The Hindu : Campaign in Jaffna fails to reflect plurality

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

International

International

Campaign in Jaffna fails to reflect plurality

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, MARCH 22. Jaffna, the focal point of Sri Lanka's decades-long separatist conflict, is now a town under electoral siege by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). An uneasy calm spreads across the town as candidates go about seeking popular support for the April 2 Parliamentary elections. On the face of it, it appears to be electioneering as usual, but deeper within is the serious issue of the restrictive nature of the poll campaign.

Though three parties — the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) endorsed by the LTTE, an independent group led by V. Anandasangaree, the president of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and the Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP), led by Douglas Devananda — are in the fray, the visible campaigning, however, does not reflect this plurality and is largely restricted to the TNA's high profile canvassing.

"My task is going to be liberating our people from the LTTE'' says Mr. Anandasangaree co-ordinating his poll campaign from his heavily guarded office in the heart of Jaffna. Armed commandos protect the 71-year-old leader who entered Parliament in 1960. "Even if I organise a meeting, people do not come. They are scared'', he said, remaining firmly committed to his position that the LTTE cannot be the sole representatives of the Tamils. The senior-most Tamil politician, who was instrumental in carving out a separate Kilinochchi district, from where the LTTE now operates its political headquarters, said intimidation had closed "all campaign avenues'' for him.

The TNA is contesting on the twin plank that the LTTE is the sole representative of the Tamils in negotiations, which should be based on the Interim Self-Governing Authority for the North-East (ISGA) proposals submitted by the Tigers last October.

Condemning the LTTE's hold over civilians, Mr. Anandasangaree, contesting under the `padlock' symbol said: "they have no business controlling anybody.'' Through pamphlets he spreads his message that "in the last 20 years the people have lost their freedom.''

Mr. Devananda, the other political leader to dare LTTE in Jaffna, minces no words: "Even within the LTTE they are not accepted as sole representatives, so how are the people going to accept it?'' The LTTE's second plank, the ISGA proposals, he said, reflects the "vested interest'' of the Tigers and "not of the Tamil people.''

The LTTE's "double tax without service has created disenchantment'', Mr. Devananda whose party is contesting under its familiar `veena' symbol, said. In addition, "the very fact that they are seeking votes now, in contrast to a decade ago when they were opposed to elections, has dented the LTTE's image,'' he said.

Backed by the LTTE, the TNA appears more confident than the other two parties and its candidates are now seized with the task of seeking individual victories. Under Sri Lanka's proportional electoral system, every party has to offer a list of candidates for the voters to indicate their preferences for candidates from the party.

Campaign vans, each with a miniature `house' — the TNA's election symbol — perched on top of their roofs crisscross the peninsula. "It is now a race for the list,'' a prominent political leader said. "I make it a point that the north and the east cannot be separated,'' said Suresh Premachandran, the lead candidate for the TNA in Jaffna.

In Jaffna, where popular opinion is not immediately forthcoming, the general nod is for the TNA. Those who admit to vote the TNA say they want to "show Tamil solidarity.'' The publicly dissenting voices, few and careful, are equally emphatic: "it is not going to be easy for the TNA. The LTTE's taxes have become blatant. Especially after the ceasefire agreement, they are acting with impunity. I will bear it in mind when I cast my vote,'' a resident of a town near Jaffna said.

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