LTTE doesn't want Lankan bureaucracy in rehabilitation work

The LTTE does not want the Lankan bureaucracy to be a part of the post-tsunami rehabilitation work in the Tamil-speaking North East, reports PK Balachanddran.

One of the reasons why there has been no agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE over a joint mechanism to conduct post-tsunami rehabilitation work in the Tamil-speaking North East, is that the LTTE does not want the Sri Lankan bureaucracy to be a part of it.

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This was stated by the LTTE's chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, in an interview to The Sunday Leader.

Balasingham described the government departments, which were to be involved as "defunct bureaucracies."

While the LTTE wanted a "simple mechanism", the government wanted to bring in all the state structures, including the treasury, the various ministries, the provincial councils, a conglomeration of defunct bureaucracies, he said.

Balasingham admitted that the LTTE wanted a majority in the structure at the provincial level, but it did not want domination. All that the LTTE wanted to ensure was that the global response to the calamity in Sri Lanka was adequately addressed, he said.

The LTTE had proposed a three-level structure - with committees at the national, provincial and district levels.

At the national level, the Apex Committee would have a representative each of the Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalas. At the North Eastern Provincial level, there would be an 11 member committee, with 6 representing the Tamils (nominated by the LTTE), three representing the Muslims, and 2 representing the Sinhalas, going by the population ratio in the province.