Commencement of Talks between LTTE and Sri Lanka...
and Elements of Diplomacy

Network, October 1994

Mr.Tamilselvan, Head of LTTE Delegation, welcomes
Mr.Balapatabendi, Head of Sri Lanka Delegation at LTTE Political Headquarters, Jaffna

The Sri Lanka government delegation led by Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Secretary, Mr.Kumarasiri Balapatabendi arrived in Jaffna on 12 October for talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

‘‘The front page picture of the Sunday Island is one of negotiators of the Sri Lanka Government and those of the LTTE in a conference room with the flag of the LTTE in the centre... We take this as an ominous sign... The government negotiators most of whom are neophytes in dealing with the LTTE perhaps did not know that the LTTE flag had been declared by the LTTE as the flag of (Tamil) Eelam in 1991.. The Government owes an explanation to all Sri Lankans for this stupid act of our negotiators... What went wrong here is perhaps the composition of the delegation itself. They are indeed all honourable gentlemen having distinguished themselves in their professions. But apart from Mr.Lionel Fernando, the rest have no experience in negotiations of this kind quite apart from negotiating with the wily Tigers. Ms.Kumaratunga by selecting her own confidantes was perhaps sending a direct message to the LTTE. She did not want to traverse the beaten track by sending diplomats or soldiers who will be guided by their professional instincts. All that can be appreciated but the interests off the nation should never be at risk... Before the commencement of the negotiations the government pledged that all negotiations with the LTTE would be made public and there would be no secret deals. Thus the public would like to know in details the discussions that went on Thursday and Friday... News reports indicate that a ceasefire has been discussed. What will such a ceasefire mean to the people of the North and East? Will it mean that troops and even the Special Task Force holding the Eastern Province be withdrawn?’’

Not to be outdone, the Sinhala owned Sri Lanka Sunday Times also joined in the attack on Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga, albeit on somewhat different grounds. In an editorial entitled ‘Time to change, Madam PM’ the Sri Lanka Sunday Times commented on 16 October:

‘‘The Prime Minister’s undisclosed journey (to Singapore for four days) leaves her open to the criticism of a disregard for the normal conventions of courtesy to her colleagues if not the people of this land... Within forty five days of being in office she has the distinction of missing a Cabinet meeting without informing her Ministers, not turning up in Parliament to make a policy statement (though she explained later that she was held up in a traffic jam), and was late by three hours for a government group meeting, among late arrivals for other public functions. So much so when she arrived for a recent diplomatic function many diplomats had instinctively looked at their wrist watches.’’

The Defence Correspondent of the Sri Lanka Sunday Times was nothing if not frank when he declared in the same issue of the paper:

‘‘Today no sensible government will agree to a ceasefire with the LTTE. No sensible individual, military, political, academic or otherwise should advocate a ceasefire with the LTTE.’’

At the sametime, other observers point to the centre page prominence given in the Sri Lanka state controlled Sunday Observer of 16 October 1994 to an article by S.Sivanayagam, previously editor of the Saturday Review as evidence of a new approach. Mr.Sivanayagam in an article entitled ‘War and Peace and the Tamil mind’ wrote:

‘‘ Sustaining the climate of peace has therefore become the need of the hour, with no major developments likely to take place until after the Presidential election... If independence from alien rule means something for the Sinhalese people, should it not mean the same for Tamils as well? But what has it meant for them these past 46 years? Let alone become victims of legislative and constitutional discrimination, and continuous state repression, they were beaten up and killed, and made refugees in their own country within ten years of independence. That was long before the cry for separation came and long before the present generation of Tigers were born!... Where were the Sinhalese leaders and the Sinhalese people during this 46 year deterioration?... Whilst the South was recently preoccupied with the question whether President Wijetunga was right or wrong in saying that there was no ethnic problem but only a question of terrorism, that line was crossed much earlier as far as Tamils were concerned. It was no longer an ethnic problem anyway, it was one of nationality! In short history was leaving behind the thinking in the South. Clinging on to the concept of a multi ethnic, multi lingual, multi religious entity, however noble it sounds, would appear to be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Even Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga’s well intentioned peace moves could be in danger of falling into... ‘the too little, too late’ syndrome. In which case even an acceptable emissary to Jaffna like Lionel Fernando could end up as the ‘last train to Jaffna.’... To bring about a durable political solution a government has to look beyond self interest and strategies. There has to be a genuine urge to understand the Tamil mind.... How come the activities of women Tigers, young virgins at that, had escaped the notice of... social scientists? A case of selective perception obviously. These women actually wear pants! They drive vehicles and handle powerful weapons. They are in the forefront of battles, with no ambitions of acquiring political power, on the contrary, they are ready to give up their lives. They had emerged from a conservative Tamil society that was riddled with cultural taboos only a few years ago...What has driven them into such fierce motivation? This is one aspect of the Tamil mind that needs serious inquiry. But it is too vital to be left to social scientists. The onus of empathy and a search for understanding is on the Sinhalese people, mothers, sisters and daughters, politicians, media people and primarily on the Prime Minister a woman herself. In such understanding, may one submit lies the key to peace and a worthwhile settlement.’’

and elements of diplomacy...

Sardar K.M.Pannikar, Indian Ambassador to China from1948 to 1952, and later Vice Chancellor, Mysore University, wrote in Principles and Practice of Diplomacy in 1956:

''The public habit of judging the relations between states from what appears in the papers adds to the confusion. It must be remembered that in international affairs things are not often what they seem to be. .. A communique which speaks of complete agreement may only mean an agreement to differ. Behind a smokescreen of hostile propaganda diplomatic moves may be taking place indicating a better understanding of each other's position."

''Foreign Ministers and diplomats presumably understand the permanent interests of their country.. But no one can foresee clearly the effects of even very simple facts as they pertain to the future.

The Rajah of Cochin who in his resentment against the Zamorin permitted the Portuguese to establish a trading station in his territories could not foresee that thereby he had introduced into India something which was to alter the course of history.

Nor could the German authorities, who, in their anxiety to create confusion and chaos in Russia, permitted a sealed train to take Lenin and his associates across German territory, have foreseen what forces they were unleashing. To them the necessity of the moment was an utter breakdown of Russian resistance and to send Lenin there seemed a superior act of wisdom...''

''Sri Krishna, when he was being requested by Yudhistra to go as a special envoy to the Court of the Kauravas, was asked by Draupadi what his purpose was in undertaking so hopeless a mission. He replied, 'I shall go the Kaurava Court to present your case in the best light; to try and get them to accept your demands, and if my efforts fail and war becomes inevitable we shall show the world how we are right and they are wrong so that the world may not misjudge between us.'

All the secrets of diplomacy are contained in this statement of Sri Krishna... 'If my persuasion fails', said Krishna, I shall proclaim to the world your innocence and their crime. I shall make the world understand that you are fighting only for your rights'...

There are but few cases in history where both the parties to a conflict do not claim to have been forced into a defensive war.Whether the world accepts such a claim depends entirely on the success or failure of diplomacy. In the case of the Pandavas, Sri Krishna's diplomacy was supremely successful even to the extent of causing dissensions among the Kaurava generals...''