Sri Lanka: The Road to Reconciliation

“Your Excellency return us to paradise, return us to paradise”=Attorney George R. Willy=

Full text of speech delivered by Houston-based Attorney George R. Willy, during a recent event in Houston, Texas, USA, welcoming President Mahinda Rajapaksa:

Your Excellency, Mrs. Rajapaksa, Hon Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Sheila thank you for making this, really appreciate this and Consul General Arora, Consul thank you for making this.

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome Your Excellency to this great city. If you can ignore the oak trees and the mockingbirds you could easily mistake this for Sri Lanka.

It is in Sri Lanka that I was born, and my mother and the parents of my wife Shanthi, our grand fathers and grand mothers are all buried under the sacred soil of my motherland. I grew up Your Excellency, in Jaffna and moved to Colombo when I was only 10 years old. My wife is from Badulla, grew up in Diyatalawa where her dad was a well a respected captain in the army.

I have smelt the sweetness of Magosa trees in Jaffna and taste of the Red Jumbu fruits that left red stains on my white shirt as I walked to school in Colombo. I know the allure of Jack fruits ripening on the trees as crows begin to break them open.

I have seen the bright colour of pandals during Wesak and shamelessly ate food at Dansala meant for the poor. And I have heard the chanting of Kovils and inhaled the smell of jasmine and Joss sticks. I’ve heard the bell of All Saint’s church as I assisted Father Herath during Mass.

But since I left Sri Lanka in 1975 there has been such pain, such sorrow and such agony. The mighty Mahaweli Ganga that usually brings its sacred waters to the paddy fields spat out blood. Both the Sinhalese and Tamils. From up here in the United States I have watched the land of my forefathers descend from paradise deep into hell. No one can say with certainty who is to blame but the time for blaming is long gone.

Your Excellency, your power be descended from Dutugemunu and my people from Elara. Remember how Dutugemunu fought Elara on his Elephant Kandula and killed Elara. Dutugemunu of course is still remembered for uniting Sri Lanka for the first time. But he is also remembered for something else. After defeating and killing Elara he built a monument for Elara out of respect for his worthy opponent. He ordered all the citizens of the land to stop, dismount and pay respect to Elara. In so doing he not only showed what a great noble man he was. But also proved to be a great politician. He knew that He had to rule the Tamil people too after the defeat of Elara.

Your Excellency, faith and fortune and your great political skills have placed you at a unique point in history.

Children years to come, will read in their history books, that a great leader, a great warrior by the name of Mahinda Rajapaksa finally defeated the rebellion after nearly 25 years when several before him failed. They may even say that you are Dutugamunu of the 21 century. But if you want to wear Gemunu’s mantle, Your Excellency, you will have to build a monument too. That monument does not have to be a Dagoba or a building. It will have to be new policy backed by laws with teeth to enforce.

Do not make the mistake that started 58 riots. Do not hold back Tamils who want to get into Universities. Do not make the Tamils feel like they are second class citizens. Respect their religion, and respect their language. There is something about the Tamil people you need to know Your Excellency. To them their language is God. There are only few cultures in the world which has such devotion to the language.

You were trained as a lawyer and in your early career you were a formidable defender of human rights.

Now you have the popularity, you have the power of a hero, like Julius Caeser, returning to Rome from his conquests. No one can deny what you ask. Ask the parliament to pass some entrenched clauses; you and I read in law school. Then we have had to study the Soulbury Constitution. If you need my help I will give it free like many in this audience would. The Tamil people are naked and hungry looking for you to assure them that there is a place for them.

Make sure they have one. You killed one Prabhakaran but do not let another grow. You cannot prevent another one with swords and guns. You can only do that with your heart and wisdom. Compassion, truth and justice, you learnt from Buddha are the only weapons you will need. According to Dhamma Pada, Buddha said that hatred does not cease by hatred at any time. Hatred cease by love. This is an old rule. That’s what the Buddha said.

Your Excellency, as you leave this fair city and return to Sri Lanka, promise me that a 10 year boy walking to school tomorrow in his white shirt will have no other red stain than from the Jumbu fruits. The morning crow will not open anything other than the jackfruit. That there will be nothing else hanging from the Magosa trees, than the fruits I smelt.

