The
Marxist
Volume:
3,
No
2
Issue:
April
–
June
1985
Developments
in
Sri
Lanka
Ramdass
EVENTS
in
Sri
Lanka
have
again
confirmed
that
the
bourgeois-landlord
ruling
classes
of
newly
independent
countries
are
incapable
of
safeguarding
the
unity
and
integrity
of
their
countries
and
peoples,
that
their
policies
of
building
capitalism
without
doing
away
with
feudal
and
even
pre-feudal
relations,
in
fact,
lead
to
the
growth
of
divisive,
separatist
and
secessionist
forces
which
pose
a
threat
to
national
unity
and
national
integration,
and
to
the
very
freedom
that
has
been
won.
Their
incapacity
to
solve
the
problem
of
minorities
in
their
counties
makes
the
situation
worse.
Sri
Lanka
developments
also
underline
the
fact
that
imperialist
forces,
ever
on
the
lookout
for
avenues
to
pursue
their
neo-colonialist
policies
to
attain
their
ambition
of
global
domination,
fish
in
the
troubled
waters
of
the
newly
independent
countries.
In
many
countries
they
support
and
give
material
help
to
the
divisive
and
separatist
forces,
in
addition
to
applying
pressure
exploiting
the
economic
dependent
of
the
Governments
of
these
countries
on
“aid”
from
the
Western
imperialist
world
for
their
capitalist
development.
The
aim
is
to
destabilise
these
countries
with
a
view
to
bending
their
Governments
to
imperialist
dictates
or
to
replace
with
subservient
regimes
those
Governments,
which
resist
the
line
laid
down
by
imperialism
for
them.
In
some
of
the
newly
independent
countries,
Governments
themselves,
faced
with
the
struggle
of
minorities
for
their
rights
and
mass
movements
against
their
anti-people
policies,
rush
to
the
imperialists
for
military
help
to
put
down
the
people.
They
are
incapable
of
reversing
their
basic
policies.
The
result
is
that
fertile
ground
is
provided
for
the
growth
of
disruptive
force
and
for
the
imperialists
to
through
their
nefarious
designs.
Pakistan
is
a
classic
example
of
such
development.
Except
for
a
brief
period
at
the
beginning
and
the
short
interregnum
of
the
Bhutto
regime,
since
its
inception
in
1947,
Pakistan
has
been
under
the
heels
of
successive
military
dictators
for
most
of
the
time.
The
US
imperialist
has
been
wooing
the
Pakistani
regime
right
from
the
early
fifties,
giving
it
arms
aid
making
it
a
junior
partner
in
military
blocs
like
the
CENTO
and
so
on.
Imperialist
military
aid,
membership
of
imperialist-sponsored
military
blocs
and
military
dictatorships,
all
meant
growing
suppression
of
the
people.
Additionally,
the
ruling
circles
of
Pakistan
came
predominantly
from
West
Punjab
with
the
power
and
pelf
going
mainly
to
the
vested
interests
of
that
area.
The
Sindhis,
Baluchis,
Paktoons
and,
even
more
so,
the
Bengalees
of
East
Pakistan
were
thoroughly
dissatisfied
and
extremely
resentful.
The
powerful
1952
language
struggle
in
East
Pakistan,
when
Urdu
was
sought
to
be
imposed
on
the
people
there
in
place
of
their
Bengali
language,
a
struggle
in
which
many
Bengalees
were
killed
by
the
Pakistani
armed
forces,
did
not
hammer
any
sense
into
the
heads
of
the
Pakistani
ruling
circles.
The
resentment
of
the
Bengalees
continued
to
grow
leading
ultimately
to
the
liberation
struggle
in
1971.
General
Yahya
Khan’s
last-minute
manoeuvre
declaring
the
turning
of
Pakistan
from
a
unitary
set-up
into
a
federation
of
five
Provinces
–Punjab,
Sind,
NWFP,
Baluchistan
and
East
Bengal-was
defeated.
Despite
the
most
brutal
repression
by
the
Pakistan
army,
belonging
mainly
to
West
Pakistan-the
killings,
torture,
rapes,
arson,
despite
the
menacing
posture
adopted
by
the
US
imperialists
in
support
of
their
Pakistani
ally
(Nixon
has
now
said
that
he
was
thinking
of
using
nuclear
weapons
against
India
1971),
the
liberation
struggle
of
the
Bengalees,
with
the
support
of
the
people
and
government.
Even
after
that,
the
Pakistani
ruling
circles
Sindhi,
Baluchi
and
Paktoon
people.
The
result
is
that
General
Siaul
Haque
is
now
sitting
on
a
volcanoe,
the
result
is
also
that
the
military
dictatorship
has
made
Pakistan
more
dependent
on,
and
a
surrogate
state
of
US
imperialism.
