STATEMENT BY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP OF THE LANKA SAMASAMAJA
PARTY (CEYLONESE SECTION OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL)
ON THE LANGUAGE QUESTION following on the election defeat of March 1960" that is the parliamentary support of the Bandaranaike government, wich still remain the general policy of the LSSP. L SSP opposes the installation of a GovernorGeneral's Government Ceylon, reminds people of this country that all previous experience has proved that the imposition of a Governor-General's regime destroys the democratic processes and, by placing the police and the military in power over the people leads to every kind of excesses.
There is no truth in the announcement of the existente of a state of Public Emergency in Ceylon and there is no justification whatsoever for bringing the Public Security Ordinance into operation throughout Ceylon. The L S SP therefore opposes the Government's action.
Furthermore, the LS SP points out that it is the Government's own wrong policies and unwise acts which have brought about the present situation and, in the light of these facts, the LS SP cannot have any doubt that the Emergency powers will be used by Governmen: not only as stated in the Proclamation to restore a disrupted administration in certain areas but also to suppress and crush the movement of the Tamils for their just Language Rights. The LSSP cannot in any manner support such suppression and repeats that the only way in which the Tamil question can be resolved is by the Government itself taking the necessary legislative and administrative steps to satisiy just Language claims of the Tamil-speaking people. Such steps must include inmediate action to introduce suitable amendments of the Language of the Courts Act and the redrafting of the regulations under the Use of
Tamil Language (Special Provisions) Act.
The LS SP takes this opportunity to point out that the Federal Party has acted completely wrongly in endeavouring to set up a Government in certain areas. The Federal Party had no mandate from the people of these areas for such separatist action. The LSSP remains completely convinced that the demand of the Tamil minority is not for separation but only for their just rights as a minority in a united Ceylon.
Finally, the LSSP, has to stress that present developments once again illustrate how the democratic rights of the people as a whole are imperilled by the failure to bring the language question to a just settlement. The present policies of the Government in this field only raise the prospect of ever more frequent and prolonged emergencies in the context of a deteriorating economy, a rising cost of living and the increase in unemployment. It is necessary in the interests of the entire people and the future of the nation as a whole to find the quickest way out of the present impasse." (Ratified by C C meeting of L SSP on 19th April, 1961.1