Your Excellency return us to paradise, return us to paradise. Thank You

 

Read in Sinala _PDF : Hier

Interview III – Dr.Jayampathy Wickramaratne

On this program Sanjana Hattotuwa talks to Dr.Jayampathy Wickramaratne, President’s Counsel

The series that gives you insights on Peace and Politics; Business and Development; Society and the Environment; Culture and the Arts.

Featuring diverse views and perspectives; informing people; contributing to the debate on important national issues – The Interview is produced by Young Asia Television.

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3D Nimalka Fernando by Young Asia Television

NIMALKA FERNANDO, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, COLOMBO

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Sunanda Deshapriya : Vikalpa

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Source Vikalpa

JVP to bring 2 million people to Colombo against power devolution

JVP Leader Somawansa Amerasinghe says the party would bring 2 million (20 lakhs) people to Colombo in protest against the government if it decides to fully implement the 13th amendment to the Constitution.  Addressing a JVP rally in Anuradhapura recently, Amerasinghe said, “Mr Mahinda is still afraid to bring in this amendment. He puts a feeler first by getting the Blue Yapa to make a statement and then gets the Green Yapa to follow suit. The President does not say anything.”  “It is the 13th amendment introduced by the unconstitutional and undemocratic United National Party that President Mahinda Rajapakse is trying to bring in by getting Anura Yapa and Lakshman Yapa to make statements to the effect…”       “An amendment that has been ruled against by four Supreme Court judges cannot be allowed to be implemented. This will only act to divide the country. Through this amendment, India will get the chance of robbing Sri Lanka off its resources,” Amerasinghe also observed.

SOUTH ASIAN PEOPLE’S FORUM: Special Session on Sri Lanka

The South Asian People’s Unity Forum 2009, Toronto:

began with a special discussion on the current crisis in Sri Lanka, and what democratic and Left groups might expect or work for the near future. SAPF is interested to disseminate as many progressive analyses and reflections on Sri Lanka as possible, especially in Toronto. It invited Rohini Hensman, writer, based in Mumbai; Ahilan, spokesperson of the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum; and Rajan Philips, writer and former journalist from Jaffna, to bring their deep knowledge and concern for the country to offer us different histories and alternative futures than available through the mainstream media.

Chair: Aparna Sundar
Speakers: Rohini Hensman, Ahilan Kadirgamar and Rajan Philips

Recorded April 23, 2009 in Toronto, Canada.

Watch the video here 

Is this the end of the Tamil struggle?

by Vasantha Raja

For reasons I shall explain later I don’t think what we see at present marks the end of the Tamil struggle for independence. The popular perception may well end up in a mirage.  Clearly, a new chapter of the Tamil campaign is in the making, and the signs are that the next episode is going to be even more formidable than the Tamil Tigers’ mini-state project.  With South India’s full backing – also, with the international community’s blessings – the Tamils are going to press for just two options: either a confederation or total separation.

Ironically, Sri Lanka’s ruthless war aimed at crushing Tamil separatism seems to have triggered a phenomenon that has strengthened the Tamils’ resolve for independence as never before. In other words, if the Sinhala leaders’ target was to save the country from splitting into two, the war has set a process in motion that may bring about exactly the opposite result.

Quite apart from adding one more to the list of examples that expose the global institutions’ hypocrisy and the resultant impotence in tackling barbaric wars by ‘state-terrorists’, this war has demonstrated before the world in no uncertain terms why Tamils cannot live under the Sinhala rule. In other words, the war has unambiguously legitimised the Tamils’ demand for independence.

The terminology and the logic Sri Lankan leaders used in public to justify the war to the world have unwittingly betrayed the chauvinist mindset behind the government’s war strategy. Sri Lanka’s military chief Lt. General Sarath Fonseka said: “I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese; but there’re minority communities and we treat them like our people….They can live in this country with us, but they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things.”

[I wonder what the Scots would have done if the British Prime Minister said something similar about the English majority…oops, I’m sorry, British PM, Gordon Brown, is a Scotsman!]

The Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said: “In any democratic country the majority should rule the country. This country will be ruled by the Sinhalese community which is the majority representing 74% of the population.”

[Ironically, the London parliament had to offer a separate parliament to the Scottish region precisely for a similar reason. The Scottish people kept on voting the Labour party while the English majority continued to put Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative party to power. Scots became furious and their campaign for a separate state began to strengthen in leaps. The separate Scottish parliament was the result.]

