Page 1
vol. 15 No. 18 January 15,993 price root
BSHOP's
Mervyn d
DEMOG
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AYODE
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INDAN TAM
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a ta 'l-
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Page 2
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Page 3
Briefly. . .
New planes for Airforce
The Sri Lanka. Ait force has bicen given four new Argentina built Pucara ground attack aircraft for the governIn ent's War with the northern based separatist terrorist Tigers" (LTTE). The Pucara can carry two crew, six guns and 1500 kilograms of bombs and are said to cost S2.8 million each,
Tigers face extradition
Unde a new cxt:TEL ditio treaty between India and Britain LTTE'rs living in the United Kingdom could be extradited to face charges in India. The treaty is believed to have been signed in Delhi during British Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke's recent visit.
According to British diplomatic sources the treaty was primarily intended for dealing with Sikh and Kashmiri separatists, but would be used to take Tigers involved in the Gandhi assassination too.
Opposition condemns
break-in
The midnight break-in at Opposition MP Bandula Gunawardena's residence has been condemned in a joint statement by the SLFP, LSSP, MEP and DUNF, 'with disgust and anger".
Political documents are Tcported have been taken away by an unidentified gang from the MEP MP's Nugegoda residence. "Mr. Gunawardena has been cairnestly fighting for human rights and for the rights of those who elected
him to office, parliamcnt. E been criticising figures the hostile activitie on in this coln I ment Said.
Western
undeve
A NARESA cluded that the Wince is undewe of the 31 AGA the WP arc inc Ward, OF til: 'highly develop Colombo and Ի
Thc study w the Natural Res and Science Au ESA) and wa: the Urban Dey thority (UDA). chers have reco development of rail network ir developed areas,
Јапаваviya:
rate
The Bank
happy with the іп Јапаsaviya Bank is providers of Jar and has been
recovery Tate re per cent.
TIL:
By the end of the Bank had 107 - million . rup Janasawiya recipi scale enterprises culture oriented

in and out of e has often With facts and ppressive and
that are going Ery'', the state
Province loped itudy has conWestern Prooped. Sixteen 's divisions in ustrially backT: t tWO TE ed' they are |սցegoda.
as sunded by ources Energy thority (NARassisted by elopment AluThe resear. mmended the the road and the under
төрауnment
Ood
f Ceylon is TeÇOWCry rate loans. The յf the chief asaviya credit registering a cently of 91
October 1992 Verl. OLIt 301. es to 37, 101 ints foT Small mostly agri
University exams halted Trade union action by university teachers have put off medical faculty examinations and halted other activities. The teachers have resigned from posts carrying administrative duties, crippling most functions. Non a cademic staff too have joined in.
The university staff unions
are demanding higher pay scales.
硫
Wol. 15 No. 18 January 15,
Prica RS, TODO Published fortnightly by Lanka Guardian Publishing Co. Ltd. No. 246, Union Place, Colombo-2 Editor: Mervyn de Silva Tolophone: 4475B4 Printed by Ananda Press 82/5, Sir Ratnajothi Sarawa na muttu MBW atha Colombo 13. 435975 :gחםlephםT
1993
CONTENTS New Background 3. Thց Rugiքր Cuba 3. Indian Tami" 15 1978 Constitution 19 Fвte of the lпdigвпошя
PցՃբle 21 Correspondencia 23
The Executive Summary
VM 7 fers 77 FG7Orff of 7 ||
f thE | POWERTY ALLEWIATION pubFished in the Fast fw0 SSLes of this journal, was produced bу ап "/ndependent South | Asfап Comглѓss/оп” адproved | by thig - SAAFC secretariať on the reconnendation of a SAARC 57. The Charian of the Cosso is Krishna Prasad Bhattara i, and the Wice-Chairman/Co-ordinator is Ролла Wјgлагаја. Тһе птел7- | Бегs (over 15). have been dra WF7 fror77 So Luth Asia 7 scho/ars алd exparts.

Page 4
ce Radio Cab
computerised meters " Can be summoned to Yo * No call up charge within city limits Vehicle ac * Receipts issued on request * Company credit ava
Call 501 502 50 1503 or
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501 504
근. Se 6."ào

Page 5
JAFFNA MISSION
THE CHURCH
A HAND
Mervyn de Silva
s Bishop Kenneth Fernando's mission to Jaffna and his two hour-Conversation with Mr. Welupillai Prabhakaran the proverbial little light at the end of the tunnel"? Perhaps. But It WOLLIl bc Wise to remember that this is not merely a long but a winding tunnel. But it is a breakthrough. And "Give peace a chance' should be our attitude - even for those seasonedi sceptics who are Weary I of hopes raised only to be dashed i a lillätter of Illonths, o T ewe Weeks.
Let's take i haT di look at tille lugesid the mituses. "The rst plus" is that Welupillai Prabhakaran, a mall who prefers Lo stay in the Shadow, came out of his sanctuary to greet the guests. Secund, a record of the conversations was kept, and the Anglica in Bishop of Colombo,
was prepared to talk to the press. Third the participants included three Tamil clergymen from the Jaffna
di Cese Of Lille Church of Sol Ll
India. (See Bishop Ambalava
nar's complaint). South India ilglies Tallillall, ald there is no denying the importance
of the Tamiliādu facto — . Tot just in the past but right nմW. With Prie Miliste. NääSilla Rao politically embattled in Delhi, the support of Chief Minister Jayalalitha's AIDMK government in Madras, is quite important even in terms of a seccu Te Imajority in the Lok Sabha. And it is, Mr. Rao is torn between the Congress hardliners, not too lostile to the extremist RSS-BJP and to rising Hindu passions, on the one hånd, ånd to the Marxist-Left (The CPI (M), O Lhe tith ET: Besides, Mr. Rao is a southerner, the first to hold the highest office. A negotiated
tTLIce i Sri Lank wer short-lived case tensions in a time when the a dangerously Cri India's north K. a11. True the R tion hi5 Tadle II to small neighb hegemonistic and But amy politi Colombo which for Delhi i T. Tu needlessly aliena friendly or Indian raj. If Prabhakaran's I Malgala Moon csir reco IIl Tleildation, el cartefully:
FEDERALISM
“The problem the cll Lises - Te : whether the gove mood to implem was also pointed record, the Sir the Word i federa times but they h for the most par
Accepted it foi
Now, Prabhaka II list. It is the
le Selec Coll
Til thit T115 TaT federlisl. Til States are protes a cistitution th State governmen roclamation. W is thalt 1 Tallime and organisation: the, S.A.S. and TURUMAYA IS tremely hostile Select Committee the Hela Uru may bicr, represents ; OT MP"5 froi t ition party. On thic Christia di have not achie y on the symbolic,

TAKES
a's north, howwould certainly TlfllilIlldu Flt Centre faces tical situation in asli ImiT 105t Of kao administralIndian attitudes ours, far less interwentionist, cal move in creates problems Tilnadu, Would te a basically non-antagonistic that light, eply on the lgha Committee's sligiill be stւIdi
is Illot Wether satisfactory but 1: GTht is III וחוזT: et tillel. . . "" TIL in the Official hillese disliked lism" till recelt lave accepted it
, ..''
the host part? in is the optiIndian 1110 del Tittee accepted short of genuine : is why the ting wildly about at till Tel We ts by a mere lat is relevelt Sinhala parties s like the MEP, the HELA tikel Ll ExView on the + report. Aпd let's Teletl fair IIլIIIլեքր 1e шаіп Oppossubstance, then, Elegation's talks cd i Illich, Bullit this is a quite
a breakthrough the gestures Tepresent an advance. And gestures Tatter.
To put it bluntly, two policeIlen out of 40 odd policemen and soldiers, including an officer, don't make a big deal. But once again, it is a sign to Colombo and the Sinhala people
Why? The LTTE can mot be totally impervious to Tamil public
opinion certainly in Jaffna nor to international opinion, and trends abroad, especially in Europe. The war in what was Yugoslavia has contributed much to the prevailing Ilood in Western Europe. The refugee problem and the "alien" presence EläWe becomic llore tha a muis IIUC.
In the richest and most powerful of European states, lately unified Germany, it has exacerbated tensions to the point that extremist German opinion has assumed an ominously fascist" chal TaciteT, BOII has been col1pelled to change its position on asylum seekers", a constitutional guarantee for several decades.
SWISS MOWE
Switzerland is one of the smallest of States but it is as the EC country with the highest living standards. It has always beel liberal in its atti Lude to refugees. It has now decided to deport many Tamil Tefugees. Thoughout Western Europe, once the haven of the political refugee and the displaced person, these problems are aggravating tensions callsed by the recession that has seized the capitalist world. The West would like to free itself of this increasingly oppressive, Socially de-stablising problem. One way of reconciling econdIllic-social need and conscience

Page 6
is an improvement of conditions in the Tamil Inorth, i.e. a res. to ration of near-normal conditions of everyday life - Security, food distribution, medical sup. plies, educational facilities, a semblance of law and Order. The WalT ha 5 lille al Illi || III Tamils a hy stage in their tradi. tional homeland. HTT
The LTTE WEints to covert that homeland" to a separate state. It is for that reas the Sri Lanka State has declared Waron "the separatist-terrorists". But the harsh consequences of this undecal red war have brought un told suffering to the Tamils in the peninsula. Whether the LTTE likes it or net, the average Jaffna family feels the Tigers" are answerable. That's why the "banned items' (a list of everyday needs) was presented to the Christian delegation, which will low discuss the matter with the authorities. Top of the list is medicine, and some itells of food. The other importantissue is travel to and from Jaffna, and the problem of security. The lagann is a major hazard. Some safe passage" has to be found for civilials. But who are horra side travellers? The 'tigers" don't wear uniforms. It was Admiral Clancy Fernand) who "cleared" the lagoon where Tigers' moved freely among the fishermen. It was for that very effective but also very tough operation that the Navy Commander made the supreme sacrifice. . . in Galle Road, Colombo, Perhaps the Defence Ministry can use the Christian delegation as intermediaries to resolve problems of that kind. It can Win Colombo some appreciation from the international community (donors) the NGO's and non-LTTE TāT Inil organisations and the average Jaffna family.
INTERVENTION
This was a Christian mission, Anglica. Il and Catholic, but ATglican led. The diocese of South I Ildiä, Was better klow Il lit Colle
tille as the American Imission. Both the United States and Britain, helped by some EC
4.
- members, have b
a negotiatcd se
Mangala Moonics had էիլElT TլIllust täin of colul Tsc i closest ally. Th can is a "speci: That was made
in the Gulf WaT age of intervent tive diplomacy, conflict-resolutio together closely.
How the at Sri La
To the opposi dloco Imı sayers the Daily Nev5 (6. sident George B Elc ccc3|Comic al II lopment as bein a country of it: tion" list law cffect as driving cyes. President celts vēl Illge, Cllr Ile W America, presen tials at the Willi ever, to the op sitive report abo all that to ce. Centre of World last thing thir cy Feäd, Whell th{ President Bush new status of S
according to hii:
GOOG WW in no Bush
Outgoing US : Bush, seems de Salta Claust and beleaguerel
MT. Bush ha: fore Sri Lank sailor in Washin. W. P. Guruge, ecolo Illic de We Sewe as a Imid Warming to Allerical Presid a country of S
 