What
is
happening
in
our
own
country,
India?
The
policies
pursued
by
the
bourgeois-landlord
classes
have
provided
the
ground
for
the
growth
of
divisive,
separatist
and
secessionist
forces,
and
imperialist
agencies
have
been
using
them
to
push
forward
their
reactionary
aim
of
destabilising
the
country.
Why
are
these
developments
taking
place,
how
have
these
reactionary
forces
gathered
strength?
Our
own
experience
provides
the
answer.
The
forces
that
made
for
unity
during
the
days
of
the
freedom
struggle
against
the
British
colonialists
have
lost
their
momentum
in
many
spheres.
The
separatist
tendencies
that
existed
in
the
earlier
period
were
to
a
certain
extent
controlled
and
guided
into
the
anti-imperialist
struggle.
Now
that
freedom
has
been
won
and
thirty-eight
years
have
passed
since
them,
the
common
enemy,
imperialism,
is
no
longer
seen
as
a
danger
and
the
separatist
tendencies
are
again
coming
on
top.
Indian
independence
was
not
based
on
the
liquidation
of
feudal
relations;
on
the
contrary,
it
was
based
on
compromise
with
feudalism
and
the
feudal
ideology.
That
the
ruling
classes
embarked
on
the
path
of
building
capitalism
without
abolishing
feudal
relations
and
in
collaboration
with
foreign
monopoly
capital
has
had
its
own
logic.
In
Sri
Lanka,
faced
with
the
problem
of
an
ethnic
minority
which
has
been
suffering
from
discrimination
for
long,
instead
of
solving
the
problem
according
to
democratic
norms,
the
bourgeois-landlord
government
tried
to
find
a
military
solution
and
even
rushed
to
the
imperialists
for
military
assistance,
posing
a
threat
not
only
to
Sri
Lanka’s
freedom
and
integrity,
but
to
the
freedom
and
security
of
the
entire
region.
A
strife
torn
weakened
Sri
Lanka
admirably
suits
the
US
imperialists
who
have
been
for
long
seeking
a
naval
base
in
Trincomalee
and
naval
facilities
in
that
country.
What
is
generally
referred
to
as
the
“ethic
problem”
is
in
fact
the
problem
of
a
minority
nationality-the
Sri
Lanka
Tamil
people-whose
aspirations
and
legitimate
demands
have
been
denied
by
the
ruling
classes.
There
are
about
three
million
Tamils
who
are
Sri
Lankan
citizen
concentrated
in
the
northern
and
eastern
districts
of
Jaffna
and
Trincomalee.
The
Jaffna
Tamils
had
emigrated
to
Sri
Lanka,
then
Ceylon,
about
2000
years
ago.
The
majority
of
the
population-about
75
per
cent-is
Sinhalese.
The
root
of
the
problem
is
that
the
Sinhalese
consider
Sri
Lanka
to
be
their
country
where
the
Tamils
have
no
business
to
be.
There
were
reports
of
an
even
more
dangerous
move
the
Sri
Lankan
government
had
made-of
asking
for
military
assistance
from
the
US
and
British
imperialists
to
solve
the
country’s
internal
problems.
Just
five
months
earlier
Jayewardene
himself
and
attended
the
New
Delhi
summit
of
the
Non-Aligned
Movement
which
had
given
a
stirring
call
for
the
unity
of
the
non-aligned
countries
against
imperialist.
Having
decided
to
suppress
the
Tamil
people
with
force,
President
Jayewardene
forgot
the
NAM
Summit
call.
Though
Colombo
denied
these
reports,
as
India’s
then
External
Affairs
Minister
PV
Narashimha
Rao
told
the
Indian
Parliament
and
people,
there
was
reason
to
believe
that
there
was
substance
in
the
report.
Later
it
became
known
that
while
the
US
government
for
its
own
reasons
refused
to
give
military
assistance,
the
British
had
extended
credit
to
enable
Sri
Lanka
to
buy
helicopter
gun
ships.
But
it
was
the
US
administration
that
arranged
gunships
the
induction
of
the
Israeli
Mossad
into
Sri
Lanka
and
opening
of
the
Israeli
interest
section
in
its
embassy
in
Colombo,
since
Sri
Lanka
and
Israel
did
not
have
diplomatic
relations.
The
Mossad
was
brought
in
to
train
the
Sri
Lankan
armed
forces
in
“anti-guerrilla
warfare”
which,
in
effect,
meant
to
suppress
the
Tamil
minority.
The
government
at
the
same
time
hired
services
of
some
ex-SAC
British
mercenaries
for
the
same
purpose.
