Reality of Resettlement- DM Swaminathan

Saturday, 01 December 2012
Speech of Hon DM Swaminathan on Reality of Resettlement at the Parliment

Hon. Speaker,

I wish to thank you for bringing to the notice of this House, an issue that had remained unresolved for 22 long years in this country.

Hon. Speaker, at the outset I would like to stress that the problem of resettlement should no longer be a matter of concern in our country. It is our duty to bring this matter to an end. In the event of our failing in our duty in this regard foreign intervention is sure to set in even without our knowledge and nobody can stop it. An internal problem should be settled internally. We should not allow it to become a global issue.

A process should be in place for the Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese who lived in their traditional homelands in the Northern and Eastern Provinces for them to resettle themselves in their indigenous villages.

Hon. Speaker,

The Muslims who fled from their homeland are now clamouring to go back to their native soil. Some of them in their endeavour to resettle themselves amidst untold misery are anxiously awaiting a situation conducive for their livelihood. Even now you can see such displaced persons in areas like Puttalam and Nachchiyativu.

Resettlement should not be an exercise where people are hauled off and dumped in the middle of a jungle without basic amenities whatsoever. I will give examples of such instances later on.

When displaced persons are resettled basic facilities, security, sanitation, opportunities for the children’s education, means of livelihood etc. should be ensured.

Hon Speaker,

More than 1700 persons belonging to 400 families of Koppapilavu in the Mullaitivu district who were confined to the Manik Farm Camp for 3 years after the end of the war hurriedly carted down to Suriyapuram under the pretext of “resettlement”. We are personally aware of the agonizing plight in which they have been placed.

These people who are said to be resettled are experiencing tremendous hardships without an environment that is conducive for a decent living and basic facilities. They have been resettled without drinking water or toilet facilities being provided.

It has been reported that while IDPs were clearing their premises they have come across explosives. This has created fears in the minds of these people. There have been instances where even the security forces have shunned to drink the water made available for the IDPs.

These people are living among explosives and human excreta and it is unfortunate that they are compelled to keep their children within the confines of their houses.

These people have suffered enough during the time of war and thereafter in their camps. It is the duty of the government to resurrect them from their distress and create an atmosphere where they can live peacefully.

Hon. Speaker,

Closing down Manik Farm does not mean that all IDPs have been resettled. Nearly one hundred thousand people who were displaced during the last stages of the war are living with their friends and relatives and in unregistered welfare centres.

There is reason for these people to be living under these conditions. They fear that if houses are constructed in places where they are presently housed temporarily and if they are settled there permanently they would be deprived of their traditional homelands and agricultural lands. These fears have set in their minds since in certain places people are settled by force.

Hon. Speaker,

People living in Mullikulam, Mannar have been moved from there and resettled in a jungle area at Kayakkuly. People living in Valaigner Madam have been resettled in Thippili.

The main livelihood of these people is fisheries. Now they have been taken 10 Km away from the coastal belt and they are finding it difficult to engage themselves in occupation from which they earn their livelihood. Resettlement of this nature should be done away with. It is of vital importance to consider the matters that I mentioned earlier while carrying out resettlement programmes.

Hon. Speaker,

People suffered desolation for three decades of war. They lost all their belongings which they collected with their hard earned money; scores of lives and limbs were lost; people were deprived of their occupation; they suffered starvation, pain of mind and body. Now it is only their lives that have been spared. At this stage their aspiration is only to return to their native soil. I appeal to the Hon. Speaker to help make their dream a reality without allowing it to shattered.

I hope you are aware that the United Nations Human Rights Co-ordinator for Sri Lanka expressed concern that displaced persons are not in a position to return to their native places even though the camps are closed down.

Our people do not want “Lamborgini” luxury cars. What they want is their own land. “Never mind the government’s unwillingness to provide us with basic facilities. All we want is be settled in our own areas and that we will look after ourselves” They bemoaned.

Hon. Speaker,

I wish to bring a few unpleasant happenings in Omanthai, Vanni recently. On the 19th morning “Kibeer” planes were flying low at Mullaitivu with a terrific noise and the students who were on their way to school had to abandon their cycles on the road and hide themselves under the trees. The public were fleeing to safer places. Students who were in school had to take cover under the tables for safety.