een keen to find
titlement. The ingha Committee support, Bri
S Washington's e Anglo-AmeriLl relationship". patently obvious "... Ald in this ion; li via prevenpeace-keeping of n, the two Work
Using the U.N.
a settled habit of
as flag" or tumbrella is now Westeril diplomacy in the so-called "new World Order", It is in that conLLLLLL S S HOLLL S S LaaaLa S S S S LLLLLLLLmL S LLLa S LLLS spoken editorial in the SUNDAY TIMES, a newspaper which has excellent credentials on the ethnic conflict a Sa for thright spkcsman of the Sinhalal-Buddhis E cause. (SEE FROM THE EDI.
TORIALS).
world looks
inka
tioni 5.5 ald the report in the
1993) about Preilsh commending ld social deveց **լInique for 5; 5ize 1T1dl li): alhild the SäITle pins into their Bish lade these DT, AT adal (Gull
AIT bassado T to ted his credente HollLISE. HOWpositionists a poLlt Shi Ti La Ilka -- ming from the
power - is the would Walt to by also find that 15 lalui del the hiri Lanka, which,
m, "is poised to
THE EDITOR ALS
sicTV c. 5 EL Lümölle for others"" they would, in all probability, wonder why it was 10 convenient for the Allerican Presideilt LL LLaaaLK LLLLLLLaaL aLLLLL LLLLH S aaLLLL
Dr. Guruge presented his credcitials.
The oppositionists and their
claque do not like anything good being said about this country Els long as they a Te Illot il power. Even an objective assessment coming from a distant observer applauding President Ranasinghe Premadasa's achieWellents Would be dismissed summarily because it cloes not conso I'll to their dili5Til:Fll Wiew of the world, No doubt, if any comment (local or foreign) went against the government they would be the first to scream their lungs out.
(Striday Observer)
e needs
President George
termined to play our bewildered people.
5 cheerfully ina's new Albasgton, Dr. Ananda that Sri Lanka"; ent Wouldותlöp el to the Others. his the Ile, the It said that for ri Lanka's size
and location her economic indicators were impressive.
If the economy is indeed on the upswing, people in any country need not be told so. Mr. Bush whose defeat is mainly attributed to the deteriorating American economy should be wc11 aware of it. Good wine, as the old adage goes, needs no Bush and if the economy is sputting ahead. We don't need the Advice of Mr. Bush.
The quality of life is as important as economic indicators.
(Island)

Page 7
UN role for Lankan C
In thic dilem II la We face today, We need to seriously ref. lect on the possibility of seeking a just and lasting solution through some other means. The mediation and if necessary the interwention of the United Nations could be one way out of the log-jam,
The lead story on this page today reveals a new effort by Lali Kobbelka duwa, Widow of thic Tewered Lt. Gen. Denzil K. Cobbekaduwa whose portrait adorns
several calendar. push for the al Commonwealth probe the circum her husbånd a II) ficers Were kille on August 8.
In the Sīle also go to a look at the pro the United Nati Security Council an international team carrying-ol a role, similar
President's letter to Mrs.
January 9, 1993 Dear Leader of the Opposition
I think it Will be usefull i the public interest to have a public debate on the Government's development and production strategies. It will also give an opportunity to the people to get to know the alternative strategies that the different political parties have to offer. Such a debate Will enable the respective party leaders to clear any misunderstandings and mis
representation reg party policies an
You Will Will that such a dcba the level of t political parties. sonally participa bate as the United National and the parly L. Il ent à gTee, WC . debate to includit registered politic: are willing to p.
Bush Statement
President George Bush has urged the Sri Lanka government to seek a "peaceful resolution' to its ethnic conflict and Warned that "military expenditure to fight the (Tamil separatist) insurgency will impair the country's cconomic growth" he has said that reconomic and social indiCators' Inake Sri Lanka a Illodel for other developing countries, The war has lessened productivity, damaged tourism and led
to human rights violations. He
said. However that the governn Strides in huma I Mr. Bush was sp mony at the W Sri Lanka's Amb anda Guruge pre entials,
The statement alarm in majori nated parties sii that Tamil expa the U.S. Wolke Clinton. A refe of America (VO, ColöIlbo häs

isis
this year, to jointment of a onnission to tances in which
other top of at Aali Point
pirit, we could ider scale and
and cons of ns, through the and if necessary
peace-keeping in Sri Lanka What is now
being enacted in Bosnia, Somalia and Cambodia. Why mot Sri Lanka? Originally the intention of the international relief force in Somalia Was to clear obstacles and take food and essential supplies to millions of people in that War-ravaged country. But the Egyptian UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali is insisting that unless the Somali war-lords and their robber gangs are disarmed, Somalia might fall into the same quagmire again after the UN forces icave.
(Times)
-
ndaranalike
arding their own d strategies.
no doubt agree te should be at he leaders of I will be periting in the deLeader of the Party. If you eader5 i Parliaan enlarge the leaders of all il parties who Articipate.
I Would like to hawe you wicws on this latter as Soon as possible, so that We can meet and work out the modalities of such a public debate. I am copying this letter to all the other leaders of the political parties in Parliament seeking their wie WS (T) this mätter
Your sincerely R. Prema dasa President
Leader of the United National Party
e has recognised tent has made
rights reforms'. aking at a cereite House after ssador Dr. Anented his cred
has caused some y Sinhala-domice it is kIl'OWIl riate groups in | hard for Mr. ence to a fice ) transmitter in auscd concern
among some Asian diplomats here. Mr. Bush thanked President Premadasa for permitting the construction of a powerful transmitter that can reach the Whole of Asia and Africa. During his campaign. Mr. Clinton who praised the contribution of "Radio Free Europeo in the dicfence of democracy, and human rights, proposed a 'Radio Free Asia", countries like China, Indonesia, Burma, North Korea, and perhaps Malaysia and Pakistan may have reason to worry about the W.O.A. in Colombo.

Page 8
Tigers mourn Kittu's d
м. S. Wipularnanda
LTTES 51) IllFl-T S†llsiyam Krishnakular allias Kittu is dead.
Kittu, one-time LTTE's mili
tary commander in Jaffna, was associated with a Tiger movemellt Since 1977.
Indian auth crities said the LTTE blew up a ship in which they were carrying arms and
ammunition after Indian Navy Wessels surround ed it,
An Indian Defence Ministry spokesman earlier said the ship was ablaze illud KiLiLiu Was abrothel. LTTE cadres get CFT explosives on the ship which set ablaze the wessel," allother
SUBSCRIPTIONRATES Air Mai
Canada. U. S.A. for USS 651 for 1 year USS 45 for 6 months
■ 事
U.K., Germany, New Zealand, Allist Talia, Netherlalıds, FTälce, Japan, Holland, Phillippines, Austria, Norway, weden, China, Ireland, Switzerland, Nigeria, Belgium, Denmark, Paris, London. USS 55 for 1 year, USS 35s for 6 months
事
Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Balla Taill. A Tahiti II. Gulf, Syria, Singapore.
USS 457 for 1 year USS 25 for 6 months
India, Pakistan.
USS 40 for 1 year USS 221 for 6 months 事 事 圍 Local Rs. 250/- for 1 year Rs. 150/- for 6 months
Indian Հilitl.
gCW EITT II
According to Columbt, the had surrounded All LTTE spok as saying the si cargo Wessel, w. Tigers. Hc di from which port had set Lt.
Under Kittu". 1985 the LTTE powerful TELO leader Sri Sat appeals from Ta Chief Milister He was also wiping out of Revolutionary (EPRLF). The EEPRLF il Luch attack on Kittu W":Tfa T"e a5 :4 r"C 1CSt One his cadres Of PLOT
Kittu will W. 1989 Wä5 o TitleTĘ Нопic Ofice ili the country. H Visitors's wis. alleged that Ki his position by raising of funds Illo yeIeIt, Thl. also alleged tha obtain arms through threats a IIndong the Ta11) BT itali.
EPDP sources in its morni Tng also charged In i Ing the world. ed Le IIl dial the Tiger ship Walters a Til mot

leath
ment spokesman
reports teaching Tial Wessels thic ship. An 2sman is quoted hip, a 280-tonne as owned by the It disclose the M. W. Ahad
5 command in massacred the and killed its paratnam despite Til Nağıllı for Iller M. Kārlaidi. responsible for Eelam People's LibèT3qti31 FTOTntE Temnants of the cd a grenade i Til thic i Inte:Tlecime Էլյlt tյք Wilith lie
eg5. He killed "E ills.
ent to UK in
ld by the British
1991 E had been Col E The Holt Office LEui il blisci
organising the for the Tiger e Home Office t he tried to of the Tigers
and coercilom il community in
Said tlıç: LTTE: broadca St. Hlad di With leteilyThe LTTE allegNavy captured the i11 internation111 inside - Indiam
— clo1 1:ArS.
to leave
territory. The LTTE had stated that the Tiger cadres including Kittu killed themselves.
Earlier reports said the navy captured nine Tigers who jumped into the sca from the ship.
in Westment
Local and foreign investiment reached the 37 billion rupee
Immark ii II 1992, tower ECDC) milli oIl
19 investīleīts to talled 16.5 billion rupees. The main foreign investors were Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, and Australia. The Board of In Westinct TiTectT. — GLETE Laksh Llain Watawala said that "" title in Westminent i'w ollwc{1 - 291 projects as against III projects the previous year'. The three 'FTZ's' in the Colombo-Biyagama-Koggala area had provided employment for over 100,000 persons all working in exportOriented Weltles''. The 200 garment factories would create another 100,000 jobs. So far American investment is minimal. BLL - a rtel - OF US - i1westoj 5 will probably visit the island early this year. The US Embassy was supporting the initiative.
Commenting on the larger implications of the new policy of making the Whole island a "free trade zone", Mr. Watawala said" Industrialisation is reaching the provinces',
Largc do nors, says Richard, Bro Will USAID clicT in Colombe like the World Bank and the ADB are dealing with irrigation and other infrastructure projects, while US programs are working
more and more on agro-business to try and affect the incomes of the poorer people".