It
was
clear
that
the
Jayewardene
administration’s
enemies
were
the
Sri
Lankan
Tamils,
the
Left
parties
of
Sri
Lanka,
India
and
the
Socialist
countries,
and
the
friends
the
whom
it
looked
for
assistance
were
the
imperialists
and
Israeli
Sionists.
Then
the
army
which
Jayewardene
himself
called
“the
most
undisciplined
outside
Africa”,
police
commandos
and
dismissed
from
the
army
for
indiscipline,
were
thrown
into
the
filed
to
suppress
the
Tamil
people.
In
1983,
it
was
Tamils
living
outside
the
northern
and
eastern
provinces
who
were
under
attack,
but
later
the
Sate-sponsored
terror
was
extended
to
the
traditional
Tamil
homelands.
Since
March
1984,
according
to
a
TULF
spokesman,
Tamils
numbering
close
upon
2000
have
been
killed
by
the
security
forces,
and
the
killings
continue.
Official
pronouncements
said
that
the
operation
against
“terrorism”
and
the
Government’s
first
task
was
to
liquidate
“terrorism”.
But
it
was
innocent
Tamil
Civilians
who
were
tortured,
maimed
and
massacred,
it
was
women
who
were
raped,
it
was
houses
of
Tamil
civilians
that
were
raided,
looted
and
burnt
down.
TULF
president
M
Sivasithamparam
has
described
in
detail
the
extent
of
the
repressive
taken
by
the
Government
of
Sri-Lanka.
He
writes,
“In
November
1984,
the
Government
introduced
a
series
of
harsh
emergency
measures
which
turned
Jaffna
into
a
beleaguered
district.”
Among
the
measures
are:
“1.
For
a
distance
of
100
metres
from
the
sea
along
the
coast
from
Manner
through
Kankesabthurai,
Myladdy,
Pt
Pedro
to
Mullaitivu,
no
one
can
move
about
–
a
short
of
‘no
man’s
land’.
This
has
resulted
in
about
100,000
people
moving
out
from
their
houses
and
a
total
ban
on
fishing
by
Tamil
fishermen.
“2.
No
private
vehicle
can
ply
in
the
entire
Jaffna
peninsula,
except
with
a
pass
from
the
Superintendent
of
Police.
Even
cycles
require
a
pass
from
the
Assistant
Government
Agent.
“3.
No
one
can
enter
or
leave
the
Jaffna
peninsula
without
a
permit
from
the
Assistant
Government
Agent.
“4.
Every
person
has
to
carry
the
National
Identity
Card,
wherever
he
goes.
Every
Tamil
in
Sri
Lanka
has
become
a
black
as
in
South
Africa.
These
measures
have
had
the
immediate
effect
of
an
acute
scarcity
of
food.
The
economic
life
of
the
people
of
the
peninsula
has
almost
come
to
a
halt.
A
daily
curfew
from
6
pm
to
5
am
completes
the
scenario
of
a
besieged
city.
“Taking
advantage
of
these
measures,
the
army
and
police
commandos
operate
jointly
to
carry
out
a
systematic
search
of
areas…
Some
of
the
young
people
taken
to
the
army
camps
are
released
after
a
day
or
two.
Others
are
taken,
often
by
cargo,
ship,
to
a
detention
camp
in
Boosa,
272
miles
from
Jaffna.
Cruel
and
degrading
torture
is
routine
in
these
army
camps…
It
is
from
such
terror
that
many
young
men
who
can
gather
together
some
money
flee;
other
remain
to
fight
this
terror
with
rare
courage
and
determination.
“There
are
laws
but
the
illegal
killings
by
the
army
continue
apace.
In
the
streets,
inside
house,
in
army
camps,
in
churches,
innocent
Tamil
civilians
have
been
shot
dead
in
their
hundreds
since
March
1984
in
every
Tamil
area.”
As
if
all
this
was
not
enough,
National
Security
Minister
Lalith
Athulathmudali
has
added
one
more
‘crime’
for
which
people
can
be
punished,
and
that
is
“vicarious
responsibility”.
According
to
Athulathmudali’s
decree,
if
any
action
by
“militants”
takes
place
in
any
area,
the
people
of
that
area
and
nearby
areas
will
held
responsible
and
the
reprisal
could
in
many
cases
be
killings.
There
have
been
reports
of
firings
on
people
from
helicopter
gunships
and
at
least
in
one
instance
Athulathmudali
himself
was
reported
to
be
on
board
the
helicopter.
It
is
estimated
that
about
a
hundred
thousands
people
have
fled
Sri
Lanka
and
come
to
Tamil
Nadu.
