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| Danger! JVP is arming again |
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 (Lanka-e-News, 2008 March 13, 5.15 PM) JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said recently, "JVP will fight to the fall of last member if the Provincial Councils that lead the country towards separatism will be brought back. The Provincial Councils that are to be brought to North and East are not the same Provincial Councils that are in South. They will have land and police powers. More powers will be vested to raise foreign funds. We will fight against them."
JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe too said recently that JVP would lead a boycott of Indian goods again if Provincial Councils would be introduced to North and East.
We base on these two statements to expose the latest drama JVP is rehearsing to perform.
Tilvin Silva's statement is an utter lie. Actually, there is nothing to 'be brought back' in Provincial Councils. They are legal in accordance with the 13th amendment of the constitution. All Provincial Councils have land and police powers. Land powers are again tied to the central government through a parallel list. Provincial Councils will easily obtain the police powers when the Police Commission is set up under the 17th amendment to the constitution.
"Powers will be vested to raise foreign funds" is also not true. Provincial Councils have no such powers although Pradeshiya Sabhas have them. If so, Pradeshiya Sabhas too have to be dissolved. We think that there is more than Tilvin Silva's supposition that the people are stupid like him and we hope to reveal that.
Can JVP oppose Provincial Councils? They are still enjoying the privileges of Provincial Councils. On the other hand, the Provincial Councils are a part of the constitution. JVP MPs and then Ministers swore in to safeguard this constitution. Then they must first resign from their parliamentary seats to protest. (They may resign after the due period for the MP's pension scheme is completed. The JVP MPs that came into parliament in 2004 are eligible for pensions after 2009. They have to pass one more year.)
Why is JVP taking this decision knowing very well that their anti Provincial Council protests are hollow? We have to study it. It is not a sheer antic but one tied with dangerous results.
JVP too is fighting for state power from its inception as the LTTE is fighting for a separate state. Such organizations do not bow to objective realities when thriving to achieve their targets. They can create the necessary objective situations artificially. They paid excessive prices from their lives when their attempts failed. Yet they cannot be stopped.
Even today, the JVP is doing the same. We can consider the 1988-89 period as an example. This writer personally bears responsibility on these facts revealed for the first time to media.
Wijeweera came to the decision of arming for the second time with the defeat of the 1982 Presidential election. The last two JVP campaign meetings were held in Kosgashandiya and Homagama. Presidential candidate Rohana Wijeweera was the key orator in both of the meetings. The writer met Wijeweera and his group of campaigners that went round the country with him in the evening after the meetings.
When the others enquired about Wijeweera's estimate of votes that can be received at the election, he replied, "Honestly, I expect 600,000 votes." However, the party has told to their members that they would obtain a million votes. As far as my understanding, Wijeweera was honest in his estimation. Kirama Piyadasa Ranasinghe, who was then party internal Secretary and the Financial Secretary while being in the politburo undercover also approved the JVP leader's estimate.
JVP obtained sheer 273,000 votes at the Presidential held a few days later. It was 50% short of the JVP's target.
The context prompted JVP to look for 'short cuts' to power. Few months later, an 'underground Youth Wing’ was commenced with the members who were not in open politics. When JVP was proscribed in 1983, there were around 100 such 'secret' members of JVP only in Colombo district. They had participated in JVP 'education camps', a qualification of a good JVP cadre in its tradition.
President J.R. Jayawardhana banned three political parties including JVP in 1983 accusing they were involved in anti-Tamil riots. All the banned parties had no connivance with riots and the party leaders sans JVP hierarchy went to courts to get their ban removed. JVP need no such scheme since the ban was a blessing for their plans.
Two weeks after the proscription, this writer met the second in JVP hierarchy Piyadasa Ranasinghe (Gamanayaka was not the second according to party structure). He said that this proscription was a serious error made by J. R. Jayawardhana. He further said that the context would change and the party would come to democratic politics again.
But Wijeweera was ardent in his view that the party should go underground. This idea split the party hierarchy and JVP leaders such as Lionel Bopage, Thennakoon, and Daya Wanniarachchi resigned from the party.
Members of JVP secret politburo namely Piyadasa Ranasinghe and Sumith Athukorala sided with Wijeweera though with criticism while Rathnayaka resigned. Many of these people are now not alive. However, the few still living may prove this argument.
Current JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe was never in Wijeweera's politburo. Wijeweera had understood that he was a minor in politics. He was an old joker in the Central Committee holding the post of Kaluthara District Secretary of JVP. Current hero Weerawansa once admitted that he had never seen Wijeweera. Tilwin Silva was then robbing petrol sheds.
Another article is needed to describe the JVP's conduct in the second armed insurrection that was launched without objective conditions. It ended in a massive wave of killings. Wijeweera and a vast majority of the membership had to pay the price with their lives. It is not a scenario to marvel because it was mandatory.
We revealed this chapter of JVP history to aware the readers about the latest drama JVP is rehearsing to perform.
JVP is facing the same crisis today. JVP labored immensely to usher Mahinda Rajapakse to power. It was in an overestimation of their strength and contested the following local government election separately. Despite all their boasting, JVP accounted mere 8% of the total votes.
This reminds and ancient story of a mule that went with a king. The mule misunderstood that the people's honor was to him and went alone expecting same but was stoned to death by men.
JVP that realized that it would never obtain more than 8% votes in future, decided to seek 'short cuts' to power. That is arming again.
We expose very responsibly that the JVP has already held two arms training camps in a secret location in Puttalam district. JVP did not allow the police to search Maharagama party office in a cordon and search in the area to avoid arms being caught. The search was postponed to the following day with the use of parliamentary privileges and the 'stock of arms' was shifted to Madiwela MP housing scheme in two MP vehicles. We do not know what happened to them after that.
JVP always maintained separate public and underground party structures. Even today, the actual JVP leader is not Somawansa Amarasinghe, but 'Kumara Mahaththaya,' a Tamil - Sinhala mixed ethnic and the brother of Ayurvedic medicine student Ranjitham Gunarathnam who was killed during the 1988-89 era.
The majority of the JVP MPs are mere puppets of the party. They do not have any power in the party. Party is run by internal cadres. On the other hand, three JVP military leaders have now been freed after they spent their 20-year indictments.
Like in 1983, the JVP politburo split due to the decision to arm for the third time. Nandana Gunathilaka's resignation and Sunil Handunneththi's house arrest were the results of it. Old killers have again consolidated power in the central committee and the politburo.
JVP is spreading anti Provincial Council and anti Indian ideology since they cannot openly say that they will come to power through bullet due to failure to do so through ballot.
We have experiences on the JVP's anti Indian campaign. JVP did not fight with at least one Indian soldier. Instead, they labeled the leftist intellectuals and artists as traitors and killed them.
Somawansa emphasized a similar strategy recently. He said that not only the separatism, but also those who support separatism should be defeated.
That statement polishes the old killing license again.
We expose all these facts to aware the people and the lower strata of JVP cadre about the impending danger. We insist that the upcoming threat can be defeated only through exposure and not by keeping the mouths shut.
--by
--Vimal Dheerasekara-- |
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