How could such politicians replace a supremacist system – that produced Tamil separatism in the first place – with a new constitution that respects individual and national rights? I don’t think they can – particularly not in the present context when the rulers’ toxic mindset is mixed with soaring war hysteria.
Thus, I predict, crushing of the Tigers’ mini-state solves nothing. With or without Prabakaran, the Tamil struggle is bound to move forward in a far more sophisticated form – this time with an explicitly separatist agenda whole-heartedly backed by people all over the world, more relevantly by millions of Tamils in South India. And, the Tamils will not need a mini-state to convince the world of their campaign’s legitimacy.

The war’s sheer brutality has created new realities:

Rising rage among Tamils all over the world, particularly among the Tamil Diaspora’s second-generation youth, seem to surpass the Muslim anger over the dragging middle-east wars.

The South Indian Tamils now support the Tamil case for separation as never before. Jayalalitha’s unprecedented rhetoric during India’s election campaign – to militarily intervene in Sri Lanka and help Tamils get an independent Tamil Eelam, like India did in Bangladesh – is the clearest indication of this new phenomenon. Remember, this rising mood in India coincides with Indian ruling elite’s increasing awareness of China’s strategic schemes in Sri Lanka. India knows why China went to remarkable lengths to assist Sri Lanka’s war effort financially and militarily. [Read the Times-On-Line article in the Sri Lanka section of http://www.lankaeye.com under my heading: Who was behind Sri Lanka’s dazzling military success against Tamil Tigers.]

Quite apart from the changing Indian politics, the Sri Lankan government has definitively lost the propaganda war internationally – not just among global leaders but ordinary masses in general. Sri Lanka’s image is likely to remain tarnished as a rogue state for the foreseeable future. And, from now on the world’s perception of the Tamil struggle could become far more favourable than ever before.

Tamils living inside and outside the so-called welfare camps in Sri Lanka will be quiet for the time being for obvious reasons. But, their rage will continue to fester jeopardising the chances of winning Tamils’ hearts and minds for a very long time.

The crux of the matter is this: These new realities have emerged at a time when 95% of the Sinhala army is stuck in Tamil towns for the foreseeable future and the Sri Lankan economy is facing nightmarish prospects in the midst of the worst global economic downturn since 1930s.

If the government thought it could end the security nightmare that stifled Sri Lanka’s economy for so long by militarily defeating Tigers’ conventional army and occupying the ‘Tigerland’, they are mistaken. Unless there’s a substantial transformation of the post-colonial state structures – which the present government (as I argued above) is incapable of carrying out – the situation would deteriorate further in the coming months. Cosmetic devolution of power to provincial councils – while the centre remains firmly in the “Sinhala hands” – will not tackle the problem.

The most likely post-war scenario would not, in my view, be a peaceful one. Economic calamities, labour unrest, attacks on media institutions and political dissent, rise of “urban warfare” and state-terrorism and disappearances are likely to be the hallmarks of the foreseeable future. It is with this kind of tragic picture in mind I wrote my last article “A Common Programme for a United Left Front in Sri Lanka” [www.groundviews.com], in which I pointed out the importance of all Sri Lanka’s socialist parties forming a united front under the banner of a clear political and economic programme for fundamental change in the country.

However, it is important to realize that none of what we leftists promise in the south is going to impress the Tamils in Sri Lanka or abroad – and understandably so. They have undergone too much oppression since independence under chauvinist regimes.

Under Ceylon Tamil Congress, the Tamils of newly liberated Ceylon looked for an equality-based solution within a unitary state. When that failed, the Federal Party launched non-violent campaigns for a federal solution which were violently crushed by chauvinist regimes. Finally, the LTTE-led separatist armed-struggle emerged to challenge the Sinhala establishment militarily. This led to decades of destructive war which culminated in the present war effort inflicting untold sufferings on Tamils in order to destroy the separatists’ mini-state.

Now on the Tamil side a worldwide campaign for a separate state is in the making and nothing we say is going to convince them until they see the change in the flesh. Thus, it will be the duty of the left to respect the Tamils right to self-determination as the first step towards winning their hearts and minds – which the chauvinists have ruined – and tirelessly work to rebuild the lost trust and achieve a socialist republic of Sri Lanka & Tamil Eelam.