Another
40
to
50
thousands
are
estimated
to
have
fled
to
other
countries-West
Asia,
Western
Europe,
Britain,
the
USA
and
so
on.
The
official
terror
has
invited
militancy
from
certain
sections
of
the
Tamils.
There
are
a
number
of
militant
groups,
but
the
important
ones
number
five
with
about
10,000
fighting
people
owing
allegiance
to
them.
Tamil
militancy
had
appeared
after
the
wanton
police
attack
on
January
10,
1974,
on
those
who
had
gathered
at
the
World
Tamil
Research
Conference
which
was
held
in
Jaffna.
Even
earlier,
the
discontent
of
the
Tamil
youth
had
begun
with
the
introduction
in
1970
of
media-wise
standardisation
policies,
which
discriminated
against
the
Tamils
in
the
higher
education
sphere.
Immediately
following
the
July
23,
1983,
violence
against
the
Tamils,
or
as
a
part
of
it,
in
the
afternoon
of
July
25,
a,
mob
of
Sinhalese
remand
prisoners
with
arms
were
let
loose
on
the
Tamil
prisoners
kept
in
one
of
the
blocks
in
the
Wellikade
prison.
Fifty-two
Tamil
prisoners
were
butchered,
among
whom
were
Kuttimani
and
Thangadurai
who
had
been
sentenced
to
death
in
1982.
These
two
were
the
founders
of
the
militant
Tamil
group,
the
Tamil
Eelam
Liberation
Organisation
(TELO).
The
militant
groups
also
found
that
the
District
Development
Councils
set
up
by
the
Government
were
a
hoax
on
the
Tamil
people
as
there
was
no
real
devolution
of
powers.
By
1980-81,
they
came
to
the
conclusion
that
the
TULF
leadership
had
failed
to
win
the
Tamil’s
legitimate
rights
and
only
through
an
armed
struggle
they
would
be
able
to
achieve
their
goal,
which
now
had
become
a
separate
sovereign
Tamil
Eelam.
With
the
launching
of
the
State
terrorism
against
innocent
Tamil
civilians,
they
began
taking
retaliatory
actions
mainly
against
the
State’s
armed
forces.
They
had
differences
between
themselves
on
the
tactics
to
be
followed.
Only
recently
four
of
the
five
main
organisations
have
come
together
in
one
front-the
Eelam
National
Liberation
Front
consisting
of
the
Tamil
Eelam
Liberation
Organisation,
Eelam
Revolutionary
Organisation
of
Students,
Eelam
People’s
Revolutionary
Liberation
Front
and
the
Liberation
Tigers
of
Tamil
Eelam.
The
fifth
organisation,
the
People’s
Liberation
Organisation
of
Tamil
Eelam,
though
not
part
of
the
front,
also
began
cooperating
with
it.
Represent,
actives
of
all
five
participated
in
the
recent
Thimpu
talks.
However
misconceived
their
demand
for
a
separate
State,
the
Tamil
people
regard
them
as
“our
boys”
because
of
their
retaliatory
attacks
on
the
highly
oppressive
armed
forces.
This
was
how
a
virtual
civil
war
situation
was
created
with
Sinhala
opinion
overwhelmingly
backing
the
armed
forces
and
Tamil
opinion
equally
strongly
demonstrating
its
sympathy
for
the
militants.
Economy
In
A
Shambles
All
these
developments
especially,
the
government’s
stringent
repressive
measures,
have
had
their
impact
on
the
country’s
economy,
which
is
at
present
in
a
shambles.
Sri
Lanka’s
Finance
Minister
Ronnie
De
Mel
said,
on
July
15
last,
that
unless
an
amicable
solution
to
the
ethnic
problem
was
reached,
the
island
nation
would
face
a
disaster
within
two
years.
He
said
the
defence
budget
and
the
money
spent
on
the
armed
services
had
increased
sevenfold
in
recent
time.
He
added
that
the
National
Security
Minister
had
asked
him
for
Rs
1200
million
more
for
the
armed
services.
De
Mel
said
that
the
prevailing
situation
in
the
country
was
“a
hundred
times
more
serious
than
the
1971
insurgency”
(by
Sinhala
youth).
The
country
could
not
develop
by
fighting
wars
all
the
while,
he
said.
The
same
Finance
Minister,
during
the
course
of
a
speech
at
a
Colombo
meeting
early
this
year,
gave
a
similar
warning
when
he
said
that
economic
ruin
would
be
inevitable
if
the
present
state
of
instability
arising
out
of
the
Sinhala
Tamil
conflict
continued.
From
all
that
has
appeared
in
the
Press,
especially
in
journals
like
Frontline
and
Herald
Review,
it
is
evident
that
the
economic
situation
in
Sri
Lanka
presents
a
grim
picture.
