ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ භූමිකාව
The editorial says the JVP aims to ally with favoured SLFP figures, derail the peace process with the President’s help and use the resulting disorder to form a government it can steer, much as Sirimavo Bandaranaike and N.M. Perera did in 1964, with Mangala Samaraweera as go-between. It argues the JVP offers the SLFP little beyond votes, and warns that the power struggle may push Prabhakaran to prepare for war or to claim that only a separate state is left.
ඇවිලෙන ගින්නට පිදුරු නො දමනු
The editorial says a peaceful settlement of the ethnic conflict is essential to the survival of all communities. As a deal with the Tamil rebels takes shape, eastern Muslims fear becoming a minority under Tamil dominance. It urges Tamil leaders to allay that fear, Muslim leaders to act with patience, and opposition parties not to inflame the situation for short-term gain.
පළමුව කතා කළ යුත්තේ මොළයට නොව බඩටය
With prices soaring beyond even middle-income earners, Ivan says that however important peace is, people will not endure hunger while waiting for it. He urges the government to identify the ten or fifteen essential goods people need and keep them at subsidised prices, since peace can be won only if people are in a state to think clearly.
තහනම සාකච්ඡාවලට බාධාවක් කරගත යුතු ද?
Campaigners demanding that the LTTE ban stay in place would, the editorial argues, wreck the proposed talks and push the country back to war it cannot afford. The Tigers fought before and after the ban, which was imposed to placate the public after the attack on the Temple of the Tooth. The JVP too was once banned, and a ban lifted can easily be reimposed if the LTTE breaks its commitments.
අධිකරණය ගඳ ගැස්සවීම
A short note on Anura Bandaranaike’s meeting in London, with Nimal Siripala de Silva, with JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe to bring the JVP into the People’s Alliance. Ivan calls the two alike in everything but oratory, says Anura’s aim is to overtake Mahinda Rajapaksa as the PA’s next presidential candidate by replacing the pro-peace LSSP and Communist Party with the JVP, and ironically wishes him success.
පුදුම රටක්
A multi-part column. Ivan contrasts a poor country with rulers who bought 44 bulletproof cars at Rs 40 million each, many now missing, and spent Rs 600 million on the Sarasavi studio. Under ‘Sadism’ he reports confessions that Sanath Gunathilake ordered the bombing and burning of Anoja Weerasinghe’s house and the attack on Rookantha and Chandraleka, and describes the cover stories spread over the Rohana Kumara murder. Further sections discuss PA divisions over toppling the government and argue the domestic LTTE ban is pointless.
මැතිවරණ ප්රතිඵල වලින් පෙන්නුම් කෙරෙන දේශපාලන උපනති
Ivan analyses the local election results in the Colombo municipal area, Kesbewa, Ratnapura and Galle against the 2000 and 2001 parliamentary polls. The UNP held or gained ground while the PA’s vote collapsed by a third to over half and the JVP also fell sharply. He concludes that voters rejected the PA and JVP’s nationalist claim that the peace effort meant dividing the country, backing peace despite the soaring cost of living.
රාවය ඉදිරිය දකින ආකාරය
Answering critics who say Ravaya has gone soft on the UNF government, the paper recalls its record of opposing both UNP and PA governments. It backs curbing the President’s powers even at the cost of a distorting amendment, prosecution of those responsible for PSD crimes, including the President, and the peace effort, including lifting the LTTE ban. It lists its campaigns on the Elections Commissioner, state gifts, assets declarations, the 17th Amendment and Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, and reveals PSD plans to bomb Ravaya and kill its editor.
ප්රභාකරන් එන්න යන්නේ මොකාටද?
Ivan rejects the JVP-led reading that Prabhakaran’s press conference shows he still wants Eelam, arguing he had to address the international community, the government and his own followers at once. Facing hostile journalists was itself an achievement, and his regretful tone about past violence contrasted with the JVP’s justifications. Drawing on the JVP’s own history, the ANC and the IRA, he predicts the LTTE’s barracks culture will fade only slowly and that Prabhakaran’s real test will be governing.
අපේක්ෂා කළ හැක්කේ ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය සහිත සාමයක් නොව,සාමයක් පමණය
Ivan compares the LTTE’s entry into mainstream politics with the JVP’s. The JVP returned quietly, under another name, after military defeat; the Tigers are coming openly as an undefeated force. He expects their rule in any interim North-East administration to be authoritarian and barracks-like, argues that peace itself is the prize for the Sinhala people, that winning democratic freedom is for Tamils themselves, and that the government must guarantee the rights of Muslims and Sinhalese in the region.