Why the Sri Lankan government won’t listen

Colombo, Sri Lanka — The best efforts of the international community to bring the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka to an end through its diplomatic interventions seem to have come to naught. The joint visit of the British Foreign Minister David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner was full of controversy, but seems to have yielded little other than that. Vocal sections of the government, media and the general public saw bad faith in these European moves and did not hesitate to make their views known.

This perception also seems to have induced the government to deny a visa to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, prompting him say that the Sri Lankan government’s attitude was exceedingly strange and to reject an invitation to visit Sri Lanka at a later date. For the past 50 years, Sweden was one of the most generous development supporters of Sri Lanka, but from next year this partnership is to end, and the recent mishap will do little to facilitate a positive review of this situation.

Those who oppose international intervention in the humanitarian crisis in the country believe that their motive is to force a ceasefire upon the government in order to extend the life of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. A week ago, under heavy Indian pressure including a fast by the aged chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunandhi and members of his political party, the government declared an end to combat operations and to the use of heavy weapons and air power. But barely had the statement been issued, and the fast in Tamil Nadu ended, than evidence began to be provided that the fighting on the ground was continuing as before, with air strikes included.

With both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE holding determinedly to their positions, the war is set to reach its inevitable conclusion. During their visit to Sri Lanka the two foreign ministers stressed, albeit without much success, that their sole concern was that of the civilian population trapped in the battle zone and not any petty political advantage to themselves with their domestic electorates. They also denied that they had any ulterior motive in trying to give the LTTE a breathing space so they could revive but were only seeking a way out for the civilians.

The desirability of a negotiated end to the war that would save civilian lives is not only a European position. Even activists from the Third World with an anti-imperialist orientation hold to the same view. A view of the current situation from the distance that foreign countries have is that the war is ended, and there is no more need for killing or trapping people. The LTTE is hardly in a position to revive its fortunes with its territorial control, which once extended to 15,000 square kilometers, now whittled down to less than six square kilometers.

However, the perceptions of the Sri Lankan parties to the conflict are different, and this is what finally matters in determining what happens on the ground. There is a worry in one section of the population, and a hope in another, that the LTTE under its leader Velupillai Pirapaharan is capable of repeating the past so long as he remains alive and in combat mode. The past experience has been of the LTTE fighting its way back to a position of strength from a position of weakness.

One example was when the Indian Peace Keeping Force battled them into the jungles in the period 1987-90, and again when the Sri Lankan army recaptured most of the north in 1995-97. On both those occasions, the LTTE withdrew into the jungles and reemerged to take back control over the territory that they had lost. The role played by the LTTE leadership in any revival in the near or distant future is what is in question today.

The other insight into the Sri Lankan belief as to what really works comes from the experience of the two Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or People’s Liberation Front, insurrections. At the conclusion of the first insurrection in 1971, the lives of nearly all of the top leaders were spared. They were captured, charged in courts of law, imprisoned, rehabilitated and pardoned. This all happened in textbook fashion in terms of process and the sequence of events.

But the outcome was not a change of heart. A decade and a half later they plotted, were provoked, planned and launched a second and bloodier insurrection and exacted a much heavier price from Sri Lankan society. At the conclusion of this second insurrection, virtually the whole of the JVP leadership were eliminated. Two decades later, with their militant leadership decimated, there is no sign of another militant revival by the JVP.

Today, it is this double experience from Sri Lanka’s past that seems to be shaping the government’s thinking and with it that of the majority of people who are behind the government in its military mode of conflict resolution. There is no doubt that the government leadership, which is in close touch with the international community, is aware of the frustration and disfavor with which its military solution is being viewed in much of the world. But it is still going ahead because of its conviction that there is no other way.

The tragedy is that by its conduct in keeping the civilians hostage, and by its refusal to accept its defeat on the battlefield, the LTTE is adding to the conviction of the government and the majority of Sri Lankan people that there is indeed no other way to end the war. Now the die appears to have been cast to the military option. In these circumstances, the best that can be done is to secure the lives of the civilian population who have already crossed over into the government-controlled areas.

The international community, which is critical of the government’s military mode of conflict resolution, is nevertheless providing much-needed humanitarian assistance to these people and is prepared to provide even more. Japan’s one-time peace envoy Yasushi Akashi was the latest international dignitary to visit the government’s welfare camps for the displaced in the north, and to pledge Japanese assistance. There is much goodwill and desire to help that needs to be accommodated in the best interest of the victim population and in keeping with the values of democracy.

