By Paul Tighe
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka should create an interim council in the Northern Province where the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has its bases as a first step toward settling the issue of Tamil separatism, an all-party forum said.
The conflict with the LTTE makes holding elections impossible in the mainly Tamil north ``in the near future'' and an interim council should be appointed by the president that reflects the ethnic character of the area, the All Party Representative Committee recommended.
The proposals are to meet the aspirations of the people and aren't ``aimed at meeting the demands of the LTTE,'' Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said yesterday, according to a statement on the government's Web site.
The Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for a separate homeland, now hold bases only in the north after they were driven from the eastern region in July. The all-party committee said security has improved so elections can be held in the Eastern Province, where the government is seeking $1.8 billion in international aid to develop the region.
A 1987 constitutional amendment on creating provincial councils is the basis for the power-sharing proposals, the APRC said in a report presented to Rajapaksa two days ago, according to the government's Web site. The amendment was part of a peace accord signed with India when it sent peacekeeping soldiers to the island.
The plan ``envisages an interim arrangement pending the restoration of democratically elected provincial councils in the north and east,'' the committee said.
Minority Groups
The government should oversee the passing of laws providing for the protection of the Tamil language and those of other minority communities, by bringing translators and interpreters into law courts and the police force. Ethnic Sinhalese minorities in the north and east should receive the same benefits, the committee said.
Rajapaksa's government rejects any peace settlement that would divide the country of 20 million people where Tamils make up 11.9 percent of the population and Sinhalese almost 74 percent, according to a 2001 census.
The LTTE, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and India, rejected the constitutional amendment in 1988, saying it left too much power with the national Parliament.
India's government said the APRC's proposals are a ``welcome first step'' toward a settlement, according to a statement from New Delhi yesterday.
``It has consistently been our view that a settlement of the issues in Sri Lanka is to be done by the Sri Lankan people themselves in a manner acceptable to all communities within the framework of a united Sri Lanka,'' the Indian government said.
Course of Action
The APRC's proposals identify a course of action to meet the aspirations of minorities through ``maximum and effective devolution of power,'' Bogollagama said in Colombo yesterday.
He earlier briefed the U.S., Japan, EU and Norway, the countries leading a group of donor nations for Sri Lanka, on the APRC's plan, the government said.
The donor nations told Rajapaksa there can be no military solution to the conflict in the South Asian island nation after his government ended a 2002 cease-fire with the LTTE on Jan. 16. Rajapaksa, in a speech three days ago, said he wanted a political settlement. ``However, when it comes to terrorism, I think it is necessary to defeat it,'' he said.
LTTE Attacked
The military has attacked the LTTE's bases in the north since winning control of the eastern region. It has also targeted the LTTE leadership in recent months.
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE leader, was wounded in an air raid in November, according to the government, and the head of the political wing was killed in an air strike two months ago. The LTTE military intelligence chief was killed Jan. 6.
The Tamil Tigers said their forces repulsed an army offensive at Ma'nalaa'ru in the north late yesterday, TamilNet reported on its Web site.
Police found the bodies of 17 civilians shot dead near the northern town of Vavuniya yesterday, TamilNet said. The victims were found with their hands tied behind their backs, it said.
The Ministry of Defense said several bodies of young people were found near a road late yesterday and LTTE terrorists were suspected of the killings. The ministry didn't say how many bodies were found.
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