The
defence
allocation
last
year
was
nearly
Rs
four
billion,
a
many-fold
increase
from
1977
and
supplementary
demands
for
defence
expenditure
are
a
regular
feature
like
the
National
Security
Minister’s
demand
for
Rs
1200
million
more
to
which
the
Finance
Minister
referred.
All
development
projects
in
the
Northern
Province,
which
had
even
before
been
discriminated
against,
have
been
stopped
and
the
funds
diverted
to
“defence”
purposes.
A
National
Defence
Fund
has
been
set
up
and
defence
gets
priority
everything
else.
Education
and
health
have
been
pushed
to
lower
positions
and
welfare
measures
like
free
education
and
free
medical
care
have
been
eroded.
Tourism,
a
major
foreign
exchange-earner
for
the
island
has
been
affected
very
badly.
Foreign
investment
has
dropped
sharply
from
an
envisaged
investment
of
Rs
7.5
billion
in
1983
to
Rs
three
billion
in
1984.
As
a
result
the
construction
boom
is
coming
to
a
halt.
Another
vitally
affected
sphere
is
food.
Jaffna
Mannar
and
Mullaitivu
districts,
generally
known
as
the
fishing
triangle,
accounted
for
about
40
per
cent
of
the
annual
catch
of
about
120,000
tonnes.
Because
of
the
surveillance
zone
and
prohibition
along
the
northern
cost,
the
fishing
industry
in
the
three
districts
has
been
hit
hard.
The
loss
to
this
industry
alone
has
been
estimated
at
Rs
800
million
so
far.
Twenty
thousand
fishing
families
have
been
displayed.
Some
80
per
cent
of
the
processed
exports,
which
accounted
for
Rs
491.4
million
in
foreign
exchange
in
1983,
came
from
these
three
districts.
The
prices
of
essential
commodities
have
skyrocketed.
The
violence
has
hit
both
production
and
distribution
since
the
North
is
the
prime
grower
of
subsidiary
food
crops.
If
the
Eastern
province,
which
is
the
rice
bowl
of
Sri
Lanka,
is
also
affected
in
the
same
way
as
the
North,
there
would
be
a
major
food
shortage.
When
even
a
big
country
like
India
is
sought
to
be
pressurized
by
imperialism,
the
small
island
republic
of
Sri
Lanka
with
the
present
tattered
state
of
its
economy
becomes
all
the
more
vulnerable
to
arms-twisting
by
the
imperialist
countries
and
the
international
institutions
they
control.
The
preliminary
talks
in
Thimpu
(Bhutan)
between
the
representatives
of
the
governments
of
Sri
Lanka,
led
by
President
Jayewardene’s
brother
H
W
Jayewardene,
and
the
representatives
of
the
TULF
and
the
five
militant
Tamil
organisations,
are
over.
The
talks
are
to
be
resumed
on
August
12.
No
one
is
claiming
that
there
has
been
any
advance
worth
mentioning
in
the
first
round
of
the
Thimpu
talks.
All
that
is
claimed
that
both
sided
have
had
their
say,
and
that
the
Tamil
representatives
charged
the
Sri
Lanka
government
with
continuing
violations
of
the
cease-fire
and
attacks
on
Tamil
civilians
by
the
armed
forces.
The
representatives
of
the
militant
organisations,
after
initial
hesitation
because
of
the
cease-fire
violation,
have
now
decided
to
participate
in
the
second
round
of
talks.
The
TULF
leaders
are
said
to
be
sceptical
about
the
outcome
of
the
second
round.
There
is
enough
ground
for
their
scepticism
because
of
the
record
of
the
Sri
Lankan
governments
so
far.
And
the
latest
statement
of
President
Jayewardene
on
August
6
has
not
improved
the
situation
at
all.
He
has
said
that
any
settlement
of
the
ethnic
crisis
must
be
within
the
framework
of
a
“unitary
State”
and
recognition
of
Sinhala
as
the
official
language.
The
president
is
also
not
prepared
to
go
beyond
District
Development
Councils
and
at
the
most
inter-district
coordination
within
a
province.
This
will
not
satisfy
the
Tamil
leaders
who,
according
to
all
indications
so
far,
may
be
prepared
to
give
up
the
demand
for
a
separate
state
if
the
Tamil
majority
provinces
in
the
north
and
east
are
merged
into
a
signal
province
and
granted
full
autonomy
within
a
united
Sri
Lanka.
According
to
the
TULF
leaders,
just
before
the
outbreak
of
the
violence
on
July
23,
1983,
the
annual
convention
of
their
party
had
taken
the
decision
that
they
would
have
no
more
talks
with
Jayewardene.