On Deepavali day too the “Kibeer” planes were flying low sending waves of fear across the minds of the people. I appeal that the repetition of this incident should not occur.

Hon. Speaker,

The education of some children in the Vanni district has been hampered and an unfortunate situation prevails where the children have to continue their education under shades of trees. Issues with regard to the education of children in the Vanni district should be addressed forthwith.

I wish to bring another vital issue to your kind notice.

The Security Forces are now vehemently engaged in setting up a new military camp on a stretch of land with an extent of 8600 acres near Veddukkulam, Velanai on Jaffna-Kayts main road.

People are perturbed over the new army camps being set up on the lands belonging to the abandoned Sinhala Maha Vidyalayas in the Jaffna Town and the adjoining areas of Vadamaratchi and Vallai.

Although the government claims to have curbed the presence of the armed forces and that there are only 15000 members of the security forces in Jaffna Peninsula, reports say that there is yet another cadre of 45,000.

Besides that the army is in occupation of a 2282 acre land belonging to the people in the Koppapilavu area and the officers are compelling the people to hand over to them the permits in respect of such lands

There is no doubt that the setting up of new army camps and the fear of the “Kabir” planes will make our children mentally deranged.

All what we want is to see that the Tamils are allowed to live freely and independently without the harassment of the armed forces. This does not mean that we expect the armed forces to be removed completely from there.

Hon. Speaker,

It was reported in this House last week that an alarming number of 65,000 persons are mentally depressed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. I wish to draw the attention of this House to the fact that in Vanni alone there are some 15,000 students who are mentally affected.

Young men and women who have been rehabilitated and brought into the mainstream of the society are suddenly taken into custody and detained by the armed forces for inquiries as a result of which they are unable to carry on with their occupation. Even the employers are reluctant to offer jobs to these young men and women fearing that they too might be taken in for questioning.

Hon. Speaker,

Hon. Minister Susil Premjayantha stated in this House that displaced Tamils do not extend their co-operation to build up the North. I would like to stress on point here. The government often charges that liberation tigers are operating on the international level. At the backdrop of this accusation displaced persons fear to return to Sri Lanka.

Some Tamil youths coming from the European countries to visit their relatives are taken into custody at the Airport for enquiries. Under these circumstances how can one expect the displaced persons to return to their country. The government should dispel fears and display enduring and firm confidence towards these displaced persons.

The predicament of the Tamil political prisoners languishing in detention camps for several years without any charge being made against them or investigations being conducted too should be addressed. The government should take steps to release them forthwith in the same manner in which Kumaran Pathmanathan who was identified by the government as being in charge of procuring weapons in the international arena for the LTTE was absolved of all accusations and allowed to walk away scot-free.

Recently Tamil prisoners in the Vavuniya prison were brutally assaulted and were transferred to Anuradhapura prison where Nimalaruban and Dilrukshan who were in a state of coma eventually succumbed to their injuries in vain.

Why are they still detained when it is three years since the war is over and the State having given an assurance that there is no more terrorist threats in the country.

In the North an enormous number of women have been thrust into a quandary leaving them to wonder whether their husbands are dead or alive.

Hon. Speaker,

A census of children who have become disabled and orphans having lost both their parents due to the war is of an utmost importance.

People in the Northern and Eastern Provinces have become panicky and riddled about their future when they see Lord Buddha’s statues being erected all of a sudden in several places in the traditional homelands of the Tamils.

Hon. Speaker,

We vehemently condemn the incident that took place in the Jaffna University Campus where T. Premananth, Editor of “Udayan” who called at the Campus to cover incidents taking place there was mercilessly attacked and the beating on comrade E. Saravanabawan, Member of Parliament who went there to witness the incident.

The Army has no right whatsoever to manhandle media personnel who have the right to publish the views of their people or the people’s representatives who are elected by the people.

Prior to this too there had been several instances where media men who carry out their duties unreservedly in Jaffna had been threatened and media organizations attacked.

Despite the government’s reassurance that media freedom would be safeguarded, the media freedom, particularly in Jaffna is deplorably non-existent. The government is answerable to this situation.

The government should also reveal as to who gave the authority to the Forces to perpetrate attacks on Members of Parliament and journalists.

Those who are responsible for these ruthless assaults on journalists and Members of Parliament should be brought before the law and appropriately dealt with.

