- JVP wants Norway out, APRC dissolved and LTTE banned
- UNP says government ‘further’ distances itself from a political solution
- SLMC, TNA slams government decision, says peace hopes shattered
- Govt. promises to address Tamil grievances
By Jayashika Padmasiri, Aisha Edris and Kushali Atukorale
The dawn of today, officially brings to an end the much hailed yet controversial Ceasefire Agreement almost six years after it was signed.
The termination of the agreement is expected to drown Sri Lanka in what could be easily termed as one of its worst ever political crises, which will have a bearing on the entire island, including its innocent masses.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), often identified as the party that controls the government, in a statement issued on the eve of the termination of the CFA, called for the immediate dismissal of Norway as the peace facilitator while reiterating the party’s call for the dissolution of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC).
“The government must also take immediate steps to ban the LTTE without further delay,” the statement said.
The JVP also demanded the government not to make any amendments to the existing constitution or to draft a new one even if pressurized by international forces.
The United National Party (UNP) said that the government’s ‘unwise’ decision further confirmed that they were not in favour of a political solution to the ethnic conflict.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told The Bottom Line, “By this unwise decision, the government has further distanced itself from finding a solution through political means”.
Attanayake also said that through the decision taken by the government, it has received criticism from the entire world and as a result the LTTE would receive international sympathy.
Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress M. T. Hassan Ali said that abrogating the CFA meant that the government had shattered all hopes for a peaceful negotiation with the minority communities, and was committed to end the ethnic conflict through war.
“The government’s decision has disturbed the minority communities as it is they who would be drastically affected by the decision,” he said.
The Tamil National Alliance’s Jaffna district Parliamentarian, Mavai Senathirajah expressed similar sentiments and noted that the abrogation of the CFA would mean that all the corridors to peace would be blocked.
“There won’t be any negotiation with the LTTE. The government by scrapping the CFA has made war its agenda to regain peace in the country. We are not at all happy about the decision taken by the government. Tamils have a right for self-determination. By the abrogation of the CFA, their dream of finding a political settlement to the ethnic conflict will be crushed,” Senathirajah told The Bottom Line.
He also called on the international community, such as the United States, European Union and India to pressurize the government of Sri Lanka to enter into discussions with the LTTE and find permanent peace as the war would only increase civilian casualties.
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) however, expressed a different opinion and noted that the government was merely issuing the death certificate to the dead body called the CFA by abrogating it officially.
JHU spokesman Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe told The Bottom Line that the CFA was an illegal, unconstitutional document, which the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had signed according to his individual discretion.
Warnasinghe also condemned the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the co-chairs and the facilitator for Peace, Norway, accusing them of supporting the LTTE and acting in a pro LTTE manner.
Meanwhile, government Defence Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella assured that despite the government’s decision to withdraw from the CFA, it did not mean that the minorities including the Tamils would be sidelined.
He said that the grievances of the Tamil people would be addressed through the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC).
“Whether the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is there or not, the war has been going on. However, we will arrive at a political solution through the APRC, while continuing to demolish terrorism from the country,” Rambukwella said.
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