Polls in Lanka 8212; Peace tops national agenda

The sudden flurry of activity around peace has only heightened the speculation. Shelved for almost two years, the People8217;s Alliance PA Government8217;s peace package has been brought out again, dusted and put back on the mantelpiece. First, there was talk that it would be presented in Parliament as an Amendment Bill this month even though it was well known that the Legislation would fail as the Opposition would not vote for it.

Now, that idea has been dropped in favour of more negotiations with the Opposition United National Party UNP to try and evolve a consensus on the proposals before taking it to Parliament. Pro-government businessmen have taken the lead to bring about a rapprochement between the PA and UNP on the ethnic issue, giving them a deadline of 45 days 8211; a trifle unrealistic considering the two parties have not been able to see eye to eye on the issue since 1956. But shaken out of her lethargy by clear signals in local elections that Tamil minority votes as well as the votes of the Sinhalese poor were slipping away from her, President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who came to power on the quot;peace votequot;, is now eager to be seen as doing something for peace, even if it means only talking about it.

If the UNP and PA somehow manage to arrive at a consensus by the deadline of September 30, it has been announced that the government will, through the businessman emissary Lalith Kotelawala, reach out to the LTTE.

Military operations against the LTTE, which have left their impact on Tamil civilians in the conflict zone and outside, may have won the government territory, but as it has realised now, lost it its credibility as a quot;government for peacequot; amongst the Tamils.

Kumaratunga8217;s quot;war for peacequot; was a slogan that went down well internationally, but it has left the community most affected, the Tamils, cold.

Recent surveys have shown that a majority of Tamils want the government to resume talks with the LTTE. Kumaratunga is obviously mindful that this section of the voters must not be allowed to cross over to the UNP, which has been calling for talks with the Tigers since early 1996.

The UNP demand that the Government should talk to the Tigers was clearly a ploy to duck taking a stand on the Government peace proposals but it has helped to boost the party8217;s image amongst sections of the Tamil community.

But the Government is doing whatever it can at this nth hour in a bid to woo back the Tamils. Besides the renewed activity on the constitutional package, there is street-level activity too. A new pro-government front of political parties and NGOs called Ape Handa Our Voice held a demonstration quot;for peacequot; yesterday which was addressed by the media minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Another peace rally organised by the Sarvodaya movement is scheduled for the end of this month, and all political parties including the PA and UNP have lent their support to it.

It8217;s ironic that while all Sri Lankan politicians talk of peace only during election time, this is also the time when neither of the two main political parties will risk taking a concrete step towards resolving the ethnic conflict, for fear of a backlash from the majority community.

No one knows this better than Tamil politicians. quot;If elections are around the corner, we can be sure that all this talk is empty,quot; said Douglas Devananda, Member of Parliament and leader of the Eelam People8217;s Democratic Party EPDP.