The government will have to face grave consequences if such unfortunate happenings are not stopped forthwith.

I conclude with an appeal to put an end to such catastrophe.

Legal Types Smell Blood: Mursi’s And Rajapakse’s

By Kumar David -December 1, 2012 

Prof Kumar David

Legal types smell blood: Mursi’s and Rajapakse’s: Purblind Executive Presidents

Pakistan’s President Mushaaraf suffered shipwreck when he dismissed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry unconstitutionally. The mobilisation the judiciary and lawyers lit-up, roused society at large as the public, anywhere, become agitated when it fears fair dispensation of justice is imperilled. It took a year or two to get to the grill, but once the fire was ablaze, Mushaaraf was fried bacon. Last week in this column I drew attention to the publicity coup President Mursi pulled off by leadership in crafting the Gaza ceasefire, and expressed the hope that he would use the prestige to sort out Egypt’s messy internal problems. The anxieties that have pushed him into recent controversial actions are concerns that I share; but he has been brash. This folly will cost him face; already by conceding, within a week, that his decree is “only temporary”, he has been compelled to climb down. Still Mursi, unlike his local counterpart, has flexibility and sense.

No meliorating concession can be granted to the Lankan regime and the nasty slap it landed on the face of the judiciary; it’s a Machiavellian power grab to subvert the division of powers and whip the judiciary into subordination. In its folly, the regime picked the very moment when its position is at a nadir, to start the witch-hunt. I have been saying for weeks that the fourth quarter of 2012 is the turning point of Rajapakse’s fortunes, the juncture at which decline and fall commenced. The CJ-issue may not be Waterloo, the final denouement; but it is Stalingrad, the twist in the road after which it will be retreat, all the way to a shrouded bunker.

Unlike the Lankan witch-hunt, sponsored by a 113 strong lynch-mob, in fealty to an overlord who tells it when to whistle and when to whip, when to sign a blank sheet and when to mount bogus charges, in Egypt there is an ongoing struggle on the streets. The revolution is not complete; the powers behind the old regime have not been vanquished; they lurk and they threaten the gains of the revolution. The poor political acumen, of Muslim Brotherhood and secular revolutionaries alike, has split the popular movement just when unity is most needed to flush out reactionary residues.

Action and reaction                                 Read More

Loony bin Ranil is now a Rajapakse crony - an MPs post can be annulled by Parliament or SC?
(Lanka-e-News -30.Nov.2012, 3.30PM) While protests are raging and opposition is mounting Island wide mercurially against the impeachment motion of despotism headed MaRa , the statement made by the opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday (29) giving clandestine , slimy and servile support to the MaRa Govt. pertaining to the Supreme court (SC) notice issued to the special select Committee members, had been frowned upon by one and all and deemed as another of the latest back play treachery of Ranil Wickremesinghe who has built an unsavory reputation on his skills over the years in his favorite back zone game. 

“When the question of parliamentary privilege issue was taken up today in regard to the SC notice ,Ranil made his repugnant and reprehensible enunciations despite being an opposition leader to the dismay and rude shock of all. He went on to say , in some areas , the 1978 constitution of JR Jayawardena and that of Dr. Colvin R De Silva in 1972 were in concurrence., and that the view expressed in Parliament originated in the British Parliament. I am unable to see three pillars in the constitution. There is only one pillar , that is the sovereignty of the people. To ensure this sovereignty there are five avenues to strengthen this. They are : the people’s executive power , the constitutional power , the judicial power , the people’s fundamental rights and people’s right of franchise. 

What prevails here is not the Montesque theory. The Select Committee has no judicial powers. Everyone who comes here has an opportunity. Simply because we are summoned we don’t become wrongdoers. That must be decided only after duly inquiring and we must be given time. The impeachment motion is an integral part within the constitution. How that should be implemented has to be decided by you. It is the entire Assembly that implements the judicial power .The people’s judicial power is with the Parliament. The Queen vs Liyanage case made a determination on this. Our powers have to be decided by ourselves. We must follow the decision taken by Anura Bandaranaike and implement it. This is the law. We must give time to her. We must probe how we can resolve this without creating a conflict between the judiciary and the legislature. The independence of the judiciary must be safeguarded on the one hand , and the Parliament powers shall also be protected on the other, Ranil declared.
. Full story >>

