Instead of concentrating on the building of army camps, the government should speed up the rehabilitation process in the Vanni.!!!

The Govt. is helping the TNA survive politically - Varatharajah

The Govt. is helping the TNA survive politically - Varatharajah

September 23, 2010, 8:00 pm



Varatharajah Perumal the former chief minister of the merged Northern and Eastern provinces who now describes himself more as a political activist than a politician, has been doing the rounds in the north and east after the war ended. In this interview, C.A.Chandraprema speaks to the former CM about the political trends in the post-war north.



Q. How would you read the mood of the people in the north now one and a half years after the war ended?



A. In the beginning, immediately after the war, the people were reticent and fearful. But over the past one year, the feeling of peace and freedom has improved a lot. Then the prices of goods has come down to the level where there is little difference between Colombo prices and Jaffna prices. People have resumed their occupations, agriculture and fishing. In the Vanni area, things have not got normalized fully, but gradually they too are coming around. Instead of concentrating on the building of army camps, the government should speed up the rehabilitation process in the Vanni. The government is doing a lot of things but it is not at the speed that the people need. The situation in the north east, after the war has improved much. The people feel free, there are no flying bullets, there is no killing.



Q. How do the people now look back at the LTTE?



A. The attitudes differ depending on the place. In the Vanni area, the people are very angry with the LTTE due to the manner in which they behaved during the last days of the war. That however does not mean that the people are happy with the government. We have to realize that. However the people in Jaffna are more concerned about what the government is doing than what the LTTE did because those who were in Jaffna did not really feel the brunt of the LTTE’s rule. But even the people in Jaffna are now becoming aware of what happened during the last days of the war because the people who were in the Vanni and have come back to Jaffna have been telling people of the experiences they underwent. So basically, there is no positive thinking with regard to the LTTE in the north. But there is much that the government has to do to restore self reliance as well as self respect to the people of the north. Today it is almost as if there is army rule in the north and east, not civilian rule.



Q. How do you account for the fact that despite the demise of the LTTE, the TNA is still the biggest political force in the north and east?



A. You can’t really say that now. The parliamentary elections were held less than one year after the war ended and the people were still frightened, and undergoing various hardships, so many did not even turn up even to vote. At that time, everybody thought their suffering was because of Rajapakse, particularly in Jaffna (rather than the Vanni). But now, many more months have elapsed and things are changing because the people feel that the TNA is useless to them. They know that the TNA will not deliver anything to them. But that does not mean that they are satisfied that the government will do everything, because they are very suspicious of the government. It is this anti-government feeling that is helping the TNA and not their own merit. It is the government that is indirectly helping the TNA to survive politically.



Q. According to your assessment, what are the basic elements of this anti-government feeling in the north?



A. One reason is the publicity blitz in the media both locally and overseas about the civilian casualties during the last stages of the war. Nobody has been speaking of the atrocities that the LTTE committed against the Tamil people. The army is a Sinhala army, the police is also a Sinhala police. The public service and the government is also Sinhala dominated.



Q. So would inducting more Tamils into the army and police and public service do the trick?



A. On the ground, I don’t think the army is behaving badly. Their behaviour with the people is good. The people don’t have anything personal against the army. However the presence of the army raises the general anti-state feeling of the people. So the government has to reduce army presence among civilians. And the government should allow the Tamil leaders to rule the Tamil areas. Even though the government made various noises, there was no sincere effort to recruit Tamils into the army or police. Some efforts were made soon after the war ended, but this has to be taken much further. The last time, the government wanted to recruit about 400 police officers from Jaffna. About 6000 young people offered to join. Tamil youth may not come forward in their thousands to join the army initially, but if the government makes an effort, they might be able to have a sufficient number of people in the army as well.



Q. In the past, Tamil politics has always been dominated by one party, first the Tamil Congress, then the ITAK, then the TULF and now the TNA. Do you think there will be a more plural political culture in the north and east in the future?



A. When the government acts in a way that would create suspicions in the minds of the Tamil people, that will benefit forces like the TNA. The Sinhala leaders (not just the government) have to help those who accept the plurality of this country. The 800,000 strong Tamil Diaspora has also got to be won over by the government, and they have to be convinced that they can live in Sri Lanka with dignity and self reliance. Tamil forces other than the TNA should be assisted to work among the Tamil people. The government should not choose one or two people to represent them among the Tamil people.



Q. Do you think KP has a role to play in this?



A. That is a matter for the people to determine.



Q. How about you, are you going to contest elections in the north in the future?



A. Whether I will contest personally is a different matter. But my party has been contesting every election from 1988 onwards regardless of whether we won or not. We have worked consistently to restore democracy in these areas. I still don’t feel that a democratic environment has been created in these areas.



Q. Why do you say that a democratic environment does still does not exist in the north?



A. People still fear some groups that are supported by the government. I don’t wish to mention any names. The government has to cooperate with all other forces that want democracy restored fully. What is lacking is the trust and confidence of the Tamil people towards the government.



Q. What would you have to say about the mainline political parties, the UNP and the UPFA contesting in the north and east under their own names?



A. I think some people in the government have this misunderstanding that there should be only two parties in the country. Because of that attitude, the TNA was strengthened here. In India, when regional parties came to the fore, there were debates about regional separatism. But when cooperation was established between the main political parties and the regional parties, cooperative federalism developed. That experience has to be applied here. There is a feeling among Sinhala leaders that if there is devolution of power, there will be a division of the country. That is wrong. I am sorry to say that the 18th amendment has reduced some of the powers devolved to the provinces through the 13th amendment. The powers of the provincial public service and police commissions have been taken away and along with it, the little power that the provincial councils had to give some employment.

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