—

(Dr. Jehan Perera is executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, an independent advocacy organization. He studied economics at Harvard College and holds a doctorate in law from Harvard Law School. ©Copyright Jehan Perera.)

“Is the LTTE really finish and the War Over?”

Sinhala

This video with Prof. K.Sivathambi interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

This video with Mr. Amal Jayasinghe, Head AFP Sri Lanka interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

This video with Mr. Sunil Wijesiriwardane interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

This video with Prof. Rohan Samarajeewa interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

English

Sinhala

English

Sinhala

This video with Mr. Nishantha Warnasinghe, Spokes person of Jathika Hela Urumaya interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

Sinhala

This video with Mr. Wasudeva Nanayakkara, interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

This video with Dr.Wickramabahu Karunarathna, interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

English

Sinhala

This video with Mr.S.G.Punchihewa, interrogates the current situation in Sri Lanka, where we are told the war is at its end, and the LTTE defeated. This video, and others in the series by Vikalpa, seeks to understand what this really means and whether we should believe the simplistic logic that the end to war, or even victory in war, is a guarantee of peace.

Sri Lanka admits military bombed ‘no-fire’ zone – 1 May 09

Sri Lanka’s government has admitted to Al Jazeera that its military bombed an area held by separatist fighters and now crowded with trapped civilians.

The admission follows the leak of satellite images taken by the UN which show signs of aerial bombing inside the ‘no fire zone’.

The government insists that no civilians were in danger, that the bombing was targeted at Tamil fighters in the area and not civilians.

Al Jazeera talks to Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary.

LTTE defector accuses group of civilian murder – 30 Apr 09

Humanitarian Situation in Sri Lanka – April 2009

1st May 2009, Colombo, Sri Lanka: Bhavani Fonseka, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, highlights grave humanitarian concerns in the Vanni and notes that despite the Government’s assurances that it had put a halt to heavy artillery fire, hospitals were still being targeted and civilians were being killed. Backing growing local and international calls for a humanitarian ceasefire, she also speaks of civilians held hostage by and under fire from the LTTE. Bhavani goes on to outline what civil society and the international community can do to stop the on-going military offensives and help with the needs of the displaced.

Watch the video here 

Nationalists call for the use of choppers and machetes

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

“We may have to take choppers and machetes, we will have to attack with choppers those who jump over the boundaries,” chanted a group of people from Hela Urumaya, (a Sinhala heritage party), gathered in front of the British High Commission to protest the visits of the British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband and his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, was denied a visa to join the delegation. Photographs of the protest show Buddhist monks seated in front of the slogan chanting crowd. Meanwhile a large poster exhibited the photographs ofDavid Milliband, Hilary Clinton, American Secretary of State and Erik Solheim the Norwegian minister for the Environment and Development with the slogan: Wanted for Aiding and Abetting Terrorism.

The purpose of the visit of the British and French foreign secretaries was to inspect the humanitarian situation of the civilians trapped in the no-fire zone where the LTTE and the government forces are engaged in fierce battles. The concerns expressed by these foreign politicians was on behalf of the civilians whose numbers are estimated to be around 80,000 to 140,000 including women, children and the elderly. The call for humanitarian concern has been portrayed in the media and by extremist racist elements as an attempt to extend a lifeline to the LTTE. One of the placards read: ‘Gordon Brown would you give a humanitarian lifeline to Osama Bin laden?’

According to reports over 6,500 civilians have been killed and 14,000 injured due to shelling and the use of heavy armament since January 2009. Over 175,000 persons are now internally displaced and this includes 110,000 people who have fled the no-fire zone.

The portrayal of concern for humanitarian issues and international law, even in the midst of a conflict as treachery and invasion, is part of a national ideology promoted by the government through its supporters and through the media. The call for the taking of choppers and machetes reminds one of similar slogans used in places like Rwanda and such ideology and propaganda has the potential to lead to massive violence. Perhaps instead of an end of a period of intense violence what seems to be emerging in Sri Lanka is a further period of even more intense societal violence.