Page 9
THE REGION
The lessons Ayodhya h
C. Chitti Pantau
A§" prone as it is, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has several les soIls to le:LTT1 froIl the Ayodhya debacle on Decembe 6.
For one, it has shown that the seven-nation club can no longer continue its ostrich like attitude and ignore the geopolitical realities within South Asia if the objectives of true regional
co-operation hawe to bc achiewed.
The trail of destruction, not just in India but also in neighbouIring Pakistan atnd BaTngladesh, in the wake of the demolition of the Bab Timosque forcing thic postponement of the Dhaka summit, has not only brought to the fore the fragility of the SAARC charter built Hlas once again underscored the fact that the future prospects in the region will be determined as much by political as by economic Wariables,
INTROSPECTION
Monted in 1980 and institultionalised at the Dhaka summit in 1985, SAARC Inow has al Il opportunity to do some introspection on this subject when it meets once again at Dhaka for the seventh summit next month with the ominous shadows of the de Tholished Babri 11 os que looming large on the Sub-contiment. The SAARC cha Titler, by its very definition, has precluded the raising of contentious and bilateral matters, particularly of a political nature, at the dif. ferent forums of the club.
However, the 1 of the regional lete With istalli cal considerätilor hed logic. Thu by Pakistan t0 capital out of t cident by rakin alեeit with tյ11t pre-summit min in Dhaka shoul prise. The atte light the truth Cga i1 deEdl be ; tical uncertain last year's Col.
While the in stтопg regional for a sound fi nised by one grouping, it is underçLIT:EltS A tries in the Sul hawe styrmied direction. The tance being in month when th gation to the committee on ration convencd South Asian pli arrangement (S. its cluctance
Suddenly, unt It Talling El Trillig taken for grate Cal eldūTSETT152|| only a fo Timali summit. Thoug said that Paki Teneged on th: tէլat it's allimg is driving the in other direc Not surprising tills Teil creal

as for SAARC
2-year existence grouping is repbes when politiis have outweigls thic attempts make political he Ayodhya ing up the issue, success, at the isterial meetings l. Il 0I CEll:15: 5111Impts also highhat the grouping a victim of poliLies, confirming .erienceםXט טmbי. mpстatives of а economic allia Ince
1 t. ur": ä.Te Te-C 2gand all in the these political Imong thic CClunEb-contielt that efforts in this st Teet in5New Delhi last e Pakistani dellehird Illeeting of :conomic co-opeto finalise the eferential trading APTA), displayed io play along. certainty dogs the ITleilt Whlich WAS :d with the politit expected to be ty at the Dhaka glı it cannot bē stan has totally is, it is obvious sity towards India country to look Lions,
ly the latter's altensingly being devo
ted to the predominantly Islamic Economic Co-operation Organisation (ECO), comprising itself, Iran and Turkey as the founding members. The induction of seven Central Asian republics into the ECO late last month has only led to fears of an "econdmic counter" bloc based con principles of Islamic fundamentalism in the region.
While it should case I surprise if Pakistan attempts to rope in Bangladesh into this club at a latter date, notwithstanding its political connotations some hawe actually scen this as a Welcome development. Citing the example of India's successful ties with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the European Community, they have justified such
attempts as beneficial to interregional alliances by SA ARC. While this remains so, the ill
portance of giving primacy of place to political thought Within the grouping should not be ignored if the rough patch being experienced by it has to be smoothened out.
In fact the idea goes back to the first suilt it itself when the King of Bhutan, Jigme Single Wangchuk, addressing the Heads of State had said, 'in the geopolitical realities of our region, it Would be un realistic to ignore the primacy of the political factor, as in the final analysis, it will be the political environment of the region which will determine the shape and scope of regional co-operation in South Asia.'

Page 10
While historical factors hawe influenced India's relations with its neighbours to a great extent, the difficulties being faced by SAARC can also be attributed to geography with the former's centrality, its vast size, population, resources and economic and Illilitary power visa-vis its neighbours. These arc the basic elements leading to apprehension among the other members of SAARC of thic India's perceived "hegemonistic designs".
Its attempts to foster collective self-reliance in the region and keep out external powers
have been interpreted by its neighbours as born out of such designs. While the Indian cfforts towards regional autonomy and security have not been reflected in any formalised manner so far, they have only led its neighbour's searching for political linkages with those very external powers to counterbalance its might.
Added to this, the interplay of the Indo-Pak conflict With
global rivalry and the erstw recently, had the tension in region. The of these hostili two, notwithstan aIIlմng the Sլ goes to show til better relations With the two Go selves. Though extent, India's other neighbour lessed iritants CassiÕIns,
CHANGE IN C
Thus, it woul sidering whethe desirable to gra scope of the without tamperir limity and co clause to includ problems which mering out of proach to the a entire region. be unrealistic to
Playing the “Communal
Politicians are to blame for
Rajni Kothari
t would be a mistake to view
the tragedy of Ayodhya purely as an act of religious extremism. There was nothing religious about the destruction of a Muslim place of worship by a few thousand hoodlums masquerading as Hindus." On the contrary, India is a distinctly multicultural,
Prof. Rαίτηi Κατήari ή τη αιτήor arid political Friers in New Delhi.
Illulticthic nati. tic, montlingmati matters of religio to impose a pol logical version diuisin'" on suci bound to booIII what happened
FOT SÕlle tim like the Bharati (BJP) and the

between the US hile USSR till only aggravated the South Asia
Continuation of ties between the ding the de tente perpowers, only hat the key to lies primarily Wern Ilents the IlIt to Sich all relations with its s too have WitIl WaTioulS CIC
HARTER
l be Worth conr it would be dually wilden the SAARC cha TLET, ng with the unaIntentious issues ed also political require the halla Coll Illon apdvantage of the While it would
except this to
THE REGION
be accepted at the first instance, StaTt Could at least be. Il a de with informal discussions at the SAARC summits by resuming the now discontinued retreat" ses. sions where the heads of governtםltIlt IllEח
The forthcoming Dhaka summit could be a start in this direction. Apart from helping to find solutions to regional problems locally, such an cffort Would discourage attempts to internationalise bilateral political issues and limit the discussion
to only within SA ARC, This Would also be in the direction
of fulfilling the cobjectives, cnunciated in its charter and also reiterated at the second summit at Bangalore in 1986, otto colltribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one other's problems."
WHe for Such a forum has been felt foJIT SOTletime now, Ayodhya has underscored its urgency.
lect
Card
religious strife
in With all cle. Ç tralitik II i Il n. Any attempt itical and idco. F E ELLi Til H.
a society was erang, That is Lt Ayodhya.
Organizations *а Janata Party Wishwa Hindu
Parishad (WHP) have sought to bring together all segments and layers of Hindu society. The proponents of such a unified thcocratic ideology claim that the Indian state has been too partial to Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. The Hindus have been left high and dry, they claim, and as a result most from backwardness and
illiteracy and have fallen behind
Suffe

Page 11
in terms of economic development. The key reason for this state of backwardness, they arguc, is that the Hindus - unlike the various minorities - have remained disunited and fragmented into so many caste and local identities. Hence the need to unite them and give them their due as a 'majority' community,
Fortunately, the mass of Hindus have largely ignored that appeal. Wast numbers continue to live peacefully alongside Muslims, Sikhs and Christians. But in a period of drift and uncer. tainty, when political authority is l'Imable to hold diverse ellements of society together in a Common political framework, bigots and rabblerousers are able to storm their way onto Center Stage. And in dicing so they hawe raised some serious questions about the future of Indian democracy. Their actions call into question the secular' credentials of a state and gower ni ment that have cxposcd the coli Intry's largest Illinority - the Muslims - to such wanton aggression by people claiming to represent the Hindus - all the Hilduls.
FI Illgre thal three decades following its independence from Britain, India saw little in the way of religious IIlilitancy. There were two reasons for this. One was that, under Jawharlal Nehru, the Congress party held sway as a del Cratic Structure TepTCsenting a broad coalition of intests ald collilulities. The other was that Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi, was able to win over the masses with her slogan
garibi haraa ('banish powerty')
at a time which failed either to
or alleviate injus pOnse to her ca ding, revealing t the people of In the poor and th: ged - placed in t But Tumblings o: as expressed in the Congress par dels in GC Luthern
the ersion of
a Timo Ing the ImiT 10: pooT - Caused a a Timo Ing the ruilin led Indira. Galli play the "cDIT first in Punjab Kashi IliT. ATIJI of orthern India especially the Illiddle class, she measure of anxi country's unity a as Toll "Within
Herein lies the growth of 'com India’s body polit the Tulling Congr been as responsib
II dia has al W; mu Ln al paTtie:S Te] gious communities IlieveT milde Diluchi,
In election after
Teained OL the
Was only When party itself starte mulai politics tha mosphere in the Went a dramatic
BJP has ICW Cälil wirulent form, a by the Congress

her party had reduce poverty
The res. lil was astoumhe great faith dia - especially - underprivilehe Indian state. f discontent
the defeat of ty in its cita
India, and in its social base
Titics and the
CSS of lewe
ticē.
g elite. That ili HETSclf to "",umal GardנוTן
E:I1 th1e1 = i g the people s 'heartland," mostly Hindu
stirred a large ety about the ld about thirc.
and with tյլIt "' genesis of the lIlllllllIlialism"" il
tic, for Which ess party has le as anyопе.
lys had COITIpresenting Teli3, but they had
of an impact, electico II, they |perіphегy. It
the Congress d playing conit the While atcountry under
change. The քht, in highly ritus originated рагty. But in
the case of the BJP, representing as it does the interests of
the upper crust of Hindu society the 'communal card' has also become an instrument of subjugating not just the Muslims but also but also the backward classes and the
a Ilino Ing the Hindus.
lowly castes
Ruling class: The manner in which the current Congress government of Narasimha Rao handled the threats to demolish the Ayodhya Inosque speaks volumes about the complete loss of nerWe and self-confidence in India's F'Luling dealing with Contrast that with the growing self-confidence of the terrorists and the fundamentalists. It is this erosion of the democratic political process and of the democratic political process and of the authority and legitimacy of the state that presents the most disturbing aspect of the current situation.
class in crisis situations.
The only positive note is that the forces that have un nerved the managers of the system are
rather marginal to the larger social illosaic that is India. The mass of the people are
not only unwilling to destabilize the state but in fact depend on it to restore to them their basic dignity and citizenship. Indian civilization has Weathered many storms. It will probably survive this one, too, despite a terrible assault on India's coTe - Walle5.

Page 12
in Kashmir wisdom lies making concessions to
Mikhil Chakravartty
W Textil K5 IliT? AfteT. the three-day safari of
leaders of various parties to the Walley arranged by the Government, no one knows
what has been its outcome. They have dutifully reported to the Prime Minister Whatevci inpressions they might have gathered, but there seems to be reticence on the part of Ilost of them to spell out what they think should by the Way out of the Kilshir Crisis,
Nobody, of course, had expected that one trip by the party leaders from New Delhi would set in motion the political process in Kashmir. What the party leaders, trip has made amply clear to all of them is that at present there is no space at all for any political activity on their part in the Walley, that they could make no breakthrough in the boycott call enforced by the militants. In other words, the leaders' Wisit has sharply brought home the bitter truth that unless and until these parties move out of generalities and speak out specifically on what the militants Ensk for, there could be no Chening for any of them in the Walley.
There may be truth in the official claim, occasionally voiced, that the average Kashmiri is getting tired of the violence and
disruption that the militants' activity bring upon them. But nobody can yet claim with a
grain of truth that there has come about a swing in favour
The Frfer fir Edisor, Mairs rear
cof the Cofficial flict is that Ille parties which w, visibly active in day in a posi activity - such Imcisure of their the people in t inability of the Millistertilt of these parties the TS WH10 alire with the Illilita quient testimony sibility of rest called the polit. the conventitյ11a a view ultilate tills il the Wa
There could II approaches to E Could be to tal GweTIITIct fi5 Actitirt1, find th: tiation bring a standing on the future set-up Kalli. The approach has directly to the
Tilit:IntE5 T | זנך וTk out a Iרwi the about the There Te Illeri approaches, as bE LICET tilties about either of Negotiate wit
On the ques talks With Pakis Was first seri Mr I Chlandlrg Sh brief tEILITE ELS and Mr NEL ra followed it up With the Pakist