The Budget and Proletarians WEDNESDAY, 28 NOVEMBER 2012 This budget has hit the root of the proletariat. Not only the wage increase is totally insufficient to balance the heavy price increase but also the terrible rise in goods and services tax has created a near unbearable situation. Day by day they see the effect of this terrible situation. Even the professionals, who had a reasonable existence, now are desperate to balance their domestic budget. The government has bridged the budget  by making it impossible for people to make ends meet. We hear this complain every where we go. In roads, buses, post offices, markets, where ever people gather strangers start talking to each other like good old friends, on this subject. It has become an opening for making friends! So many jokes and yarns are spun to arrest the pain of rising prices. In fact presently the most popular thing to do is to crack jokes at rising prices. Can these humorous remarks be a beginning of mass agitation as it happened in several countries in the Middle East? But in such countries, we are told that there were no political parties and the rulers were not answerable to the parliament or the media. However does that matter so much when the Parliament is bound by throttling amendments such as 18th amendment to our Constitution. On the other hand corruption is so high and the election law is so contradictory we find that the 2/3 power in the Parliament can be fixed by the sitting president. It is possible to offer portfolios or direct bribes in kind, vehicles , development projects, welfare funds etc. and that can be used to build a 2/3 majority in the Parliament. Further more those who are accused of corruption and criminal activities could be attracted to the government side by getting them relief through political power. This means that the judiciary could be subservient to the politicians. Already people mention in close discussions names of engineers, civil servants and doctors who have got into sudden alliances with the regime in order to get undue promotions and positions. However, now trade union leaders and mass action oriented peasant or fisher-leaders do come for opposition meetings. Still, the masses are not ready to come out and clash with the regime. Probably because of mass hysteria surrounding military achievements of Mahinda regime the rank and file workers are scared to come out. On the other hand Mahinda has a history of mass action when he was in the opposition and maybe masses are unable to forget the image he created in their minds. I  remember in1992; we were campaigning against state terror aimed at suspected JVP rebels, while at the same time we protected our selves from rebel attacks.  We were protesting against abductions and lawless killings, since early 1989. On July 01, 1992 we organized a Janagosa with Mahinda and others. In Kandy with other Sama Samajists I led a procession of about 500, largely parents and family members of the disappeared. Eight of us were taken into custody by the Kandy police. One of them was Upali Lewliyadde, then a police officer assigned to me for protection against Sinhala chauvinist killers! Such incidents took place throughout the country. Mahinda established his image as an action man for the oppressed from such events. It will take more time for the people to see the transformation of Mahinda. One important task today is to get the people to participate in discussions. It is necessary to understand the real nature of the Mahinda regime. It has become an oppressive agency of global capital. The so-called war for liberation completely turned the tables. It was not a war against an organised military intervention of alien power, though that was how the government leaders explained. Later it goes to the extent of stressing that the Tamil rebellion was planted in our soil by western powers. Imperialism wanted to undermine the popular front rule hence they designed this horrible terrorist intervention here! However what took place is clear and more and more evidence emerge to consolidate the truth.  The main power behind their struggle was anger against national oppression. Mahinda aligned with India and global powers to crush this local rebellion and with that, enslaved himself to those powers. That is how the action man in the streets became an oppressor of the masses.

Paramilitary allegedly backed by India effects arrest of Jaffna University students

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 December 2012, 12:07 GMT]
In a revealing turn of affairs following the Heroes Day incidents at the university of Jaffna, four Jaffna University student representatives were detained by occupying Sri Lanka’s police, based on a complaint made against seven students by a newly created paramilitary, called Sri TELO that is operating along with the SL military. The paramilitary, consisting of some Tamils recently brought from camps in India and allegedly backed by New Delhi, hurriedly opened an office adjacent to the university campus a week ago and lodged a complaint with the SL police at Koappaay that the named university students had engaged in throwing petrol bombs at its office on Thursday 3:30 a.m. According to unconfirmed reports, the paramilitary functioned with the SL forces in entering the hostels and in the attack on students. 

Neighbours of the paramilitary office say that they have not heard any bomb blast. 

The paramilitary tried to publish the news in local print and electronic media, but except one or two no one accepted the story. 