Their
reason
was
that
they
had
been
having
an
almost
continuous
dialogue
with
Jayewardene
and
his
government
without
anything
materialising
out
of
it.
Particularly
from
July
1979
to
August
1980,
for
thirteen
months,
they
held
discussions;
even
a
presidential
commission
was
instituted
on
the
setting
up
of
District
Development
Councils.
According
to
TULF
general
Secretary
Amrithalingam,
“Our
bitter
complaint
is
that
90
per
cent
of
the
matters
that
were
agreed
to
were
never
implemented
by
the
government.
It
was
because
of
this
bitter
experience
of
ours,
that
nearly
three
years
of
dialogue
with
them
yielded
no
results
and
they
went
back
on
what
they
promised,
that
we
decided
we
would
not
negotiate.”
The
Government
agreed
to
drop
the
schedules
and
continue
informal
discussions.
The
TULF
delegation,
along
with
other
was
invited
to
a
session
of
the
APC
on
December
21
to
make
their
observations
on
the
modified
proposals.
Instead
of
holding
the
APC
session
and
hearing
the
observations
of
various
participants,
President
Jayewardene
on
that
day
announced
the
winding
up
of
the
APC.
While
winding
up
the
APC,
the
President
stated
that
if
any
delegation
had
any
views
to
express
on
the
government
proposals,
they
could
send
them
in
writing,
and
that
the
draft
Bills
were
now
before
the
people
to
decide.
Since
the
draft
Bills
were
before
the
public
for
discussion,
the
TULF
sent
to
the
government
the
statement
it
had
prepared
for
the
APC
session
on
December
21
and
also
released
it
to
the
Press.
On
December
26,
the
government
dropped
the
proposals
and
the
president
stated
that
this
was
being
done
because
the
TULF
had
rejected
the
proposals
and
that
the
TULF
had
said
that
it
“saw
no
purpose
in
having
further
discussions
on
that.”
The
TULF
leaders
refuted
this
and
said
that
their
statement
did
not
contain
anything
which
they
had
not
told
the
government
in
the
informal
discussions,
and
also
that
they
had
not
said
they
saw
no
purpose
in
continuing
further
discussions,
that,
in
fact,
they
were
waiting
for
further
discussions.
This
was
the
height
of
political
chicanery.
First
Jayewardene
and
Co.
had
taken
the
position
that
they
would
not
talk
to
the
Tamil
leader
unless
they
gave
up
their
demand
for
Tamil
Eelam.
But
after
being
persuaded
by
India
to
open
talks
without
any
preconditions,
the
way
the
President
has
behaved
only
gives
the
impression
that
he
has
been
trying
to
buy
time,
meanwhile
continuing
the
undeclared
war
against
the
Tamil
population.
The
convening
of
the
APC,
postponing
it
and
winding
it
up
later,
scuttling
of
Annexure
C,
ending
of
the
talks
with
the
TULF,
all
point
to
this.
Again,
the
government
of
India
took
the
initiative
to
invite
President
Jayewardene
and
he
came
to
New
Delhi
and
had
discussions
with
Prime
Minister
Rajiv
Gandhi
and
the
latter
sent
Foreign
Affairs
Secretary
Romesh
Bhandari
to
Colombo.
All
this
resuled
in
first,
the
round
of
talks
between
constitutional
experts
of
Sri
Lanka
and
India
followed
by
the
first
round
of
the
talks
in
Thimpu.
While
the
militant
organizations
have
now
decided
to
attend
the
second
round
of
the
Thimpu
talks
even
while
protesting
against
the
army
patrolling
of
Jaffna
and
Trincomalee
which
has
been
started
again
and
attacks
on
the
Tamil
people,
the
TULF
has
been
constrained
to
warn
the
government
that
it
would
be
responsible
for
any
deterioration
in
the
situation
because
of
the
cease-fire
violations.
As
for
the
government
side,
according
to
a
report
in
the
daily
Sun,
considered
to
be
close
to
the
Establishment,
Hector
Jayewardene
has
asked
from
the
Cabinet
for
a
wider
mandate
for
the
second
round
of
talks
because
certain
issues
have
come
up-issues
like
employment,
colonization,
education
and
security.
While
these
issues
are
certainly
important
as
far
as
the
Tamil
people
are
concerned
autonomy
for
the
Tamil
majority
areas
is
much
wider
than
just
these
issues,
and
the
success
of
the
second
round
of
the
Thimpu
talks
will
depend
on
whether
the
Government
is
willing
to
concede
this
demand.
