Colombo, Human Rights, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) on whether the LTTE is really finished and the war over in Sri Lanka

Vikalpa Video asked the spokesperson of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Nishantha Warnasinghe for his opinion on whether the LTTE was really finished and the war over in Sri Lanka. This video was viewed over 4,000 times in less than 24 hours after it was uploaded to Vikalpa’s YouTube Channel.

Nishantha’s opinion in Sinhala:

Transcript in English:
Right now we are seeing the end of the humanitarian operations initiated by the Sri Lankan Army. After Puthumathalan is completely freed, I believe they intend to finish off the LTTE leaders. After that, I believe that in the near future, we can create the conditions for Tamil civilians to live freely in these areas. One must recognise that this final leg of the humanitarian operations needs to be carefully managed on account of the hostages that need to be freed. Our forces are doing this with great discipline and responsibility. I believe that in the days ahead, the few remaining terrorist leaders will be destroyed and this region will come under Government control.

Once freed from the LTTE, the most important this is to look at relocating the Tamil civilians in these areas, along with en emphasis on reconstruction, rehabilitation and re-igniting development in these areas that has been neglected for decades. This requires infrastructure to be built in these areas. Roads, bridges, restoring the devastation of war, the way of life, language and culture – these all need to be developed. In a parallel, restoring cultural and religious ties between the Sinhalese and the Tamil peoples, as well as the decades long friendship between the communities is another challenge. We need to rise up as a nation and include the Tamil peoples in the Sri Lankan state. We need to build a cultural bridge for this. We recognise that this is a challenge. The Mahinda Chintanaya clearly notes how the LTTE will be defeated and what political mechanisms will be activated after the LTTE’s defeat.

The first measure is demilitarisation. This is already taking place. The next is democratisation, to take forward the democratic process. Accordingly provincial council elections and general elections will be held and Tamil citizens will be able to choose their representatives in these areas using their vote. After this, in collaboration with these elected representatives of the Tamil peoples, developmental activities for the North and East can begin. This is what we call the 3D approach – demilitarisation, democracy and development.

We do not believe that ay discourse towards power sharing exists in Sri Lanka at this moment. Under one country, we must create the environment were Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim peoples can live. There is already a mechanism or framework to share power within a unitary state. Beyond this, we do not believe there is a need for power sharing at this moment. To articulate that there is no space for such a movement / discourse (towards greater power sharing) is the JHU’s stance. Already, we see that the rights of the Sinhalese people, Tamil people and Muslim people are safeguarded under our constitution. This means that our constitution has recognised that all communities have equal rights. Language rights, cultural rights, socio-political rights can all be secured in the current political context. However, we do not think that special measures towards greater power sharing are necessary.

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