between the central and regional administrations.

But there may be other ways by which the government could have a chance to better sell the peace package to appease its Sinhalese majority.

A veteran journalist and military analyst, who requested anonymity, says the government and the rebels could resort to a prolonged “armed truce”, with Colombo using the peace dividend to develop the south and rebuild the north and the east.

“Under an armed truce, both sides are armed and continue to arm themselves but won’t fight,” he said. “This situation would continue for a while. The economy will prosper under a peace dividend, and the government would use prosperity to soften hardline elements in the south on the prospects of the rebels controlling the north and the east.”

Analysts believe the government is gradually moving toward legitimising the rebels’ legal, revenue collection, banking and administrative structures already in place in the areas they control.

Thes rapidly-growing structures have drawn criticism from hardline Sinhalese political parties and President Chandrika Kumaratunga, arch foe of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s ruling United National Party. These critics have accused the rebels of quietly carving out a separate state and the government of turning a blind eye to this.

“I think the government will gradually recognise these (LTTE) institutions but make sure they come under some form of standardisation. These systems are compatible with a federal system and I don’t think the government would try to dismantle them,” says the NPC’s Perera.

For now, many are watching how the Tigers carry out the commitments they have made so far.

For instance, media carried reports this week of complaints by Paul Harris, a Colombo-based British journalist for the ‘Daily Telegraph’, who said the government had refused to extend his visa because he was “a threat to national security”.

Harris, who has been critical of the LTTE and has close contacts with the opposition People’s Alliance, Kumaratunga’s party, claims the Tigers, despite their stated openness to criticism, pressured the government to ask him to leave.

Vinton Somadasa, a taxi driver, says this is one reason why he still does not trust the rebels. “The Tigers are still bringing in arms from outside. Why? It must be to be ready for another battle.”

Excerpt: