Sri Lanka has often been described as a pearl in the Indian Ocean. It is not merely because of the striking resemblance of the physical shape of the island state with a pearl, but varied qualities of life it provides, rather provided, to people and visitors. That is why many from the West, including the celebrated science fiction writer Arthur Clark, decided to make Sri Lanka his retirement home. I was most impressed and highly pleased with Sri Lanka, my first of the six resident Ambassadorial assignments, in 1978. The Tamil Lankan problems had already started brewing by then. It may be noted that the Tamils, who are almost entirely Hindus, constitute 18 per cent of the total population of Sri Lanka. Yet, with the exception of the plantation workers imported about a century and half ago from South India to work in tea gardens they had wielded enormous and much more proportionate influence in the Sri Lankan society in earlier days.

After gaining Independence from the British in 1948, the mainstream Sinhalese community, who are mostly Buddhists, assumed political power started discriminating against and suppressing the Tamil Community directly and indirectly. Consequently, a large section of the affluent Tamils emigrated from Sri Lanka to the West and another impoverished section sought refuse in India. Among those who remained in the country many lived in distrust and fear. The Jaffna peninsula and the north-eastern area of Sri Lanka, with overwhelming Tamil population, have been both impassable and volatile. There the Tamils rose in rebellion in 1983 under the heroic but cruel leadership of Veluppillai Prabhakaran. The Sri Lankan government with all its might could not cow down the elusive leaders of the guerilla warfare during the past two decades. The rebels controlled their area of occupation almost to the total exclusion of the writ of the Central government.

It was only after the parliamentary victory of the United Nationalist Front led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in December 2001 that the peace process resumed and a temporary ceasefire was agreed upon. At the behest of the government of Norway, who had similar expertise and experience in the Arab-Israeli dispute, further negotiations took place and a formal agreement on ceasefire was concluded between the rebels and the government in February 2002. That ceasefire, by and large, is holding good till at present. During this two-year period of "no peace no war" situation a series of formal sessions of Peace Talks took place between the rebel leaders and representatives of Wicremesinghe's government. The first such session was held in Thailand, which hosted a couple of other sessions too. The most remarkable achievement of one of these sessions was renunciation of the rebel's demand for complete independence in favour of securing total autonomy. In the Oslo round of the talks the two parties agreed to work for a Federal structure of the future government.

One of the sessions held in Japan and attended by the donors also decided to grant funds for post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation of Sri Lanka to the tune of $ 1.6 billion to be kept in the custody of the World Bank. But the condition of restoring political stability needs to be fulfilled first. The Washington round of Peace Talks took place without the attendance of rebel representatives. It was as though enacting the play of Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. The United States, it transpired, did not allow representatives of the terrorists within its territory. As a result, the rebels boycotted the peace talks subsequently held in Japan. The Norwegians and the donor countries, however, remained ever ready to take any step that furthered the pence process. It was, however, remarkable that the people of the war-ravaged island, or part of the island, enjoyed a degree of peace and tranquility during the past two years because of the ceasefire.

Then came the bombshell. During the American tour of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe President Chandrika B. Kumaratunga, whose Sri Lanka Freedom Party failed to win the 2001 parliamentary election, suspended the Parliament, dismissed Ministers of Defense, Interior and Information, declared a state of emergency and assumed responsibilities of the Security Forces herself. The Prime Minister, who was then meeting George W. Bush, on the other hand, obtained endorsement of the American President on the conduct and progress of the Sri Lankan peace process. The Prime Minister is known to be popular and received a hero's welcome on his return home. The President lifted the State of Emergency but retained all other changes. It may be recalled that the Sri Lankan history witnessed evolution of a two-party system under which the SLFP and the UNF almost alternately won parliamentary elections. Elections in Sri Lanka were generally free, fair and impartial which I myself experienced as an international observer during the parliamentary election of 1994.

The Prime Minister met the President and demanded restitution of the posts with their incumbents. The President is of the opinion that during the past negotiations the government side yielded too many concessions to the rebels and that the Prime Minister had not kept the President well informed of the progress of the negotiations. The Prime Minister agreed to keep the President abreast with the negotiations, but insisted that he must be allowed full control of the security forces and the media in the interest of smooth progress of the negotiations. Otherwise, he suggested the President should undertake the responsibility of conducting negotiations herself or by her office. The President's office also questioned the legal and constitutional validity of the cease-fire agreement. The Norwegians have a specific role to play as "Facilitators" between the Sri Lankan government and the rebel group, but has nothing to do in determination of who would represent the Sri Lankan government. But they and the international community appear to feel the peace process will have much less chance of a success, if the President or her men are to lead the Sri Lankan side.

The Sri Lankan constitution envisages and Executive President, who reposes in himself or herself vast authority. President can dismiss Prime Minister, Ministers and dissolve the Parliament. He or she acts as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and declares war, concludes peace and grants reprieve. The President enjoys all privileges and immunities for official and personal acts during the tenure of his or her office. The constitutional authority has thus emboldened the President, but the popular support has generated great confidence in the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister appears confident that with a possible dissolution of the parliament, his party was sure to win the election that must ensue. The Parliament, however, has not been dissolved but suspended for a limited period so as to place and pass the budget. The Prime Minister, on the other hand, does not enjoy votes of the two-thirds majority of members of the Parliament with a view to table a proceedings of impeachment of President. Under these circumstances, the developments on negotiations between the President and the Prime Minister are most crucial.

The LTTE, Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam, came out with a substantive proposal for the peace talks, two days before President's sweeping promulgation of emergency and dismissal of the Ministers on the 2nd November. I happened to be in Sri Lanka at that time to attend a UN Conference on "protection of civilians in armed conflicts," which subject was most relevant about Sri Lanka. Not only the absence of the Prime Minister abroad but also the contents of the rebel proposals appear to have precipitated President actions. The rebel proposal centered round clarifications of their demand for full control of internal administration of the rebel-held territories. They insisted, inter alia, on keeping their Army until final solution is reached, having full authority to raise revenue and having full control of the judiciary in their area. The President disagrees and views these as violation of the constitution. Prime Minister's aides, on the contrary, regard these as bargaining ploys by the rebels in future negotiations. Attempts to reconcile the President and the Prime Minister are hard but continuing. The success of these negotiations by effecting a compromise between the two political rivals will, no doubt, determine the future of peace, stability and progress of this strife-torn gem of the island state of the Indian Ocean.

M.M.Rezaul Karim, a former Ambassador, is a member of BNP's Advisory Council.