S lay
position. The of the political ere in the past Kashmir is taltion to resi1i11t: being of the ' isolitilin fron le Walley. The ULil HC, Illic bilise tille ellers along with some mot illentified 1ts, is a 11 elleto the impos. LIlling what is ical process in | Illa Time", with ly to hold cleclley.
lossibly by two he question. One k to the Pakistä I It als per Shimla rough sւIch negobčðLlt al T LITET: question of the
i Jall o other line of to be talking leaders of the the ground and lderstanding with future set-up. ts in btiլի Lile also there may Ill TESE TWEtials them.
h. militants
tion of holding tan, the initiatiwe iously taken by ekhar during his
Prime Minister, Simha Rao Hās by holding talks El Prille Minister
THE REG OM
where ever an opportunity came: whether in any of the encounters in the subcontinent or at any distantrendezvous. The problem, however, lies in the uncertain state of Affairs within Pakistan. At one stage. Nawaz Sharif laid himself inted that there could be a third option for the people of Kashmir in any future plebiscite- not only what the UN resolutions envisaged, namely, opt for India or Pakistan, but also to opt for the status of an independent State. The u pričar it touched off in Pakistall led him to withdraw from that position and to block twice thic planned march of JKLF acToss the Line of CLIntrol.
* There is also anothicr argument which can veto any idea of an Indo-Pak Sct tellent on Kashmir, as this IInay be mistaken for ignoring the people in that State - which may be brillded as the roughly undemocratic. Besidles, such1 a n l approach negates the stand that India has taken so far, namely that Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian Union, and so any settlement about it has to be primarily arrived at with the people of Kashmir and their representatives. and that Pakistan's role in it is to be regarded as subsidiary to that basic approach. There is certainly need for an understanding between New Delhi and Islamabad about the future of Kashmir but that is to be subsumed to the principal question, namely New Delhi's settlement of issues with the people of Kä5 hIlli T.
Two question is are involved in respect of forging an under. sanding with the people of KashInir - namely with whom to negotiate, and what should be the parameters of such a settle

Page 13
ment. As for the first question, it is clear that the cxisting parties, Whether the National Conference or the Congress or a ny of the other parties have today no political foothold in the Walley - which is the main theatre of the militants' operation. One has to go beyond the precincts of conventional politics and draw the lilitants out of their confrontational posture and bring them to the negotiating table.
No cut-and-dried solution
As things stand today, there are two main groups among the milititants in Kashmir. -- thc
JKLF and the Hizubul Islami. Between the two, the JKLF is more popular but the Hizbul
has more arms in its possession, The JKLF stands for independence of Kashmir, that is, it is opposed to Pakistan annexing
Kashmir: While lami openly caTm mir joining Paki there could be pecting either t or any politica country striking Hizbul on the L Kashmir joining ther other hand T00m for talk:S if onc were to ach to the milit
The next ques
tent of auton Delhi is prepare mir. It is only
substantive degré to Kashmir that dership may be acccipt it as thc independence de by to agrec to derstanding not Government but parties in India.
VASA OP
2O7, 2nd CI Colombo
Telephoпе ;

the Hizbull Isaigns for Kashtan. Obviously o ScISC in exle Goyer IIIT1ent party in this a deal with the inderstanding of Pakistal. On there could be With the JKLF make an appro
A. tS.
iQn is the Exmy that New to offer Kashby offering a e of autonomy the JKLF 1eilpersuaded to essence of their mand, and there
CJITL : t) L Li Iltյոly with the other political
TICANS
OSS Street,
- 11.
4, 21 63. 1
Incvitably any step towards more autonomy for Kashmir Would raise the question as to what would be the fall-out of such an arrangement on the rest of the country, particularly when there is so much claim or all round for Iloric powers to the states. This is precisely the point on which the far-seeing elements in all parties - the Congress, the Janata Dal, the Left and the BJP - will have to abandon old positions which have become invalid, and bմldly envisage a more decentralised State structure for the Indian Union as a whole.
Nobody would be naive enough to expect that there could be an instant, cut-and-dried solutio to the Kashmir Crisis: A. Th. issue which has been hanging fire for for decades. At the
(Criா: த ராஜிக் 3ே)
1

Page 14
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Page 15
GIMBA
Can the dream be rev
Karel Roberts
lthough it is widely known
that the Cuban economy is in dire straits and some people a Te disillusioned with things in general and with the revolution in particular, Rajiva Wijesingha's report, "Cuba, the end of a dream," in the LG of December 1, '92 and continued in the concluding second part, was deeply saddening and even frightening to read-ffrightening because it left one Wondering what the future of the Caribbean island is going to bc, un imaginable though any fu turc without Fidel Castro is, to those who have grown up knowing only Castro for Cuba.
At the end of 1958 there was an added dimension of magic in the air, or so it seemed to me in those impressionable years just out of school and waiting for something exciting to happen in the World - anywhere - so long as it happened. Elation peaked con New Year's Day, '59, when the flag of Castro's Victorious revolution Was raised over the Caribbean island after almost a decade of struggle.
The island of Salsa and Son had been tu Tined into a charnel house by Batista's infamous regime, with abject poverty on the One hand and affluence on the other, almong thosc who bootlicked the puppet leader and contributed to Imake Cuba a hothouse of crime and vice. After a long and bitter struggle that later historians, if they are not just fuddy duddy's, Will record as one of the most romantic sagas of the turbulent Hispanic region, the revolutionary forces led by this man Castro and his able lieutenants, including that other legendary figure of the Cuban revolution, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, owerthrew Batista's yoke of repression, riddled with corruption, and swept into power on an enormous Wave of popular support.
Living in a c of fantasy and ban revolution, the charismatic Castro II W ST11 il foreign news pay In CWS paperS, Was heady wine to E that New Year. the ingredients tory which 1 would last forcy murdered, but F for Imany years how lic stood m the Argentinian tionary who had fragility about
Thc Cold W Kennedy becam US president, a Khruschew's furness was symbol Communist bear Wa5 foTeWeT fealTiti it up. Meanwh liberated Cuban looking forward
F life under till leader who had tion of his peco! ordinary Way. H only 31 when he against reaction good looks and, ideal 5 le Stood the love of the Although the we have lated Cast those left win desperados," they sibly see him as His appearance have fitted him f buckling Hollyw
The spirit of bլIbbled into the became the icon people could tu
thing. In a sys uբhold state I beca Inc the Ille
Cuban people lo justifiable faith.

ived ?
liaroscuro world id:calism, the Culand particularly appeal of Fidel ing out of the ges, of the local to Inc just the Lld to thic Saulce Het Weill for an epic Wicfervently hoped FET. *(Cc wS del COkel Set to Cole: SOIlleore solidly than olla.Iltic IeyöllIa quality of ill.
at had begun, : the youngest ld in Moscow -capped coarseic of the big that the West g would swallow tile, the newly people Were to a revitalising * dashing young WOT the Siffcg. le in Eln extrais yolu tlı —-he was | Won his battle агу forces-his of course, the for, earned him Cuban people. Stern World may *) as "tյTit gք Tevolutionary could not posa Siberian bear. might ironically []t 501Tle SyāshJod film Tole!
the revolution sixties; Castro to wholl his n to for anyel that did not eligion, Castro Saviour that ked up to with
Those were the days of Cosy, string-attached aid. It was only natuara that Cuba looked to mother father the Soviet Union for relief after the chaos that Batista had plunged the country לטint
Cuba was already famous in the west-long before Castrofor its sugar, Hawa na cigars, rhuIImba, s girdi TLıIT1, till c latter commodity which it shared in reputation with British Jamaica. But it needed a large amount of aid to get the island on its feet again. And that assistance could only come from the Soviet Union, After all, Castro had waged and W Om his War in the Imame of Socialist struggle and in Communism's highest ideals. Cuba looked to the country that provided its inspiration for the epic struggle.
It would probably be true te say that the flow of Soviet aid lulled Cuba into a sense of eternal security – and protection from the angry west. They could lot foresee that it would eWer end. For that latter, neither perhaps could their beloved new leader. Perhaps the Te Was t00 much taken for granted in those days, but Cuba was not alone in that stnst,
Wijesinghai says Cuba had "no business' to depend on aid from the USSR. While the Illo Tallity of any country depending on aid from another is onc thing, it must be seen that in those years Cuba had to turm to a friend for help in the plight it had been placed by the previous regime. Generous donor countries from both east and West took nations-in-meed under their political wing. What Wijesingha is saying is that the serious ecoDJ Ilic situation Cuba is . [1] Wil is the result of the high degree of dependence on Soviet aid hält WEnt GIl till the Tecellt withdrawal of assistance following the “collapse" of the Soviet Union.
We have the early sixties scenario of a young Castro, idealis. tic and patently sincere, left holding the baby and looking to nourish it. But often youth
13

Page 16
ful idealism isn't too far seeing: it is rather, arrogant and naive. Not that this is in the cast to say that Cuba's new leader was either, but somehow in those heady days going into the sixties, there didn't seem to be so much awareness of the changing attitudes as Il W. Godfather scenarios where security was given and assured were expected to go con endlessily because no one ever thought the Cold War would end, and no one could foresee which way the wind would blow thTec de Cälldes lateT.
In addition to the huge task of rebuilding the country and Testoring its people to a feeling of political well-being, Fidel Casto 153 hild to face Inul IlleTous attempts on his life and all kinds of plays to destroy him and the new ideals he had succeeded in imbuing his people with He fobbed off the iIn famous Bay of Pigs affair orchestrated by the good, clean new boy of Ailerican politics, John Kennedy; he rode the Cuban missile crisis like the storm; hic has to this day cut-distanced no less than eight US presidents,
Idealism and practicality Scldom go hand-in-hand and cwen When they do, they aren't necessarily cordial bed fellows, Castro's detractors of couTsc say that the realisation of part of his dream was made possible because of the cocooning in the su Illuffs of the Soviet Union, Cuba provided the physical and psychological factors of a Communist country on America's off-shore threshold; give and take; Hayarlas for dil; sugar for Whateve. But Cuba was clean becausic of its leader's Eclief in certain ideals. Today, aren't arms being passed behind the backs of people to enemies? rangate, this gate, the other gatic. Ta datic the Te had been Ilo Cubaբatc.
Although he does not say so in stated ter Ims, what Wijesingha scells to be reflecting is the typical western attitude to the only Communist-run state in the Western hemisphere – namely, Lihat ClubJä 5 Lúð busi Illess to
14
Still be the Te W. throwing off si H. Drıd do Toning th { of cavorting call sex-and-попеу the west, neo N is saying "depriv is socialism, just pered Sri Lankan bescilluse the Te W; skittles somewhe soft driks in a his hotel hac T1 for breakfast.
Of course you nal style and ch litič5 Castron Stil is what Rajiva W ing. But it is I to say that Cub ed at reality. ago there were to wa Tids cettiin enterprise projects the last decade b. hotel projects 1 tourist industry. always been an destination to nf Es best 1lve that ET est He tillerc.
True, Cılba, lh; set back by t Ճf Hid էլfter the We Tt back to bi rounded by its state 5, Ind i'w frag ing ollt for thei all pies. The US th Tee-year econo the island going calling for even ties from his ps. west is appalle because the III today has conno1 and deprivation cause it is like ideals in a way ment eventually, Western concept
Writer Rajiv interest in and til for Cuba S of the Cuba Cra and '50's that prey Ceylon. This wi Somewhere in t til at få int Illerne Whild's celluloid merge with stir ווrE/ClutitTםth

