Jaffna daily assails "Mahinda Doctrine"

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 October 2005, 11:39 GMT]
Mr Mahinda Rajapakse has brought the Sinhala approach to resolving the Tamil National question a full circle by rejecting the concepts of Tamil home land, right to self determination, federal solution, and the P-TOMS, and re-affirming Tamils belief that the Sinhala south is incapable of shedding the chauvinist mindset, said the editorial of the popular Jaffna Tamil daily 'Uthayan' in its Thursday edition.

"The manifesto of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Presidential candidate which is claimed to contain 'Mahinda Doctrine' represents the thinking of a section of the Sinhala south. It represents the collective thoughts of SLFP, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), and constituent leftist parties of the United Peoples Front Alliance (UPFA) and also that of Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakkara," the editiorial said.

The edit adds that the South is in two sharply divided camps. That of Ranil Wickramesinghe who advocates peace through reconciliation, and of Mahinda Rajapaksa who has joined the extreme nationalists rejecting all agreed instruments of reconciliation.

At the Thimpu Talks held in 1985 Tamils placed four cardinal demands as preconditions for a negotiated solution: Recognition of Tamils as constituting a separate Nation, recognition of Tamil Traditional Home land, acceptance of Tamils Right to Self Determination and acceptance of Tamils Basic Rights and Civil Rights. Only the last condition was accepted by the then Government of J.R.Jeyawardene, observes the Editorial.

Subsequently in 1987 the concepts of Tamils constituting a separate Nation and existence of Tamil traditional home land were accepted in the Indo-Srilanka agreement.

Through acceptence of Oslo declaration in 2002 and by agreeing to find peaceful solution to the ethnic problem through the concept of internal self-determination on a federal arrangement, Tamil right to self determination also was accepted by the Srilankan state, says the editorial.

However, Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa performs a complete circle and comes back to the erstwhile Sinhala stand repudiating all agreements, compromises and understandings so far reached on peace process, the editorial said.

The concepts of Tamil home land,right to self determination, federal solution and the P-TOMS all stand rejected in his manifesto. This only re-affirms the Tamil belief that the Sinhala south is incapable of freeing itself from the chauvnistic mind set the editorial adds.

The editorial proceeds to state that the 'Mahinda Doctrine' in the casket of his manifesto imparts a lesson to the Tamils and to the International Community. That even if peace talks succeed and implementation stage is reached, the chauvnist forces can wreck whole process and lay their heavy weight on the minorities to continue oppression, the editorial says.

It is an unpalatable truth that the Tamils have achieved nothing and has no chance to reach a solution to the ethnic problem through talks with the Sinhala leadership which holds on to the concept of unitary state, observes the editorial.

The editorial concludes that election of chauvnist leadership in the South by popular vote will drive the Tamils to the firm conclusion that they can never get justice or realize their aspirations by peaceful means and through consensus.

Tamils are likely to be convinced that force remains the only alternative, the edit concludes.