While
the
ruling
UNP
is
divided,
one
group
not
wanting
to
concede
anything
more
than
District
Development
Councils
and
the
other
prepared
to
go
a
bit
farther
but
not
accepting
autonomy
for
the
Tamil
people,
the
main
opposition
party,
the
Sir
Lanka
Freedom
Party
has
been
changing
its
stand
often
to
mainly
appeal
to
Sinhala
opinion.
In
any
general
election
it
is
the
Sinhala
vote
that
will
be
decisive
and
the
SLEP
leadership
is
swayed
by
this
consideration
more
than
anything
else.
SLFP
leader
Sirimavo
Bandaranaike
–
who
has
been
deprived
of
her
civil
rights
till
1987
and
whose
son
Anura
is
the
leader
of
the
Oppsition
in
Parliament
–
first
demanded
that
the
government
should
talk
with
the
TULF
without
any
preconditions
when
the
Government
position
was
of
no
talks
without
the
TULF
eschewing
separatism.
It
looked
as
if
the
SLFP
wanted
concessions
to
be
given
to
the
TULF
and
consideration
of
the
proposal
for
provincial
councils.
The
SLFP
initially
joined
the
All
–Party
conference,
but
later
backed
out
of
it.
When
Annexure
C
came
up,
the
SLFP
did
not
give
support
to
it.
Later,
Mrs.
Bandaranaike
condemned
the
Government
for
killing
innocent
Tamils.
Now
she
is
demanding
that
any
agreement
that
is
reached
between
the
government
and
the
Tamil
leaders
should
be
ratified
at
a
general
election.
The
Buddhist
clergy
represented
by
the
Maha
Sangha
has
been
totally
opposed
to
making
any
concession
to
the
Tamils.
Some
chapter
of
the
Buddhist
clergy
recently
held
a
conference
and
formed
a
front
to
safeguard
the
interests
of
the
majority
community.
A
notable
personality
present
at
this
conference
was
Mrs.
Bandaranaike.
The
Communist
Party
of
Sri
Lanka
is
to
be
congratulated
for
taking
a
right
stand
even
when
the
atmosphere
was
charged
and
the
party
itself
was
illegalised
for
some
time.
The
CPSL
was
the
first
and
only
party
to
demand
citizenship
rights
to
all
the
Tamil
estate
workers
even
before
independence.
In
the
new
phase
after
the
July
1983
violence,
it
stuck
to
its
correct
Marxist
Leninist
stand
of
autonomy
for
the
Tamil
majority
areas
within
a
united
Sri
Lanka.
This
will
necessitate
a
change
in
the
present
Constitution
with
its
unitary
set-up,
something
which
president
Jayewardene
is
refusing
to
accept
even
now.
Three
other
parties,
which
have
taken
a
supportive
attitude
to
the
Tamil
movement,
are
the
Lanka
Sama
Samaj
Party,
Sri
Lanka
Mahajana
Party
(SLMP)
and
the
Nava
Samaj
Party
(NSSP).
The
SLMP
is
a
breakaway
group
from
Mrs.
Bandaranaike’s
SLFP
and
is
led
by
Vijay
Kumarantunga,
her
film
actor
son-in-low.
He
has
come
out
in
support
of
setting
up
Regional
Councils
as
proposed
in
the
Bandaranaike-Chevanayagam
pact.
He
has
also
come
out
sharply
against
the
anti-
India
tirades
of
Sri
Lanka
official
sposkesmen
and
is
quoted
to
have
said
that
even
Lord
Buddha,
being
an
Indian,
was
likely
to
be
locked
up
if
he
visited
Sri
Lanka
today.
The
NSSP
is
breakaway
group
from
the
Lanka
Sama
Samaj
Party,
the
old
Trotskyite
party
belonging
to
the
Fourth
International,
and
is
led
by
Vasudeva
Nanyakkara.
He
has
gone
further
than
Kumaranatunga
and
advocated
the
right
of
self-determination
for
the
Tamil
minority.
The
Polit
Bureau
of
the
Communist
Party
of
India
(Marxist),
in
the
first
statement
it
made
after
the
outbreak
violence
in
July
1983,
had
called
for
a
solution
of
the
ethnic
problem
in
Sir
Lanka
on
the
basis
of
autonomy
for
the
Tamil-problem
in
Sri
Lanka
on
the
basis
of
autonomy
for
the
Tamil-majority
areas
within
a
single
Sri
Lankan
state.
In
this
it
was
guided
by
the
teachings
of
Marxism-Leninism.
Lenin
brilliantly
summed
up
the
Marxist-Leninist
understanding
on
the
question
of
self-determination
of
nation
and
nationalities
when
he
wrote:
“complete
equality
of
right
for
all
nationalities,
the
right
of
nations
to
self-determination,
the
unity
of
workers
of
all
nations-such
is
the
national
programme
that
Marxism,
the
experience
of
the
whole
world
and
the
experience
of
Russia
teaches
the
workers”.