In the current circumstances, no one could throw a petrol bomb in the university neighbourhood highly guarded by the SL forces, media sources said.

Five of the students who were named by the paramilitary come from outer districts and they had gone to their places well before the alleged incident. Some of them were past student leaders who had left the university a year ago. 

The story was fabricated to drag the university student representatives leading a peaceful struggle into mischievous cases, tarnish the image of the struggle of the university students and to ultimately silence them, the news sources further said. 

Following summons from the SL police, the Jaffna University administration headed by acting Vice Chancellor Prof Vel Nampi produced two students before the SL police at Koappaay on Friday morning. University faculty members, including the law faculty lecturer Mr. Kuruparan Kumaravadivel accompanied the students.

The other two students were arrested at their houses.

The students were questioned for the whole day at the police station. The questions were not on the ‘petrol bomb’ but on knowing whether there were any background forces for the Heroes Day observations of the university students.

The arrested students are Shanmugan Solomon, Kanagasabapathi Jenamejayan, Paramalingam Dharshanath and Ganeshamoorthi Sudarshan. Dharshanath is the secretary of the student association, who has been subjected to targeted attacks earlier by the SL military operated squads. 

University Teachers Association (UTA) protesting Friday against the attack and harassments against the students.

The faculty members who accompanied the students requested their release, but the SL police wanted to detain them and produce them in the court.

The four students are detained under ‘terrorism’ charges and would be taken outside of Jaffna for further ‘investigations’, news sources said. 

The Jaffna University teachers staged a half-day token strike protesting the arrest of the student representatives.

* * * The so-called SRI-TELO is claimed to be a group of people who had come out of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and had started the group in the name of its slain leader, Mr Sri Sabaratnam.

But TELO’s current political organiser and former TNA parliamentarian Mr. Sivajilingam refutes the claim. These people don’t know who was Sri Sabaratnam at all, Sivajilingam commented.

A person called Uthayan operating from Colombo coordinates SRI-TELO.

Its Jaffna co-ordinator is one called Senthooran, who claims himself a journalist. He was not connected to any media at any time, say local journalists.

Posing himself a journalist Senthooran is engaged in collecting intelligence for the SL forces. He was collecting intelligence inside the university campus too. At a time when the SL military and its own intelligence were unable to handle the unfolding situation, the new paramilitary has been deployed to help them, news sources said.

Senthooran was found with the SL forces on Tuesday and Wednesday in identifying student activists and in helping the SL forces in capturing them, the news sources further said.

According to informed sources, SRI-TELO is made out of people brought from camps in India.

Sri Sabaratnam’s TELO was known for its affinities with New Delhi’s intelligence. Sri Sabaratnam was assassinated by the LTTE in 1985.

New Delhi’s complicity in the Vanni War and continued military assistance to genocidal Sri Lanka are not secrets.

Oppression against Jaffna University uprising and its democratic remembrance of heroes is getting deeper and deeper, political observers in Jaffna said.

Occupying SL military banning even routine religious rituals and toll of bells in the temples started on the first post-Mu’l’livaaykkaal Heroes Day in November 2009, when New Delhi’s Minister of External Affairs, S.M. Krishna, visited Jaffna. 

Meanwhile, the wording of the press release of ‘concern’ by the US embassy in Colombo, pushing back the main issue to become secondary, is nothing but a subtle insult to injury aimed at the students paying homage to the heroes, political activists in Jaffna said.

