From: weerapan@occs.cs.oberlin.edu (Akila Weerapana)
Subject: Re: The future
Organization: Oberlin College Computer Science
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 01:18:17 GMT
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In article <seydFYm00iV2Q23WRl@andrew.cmu.edu> Ranjith Ravindiran Suresh <rs6x+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:

>   Organization: Senior, Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
>   Path: sol.ctr.columbia.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!crabapple.srv.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!rs6x+
>   Newsgroups: soc.culture.sri-lanka
>   Date: Fri,  6 Nov 1992 10:51:00 -0500 
>   From: Ranjith Ravindiran Suresh <rs6x+@andrew.cmu.edu>
>   References: <WEERAPAN.92Nov2174801@occs.cs.oberlin.edu>
>   Lines: 18
>
>   The way things are looking now, there want be just one future.
>   There will be two futures. One for Sri Lanka and another for Eelam.
>   I don't think there's another way. Just look at the so called Parliamentary 
>   Committee's total failure in coming up with a solution. Sinhala hardliners are
>   not interested in peace because they are not interested in giving any
>   concessions. And the Tigers will not compromise at anything either. 
>   Where do I stand. I'm for a compromise that guarantees self-rule for
>   us(Tamils) but gives up parts of the East away(from Tamil rule). Trinco
>   will be under Tamil
>   admistrative control. Maybe, the port authority can be shared with the fedaral
>   government. Federal structure will be similar to that of Switzerland(sp?).
>
>   Anything less will not be acceptable even to me and most Tamils. There must be 
>   give-and-take if peace is to come. In long run concerning the Sinhalase,
>   something the Sinhala hardliners fail to see, they have the most to
>   lose. 
>
>   Ranjith 

		I agree that there have to be two solutions to the
problem I laso think that it is unfair to lay all the blame on Sinhala
hardliners for a failure to come to a compromise. Granted there are
unreasonable people who still believe that there should be no "giving
in" but u have to admit that the dictatorial tendencies of the LTTE
are going to be a major cause of fear and nervousness among the people
whenever a solution will be proposed.
		I think that the government has to move really soon
'cause this is a war they can not win and the people of Jaffna are not
really on their side. There has to be devolution in the North, a
semi-autonomous provincial council is necessary there. However the
rest of the country really does not need provincial councils to keep
up a sham appearance of a federal system just to keep up the pretense
of not "giving in". There was a recent article on the budget deficit
on Sri Lanka and the largest amount of money was spent on the ministry
of Public Administration i.e provincial councils. This is such an
incredible waste of money on a bunch of jokers who call themselves
councillors and have done shit with the money except pump petrol into
their security jeeps. There are 225 members of parliament let the mp's
of Ratnapura district make up the provincial council of Ratnapura and
elect a chairman from among them as chief minister and be responsible
for the district, u do not need more councillors and bodyguards and
jeeps to do this use the money on developing sadly neglected areas and
build roads and create a capital in every province. None of this will
be implemented though 'cause this would deny many members of various
political parties opportunities to fleece the country. Sometimes I
lose hope....
		In response to Suresh's article though I still think
that if the government is to compromise then the LTTE has to as well.
They will have to give up their arms but doubtless will not do so
because then they will actually have to compete with other moderate
Tamil parties for the people's approval which they do not need now. I
also think that the East should be a separate provincial council as
well and it should be so because the East will be the province where
the future of Sri Lanka will be decide. All 3 major races are in
almost equal proportions and they will have to work out a solution
among themselves. The LTTE and the other tamil groups will be wise to
accept this idea if they truly want peace because an amalgamated North
and East is going to be a hard sell to the rest of the country and not
just to the Sinhalese hardliners but to moderates as well.
		So can the government bring up a proposal of 2
provincial councils in the North and the East NO provincial councils
in the rest of the country except those formed by MP's of the region,
with less autonomy than the North and the East? Well I think that they
can if tehy are honest and open and genuinely comitted be able to
commit most people to the idea of peac. The LTTE is another matter but
there is no reason why we can not invite the UN to oversee a
settlement, and if the other countries are willing to support this and
if the othe rTamil parties are willing then put pressure on the LTTE
to relent somewhat. There is no indication that Premadasa is willing
to do this, that the opposition will not play politics and that the
LTTE will be willing to even think about negotiating, but time is
running out too quickly...