Communists
everywhere,
all
the
time,
fight
for
the
complete
equality
of
rights
for
all
nationalities
and
unity
of
workers
of
all
nations.
As
for
the
right
of
nations
to
self-determination,
Lenin
said,
“The
several
demands
of
democracy,
including
self-determination
are
not
an
absolute,
but
only
a small
part
of
the
general-democratic
(now
general-socialist)
world
movement.
In
individual
concrete
cases,
the
part
may
contradict
the
whole,
if
so
it
must
be
rejected”.
The
right
of
self-determination,
hence,
is
not
an
immutable
principle
to
be
applied
in
every
case;
a
Marxist
has
to
analyze
the
concrete
conditions
in
his
own
country,
the
international
contest,
before
raising
the
demand
for
self-determination.
Above
all,
he
has
to
be
guided
by
the
class
struggle
nationally
and
internationally.
As
Lenin
said,
“The
bourgeoisie
always
places
its
national
demands
in
the
forefront
and
does
so
in
categorical
fashion.
With
the
proletariat,
however,
these
demands
are
subordinated
to
the
interests
of
the
class
struggle.”
It
is
in
line
with
this
understanding
that
the
Polit
Bureau
of
the
CPI(M),
in
its
statement
on
Sri
Lanka,
pointed
out:
“The
P
B
warns
that
bourgeois-landlord
government
know
no
other
way
of
dealing
with
the
minority
problem
except
inciting
the
majority
against
the
minority.
The
same
process
is
going
on
Sri
Lanka.
The
struggle
for
justice
to
the
minority
is
an
integral
part
of
the
struggle
of
the
people
for
economic
emancipation
and
democratic
rights.
All
democratic
forces
in
Sri
Lanka,
irrespective
of
the
communities
to
which
they
belong,
must
come
together
to
protect
the
unity
of
the
country,
do
justice
to
the
minority
and
ensure
the
advance
of
the
people”.
Any
failure
to
protest
the
unity
of
the
country
even
while
fighting
for
the
legitimate
rights
of
the
minority
will
retard
the
democratic
movement,
the
class
struggle
and
the
struggle
for
Socialism
in
Sri
Lanka
which
has
to
be
led
by
the
united
working
class
belonging
to
both
the
Sinhala
and
Tamil
communities.
Any
delay
or
failure
to
solve
the
ethnic
problem
and
protect
the
unity
of
the
country
will
be
to
plat
into
the
hands
of
imperialism,
especially
US
imperialism,
and
endanger
the
very
freedom
and
security
of
the
country.
Not
only
Sri
Lanka,
the
whole
sub-continent,
the
entire
Indian
Ocean
area
will
be
under
threat
by
imperialism.
Though
the
US
imperialists
right
at
the
beginning
did
not
respond
to
the
Jayewardene
government’s
plea
for
military
assistance,
it
was
they
who
enabled
the
Israeli
interest
section
to
be
opened
in
the
US
embassy
in
Colombo.
Top
US
officials
both
defence
and
non-defense,
have
been
descending
on
Sri
Lanka
one
after
another.
The
USA
obtained
from
the
Sri
Lankan
government
a
lease
for
the
voice
of
America
to
set
up
its
biggest
radio
transmitter
station
outside
the
USA,
to
conduct
the
imperialist
ideological
aggression
against
the
Socialist
countries,
India
and
other
countries
that
follow
an
independent
foreign
policy.
The
US
imperialists
have
obtained
refueling
facilities
for
their
navy
in
some
Sri
Lankan
ports
and
are
continuing
their
efforts
to
get
naval
base
facilities
in
Trincomalee.
The
US
imperialists,
standing
whole
hog
behind
the
reactionary
government
of
Sri
Lanka,
having
succeeded
for
the
time
being
to
divided
the
people
and
derail
of
democratic
movement,
are
now
abile
to
secure
concession
after
concession
from
the
Jayewardene
Government
to
plant
their
feet
firmly
on
Sri
Lanka
soil.
The imperialist threat to Sri Lanka’s freedom and integrity its nefarious game to use Sri Lanka, along with the military dictatorships of Pakistan and Bangladesh, to surrounded India with hostile government and bases to pressurize it, to intensify the militarisation of the Indian Ocean are all aimed at achieving the goal of world domination, carrying on the crusade against communism and imposing neo-colonialist domination over newly independent countries. This game has to be defeated the preserve peace and security in the region. That underlines the urgent necessity of finding a democratic solution to the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka, so that the democratic forces there, now in disarray, can regroup themselves and fight back the imperialist conspiracies, along with democratic forces in the rest of the sub-continent.