In the Western province the provincial council elections were held at which two of the persons who got the highest popular vote were a politician who is facing several charges of rape at the High Courts and a well known businessman engaged in the gambler industry that also has faced several criminal charges before courts. Election monitors reported a greater use of violence including murder during this election. The atmosphere around the election is demonstrated by the fact that over 60 journalists have left the country in fear of their lives. The Immigration Department has restricted the issue of visas for 837 persons including foreign media personnel. The state media is being utilised for propaganda for the government and its supporters. The raising of a war psychology and ‘nationalism’ that sees the rule of law and democracy as a threat to sovereignty has for its ultimate aim the displacement of free and fair elections. The intimidation of the opposition an! d the silencing of all voices that insist on the return to a stable society based on functioning institutions, are the parameters in which the new political system functions.

The impact of this on civil society has been demonstrated in several incidents. Akmeemana is a remote village in the south where the population is almost totally Sinhalese Buddhists. Two year, eight month-old Kavin Rashmaka and ten-year-old Thanuja Iragane were both killed while looking for Kavin’s tricycle. They were brutally hacked to death in what is reported to have been a family dispute where the assailants took revenge on Kavin’s father by killing the child. As ten-year-old Thanuja was a witness she was also killed. Their bodies were hidden and were discovered only a few days later when the police and the villagers launched a search. The alleged assassin was immediately killed after arrest and his father was reportedly killed later by the villagers. The crime, as well as the manner in which ‘justice’ has been carried out, is barbaric. A further disturbing piece of news associated with the killing of the two children was that at the time of the incident K! avin’s mother and father were engaged in gambling in two separate locations and the mother was reportedly not allowed to leave the gambling den as it is customary that no one is allowed to leave while the game is underway. Thus, she was prevented from accompanying little Kavin when the child went looking for the tricycle. Buddhists shun gambling but in this remote village that gambling has become so much a part of the daily life indicates the nature of the societal transformation taking place even in rural areas.

In another incident a 13-year-old girl was forced to drink acid which was also poured over her head as revenge against her parents who allegedly gave information to the police about an illicit liquor business in the area.

Incidents of lawlessness are reported from all over the country every day. There is no national consciousness promoted by anyone in order to deal with the complete collapse of the law and the public institutions within the country. The consolidation of a stable society based on democratic institutions and the people’s participation is seen as obstacles to the type of nationalism which tries to direct the people’s attention to real or imagined enemies. Lawlessness has become an integral part of the ‘nationalism’ now promoted in Sri Lanka.

As during the time of the tsunami, the money from donors is dispersed generously on behalf of internally displaced persons. However, IDPs themselves have no participatory role in the utilisation of these funds. Perhaps detention centres may last for a long time purely for attracting more donations. What would be the new administrative and political measures that would be created for the IDPs to quickly return to their lands and their ways of life? Or will they be kept under harsh conditions to provide satisfaction for those who wish to deal with national problems with choppers and machetes.

Meanwhile, serious concerns have been expressed of the possibility of a bloodbath within the coming week of the civilians caught between the LTTE and the armed forces. The nationalist propaganda to ignore the voices of the senior politicians from Europe and the United Nations may contribute to underplay this very real danger.

From the point of view of the government the sole aim of all that is being done and allowed to happen seems to be the preparation for a presidential election which a government spokesman has predicted may happen around April next year with a view to secure a victory for the incumbent president. As a peaceful atmosphere conducive to a free and fair election may not produce that result it is likely that tensions will be kept high through various means of pseudo nationalism. Under these circumstances what happens to people may be of the least interest. 

# # # 
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

‘Civilians Are the Ones Who Will Suffer’

INTERVIEW WITH SRI LANKA PEACE NEGOTIATOR

The cease-fire in Sri Lanka officially came to an end last week, but violence has been flaring for months. SPIEGEL spoke with Norwegian peace negotiator Jon Hanssen-Bauer about monitoring the country’s collapse and Sri Lanka’s bleak future.

SPIEGEL: Sri Lanka has withdrawn from the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) negotiated with the help of Oslo in 2002 between Colombo and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE ). The bloody, 25-year-long civil war that has already killed more than 80,000 people has begun all over again. Did the Sri Lankan government provide an explanation for their withdrawal?

Hanssen-Bauer: We cannot normally disclose the contents of any communication between ourselves and the negotiating parties but I can tell you this much: The government of Sri Lanka abrogated the CFA in a formally correct way. They are not obliged to give any reasons. The parties must only give us two weeks notice — whether in writing or otherwise, and we got that.