hell nations ate cialist II la Inte5 : glitzy costumes itritish i1 the for shows of azis et al. He ation, they name E like the palmwith everything, as beer and האחר, שסti, WוTe HT other, because וחIm Out GT ja
can't eat persolarisma, two qua= 1 has at age 65, ijesingha is sayit exactly right El llas Tot liðiðkA decade or so 5eTiLIS II mõlves selective private i; Spain has since een in westing in to help Cuba's The island has exotic tillrist Westerners, cre rtisements being mingway stayed
is been severely withdrawal * Sowict Unie. In ing Russia, surfor Time Stellite mented and cryr own indivitl11still has Bush's Tilit block title tյք and Castro is greater austeritople. And the 1 by this call te word austerity uryחטרן ations of: and perhaps bedi With 50 Cialist and achievebut not the of it.
a Wijesingha's
perhaps affecarted it the end քt of thiը 194[]'s railed in the the iter was caught hle -- Imiddle, Sc} iries of Hollytropical paradise ring scenes of hel Fidel C5
tro became a pin-up boy in the pro western school 1 Went to, sսIբrisingly enough,
In the '40's and '50's Ceylon, people were wondering what was going to happen to their tropical paradise island where palms waved and 11 Ted the Tich to Weekends in Havana, and a deep-th rated Crooner sang despite the sand in his shocs sa Inds of Hawala. These were of course the English -speaking middle classes who feared that the Commie pig Casto would soon put an end to the picture postcard, Westernstyle ambience, albeit an all bience of decadence, that Washed Cuba, but where hillions of poor Cubans could only genuflect at the altar of their God, cross the Ilselves al di pray for deliverance from the tyranny they were going through,
Who was this Castro, CeyloIniese middle-classes asked themselves and each other, who was going to deprive them of
their entertainment via the s lver Screen, of Toma Ilce and intrigue and rhumba dancers
which formed part of their intellectual staple? How we were bin Washled at home al Cutside by elements that saw CastTo as yet another big bad wolf who was devouring all the good of the west in his country and WWa5; Eubolıt to turlı it int(), :LI. ironjacketed land, joyless and dark. They could not see that this, Tew start On the hori:701 had his own dream, that dreaIning was not the prerogative Cf Allerica.
Cuba Witcher 5 àTe I10W 100k
ing closely at Bill Clinton; will he, won the? But the temptingly interchangeable, kaleidoscopic dual illage with Cuba-hating Kennedy looms somewhere con the shortening horizon. If Clinton has diplomatic exchanges With Club it. Will b c ill comous psychological uplift for the island's people, caught between loyalty to their Tevered leader and the capitalist glitz that is being syphoned in the form of television images over än illicit transmitter.
(СолIIлнен ал даде т8)

Page 17
Shaping the “Indian T.
Patric Peeles University of Missurī - Kriss
he period I am looking at is one of extraordinary growth in the agricultural export economy of the British Crown Colony of Ceylon. It began With a depression caused by a blight that destroyed the coffee plantation economy. With
in a few years the area cultiwated with tea surpassed the maximum area of Coffice culti
vation (about 300,000 acres), and in the twentieth century rubber cultivation increased dramatically, By the end of the period about 800,000 acres were devoted to plantation agriculture, Tea and rubber exports, along with coconuts (which was not a plantation crop), Were the Illa instay of the prosperous colonial economy. In addition to high profits, agricultural exports provided most of the government revenue, directly or indirectly. The plantations paid export duties on their crops, and they paid import duties on the rice they fed their workers. The arrack and toddy the workers drank was a government monopoly, and railways that transported the crop, the rice, the WÜTkčТа апоl the burze realized even more revenue. Though the שנות טWטment rחFטWט1880s ammutil E howered juist abowe ten million Ceylon Tupces: in 1919/20 it passed 80 million rupees for the first time. Prosperity enabled the gover IIIIlant to eliIllinate grain taxes in 1892. Revenue enabled the governIlment to build I mð Te T'Chald5. Talli lroads irrigation works, schools, and dispensaries.
Colonial prosperity was built on the plantation economy, and the success of plantations depends On the maintenance of a cheap, dependent labor force. British planters recruited workers from the Souther districts of Madras Presidency from the early nineteenth century. Indian Tamil' is the name given today to the Sri Lankan coln II unity who are associated primarily With the dics Cellda Its Cof -these
laborers, Illamy Imain plantation
The virtually of poor agricult south India, p. Wðker5 bith to: Lil Eimber of worki panding plantal ti labor costs extre title, families s plantations and ; |Edition Wasg i establ height of the is 1870s, approxima Wollel di Chil rÜund on the pl{ going into a dec with the transiti to tea, Nearly
liber relaed eWe1 al E Lille | W The ceilists of over 600,000 ++) They made up c. of the Island's I this time, nearly the people categ Tamils by the c live on plantatio Tamil identity in fied by it own i was idealized by Indian Tamils to define their identity, and it defined primarily Rogers called
outsiders' My Cered with evil Statelelt of and the colմni Il di with infer. identification o. TallTiltsi TTom Lei
INDIAN TAM TILS
Migration fro1 his been CGIltin Sri Lankan hista T. Tigraits, the lind tinue to be Tiili||Illul. This a lotto thleicol cation with pl Plantation agricu large, resident, Ibn T force. El British Empire, i Fers, Teplaced fre
 

amil” dentity
Try
T. Whill re|labքirer 5.
I iiliillited supply
ri libers i rovided enough 5 increase the
EFS for the ex- -
Jinis and to keep mely low. Over ettle CD te a resident poplished. At the industry in the tely 200,000 men Iren lived yearLltations, bef3 Te lille E1550 ciated Il fra Il Coffee l:1F 0f This il Sri Lankal բoint in 1885, 92 eliterated Illia In Tali 3.'" ver 13 percent opulation. By 20 percent of bitized a 3 [ı dia. Tı en sus did int
13. The Lidia either was gloriIntellectualis IOT nostalgic elites. were powerless Will social is an identity by what John earlier today, paper is conulating the public British planters vernmentסH1 E: ring the selff the India
actions.
S IN 88.
Il Sðlth IIcilial 1մլIs through out y. Unlikc carlier itin Tallis cinidentified with il LLITI EWe5 tinuing identii. Elitāti b. lture requires a :asily controlled sewhere in the dctured läb. cd slaves as a
closely supervised labor force. LLLLLLLaaH S LLLHaHL S LLLL S S LHLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLS LLLL LLLLLL S LLLLL LLaaaaaLaaLLL the planters could bring laborers from south India easily. The Government of India was unable to ins ist II indentured contracts for emigrant labor, as
they did in the former slave colonies. As what was called euphemistically free" workers,
the plantation laborers of Sri Lanka were technically con monthly contracts, and could leave to seek other employment L HH LLLHLLK LHaaH LaLSS LLLLLLaLLS LLLLLLtaaL mobility is not beneficial to the plantation system, however, and so the Ceylon planters used El variety of Imeasures to bind the Workers to the plantations: they with held Wages for several months; they created legal re. strictions tot 1 workers rights, enforced by justices of the peace who were planters; they turned the plantations as much as possible into enclaves in which Centered as Illich of the Workers' lives on the estate as possibile from childbirth to funerals; and probably most important, used LLLLLL S LLLLS S LLLLLLLlLLlllLLL S LlLLLLa kerger is to Control the Tecruitment and the daily lives of the Indian Tallis.
Paradoxically, the mobility of the plantation workers was Testricted more tham that of indentured Workers, precisely because they were free'. A indenturel laborer hal guarantees
that the Indian Tamils of Sri Lall: Illver did. Tile Government of India required,
for example that other colonies of the British Empire make land available for indentured workers to Settle: Om Once their indenture
had cinded. When they were able to demand the right, they created around the indentured
workers - 'a ring of free Indians who, in process of time, acquir. ed specific rights and economic interests in the coloni es cónccTncid" (Sundaram 1933:5). The Government of India assumed that the Indian Tamils of Sri
15

Page 18
Lanka Would haWc thic Sa Ille opportunity, although they never
did. In general, the Government of Ceylon Tesisted intervention in plantation labor
issues, even When pressured by the Government of India through the Colonia Office.
The plantation workers relatively homogeneous in the coffee cra, The great majority were agricultural Workers earning low wages on the plantations, picking coffee beans and perfori ining other un skilled task. A few of the Workers were tradiitional occupational specjalists – priests, washers, barbers - but for the most part the only distinct group were the kargaris and the katakapillais (bookkeepers), who often were of higher caste (Wellala, Agamudiar, or Kallar “Non-Brahmins") than the workers (Pallar or Paraiyar “Adi Dravidas”) .
Wit.
The key figures in the social structure of the plantation werc the kanganis. They predate the beginning of coffee planting, and they were quickly incorporated into plantation management as labor recruiters and supervisors of work crews. Kangari is normally made several trips a year to Indil to recruit additional laborers, both as seasonal workers during the height of the picking season, and as the permanent settlers. Platers advanced the money to use for the recruitment of workers in India, payments Called i-Cost Advances." A worker would begin his or her carcer in debit to the AkarMühlĩ and Temain 11 mtler his C{}Il
trol until the debt was repaid. Planters dealt with laborers ргіпnarily thгоugh the kaпgапis,
which gave the latter a great dical of control over the lives of the laborers and an opportunity to a ImaSS a sizeable foILune.
had security employment, Cash
The immigrants - food shelter, medical care and a small income - in return for long hou Ts of Imo Totonous Work. Planters and officials were quick to point out that living conditions on the plantations were superior to those in the villages
5
of their origin. rally bleak an nevertheless, El experience was tral features o. identity.
The Gower. recognized Indi distinct Sri La by the time of The term i FInd used by census a nationality." for Filling up (13 January 18 reid:
6. Under thic ality' shall described the to Whitll Lից This, a Tami Shall be etc Tamil:'' and India shall **Indian Tam of Ceylon 18
The Registrar happy with the not report th collected in the He blamed the cooperating witt and wrote:
... there is g believing that expressly desi ble Stated Wh1 population w; not, this poi TԸ115 iпsta. (Government XXWii).
Thus, at the period the Gow to use the te In for all Tamil-s born in India, to do so.
THE PLANTAT POPULATION,
II the til Government g Teater respon Tec TLitllet al conditions of (Wcsumрегшma cases this brou. in conflict. With (such as when Workers remair

It was a geneunvarying life d the COIII. In Ille of thic CÇIltle IIlian Tamil
ent of Ceylon Il Tallil 5 äis al ikan community the 1881 celsus. än TäTilso Wis Elke Ts iIn 1881 als
In the Rulcs Census Schedules 1), Rule no. 6
heading Nationbe accurately race and country person belonged. born in Ceylon cd as Ceylon Tamil børn in be entered as l'' (Govern IITment 32: xxxvilii),
General Was it results and did literial he Census Report. plant.crs for not the euther Eltrs
reat reason for
although it was red that it should ther the Talli 5 India-born or 1t Was in nu meCes disregared of Ceylon 1882.
beginning of this ernment intended 1. Indian Til ITils peaking residents bout was LI Iliable
ION LABOR SS1-1921
уепtieth centuгу Ceylon took sibility for the li for the liwing altatīvo labOTETS
1986). In some ght the planters I the govern Ilent
it required that 1 in qua Tantine
camps to prevent the spread of contagious disease and when dit required plantations to provide schools), but more often the government cooperated with the planters in taking control over the recruitment and employment of labor from the kargaris, and keeping the cost of labor to a ilumןliiliוז
The increased government interwention in the lives of plantation laborers - had - Lille effect of integrating Indian Tamils into Sri Lankan colonial Society, While at the samle tille e Tilphasizing their differences. For example, one hand, education of children on plantations became part of the general discussion of the necd to raise literacy rates, and the plantations are brought under the grant-inaid procedure in effect elsewhere in the island, but on the other hand implementation of educational policy on the plantations was left up to the planters. As
a result, while educational opportunity in Sri Lanka expanded in this period, few
Indian Tamils ended up attending School.
Many of the stereotypical pronouncements about Indian Tamils that are still heard today can be traced to this period, as the Governillent of Ceylon attempted to rationalize one policy or another. In general the Government of Ceylon portayed the Indian Tamils as aliens who
considered themselves Indians, and who were isolated in plantations, with little contact
with the Sinhalese villagers in the vicinity of the plantations,
Officials and pla Inters continued to call them immigrants' even though one-third of the laborers were by this time born in Sri Lanka. By 1921 Census Report (1:202) says that an Indian cooly born in Ceylon, whose parents had been domiciled there for say, 60 years" would still be an India Tail, because stock, and not birthplace, determillil C5 Tace."
The British emphasized how ties of caste and the Hindu joint-family.''' continued to bind

