Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Kingdom and Colony: The Mythology of Race (Pre-history to 1948)
- Part II Dominion to Republic: The Politics of Language (1948–1977)
- Part III The New Monarch: Jayewardene in Control (1977–1983)
- Part IV The New Dominion: India in the Driving Seat (1983–1987)
- Part V Changing the Guard: Premadasa's Emergence (1987–1989)
- Part VI Using the Executive Presidency: Premadasa in Action (1989–1993)
- Part VII Using the Spoon: Wijetunge as President (1993–1994)
- Part VIII The Procrastination of a Princess: Kumaratunga in charge (1994–2001)
- Part IX The Baby without the Bathwater: Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister (2001–2004)
- Chapter 20 Jayewardene's Heir
- Chapter 21 The Tiger's Tail
- Part X Guarding the Change: Rajapakse's Emergence (2004–2006)
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 21 - The Tiger's Tail
from Part IX - The Baby without the Bathwater: Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister (2001–2004)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I Kingdom and Colony: The Mythology of Race (Pre-history to 1948)
- Part II Dominion to Republic: The Politics of Language (1948–1977)
- Part III The New Monarch: Jayewardene in Control (1977–1983)
- Part IV The New Dominion: India in the Driving Seat (1983–1987)
- Part V Changing the Guard: Premadasa's Emergence (1987–1989)
- Part VI Using the Executive Presidency: Premadasa in Action (1989–1993)
- Part VII Using the Spoon: Wijetunge as President (1993–1994)
- Part VIII The Procrastination of a Princess: Kumaratunga in charge (1994–2001)
- Part IX The Baby without the Bathwater: Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister (2001–2004)
- Chapter 20 Jayewardene's Heir
- Chapter 21 The Tiger's Tail
- Part X Guarding the Change: Rajapakse's Emergence (2004–2006)
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Abusing the Ceasefire
Within three months of Wickremesinghe's assuming office as Prime Minister a Ceasefire Agreement had been signed with the Tigers. For this purpose the Norwegian government had acted as facilitators, and they were now responsible for a Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to ensure that the Ceasefire was observed. Over the next couple of years the SLMM had its work cut out, with their records indicating that the Tigers had violated the Agreement on over a thousand occasions. The record of the government was substantially better.
This precision in recording suggests that the Norwegians aimed at objectivity. This was not the perception of most Sri Lankans who felt that the CFA had been designed in the interests of the Tigers. Thus they saw the LTTE taking control of the mechanisms of government in what had previously been government controlled territory, while the government had no role in the North and East in which the Tigers had held sway.
Such perceptions may not have been fair to the Norwegians. Certainly many of those involved started from an assumption that the two parties to the agreement were equal in stature; there was a tendency to assume that morally the Tigers were superior, given perceptions fuelled by Tamil refugees in Norway (politically influential) that Sri Lankan governments were majoritarian and racist. More importantly, Ranil Wickremesinghe's government expected such an approach. Wickremesinghe was determined not to rock the boat to ensure Tiger support during the interim period before he could assume Presidential powers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Declining Sri LankaTerrorism and Ethnic Conlict, the Legacy of J. R. Jayewardene, pp. 264 - 274Publisher: Foundation BooksPrint publication year: 2007