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JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe
insists to LAKBIMAnEWS staffer Namini Wijedasa that the
Government must scrap the All Party Representatives
Committee (APRC).
Ln: The Government has met one of the
JVP’s three recent demands. Are you encouraged to rejoin
the Rajapaksa regime?
SA: The JVP always takes decisions after a serious
consideration of the prevailing political situation, at
any given moment. At this moment, when we take the
political situation into consideration, there is no
possibility of us joining the Government.
Ln: What happens if the situation
changes?
SA: Situations can change. The situation is always
changing. The situation changed during the budget and we
had to shift our decisions accordingly. We took three
decisions during the budget debate. All were based on
the political situation. First, we opposed the budget,
then we supported the defence vote and, finally, we
abstained from voting.
Ln: So you are leaving the option
open?
SA: No, we are not going to join the Government today,
at this moment, because the situation does not demand us
to join the Government. Again, any decision we take will
depend on the political situation and must benefit the
country. I cannot comment on whether we will join the
Government this year or not join the Government this
year. How can a political party take a decision without
studying the political situation? This is all I can say
now.
Ln: Did the Government approach the
JVP with an invitation to rejoin them?
SA: After the budget, nobody approached us.
Ln: Do you want the Government to ban
the LTTE?
SA: We never talked about banning the LTTE. Our demands
were that the CFA be abrogated, that the APRC process be
scrapped and that international interference is stopped.
Banning the LTTE is welcome but we don’t know whether
this Government will safeguard human rights. Anybody -
including journalists, media, political activists and
innocent Tamil people - may be taken into custody by
police or someone else. The Government must outlaw the
LTTE only if they can assure the people of Sri Lanka
that the PTA or Emergency Regulations won’t be used
against innocent people, journalists and those who
oppose the Government. In the absence of such an
assurance, a situation will be created in which the
international community could interfere in the internal
matters of the country. It must also be said that our
three demands were made not to rejoin the Government. We
never talked about joining the Government. We only
outlined conditions that a Government must fulfil to
show that they care about the sovereignty, territorial
integrity and security of the country.”
Ln: Isn’t it fair to say that the
Rajapaksa Government is not tolerating interference by
the international community, thereby meeting another JVP
condition?
SA: It is wrong to say they are not tolerating the
international community. The CFA should have been
abrogated long ago. It is too little, too late.
Ln: India wants the Government to
proceed with the APRC process and produce a political
proposal soon. Do you think Sri Lanka should keep India
happy?
SA: We are not looking at whether India is happy or not.
We tried to make them happy in 1987 and we made a big
mistake. Now, the Government must be able to please the
people of this country, whether Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim,
Malay or Burgher. Not India or anybody else. India will
have to be happy if the people of this country are
happy. Why must we depend on India or any other country?
It will not do for us to change our political decisions
or take our political decisions according to what India
wants. We are not against India, her people or
Government. I think they understand what we say. India
will not allow anybody to interfere in internal affairs
of her country. Why should we?
Ln: You want the APRC scrapped. Don’t
you want a political solution?
SA: We want the APRC scrapped because it is not an all
party representatives committee. The majority section of
the UNP is not there. The JVP is not there. It is
meaningless. Any solution to the national question must
not violate Rajapaksa’s 2005 mandate safeguard the
unitary state. We have a constitution. It is not a bad
constitution although various parties, including
ourselves, have reservations. We demand a full
implementation of the constitution, completely and
genuinely.
Ln: Does this include the 13th
Amendment which the JVP opposes?
SA: The creation of provincial councils has not been a
solution to the national question, is not a solution and
will never be. We are also against the executive
presidency. Other political parties may have other
concerns. But we can start a dialogue about these
problems later, after a full implementation of the
Constitution.
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Interview
