Clamour For
War Grows In Colombo
By K. Ratnayake
22 August 2005
World
Socialist Web
Following
the assassination of Sri Lankas Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar
last week, there is a distinct beating of war drums in Colombo ruling
circles.
Virtually every
political party immediately blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) and joined together on Thursday to ratify a one-month extension
to the state of emergency imposed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga
after the killing. In the course of the parliamentary debate, speakers
vied with each other in hailing Kadirgamar, denouncing the LTTE and
provocatively demanding revisions to the current ceasefire, which has
been in place since February 2002.
The media and political
establishment has dismissed the LTTEs denials of involvement and
fallen into line with the assertions of the police and military that
it carried out the assassination. While it is certainly possible that
the LTTE leadership ordered the murder, the proof offered
so far by police consists of limited and unsubstantiated circumstantial
evidence.
No one in Colombo
has dared to publicly ask the basic question: who benefits? The most
obvious political beneficiaries are those who are shouting the loudest
about the LTTE: sections of the security forces and the Sinhala chauvinist
parties, including the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela
Urumaya (JHU). The JVP quit the government in June after the Post-Tsunami
Operational Management (P-TOMS) was signed, denouncing it as a betrayal
of the nation. A conspiracy to murder Kadirgamar by elements from these
fascistic layers is just as likely as an LTTE assassination.
In the wake of the
murder, the JVP and JHU, with the backing of sections of the media,
have gone on the political offensive. Anyone who fails to publicly blame
the Tigers is denounced as an LTTE stooge or worse. Several
newspapers that were critical of Kadirgamar before his death have been
condemned for leaking information to the LTTE. In the putrid climate
of communal politics in Colombo, these comments are threats that can
have violent consequences. The two major bourgeois partiesKumaratungas
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the opposition United National Party
(UNP)which are also steeped in Sinhala chauvinism, have accommodated
to this campaign.
Significantly, while
political parties have been engaged in intrigue and infighting for months
over the P-TOMS agreement, they came together on Thursday to support
the imposition of a state of emergency. It was passed overwhelmingly
124 to 21, with the remaining 80 MPs absent or abstaining. Despite their
bitter differences, the ruling elites recognise that they face a deep
political crisis and have come together to impose a series of anti-democratic
measures, aimed above all at preventing masses of ordinary people from
intervening.
The emergency laws
give sweeping powers to the president, as defence minister and commander-in-chief
of the security forces. The armed forces and police can make arrests
and detain suspects without trial, search houses and ban
public meetings and protests. Kumaratunga can deem any area of work
as an essential service and outlaw strikes and protests.
She can also impose strict censorship.
The flavour of political
discussion in ruling circles in Colombo was on display in parliament.
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, the deputy defence minister and national security
minister, introduced the emergency bill, declaring that the Kadirgamar
killing was not the only reason for extending the state of emergency.
In what amounted to a threat of war, he said: We urge it [the
LTTE] to come to talks with an open mind. If it is not or if it is not
willing, we will have to pursue a different approach, or take a decision.
The JVP demagogue
Wimal Weerawansa told parliament that the country was facing a
one-sided war and branded the ceasefire agreement as a distorted,
false document. Before the ceasefire the military and the
LTTE fought each other. But now the LTTE is fighting a war while the
government keeps talking peace, he said. The obvious conclusion,
if the LTTE will not agree to new terms, is a return to war.
The JHU, which is
led by Buddhist monks, resorted to open war-mongering. JHU leader Ellawela
Medhananda Thera issued five demands: the reintroduction of the Prevention
of Terrorism Act (PTA), the banning of the LTTE, the expulsion of Norwegian
peace mediators, the imposition of emergency powers to suppress
terrorism, and the extradition of chief LTTE negotiator Anton
Balasingham and his wife from Britain. If adopted, these demands would
be tantamount to a declaration of war.
