JVP again blasts joint mechanism, JHU warns - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 14:55 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) strongly and totally rejected the joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE - charging it would be unconstitutional, undemocratic and create chaos not only in the country but in the whole South Asian region, the Daily Mirror reported. The hardline monks party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), has “vowed to do everything possible to stop the government from signing the joint mechanism,” the paper said.

Instead of a joint mechanism with the “terrorist LTTE” the JVP has proposed a widely-represented national committee headed by the President, along with district boards, to oversee tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction, the paper reported Friday.

"Any mechanism should not create or worsen the inequalities in the country. More importantly it should not lead the South Asian region towards insecurity and instability. Though the official joint mechanism proposal has not been publicised yet, it is clear this proposed joint mechanism with the LTTE will violate all these concepts," the JVP politburo said in a statement.

The JVP politburo said accepted democratic norms would be violated as soon as a democratic government entered into a joint mechanism with a terrorist group which bore arms and had no public mandate.

"Moreover, sharing the sole authority given to the government through the Constitution, with a terrorist organisation which attempts to divide the motherland and which does not show any sign of entering into the democratic mainstream, in order to rebuild a part of the country, is indeed a violation of the Constitution," the politburo said.

The JVP maintained that if the government entered into a joint mechanism with a terrorist group which threatened the security of the South Asian region, it would create chaos in the region.

"It will also affect diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and other countries in the region. In this context the President and the government should take tangible and special steps to provide relief and rebuild tsunami affected people and areas without going for a joint mechanism," the politburo said.

Meanwhile the JHU leader, the Venerable Ellawala Medhananda Thera said the LTTE should be made to lay down its arms before signing an agreement for a joint mechanism. He also called upon the government to destroy the new air strip built by the LTTE.

JHU parliamentary group leader Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera, who disrupted proceedings on Monday at the international aid in Kandy, said JHU monks would boycott parliament if the President went ahead with the joint mechanism.

On the other hand, the UNP has backed the joint mechanism and criticised President Chandrika Kumaratunga for not signing an agreement with the LTTE.

"She has repeated over and again that she is ready to even die in the interest of the country. We have heard it said for more than one month. Therefore, the question arises as to why she does not sign the agreement using her executive powers. There is a gap between her word and the deed," UNP spokesman G.L. Peiris told a news conference.

The JVP, a key Parliamentary ally of President Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (UPFA), has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government is the joint mechanism is signed.

Though the JVP seemed to be stepping back from this threat earlier this week, it has reiterated its hostility and President Kumaratunga is keen to reduce friction within her coalition.