State control blessed by global capitalism

Saturday, 01. December 2012 

The government kicked out Geethanjana Gunawardena, and in his place Senior Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama was appointed as Deputy Finance Minister from November 1. However, it is claimed that Sarath Amunugama, for some years, has been considered as an incompetent minister. This new position was given to Sarath Amunugama in addition to the senior minister post he holds. Mahinda Rajapaksa wanted to keep many important sections of the economy under the state. That is why he was eager to keep Geethanjana Gunawardena as the deputy in the Finance Ministry. Gunawardena, like so many so-called socialists, supported the expansion of the state sector in the economy. It is ridiculous to find that some socialists bluntly assume state takeover is progressive even if the state is undemocratic and full of corruption. In fact, in many such cases, the purpose of the takeover is to plunder resources by the elite who are in control of the state. In Sri Lanka today, the Rajapaksa’s make up one of the most powerful families. Led by Mahinda, many members of the family occupy senior positions in the Lankan state. It is claimed that the family controls around 70% of the national budget. The five main ministries controlled by Mahinda and his brother Basil are to consume nearly 45 per cent of the total 2013 budget. A sum of Rs604.8 billion has been allocated for five ministries coming under the president and his brother. Estimated government expenditure for 2013 is Rs 2.52 trillion. According to the 2013 Appropriation Bill presented in parliament recently, the President’s Office has been allocated a sum of over Rs7.4 billion next year. Accordingly, the day’s expenditure of the President’s Office will be around Rs. 20 million per day. The Ministry of Defence and Urban Development headed by the president and handled by his brother and secretary Gotabaya has been allocated nearly Rs290 billion, the single highest allocation in the November 8 budget. The Ministry of Highways has been allocated Rs131.61billion while a sum of Rs87.46 billion was given to the Ministry of Finance and Planning. The Ministry of Economic Development coming under Basil Rajapaksa is allocated Rs88.9 billion.

Hideous, undemocratic control

However, in spite of this hideous, undemocratic control exerted by Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers, so called communists and Sama Samajists in the government blindly believe this concentration of economic power is progressive. Can any socio-economic model based on an undemocratic and chauvinist state-power bring sustained and equitable development to a society? Without taking into consideration the life of the people one cannot make an estimate of development. If not, what do we mean by development? Any expansion of buildings, machines, airports and highways do not add up to development unless the pattern of the peoples’ lives has improved with democratic participation in decision making.
The government’s high level representatives have commented that Sarath Amunugama was given the Deputy Finance Minister position to rescue Sri Lanka from economic crisis. However, critiques state the sudden appointment given to Sarath Amunugama as Deputy Finance Minister is to obtain foreign finances. Amunugama claimed once that in Lanka, education and health facilities are provided free to the people while transport has been largely subsidised. The fertiliser subsidy has helped bring down the prices of rice and various other products. They are huge investments. Hence, he argued that when the people demand salary increases, they tend to forget what is given to them free by the government. According to him, a salaried person in Lanka does not realise that he is actually getting more than double his salary as he does not pay for his children’s education and healthcare. He also benefits by subsidised transport and electricity.
Dr. Amunugama exposed his loyalty to global powers when he said, “We have to think of market economy models irrespective of the label it carries and maintain financial discipline. It is good for a country to have surveillance by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). There are criticisms made on the US economy by the IMF on the basis of certain criteria. Today, we have a global economy. We should have an institution which will maintain surveillance and see that the failure of one country will not lead to the collapse of the system.” 
Clearly the state control by the Mahinda regime is backed by the so-called liberal states of global capitalism. Very correctly they are interested in development projects and not in human development.

Catalonia And Eelam: Any Parallels?

By Kumar David -December 1, 2012 

Prof Kumar David

Confusing mixed signals from Catalan elections: Cataloniaand Eelam: Any parallels?

Catalonia held provincial elections on Sunday (25) at which the main issue was whether a referendum should be held within a few years to test if it should be independent from Spain and aspire for EU status as a separate nation. There are few parallels with a hypothetical Eelam scenario but secession issues anywhere in the world put everyone, on all sides, on the alert. Hence I will present here an analysis of the outcome and draw, but not overdraw parallels and anti-parallels with the Eelam hypothesis; more in respect of processes than outcomes.

The number one difference of course is that there has been no civil war and no recitation of mutual hatred between Catalans and other Spanish nationalities – pretty civilised chaps on both sides – and no ugly experience of terrorism, state or extremist sponsored. The election and campaigns were fair and peaceful with no rigging – another big difference! The issues were widely canvassed and debated; a very high turnout (for Catalonia) 70%, proves it. (Readers unfamiliar with Spanish politics may like to know that the armed separatist movement is elsewhere, the Basque Provinces).

The provincial elections were called two years early by the Catalan Provincial Prime Minister, Artur Mas, leader of the largest party in the assembly, the Catalan Convergence & Unity Party (CIU) since he calculated that anger with Madrid was high, mainly for economic reasons, and felt a “Give me a mandate to call a separatist referendum” slogan, would be a winner. CIU is centre-right and has acquiesced in EU dictated austerity policies implemented by Spanish Prime Minister Mr Rajoy and his Peoples’ Party heading the national government inMadrid.