Muted opposition
Opposition leader
Ranil Wickremesinghe called this week for a new government to restart
the peace process with the LTTE. In parliament, however, the UNP voted
for the state of emergency, adding only a muted plea for the government
not to abuse its powers. We sincerely hope that [the] emergency
regulations will not be misused to upset normalcy, UNP deputy
leader Karu Jayasuriya declared. When in power, the right-wing UNP was
notorious for its abuse of the autocratic powers of the executive presidency.
The old parties
of the working classthe Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and Stalinist
Communist Party (CP)are part of the ruling coalition and virtually
indistinguishable from Kumaratungas SLFP. Their MPs voted for
the anti-democratic state of emergency without a bleat of protest.
The Tamil National
Alliance (TNA)a grouping of bourgeois Tamil parties that currently
function as an LTTE mouthpiecevoted against the emergency. TNA
MP G. Ponnnambalam timidly suggested that the government had an
ulterior motive and was jumping to conclusions about the LTTE.
The Upcountry Peoples Front, based among Tamil plantation workers, vote
against the regulations. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), while
pointing to their anti-democratic character, abstained.
Just hours after
the vote, Kumaratunga wrote to Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik
to seek an urgent meeting with the LTTE to review the ceasefire.
Norwegian mediators announced yesterday that the LTTE had agreed to
direct talks, prompting some commentators to declare that there could
be signs of a renewed peace process.
Rather than shoring
up the ceasefire, the talks have the potential to lead to its complete
breakdown. Hagrup Haukland, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
(SLMM) told Reuters: It is not a question of reviewing, its
a question of discussing the implementation of it [the ceasefire].
In other words, as far as the LTTE and the Norwegian mediators are concerned,
there is no question of modifying the ceasefire agreement. In Colombo,
however, there is a growing clamour to rewrite the document.
In an editorial
on Tuesday, the right-wing Island newspaper bluntly called for the Cease
Fire Agreement (CFA) to be renegotiated. It is time the government
put its foot down. The LTTE must be stripped of the concessions that
it enjoys under the CFA. It was granted entry into government controlled
areas to engage in democratic politics to reorient itself. But, since
it has unilaterally suspended talks and is abusing that concession to
kill opponents and expand its reign of terror, its political work
must be banned and the LTTE cadres asked to vacate the areas immediately.
Raids and checks must be resumed, wherever they are deemed necessary
to keep the LTTE killers away, it stated.
What the Island
fails to mention in its one-eyed commentary is that communal tensions
have been deliberately inflamed, particularly in the North and East,
by those it views favourablythe JVP, JHU and the security forces.
The killings involve not just the LTTE but a breakaway LTTE
faction led by V. Muralitharan, also known as Karuna, which has the
tacit support of sections of the military. LTTE offices are regularly
attacked and its cadre killed in the East without a word of criticism
in the Colombo press.
In a further editorial
on Friday, the Island bitterly attacked the major powers for pushing
for the maintenance of the ceasefire. Pointing to the hypocrisy of the
war on terrorism, it declared: If Britain has no qualms
about blowing the brains of suspect suicide bombers in public places
with no questions asked... and if the US can resort to preemptive strikes
to keep terrorists at bay, Sri Lanka must be able to review the CFA
or suspend or even pull out of it, depending on the circumstances.
Clearly the Island
is expressing the frustrations of layers of the Sri Lankan ruling elite
that Britain and the US are refusing to support Colombos own vicious
war on terrorism. If Washington and London are supporting
the ceasefire, it is not out of inherent concern for peace in Sri Lanka.
Rather the countrys protracted civil war is regarded as a dangerous
destabilising factor that threatens broader US economic and strategic
interests in South Asia, particularly in India, which has emerged as
a major cheap labour platform. At present, Washington is pressing for
a negotiated end to the war, but that tactic could change.