Page 19
thic Indian Tamil to his ancestral Willage. To buttress this argument plainters invoked textual reTerences from south India to dcscribec ille Indial Tarmis. For example, the Planter's Handbook of Caste and Customs, which was intended to introduce new young planters fresh out from Britain, says that what I have LLCLY aLLLL LLLLLL aLLLLL LLLLLLaH HH KK K SS S LLLLLLaLLLL of my own personal knowledge from obserwation and experience is but a small matter compared With Lille Lolli L of le tail I. have been able to gather from the Works of other authors,' and hie cites E+Elle We||-kr10 WT1 WollITles of the Abbe Dubois, ... E. Thurst and a few others' (Green 1925; vii).
Jaya rial Tial T1, Tellying on planters" memories and official reports, presented the case that kargari f) TIThe l a lim ki, between the Workers and their Indian origins
(1975 57-6]). Immigrants observed Testrictions Լի 11 ||11|11|1:|1= sality on the journey to the
plantations: they either did not eat during the journey or they tra Welled With a gang of same caste. At the plantation the kagar ensured the workers registered under their correct name,
Jaya Tai Llain believes that the ka Fg FT WAS 4 Seni T member of the village caste group, and maintained the restrictions of the home village's caste panchayat restrictions. On plantations the Kagar is helped to maintain endogamy and pollution restric Eiji 15.
Such accounts of the patri
archail kargari" are common in a Dillal reports of the Ceylon Labor Commission and in presentations made by the Government of Ceylon to various Indian and British investigators in the early twentieth century. What makes them implausible is that they occur side by side with conflicting accounts of the 'villanous ka ngari," the exploiter who defrauded the laborer and stole Workers from one plantation to take to another, for a price. There certainly is some truth in both accounts, but by themSelves they carry little weight.
Finally, becau Tinent passed leg gula te the TecT portation, employ conditions of 1aborers, а пу that the plant Wèrc 1 favured the Elk if the ii. Il t l'c 51 tion. The myth that the plantati thic poorest, unl cducatel lElitl le: in Sri Lanka.
All these repr: to have becil cal approval frnim Ofice and the IП dial tim city Пtilu ment. ETTıphasiz. ature of the II their glList cիiliլ establishes the tillicl TcCTullit Liller the fe yw Barcas, W. ment protected obscures their I cilitisi. If t the gover in Thient their main objec costs low and p might not ha" FavoլIrable a res] Deli OIT LIdol
The British summarized by (1964:16):
These are gent * Indian Tamils cently few of tsרtנוח Eון:tוןiוח Most of the che risi e i tlei horme sorme d; iiveld there in their ol style of ther CeyloT and ha to India; inde te5 Llere a Te Ti f d L fourth generati The liլIIllber iլիք՝ Ceylon Tamils, Ho CDISidergil ese even those beel for SEWEEr the İ5|ald, , , Tamils hawe ! wished to mix with the Sil have regular c.

se the governgislation to Tcuitment, transment and living the plantation El Was created ti ātrs minority over population who Eh legal protecignored evidence labes vert healthiest, lease ist mobile people
sentations seem Cli lated to gain the Colonial Government of e labor recruiting the transient dian Tamils and action with India Eleed for Colit. Emphasizing here the governthe Workers miserable living le planters and admitted that tive was ti keep rofits high, they We received as onse from New 1.
lonial view is S. A. Pakeman
trally known as ", and lilti rethem had perin the island. have always dea of returning ly to their nasettling down d age — thouբի Were born in We newer bԷail -e esות)5 d on: Indian labոսlird and even : s in Ceylonחו It the same as the but they cannot s really CeylonTinities who have Li generations in The Indian Wer mixed Ilor to any extent, lese. . . They 1ployment, and
are reosonably well paid and housed in comparison with the Sinhalese villagers who are their neighbors.
By the time he wrote this, it had become a standard part of political debate in the Island. Before: L921 ho Weyer, thele :Te few references to Indian Tails by Sri Lankan elites. Near the end of this period the Ceylon National Congress began to list the grievances of plantation laborers in LEileir criticism of British colonial rule, but in much more sympathetic tones.
INDIAN TAMILS AND INDIA
We hawe littlic direct evidence of the self-identification of India II
Tamils, but there is some indirect evidence.
The first published census
statistics on Indian Tamils in the Census of 1911 suggest that
the Indian Tamils thought of themselves as a Sri Lankan community. The instructions
given to the enumerators stated that all persons who traced their descelt to south India were to be considered Indian Tamils, whether they were born in Sri Lanka or not, but the prelininary report says that "No doubt mistalıkes Werc Imade, and the children of Indian Tamils in many instances were entered as
Ceylon Tamils, because they were born in Ceylon..." (Government of Ceylon 1911:2). By
comparing the 1911 Census with the 1921 Census, in which the eluleratorS Were lore Careful, I estima Le that thalt 55,0)) to 70,000 persons were enu II 11ěrated as Ceylon Tamils in 1911 but
als Indian Tamils in 1221. That is, more than ten percent of the Indianı "Talini 15 identified
themselves as Ceylon Tamils, in spite of instructions to the con trary. This is consistent with the fact that an increasing proportion of the population were
second and third generation
settlers in the Island.
The idea that the Indian
Tails considered themselves
"birds of passage," as some recent scholars say, is un tenable. The question remains, What con
17

Page 20
stituted thic Indian Tamil identity in their own minds? Some clues will appear in the works on Indian Tamil culture today, both by the people themselves and by outside scholars, but their is some historical evidence which suggests that the Indian Tamils of this period Were incither as isolated nor as directly tied to the villages of their an. Cestry as the literature suggests.
First, the majority plantation laborers settled permanently in Sri Lanka. My current research änd that of Dharmapriya Wesumperuma, who painstakingly TeLönstructed migration patterns from 1880 to 1910, suggest that the amount of cyclical migration (plantation Workers. Who migrated às adults and retired to India when their productive years Were over) was small. Most of the passenger traffic between Il dia and Sri Lanka were Interchants except in years of over recruitment of urban workers, About 20,000 to 30,000 plantation workers a year traveled to India. Many of these returned as paralydls, or 'old migrants.' My tentative conclusion is that the number of cyclical migrants was small, under ten percent of the male plantation population.
Second, the Indian Tamils were never as isolated as the planters wanted thern to Էյe:
they were able to move withill Sri Lanka. Although they found it difficult to acquire land for settlement, especially after the decline of the coffee industry, many moved from plantation to plantation. They were technically free to love on one lith's notice. Debt bondage did not tie the workers to the estate as I'much as it did to their kaIPga ni Creditors, who often moved entire gangs to new plantations, Planter's complaints suggest that such "crimping" was common. Indian Tamils also were it. Contact with people outside the estates. The Incost important category would be Indians in other Walks of life-Tamil-speaking shopkeepers, merchants and temple priests. Thc twenty per cent of Indian Tamils who did
S
not live on plan included were left the plani were Kandyan Si Lankan Tall plantations, e allt likely that there munication betw strongest conti ethnic grouբs low-country Sinh lil Carters, talW shopkeepers. Fi laborers made p places as Ad Kataragalla.
Finally, the col Le 11 dia 11 TaI Illidul were clear 1) There wer every year, and could keep othe events in Ind those who lived previously; 2) percentage of
W WTC CT1 i ning; 3) others in India and memories of In rers probably e cultural diversity hawe had im In were true that sced the ties and their ance caste, there W. or more Raiga tation with in Tamilnadu.
There picture emerge is one Lanka Cill ill T tity based on perience Cf system and on kages with Tallin still no dire tt "יונוך perceived their it it is Tc | call ther "una ning that the day don't can the other identil – perhaps Jaf Kandyan Sinha Tamils of the centul Ty setIl 10 very well, in t corporating the to a distinct is

tations probably
bTer5 v Eations. ThcTc Sinhalese and
mill Workers on հcugh it is not
Was Illich co IIIeel the 1. Their cts vitlī tic ld be ithוורו alese and MuseTI keepers, and nally, plantation ilgimages to such HTT1S Peak and
lections between mils and Tallilly very complex: e new migrants those newcomers :Ts in touch With ia, particularly on plantations There is a Sma11
the population templating retur
who were born presumably had dia; and 4) laboxperienced more than they would dia, Ewen if it the karga mi reinbetween Workers stral village and ld be a dozen is on each planlifferent origins
that begins to f a distinctly Sri ity with an identhe shared exthe plantation a Variety of linillad I. The Te is it evidence of Indian Tammiss own identity, but inger suffices to isimilated," meaIndian Tamils toיין (), סוחר) רוL וון תום ies in the Island Illa TaThills or esc. The Indian early twentieth have assimilated c -sense of in
experiences inentity.
RIEEICE
Government of Ceylon.
of Ceylor ISSI. ffa terrerifs drd fable.J. . Government Pre55. - 1911. Sessional Papers. No. XVII of 1911. Preliminary Report of the Census of Ceylon, 1911. By E. B. DenHall C.C.S. Green, Lewis B, 1925. The Parrer's Baok of Cafe artid CFS fory. Colombo. Times of Ceylon, 1925. Pakeman, Sideny Arnold. 1964. Ceyları
London: Erillest BC'nin Limited. Sundaram, Lanka, 1933, IndiaIPII C) versea F: A Stry" ir Eco ricorri fc-Sacsøløy, Madras: G. A Natesan and Co. Wesurmper LuIIıa, Dhar rııBp riya. 1986, Iric/f- пл Іліліigгалf PӀалІafiал И’orkerл іл Srї Larika, Kelaniya: Widyalankara Press.
1882. Carl III GEra Rதr யார் Colomb:
Can the . . .
(Cred ரீரா நார் ) Why does the western World think that because it brought about What it lowes to claim is the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union and ea Ste TI Europe, that no other country still running on socialist lines has no right to continue doing so, even if it is able to Weather the storm and not merely surviwe but been to provide more for its people and become prosperous once again while still retaining its leader of three decades. After all, a man at age 65 is seen by men not to be old, so shall We say late middle age? There are much older leaders in the world, as We kDow.
What, then, is the remedy for Cuba as seen by Wijesingha and those like hill who feel that Something has to happen and soon D to Castr. What the "Te formers" did to Ceaucescu in Rumania? Clap the man Who rescued his country from the Clutches of one of capitalism's Imost illfällı olus chal Tacters imta prison and wave the magic Wand Lihat Would "liberate" the Cuba people, i.e. bring in unbridled forms of capitalist, Western-style free living, rake in the American shekels and of course enthгопе, a true, benign, democratic "dictator' who will open up the brothels again, throw the island open to AIDS (otherwise it Wouldn't be attention - Worthy or "fash") and put Women back On their klees?