SPIEGEL: The mandate for the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which was predominantly Norwegian, has come to an end. But the mission had long ceased counting cease-fire violations due to the large number of them since the situation began to sour in 2006. The international community has been unsuccessful in convincing President Mahinda Rajapaksa to allow UN human rights monitors to be stationed in the country. But if the situation is as bad as the SLMM says it is, what is the use of monitoring it further?

Hanssen-Bauer: Let me clarify that other countries, but not Norway, have been urging for the presence of a UN human rights group in Sri Lanka. Sure, it is necessary to monitor human rights. But UN monitors on the ground require the full cooperation of any government concerned. Human rights are the government’s responsibility. It must first strengthen its own institutions to monitor crime. We have called for an appropriate role for the UN in the Sri Lankan conflict, whatever that may be. In any case, it will be difficult to get monitors of any kind to Sri Lanka at the moment. There is resistance even from the people.

SPIEGEL: The EU has expressed ‘strong concern’ for the plight of civilians in Sri Lanka. It is also unhappy with the end of the cease-fire. But for the past two years, the cease-fire agreement has existed only on paper. Since the resumption of armed hostilities in 2006, the Tamil Tigers have managed to collect funds across Europe and some 3,000 civilians have been killed with a further 213,000 being displaced. Isn’t the EU’s concern a case of too little too late?

Hanssen-Bauer: There is very little that the international community can do at the moment because the two sides have clearly defined their intentions. There is very little room to maneuver: Mr. Rajapaksa’s government has decided to weaken the LTTE further and even the LTTE has now announced that it will go to war. So that is that.

SPIEGEL: Are you suggesting that the international community resign itself to a renewed civil war in Sri Lanka?

Hanssen-Bauer: What can any outsider do? Override a democratically-elected government in Sri Lanka? Various countries are revising their policies for development cooperation and trade with Sri Lanka and naturally so, because the continuing violence has held up or stopped several developmental projects that were begun when the CFA existed and on the premise that the two sides were now building peace. Please note, I am not talking about sanctions, I am merely saying there is no access to some of the areas where development is needed the most.

SPIEGEL: Even though his government has abandoned the cease-fire, Rajapaksa says he is still open to negotiations with the LTTE. Do you think there is still a glimmer of hope?

Hanssen-Bauer: We remain committed to the promises and the pledges that were given to both Colombo as well as the LTTE, to help them with peace process whenever they wish. But clearly our services are not required at the moment — we have not received any request for them right now. But I agree with Mr. Rajapaksa that war cannot solve conflicts and that there is a crucial need for negotiations to end this conflict.

SPIEGEL: But his actions seem to indicate that his words are not to be trusted. His air force has been pounding targets across northern Sri Lanka and since last November.

Hanssen-Bauer: Yes, I know. All I am saying is that if the Sri Lankan government wants to try talking again, it has our support. We made this commitment in 2000 to former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the LTTE, and again last year to the current president Mr. Rajapaksa, when he repeated the invitation to Oslo to continue as interlocutors in the conflict.

SPIEGEL: Have you reiterated this to the LTTE since Sri Lanka withdrew from the cease-fire and all out war erupted all over again?

Hanssen-Bauer: Of course. We talk to them very often. But we need to go there physically and talk face to face. Right now, given the security situation there, that has not been possible. We hope it will be in the not so distant future.

SPIEGEL: For now, though, Sri Lanka is at war. Do you see this as a failure on your part to mediate successfully?

Hanssen-Bauer: I don’t feel personally responsible, and neither does Oslo as a whole. The responsibility lies with the parties themselves. And after all, we have never worked alone. Please don’t forget that even in 2006 when the situation looked entirely hopeless, we did manage to get the parties to two rounds of talks in Geneva and in Oslo. We have not taken any fresh initiatives since then, merely because we feel that neither of the parties wishes us to. In such a situation, it is impossible to achieve success. At the moment, all we want to do is to preserve the possibility of resuming talks as soon as possible.

SPIEGEL: Surely you must feel a sense of disappointment?

Hanssen-Bauer: What we feel is really not important. More important is the fact that a chance has been lost by and for the Sri Lankan people. This is a very negative development for Sri Lanka and civilians are the ones who will suffer. We are worried and concerned. There were a high number of internally displaced persons already last year. Most of those have been re-settled. I am afraid we may see a repeat of that in 2008.

Interview conducted by Padma Rao

Source : Spiegel.de