Political impasse
The Socialist Equality
Party in Sri Lanka has repeatedly warned of the dangers of a return
to war and the use of autocratic methods to suppress the opposition
of working people. Parliamentary rule is rapidly becoming exhausted.
One government after another has proven incapable of satisfying the
aspirations of the masses for peace and decent living standards, leading
to profound alienation and hostility to the entire establishment. These
political processes were greatly accelerated by the December 26 tsunami
that devastated much of the island, left more than 30,000 dead and a
quarter of a million people homeless.
In a statement on
August 1, the SEP declared: Three general elections have been
held in the past five years2000, 2001 and 2004but each has
resolved nothing, simply laying the basis for a new crisis. The major
political parties are unable to agree on a joint strategy and incapable
of making an appeal to ordinary working people on the basis of their
needs and aspirations. As a result, they are looking to end the current
deadlock by resorting to extra-parliamentary means.
That conclusion
has been confirmed by Thursdays parliamentary vote to impose a
state of emergency. As the threat of war looms, the ruling elites temporarily
set aside their differences in order to curb the democratic rights of
working people and arm themselves with the power to suppress any political
opposition. It is only the second time since just prior to the signing
of the ceasefire in February 2002 that a state of emergency has been
imposedearlier this year, Kumaratunga used the pretext of the
tsunami to do the same.
Already the emergency
regulations have been used to round up suspects in Kadirgamars
murder. However, the measures are being used more broadly under the
guise of combatting further LTTE attacks. Patrols and night raids have
been stepped up, particularly in Tamil neighbourhoods. Vehicles, including
buses to and from areas with large Tamil populations, are being subjected
to stringent security checks. The attitude of security forces is clear
from the frequent reports of abusive racist language towards Tamils.
Arrests have also been made outside Colombo in Kandy and Dambulla.
The use of the emergency
laws will not be confined to Tamils. There is growing social unrest,
with protests by working people against the deteriorating living standards,
the lack of post-tsunami reconstruction, rising cost of transport, petrol
and other goods, and the impact of economic restructuring and privatisation
on jobs and working conditions. In the past fortnight alone, sizeable
protests have taken place by health workers over higher wages, trainee
public sector workers demanding permanent jobs, and textile workers
over sackings.
Big business is
clearly viewing the state of emergency as a means of cracking down on
this opposition. In a statement following Kadirgamars assassination,
the Joint Business Forum (Jbiz)the umbrella organisation for Sri
Lankas business and industries chambersexpressed its concern
over the breakdown of order and the impact on the economy and
investment. It called for the enforcement of law, peace and stability
and the implementation of a common agenda for economic development.
In its August 1
statement, the SEP explained: At the heart of this crisis is a
fundamental dilemma. Dominant sections of business, backed by the major
powers, have been pushing for an end to the countrys disastrous
civil war as part of plans to restructure the economy and transform
the island into a cheap labour platform. This strategy, however, has
been constantly thwarted by the very communalist politics that were
responsible for the war in the first place.
The purpose of the
so-called peace process was to reach a communal power-sharing deal between
the islands Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim ruling elites to implement
a far-reaching program of economic restructuring and to intensify their
joint exploitation of the working class. If the LTTE did murder Kadirgamar,
it reflects the deep frustration and resentment among layers of the
Tamil bourgeoisie. Three years after renouncing any demand for a separate
Tamil statelet, the LTTE is further away than ever from realising its
aspiration of becoming a junior partner to Sri Lankas capitalist
class in Colombo.
Workers cannot place
their faith in any of the political servants of the bourgeoisie, who
once again are preparing to plunge the country back to war. Inevitably,
the working class will be forced to pay the price. The SEP calls on
all workers to reject the poison of communal politics and to unite to
defend their own class interests: decent living standards, democratic
rights and peace. This will only be achieved through the building of
a powerful independent movement of working peopleSinhala, Tamil
and Muslimto fight for a socialist perspectivea Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka-Eelam as part of the United Socialist Republics
of South Asia and internationally.