Page 21
1978 OOMSTITIATION:
A Mockery of Democr
W. L. Wirasingha
lät listics G:s those Who are dissatisted with the present Constitution is, I have found most often, what distresses Ime too, namely, that it secures to the President autocratic powers, the exercise of which makes a mockery of democracy il this CCLII LltTy.
Clearly, an Executive Presidential system is compatible with democracy only if there is elffective separation of powers, executive, legislative and judicial, with sufficient good sense, Illutual respect and commitment to the Comum. O 1 Good of the Cobu Iltry within and between the three repositories, to ensure their working harmoniously together, but withoLIL SILLI Tell T or lebilitältigið Ti of their severialo rights and privileges, or i encroach ment on one līties sev līlis. Tīs has been unequivocally reflected i the American Elmdl French Constitutions. It is this separation, of powers that cnables the courts and legislatures of the USA and of France, the latter through their control of finance and exclusive legislative powers, to provide checks to arbitrary lecision-Iīlāking by the Presidents in the exercise of Executive powers. He needs finance to implement action, and he of tem needs legislation too for the same purpose. It necessarily fol. lows that high executive policy, althrough it will not hawe been initiated or formulated by the legislature, can scarcely be implemented save with the Concurrence of the legislatu Te - which therefore acts as an cffective check on executive impulsivenes or Worse.
The personnel of the Executive, whether in the USA or in France, are wholly outside the legislaLLIT. If the French Presilicent recruits any of his Secretaries
The text is, substantially, that of a presentation made to al Semlin Hir at the Methodist Centre.)
from among the legislature, and to se Twee him, t from members lä LLIe.
So I'leticula 1 clean all clear till of Powers tries! In our ( the contrary, SE been prescribed totally, and Wit cism, repudiate (2) which provi
The Preside het of the Cl ters and shall Elle Cabinet."
It is aբբTմբ: ourselves at thi Members of it Milberg (OF PLI the 1egislature, to pröwide :L chı decision-making So, here, we ha 5i Ella Lión f the self, the Presi çCEIliadatel i II of the legislat ideally suited to directing the de liberal til 15 - || . with seeing to self did not traces"|
The II-lila this essentially is that it like semie CF the 5e ers and, ex l'hy pretence that W a demičТatic dig Article 43 (2) e decd, prescribes effectively for II el els: Where representation |
anon) is sce-t
ship.
Pity the po
I11:11.1". Hills CWer
pered wail as I mission imposs

асу
meters if the they are willing hey must resign ip of the legis
usly principled, is the Separain those coulCønstitutiøI1, []T1 'paration, having in Article 4, is, h complete cynii Article 43 des that
t shall be a memhinct of Minisbe the Hall of
“iatic to Te mitid s point that the Ele Cabinet ate liament, i.e., of to which We look eck to il ribit Tary by the President! ye the delectable
Executive hill
dent ipsissillus, the driving seat חט51tlטט 1: ,Ire.
influencing and perations - and հf thost charged
it that he hillkick Wer the
rious aspect of
Tirth ful situation s complete nonparation of роWothesei, of any 1lt We live is pensation, What lables — ancil, in
(all the more rovision containfor proportional of which more hrough dictator
or legal draftsbeen my whisreflected on the ible' assigned to
him, namely, to provide for sepa ration of powers, for separation of the Executive a lensa et thoro of the Legislature, in particular, with provision simultaneously, however, for him to get back to bed and board in
that same household ! Not unpredictably, the mission has failed miserably. All that has
kept the citizenry bemused has been the extent of the spacetime between Articles 4 and 43 (2) with all their inducemnts to à som molent amnesia in between. If the contents of Article 43(2) could, by a mischievous Legal Draftsman, hawc b cen placed in, let us say, a poviso to Article 4. Our Island Story from 1977 might have been vastly different,
The Legal Draftsman's dilemIna has yielded other curiosities IIArticle 43 (1) provides that
There shall be a Cabinet of Ministers charged with the direction and control of the Government of the Republic, which shall be collectively reponsiblic to Parliament''.
As Gilbert observed in Gondoliers",
Search in and out and round ab Llt And you'll discover never',
:THը
what the WJTill Govern Ille It" there includes or excludes. It su Tely cannot include executive
action, which is the President's sole prerogative - Parliament may only check" through the budget and legislation - although it suggests that the legislatu. Te is omi-competent and the separation of powers is only so much hilarity, the butt being the President
Admittedly, the President needs competent, high-ranking officials to assist him in the disch: Tige of his executive duties; but the consitutionalvestilgin hinf authority to appoint Cabinet
19

Page 22
Ministers and Illultifarious other Ministers, who are Members of the Legislature (1) to perform executive - fulcitit 15 — LIII de T hii contro1 Earn d diTecti)In - {äI d :as being answerable to him - is inimical to the separation of powers and wholly unacceptable. The reason is clear enough: this function secured to the President, of appointing Members of Parliä ment to positions of executive power and responsibility and of discontinuing them from such positions has a high potential for influencing and even corrupting them, which undermines the assurance of honest discharge by the Legislature of one of its sunda Ilmental duties, that of prowiding in its deliberations and actio In a 'Check and balla Tice" Wis-a-vis the President's exercise of his executive power!
What appears most clearly is the President's stranglehold on Cabinet Ministers and on ther Ministers too, through his powers of appoining and discontinLuing the in at Will. All u liderstainable clough if they were solely executive officials subordi Tate to the President, but u Itterly execrable since they are Members of the Legislature,
Equally clear is the strangleHold that the Preside It has Øn all Melbers of Parlial cit Will belong to the sa Ille political Party as he himself, in coilsequence of the manner in which the provisions relating to proportional representation Copcrate. At the very least, provision Illust be made for the holding of a by-election to Till a vacancy caused even by defection. Worth considering are thic merits of holding such a by-election in the polling district in which the ejected MP received his own largest number of votes at the General Electio II.
Y LLLLLL LLLLLLLaH LLL LLLLL LLaHLLLL LLLSS S SC Chairman of a firm's being the Chairman simultaneously of the firm of ACCOLIE 15 a Lidilig Liat Ti5 ACcounts. That is the straight thinking LL CLTCCLLLLLaL LLLLLaLLLL LL SCLCaCLLS LLL L S S LCHLCuLLLLLL S L L L L LLLLaLLLL Et Hercules furens!
20
Proportional at present prow for the Party at a Gccra E ance of the Imajority for th life of the sit there being in crossings-ower C. dissatisfaction w menti, and with by-elections. Th the dxi III of r mocracy that th III LISt I contil LIOLIS defeat through its acceptability. Illic in the St. of the preceding go some distan. viding a partial
It is client
ing, too, that I resentation, a5 : largely nullifies expression and Tanteed to the Constitution in effect on Gower actis II is CaðIl Cer most persuasive would scarcely of Parliament, Convinced il SE unacceptable to fear, not only his Party - whi COLInt 110 great (and more impt Lio Il froIl Pal To1: rtuIlity toטוןtp Electio.
Under an Exe it is most unil provided in Al Chief justice, til the Court of A other . Judge Cult Ed Cou be appointed by of the Republic
* cor, if he is of th
to the President.
Wel I1 hit
If they've a brair
They've EgÖt te
outside And wore just :
"..." This is the cores recent Suprenino cxpulsion of Ath 1 ոքiյրke et fil,

representation as "iled for i e15luire5
voted to power Election C0Iltimli5 Ille LIITETiCl
e entirety of the ting Parliament, possibility of if MPs through ith the Govern. 1. Ino plovision for is offends against epresentative dee Party in power y be at risk of having forfeited The suggestion cond paragraph paragraph should -טLÖWards prט:
Էitilլլtitin.
ly Worth remarkproportional repit operates now, the freedolls of of asse in bly guacitizen in the so far as their nment policy and led. Ewell the case established induce a MelbCI EWE if IE WEITĖ :lf, to take a line his Party,’ for of expulsion from ch he may ac| 155 - but :ll5C) rtantly) of ejecialent, WithC} Llt contest a by
cutive Presidency healthy that, as rticle 107, "The le President of ppeal and every if the Supreme t of Appeal shall the President :"" åt his to W
c Government Party, Cp. W. S. Gilbert: House Mps divide, Land cerebelluIn 100, cave that brain
thi els te
ignificance of the CLurt dccisib Dn T lithiudali Dissa
will and pleasure. Perhaps all these appointments, except that of the Chief Justice One should be made by a suitable panel of selected jurists. As Imatters stand, the temptation to curry the Prosident's favour in judicial functioning in the hope of promotion in judicial office can scarcely be discounted.
Article 35, which issu Tc5 the President (Imnibus in munity from legal proceedings against him, whether in his official capacity or as a private citizen is wholly undell Critic and in defensible. Since le j5 VCSted With Cxecutive power, which may be wiclided unjustly, to the detrim cnt of individuals or groups, this immunity is potentially especially tугаппical,
The title of my presentation errs griewously on the side of leniency to the Constitution, which is radically abhorrent to democracy in its approach to separation of powers. It an Executive Presidential system is contin LIed, the Constitution mlst be recast to conform more nearly to the America. Ti patte Tim, with dignity restored to the Legislature and the Courts. If I may be forgiven foT stepping out of the strict line of my topic, the Tiwal illerits of a modified Westminister-style Constitution, with Tesls citatio II of a Second Cla. Ilber, should receive ealTI est consideration. Ewen if we continue to hawe al Executi We PTC Sikeltial system, a "limitation' of the present Constitution is the abSence of a Second Chamber the US Constitution itself provides for a Senate alongside the House of Representatives as part of the Congress. In providing for a Senate in their Constitution, the Soulbury Commissioners stipulated that the "Governor-General shall endeavour to appoint (as the 15 official Senators) persons who he is satisfied have rendered distinguished public service or are persons of emimence in professional, commer
cial, industrial or agricultural life, including education, law, пnediciпе, sciепсе, епgineering
and banking." "Wise words to
ponder".