Catalan train runs off the rails

Mr Mas’s gamble misfired; to some extent at least. The number of seats for his CIU party fell from 62 to 50 in the 135 member state assembly, denying him the decisive pro referendum majority he was seeking. But there is a twist in the tail. The more radically separatist, but leftwing, Nationalist Republican Left Party (ERC) took all the gains of CIU’s slippage, raising its number from 10 to 21. Two separatist parties also collected about a dozen between them. Hence four pro-referendum parties have between them secured nearly two-thirds of all seats. But they span the spectrum from left to right, and it remains to be seen if they can get together on a separatist agenda while clinging to widely different social and economic programmes. Mr Mas is weakened, and cannot lead a concerted drive for a referendum or for separation.

Two national parties also ran in the provincial poll; the Socialist Party won 20 seats and the prime ministers Peoples’ Party 19. As in India,Scotland,Italy and even Germany(Bavaria), regional parties are gaining clout in some parts of Spain. This is a new trend in parts of the world and whether the Catalan outcome will dampen or strengthen separatist sentiment in Scotland is hard to tell. Fortunately, in the UK, as in Spain, it will be tested in a civilised manner.

If the Rajapakses ever allow free and fair NP-PC elections – don’t hold your breadth – will an equally complex chutney of pro and anti devolution forces, and left and right parties, surface? (The TNA emerging the biggest, like the CIU). I think not; TNA dominance will be pronounced. The military jackboot and the Colombo regime’s daily repression have focussed Tamil support around their principal instrument, the TNA, and shut out space and light for other options to blossom.

The principal problem in Catalonia is more economics than identity; Catalans too speak Spanish, are Catholics and share the same cultural heritage.Catalonia(capital Barcelona, of F.C. Barcelona football fame) is half the size of Lanka, has a population of 7.5 million and produces a fifth ($320 billion compared to Lanka’s $60 billion) of Spain’s GDP. What has intensified anger is that Catalonia pays more to Madrid($21 billion in taxes and revenues) than it receives back in internal transfers as benefits. In austerity lashed Europe, in fiscally drowning Spain, Catalan anger about the economy is evident. But anger flowing from economic concerns does not run historically deep; it is unlike identity, which goes all the way back to the mists of time. What if the economy booms again (though that is very unlikely in the midst of a global and European New Depression)?

Mr Mas proclaims “I will consult the people within the next four years” (his term of office), but the outcome of his consultation will be inconclusive. Most people, except ERC supporters, seem undecided, whichever way they voted last week. The sentiment of the majority is no more extreme than the remark of a roadside TV interviewee: “I think we will be better off as a member of the EU than aprovince of Spain”. The contingent further consideration is that IMF and EU conditions are likely to make yearning for EU membership a red herring. Already there is talk in other parts of Spain of shunning Catalan products, and nervous capitalists are looking for ways to pull out.

Democratic versus authoritarian state power

The chief difference between the Catalan and the Scottish experiences on the one hand, and what Lanka has been through over decades, is the distinction between a democratic and a non-democratic state. The former two did not descend into terrorism and civil war because the structures of the state are democratic (in Spain after Franco) and there has been order and regularity in the consultation processes. There will be minimal disruption in transition if it ever comes to separation. Lanka was denied this option by a Sinhala-Buddhiststructure of state power that rose to the helm in the initial post independence decades, and which of itself laid the foundations for an Authoritarian state which was consolidated through the recent racist civil war. This in turn evoked its Doppelganger on the Tamil side, and LTTE terrorism rose and flourished, side by side with state terrorism.

We are now at the doorstep of the next menace in this unfolding; the Rajapakse agenda to lay the foundations of an autocratic Corporatist State. It is still moderately early days and the juggernaut can be pushed back; defeating the witch-hunt of the Chief Justice will be a useful step in toppling the rollercoaster to authoritarianism. I have written about these matters in these columns previously and will close by saying how this impacts on the subject of this piece. The principal comment I offer is that there is a deep anti-parallel between Catalan and Eelam experiences which lies in process, not in ideology, ethnicity or historical identity. If Corporatism, god forbid, succeeds in subduing Lanka, unstoppable separatisms will revive among minorities, mainly Tamils. Soon this will embroil India.