|
 A
special meeting between Japanese Special Envoy Mr. Yasushi
Akashi and Comrade Somawansa Amarasinghe took place at JVP Head
Office today (13th). Director of Japanese Director on South
Asian Affairs Mr. Masato Othaka and Japan’s Ambassador in Sri
Lanka Mr. Kiyoshi Araki were present. Comrade Sunil
Handunneththi MP too was present. This was the first meeting of
the Japanese Special Envoy on this trip and the discussion that
commenced at 11.00 a.m. went on for nearly one hour.
Japanese Special envoy asked what the
stand of the JVP was on the abrogation of the CFA and the
ensuing situation. In response Comrade Somawansa Amarasinghe
quoting from a book published by Japanese Constitutional
Ministry pointed out how evolution of power is exercised for
local government bodies in Japan. He explained how Japanese
government has acted to defend unitary state of the country and
how national defense, monetary affairs and foreign relations are
being kept directly under the purview of the government. The JVP
would like to go further and would agree for a package that
would give administrative power to people with all the funds
needed said Comrade Amarasinghe.
Mr. Akashi said Japan and many other
countries give very large financial assistance to Sri Lanka and
hinted that the prevailing situation would halt such assistance.
The JVP Leader said Sri Lanka
safeguards human rights better than in the USA. Sri Lanka has
signed a large number of agreements on human rights and they are
adhered to. He pointed out several judgments of the Supreme
Court in defending human rights even when atrocities of the
tiger organization have escalated and said it would give a
picture how human rights are safeguarded in Sri Lanka.
“People in this country should not be
allowed to be suppressed by economic sanctions of anybody. We
have bitter experiences regarding all international
interferences that have taken place so far. People in this
country are prepared to choose death instead of betraying
sovereignty and dignity of the country. The JVP is with these
masses. If the government is not prepared to fulfill this
responsibility appropriately, the JVP is prepared to take over
that responsibility. We would like to send this message through
you to the western international community as well,” said
Comrade Amarasinghe. He asked the Japanese Special Envoy why
Japan, which supports Afghanistan government to fight terrorism,
doesn’t do so regarding Sri Lanka. He also condemned the
statement made to the Australian Radio Channel on 1st May 2006
by the Japanese Special Envoy. It was Mr. Yasushi Akashi who
first said that foreign troops should intervene in Sri Lanka.
All in Sri Lanka, except tigers, wish
for peace and peace and democracy could be established by
vanquishing tiger terrorists emphasized the JVP Leader adding
that the JVP would never agree to any hurried constitutional
amendment that would obstruct this and that was the reason why
the JVP demands that APRC should be repealed. Constitutional
affairs should be discussed only under total democratic
conditions pointing out that it was how Japan acted after the
Second World War.
 To a question asked by the JVP Leader whether
there were opportunities for the North and Eastern Provinces to
sign separate international agreements in the “solution”
proposed by Japan, the Japanese Special Envoy replied in the
negative. The JVP Leader asked whether Japan played with the
idea of overlooking Sri Lanka by a so-called administration that
would be established in the North and the East to manipulate
resources in Sri Lanka. Mr. Akashi said Japan had no such
intention.
The JVP Leader handed over to the
Japanese special Envoy a letter in strong language emphasizing
the prevailing situation in Sri Lanka and international
interventions.
Full text of the letter;
His Excellency Yashushi Akashi
Your Excellency,
Japan was in the beginning of the 20th century a beacon for Asia
especially when it defeated the Russian navy in 1905. That
beacon turned into a nightmare when Japan invaded and brutalized
Asia in the 2nd World War. Sri Lanka escaped only with air
raids. Defeated, humiliated and driven into democracy by the US,
Sri Lanka wanted Japan treated with magnanimity at the San
Francisco conference.
60 years later, Japan has spurned Sri Lanka's then friendliness
and has being partial to the LTTE described by the FBI as the
worst terrorist group in the world. Japan has sought to equate
Sri Lanka with this terrorist and fascist group which has very
many characteristics reminiscent of Japan's brutal World War 11
past. The LTTE has both tactics and cruelty reminiscent of then
Japan including the use of suicide Kamikaze cadres. Japan's
attempt to legitimize the LTTE has cost Sri Lanka far more than
the aid she gives us. So much so, that people have wondered
whether Japan has a commercial interest in creating a separate
state in Sri Lanka so that she can get at raw materials, the
same motive that drove her in World War 11.
If Japan wants to play territorial politics we suggest that she
picks some country her own size like China, India, or Indonesia.
But if Japan wants the path of friendliness and we believe the
Japanese people want that, we strongly urge that Japan
repudiates the LTTE as Japan in a much more painful exercise
repudiated her own past background. If Japan takes a Sri Lanka
line, people in our strategically located friendly will also
back Japan to the full. The choice is not with Sri Lanka but
with the Japanese authorities.
Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
Somawansa Amarasinghe
Leader
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP -People's Liberation Front)
Sri Lanka
13th January 2008 |