Page 23
Ananda Coomaraswamy Lecture
Fate of the indigenous
Tyrone Fernando
e, a 11 klow, A Talda COOmaraswamy as an honoured
and revered son of Sri Lanka whose intellectual brilliance and erudition cal T1 cd for him a reputation as one of the Worlds greatest scholars. But how many of us know the scope of his works and scholorship?
A pioneer as an orientalist and a traditionalist, we recognise him today for the sheer brilliance and originality of his perceptions of art, history and indology and his expositions of traditionalist societies and cultures and his advocacy of the preservation of the purity and authenticity of the unchanging primordial and universal traditjo. His ab HTTc1cc of the “LI Ldesi Table in FILIEIce" Weste Tim ideologics Could hawe on thic eastern psyche influenced his work. This was mainly due to thic conviction brought about by his Ineti
culous studies. The more he delived the Imore convinced he became that the philosophical
basis of past societies, even their religions, their culture, their art were superior to the knowledge of the 19th and 20th centuries.
It is apt therefore that the Directors of Cultural Survival Trust have decided on the topic of indigenous people to be the subject of this 1992 Ananda СоопnaгasWаппy Oration.
Justifiably, the question of the future of the many. indigenous peoples still surviving in various parts of the globe is gaining increasing relevance and impor
talce. While Illan for their survivil ԷլյTite:In that tilt: sist integ Tation national progres doubt that Survival of il pose wотrisопne i Cll di vill will tolerate tiles poses other than uld be genuinc rights als in divid today wish to it thropological an: digenous people Titler to discus i SSLIC3 Televalt La their slı Twiwill än pose there are mental questions to pose which, Wiewed With à ce היו ט|| WH1 חrטטוז נוט The Itull. With W. ting to the in around the glot forge.
It is being as the best interest genous people survival in these EcDIJIllic. Il älwänCEillèllt W Wè ta ä5k this is the Will of Tetail their idet nlle their way of right has any oth that thley. In list in alien society? benefit to then who profess to concepts which a

people
y express concern Ll others express e tribal clas reHТd thus hindЕГ 5. Therc is Iloj 5 Ille I Li ler5 the ligenous pcople ssues which they It While others e issues for plurthat the shirespect for their Lills. I di Ilat | dulge in an analysis of the inԾF wgTitl ԷյլIt s certain legal the subject of di for this purCeIllin funda| Which I Wish t:well I have rtail all unt of atching the nolich issues Telldigenous people he has gathered
kecil — is it in s of the indi. O ell sure their times of rapid technological hat right have question? If it hese people to tity and contilife wilt oral Le T tel dictcTIlline tegratic with am And for what TheTec Te Some beliefs based Cl Te akil to the
colonial masters of yore to whom "civilisation' was nothing but their way of life and anything else was but savage. Practices of another culture yet unknown to them was not to be tolerated. It was a Imatter of per wasiwe confrontation based on an allpervasive view. Permission to continue with indigenous prac. tices was only given because of an attitude of tolerance and was Illot based on any respect for the rights and beliefs of others, Differences in beliefs, without any discrimination, were regarded as inferior. One can perhaps understand this attitude for they caille withl s World ili ol e hild and the Bible in the other, to conquer, to plunder, to spread their religious beliefs in preference to those of the inhabitants of the colonies and their motives
were clear: to bring light to tligse in dark 11555 and Asg to get rich. But what of
our people who have survived even these tспрогary interfегепces? Do we have objectives ITICI: noble thin the Colonia Tullers? Or is there SOIIne Sintlarity of thought or of principle? What can they hope for іп the 21st century?
There can be no generalisation about global attitudes. The treatment of the indigenous people varies across the globe, Let us look closcir at what we hawe to offer them. Consciously or otherwise, we have provided in the Suprem e law of our land, the Constitution, several rights which could be interpreted to mean
2.

Page 24
that static policy is indeed in favour of preserving them as they are. In the Chapter set
ting out the fundamental rights of our peoples, Article 10 gurantees the frcc.dom of thought, conscience and religion including
the freedom to have or to adopt
a religion or belief of his choice. So, if animism is preferred to any other form of worship, if trees are equated to the status of gods as known to the so-called civilised bicings, the right to so believe is recognised. There is implicit in this recognition the thought that by our own standards We must guarantee to the this freedom. The Directive Principles of State Policy as set out in Chapter WI of the Constitution which principles are expected to be followed as a guide by Parliament, the Presidet ad tle Cabict of Ministers II, the enactinent of laws and the governance of Sri Lanka for the establishment of a free and just society, recognise seveTal societal objectives and goals. These include the realization by all citizens of an adequate standardl of liwing for thıeIılı sel Wes and their families, including adequate food, clothing and housing the continuous improvement of living conditions a Ilid the full eljoyment for leisure and social and cull Liu Tall opportunities; raising the Intral and cultural standards of the People and ensuring the full development of human personality, Let us consider these objectives. What ctյuld be meant by "an adequate standard of living"? There is no doubt that this is a relative term. Whose subjective view is to prevail? Would it be necessary to wean the indigenous people away from their culture It habitat iIl Cirider to facilitate the achievement of the State objective of impro
22
wing the living our peoples? E. dւյոը Wtiլյld it re provement of liv, A Te the indigen living in condit they are totally it a fact or is i the Illor:l ind dard 5 of the ild far surpass those loped World'? Le sumptious in assl principles of peac flow from the gr the United Natid kW to the in as a concept in long before thic LJIlitel Nati. Ils y Werc in no Way the situatic whi Lic establishine te Natio 5, 1 s t then that we cy til Wit is baric or Savage World (whose citi (JT W Tongly El Cicep" after all may be indulged in not ITlötives but bec accepted norms. El Weddilla WIllin is not offending zittife, but a 1 m
Royal Family very definitely bi cepted norms of
Article 27(5) of tion provides that strengthen ргопnoting co-ope tual confidence : tions of the peop. ka, including th gious, linguistic an Il di shall take ef
th: fields of teat.
natio

conditions of Wen if this Was Sullt ir Ell iling conditions"? bus people поt iOS i Which at peace? Is t a myth that CLI litlul Tall SL: Iligспоus people of the devet us not be pre1ming that th, c tE HTitl freetlմIII eat assembly of Ins. They Were digenous people cent to life 1leed for Llle was felt. They responsible for licht Called for t of a Unihic re something ld Earl TTI Wie Wel äS bäTby the Western zens аге rightly led as civilised) merc practices with i II1p T3 per 1lse these art As an exall ple, stantily clad their codes of elber of the
io clad Would : offending ac
behaviւյլIT
" the Constitu
the Stat slal | Tal unity by ration änd muim Long all Secle of Sri La Il
e Tacit, relid other groups, fective steps in
thing, education
and information in order to eliIminate discrimination and prejudice. Entrenched in this obligation is the duty to give priority to the problems of the indigenous people.
Article 27(10) promulgates that the State shall ässist the deyelopment of the cultures and the languages of the people. Why then was it considered necessary to engage in a programme to bring the weddha community into the mainstream of life as a consequence of what was perhaps considered an infrastuctural necessity when the accelerited Mahaweli Project was unMany of the problems could have been
dегүүay. Lihat SLITfaced avoided if an attitude more sympathetic towards respecting the rights of individuals had been adopted. We do get carried away with arrogant thoughts that preservation of culture would not include the preservation of which we label is "primitive". In this whole proC-55 the Te mo Te thought spared for the displaced wildlife than TøT the indigel10118 people who were re-settled agajIst their will, The lIIlfOTTuIllte Tesult was that thicy were di Tawn into local conflicts thus souring the relationship with others including Government officials. TL'lilegd al LLCT Lullte Situatio II. And to enforce their rights they had to Inake use of alien syste 15 af la W GJIT else theirs was
not a voice to be listched to.
the ti The Inc) a Cl
practices
"W"ELS
The Te WES - Et

Page 25
ceptance that the indigenous people may just Want to carry on with their way of life. Perhaps the presumption that they would not resist integration was an arrogant one. Or was it? It is indeed heartening that the GOVETппlent of President Premadasa has now accepted that the problems of the weddha clans
should էլave be prior to thc att them and that
recognition of til Serye a traditio is in furtheranc that the Will Ti been established mary objective c fic measures to |
CORRESPONDENCE
The Reconciling Formula
It has to be recorded, with regret, that the reconciling formula, thc sweet woice of reason has once more eluded the country and the discount and civil war have entered into the year 1993. Those of us who are adwanced in years will note, with deep regret, that the present day youth have been deprived of the peace, tranquility and education, which we had the good fortune to enjoy and receive. Many of the youth of the last two decades have been pinched away in the prime of their lives. The much clerished order and law have been eroded. The ordinary man sees quite clearly that family bandylism and nepotism is a part of Sri Lankan politics and that bribery and corruption is the way of public life, Even if there should be an election, what difference does it make. It is Hobson's choice for the voter. Sri Lanka can boast of Sinhala leaders, Tamil Moor leaders, Buddhist, Hindu, Christial al di Islam licaders but not Sri Lankan National leaders, The ordinary man sees that the politicians are not interested in settling the ethnic conflict, because that is their "Beggar's Wollind"
leaders,
So long as th for the benefit day youth who ture leaders, a f I i Illes from the e ters between Pro Toynbee and Pri. on the 'Argumen and Jewis." El Te his letter Troll 18, 7.67 to Prof Professor J. L., T
""A Iman grea both of լIs, - m T. H. Tawney
"It is a traged whic Te Illa T TILLS that the dili5 cığını conciling form left to su turc which passion curiosity, and people become 5 cho 015, The bridges does
cī5īls ti lu Ciplus to Illmäki down the Im foi
Su rely enough
Wedi down the reconciling for ved and açCE It is infinitely sapiens should

looked into impt to resettle here is now a e need to preEl CLlLLITE. It
of this policy it to Trust has
with the prif takiпg specirotect and lur
ture "weddha wannietto" culture. The fact that the Trust is managed under the chairmanship of a government official and and also includes scveral other government officials is indicative of the renewed and enlightened
thinking of the Government.
(To be Continued)
:ir is hope, So of the present will be tilt fնew appropriate xchange of letofessor Arnold Jfessor Talmon, it between Arabs reproduced. ltn Jerusalem date essor Toynbee, almal in 5 taltes:-
tly revered by y late teacher WTC:-
y of the World it walk by sight very of the reLula is always generations, in Elas Cooled into the agonies of the excercise in die wil who builds
not span the
ch that is preind has wanished
Ee"
blood has focha 515 for the lila to be evol:pted at last. said that home be so collinated
and twisted by irrational dri
ves and intractable avcrsions that only an overwhelming
shock and inexorable fait accompli are able to make the sweet voice of reason heard.' (reproduced from the magazine ENCOUNTER of October 1967)
Տ. Thambyrajah
Colombo 3.
in Kashmir. . .
(Corririred fra First Page II)
same time, the magnitude of the problem should not be made into an alibi for drift or complacent reliance on the armed forces to settle what is essentially a political problem. What is imperative is that the initiative has to be taken now, for opening a dialogue with thic militants and to be ready to discuss, boldly and unreservedly the quantum of autonomy that can bring about an enduring
Settlement,
This is a mandate that his
tory imposes not only on Mr
Narasimha Rao alone, but lea
ders of all political parties, In a world of Earthshaking cha nges, nobody can afford to hold on to old postulates. Wisdom lies in making concessions today,
23

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STILL LEADING Mr. William Thompson o and established the first in this island on 01st June 1841. He called it “Bank of Ceylon' That was 150 years ago, but that was not We. We opened our doors in 193
only to capture our rightful place in Banking
and are proud to say tha LEAD
Over the years banking profession shared our expertise and BANK OF CEYLON became Sri Lanka’s SANDHURST TO BANK
”... ; ; ; ?A'A'^,ử,ỷ $ "o.g.
|- Bank
 

btained a Royal Charter
Joint Stock Commerical Bank
it we still
་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་། ( , , ༦:༥༥༥ . ۶ ۰۰ ۰ || ۵ و. .: ; ; " ་ ༧་ ་་་་་་ . . ', , ' : : * *
岑 A ,x .::: , . , .............. کہ مر ۔ ۔ ۔...:.
ERS.
of Ceylon
ers to the Nation