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In the wake of the military victory in Sri Lanka, urgent measures need to be taken: some 250,000 Tamil civilians who managed to escape the brutal offensive remain in internment camps, and the government has given no clear indication as to when they will be allowed to return to their villages. In the long term, the Government must adopt an agenda that will unite this country ravaged by war, and lead it towards a just peace. This will involve an impartial investigation of the abuses perpetrated by all sides in this conflict; the suspension of laws and state policies that have discriminated against the Tamils over the last decades; and the establishment of genuine channels of dialogue with the Tamils and other ethnic groups on the country’s political future.
The war in Sri Lanka has ended. Should this victory be celebrated? Is this a genuine opportunity for a new beginning? In the 1980s, Rajiv Gandhi declared: “Any victory achieved on the battlefield will be short-lived and fleeting.” Unfortunately, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has used the atrocities perpetrated by the Tamil Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a pretext for government abuses.
The administration’s plans for the future promote Tamil leaders who have a questionable human rights record, providing few assurances that the Tamil population’s legitimate concerns will be addressed. Karuna Amman, currently Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation, is a former LTTE leader and under his command brutal war crimes were committed. Given the presence in the government of Tamil politicians with this sort of track record, in addition to a number of Sinhalese nationalists, superficiality would appear to be the order of the day.
During his electoral campaign in November 2005, Rajapaksa rejected the possibility of autonomy for Tamils and in June 2009 he declared “there is no way for federalism.” Rumours abound that Rajapaksa has a plan to repopulate areas in northeast Sri Lanka with Sinhalese colonies, in order to remodel the country’s ethnic structure and avoid the concentration of minorities. This same process took place in Trincomalee in recent years when the government sent Sinhalese settlers to Muslim areas.
The LTTE was a terrorist group that committed barbaric acts, but not all Tamils are Tigers. Although the LTTE aggravated the problem excessively, it was a symptom rather than the root of the conflict. If the Sri Lankan government fails to take responsibility for the discrimination that gave rise to the Tamil insurrection, and which today continues to humiliate these people, the underlying problem will not have been solved, despite the victory over the LTTE.
On 20 January 2009, the Sri Lankan army began a so-called “humanitarian operation” in the area of Vanni in the north of the county comprising two districts, Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu, and parts of the districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya. In 2006, a previous offensive had begun in the east.
The Sri Lankan army’s victory over the Tamil Tigers has come at a high price, and this could sow the seeds for future threats. The figures – which are conservative estimates according to Human Rights Watch – point to over 20,000 deaths between January 20 and May 19. According to The Guardian (19 May, London), the military campaign cornered LTTE rebels on a narrow strip of beach of only 24 square kilometres, together with 250,000 civilians which the LTTE used as human shields. The Tigers proved to be brutal to the bitter end, shooting at those who tried to escape, and these actions have fed the Tamil community’s growing hate of the LTTE.
Le Monde , on 30 May, accused the United Nations of deliberately concealing the figures of civilian deaths. A UN official declared that his superiors had tried to suppress the figures in order to maintain good relations with the government. Even the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, attempted to conceal the figures.
The government’s efforts to exterminate the LTTE shocked the world because of the brutality of the operation. First , although the army denied the use of heavy artillery, sources who were present during the conflict confirmed the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons on the population.
Second , the blockade of food and medicines led to the death of many civilians. “The Red Cross could not distribute food because of the continual bombing. We requested the assistance of the government to cease operations in order to distribute food, but they did not listen to us,” explained a humanitarian worker who was present in the area. For security reasons this source cannot be identified.
Third , the media and international agencies were denied access to the so-called “secure” area. The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner stated on 29 April : “The UN had an agreement with the Government to send a mission into the conflict zone to help to assess and address civilian needs. This agreement has not been implemented. It must be.”
On May 18, the government announced the death of the ruthless LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, together with some of his commanders. Despite their defeat in combat, the Tigers may continue to be active underground, doing what they are notorious for – killing civilians.
Rajapaksa has managed to disguise the offensive as part of the global war on terrorism. However, LTTE’s violent tactics should not on any account provide an excuse for the government to attack its own civilians. Many analysts believe that the government’s attitude towards Tamils has embittered the thinking of Tamils in exile, and will cause problems in the future. “The dream of an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka resonates powerfully across the diaspora and will certainly live on even after the defeat of the LTTE as a conventional military force. The death of tens of thousands of innocent Tamil civilians – while their family members watch from afar – is a recipe for another, possibly more explosive, generation of terrorism,” in the opinion of Robert Templer, of the International Crisis Group.
Despite repeated calls by the UN, Kouchner and Miliband’s visit on 29 April, and President Barack Obama’s unprecedented speech on 13 May, Colombo did not renounce its “war on terrorism,” concealing casualty figures and continuing with an operation that violated international humanitarian law. The Security Council has announced its only weapon: the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil terrorists could be condemned for crimes against humanity.
The result of the “victory” is that the Tamils are now at the mercy of a State which has alienated them, both in words and deeds. Some concrete measure towards a political solution would be the following:
Arbitrary detention, humanitarian assistance and human rights. The government justified its victory with the liberation of civilians trapped by the Tamil Tigers. But what liberation? The exhausted people who managed to escape from the combat zone are still being detained in so-called “welfare villages”, detention centres controlled by the army and surrounded by barbed wire. The aim of these centres is to detect infiltrated terrorist elements, but the government has not put forward a plan to return the civilians.
“Any long delay in resettling these war-ravaged Tamil people will further alienate them,” explained D.B.S Jeyaraj, a Sri Lankan analyst. “It will also attract international criticism over the government’s motive in keeping these refugees in these camps beyond a reasonable period.” The reunification of families is also urgent and the transferring of these centres to a civilian administration.
Amnesty International stated in May that civilians were suffering forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture and other degrading treatment, as well as forced recruitment by paramilitary groups.
Humanitarian aid is necessary but should be implemented cautiously. First , because of the extremely high levels of corruption. Second , because the EU and donor states should apply pressure so that the detentions are not prolonged and the Colombo government commits to organising the return of civilians to their homes. Otherwise, international humanitarian efforts will not be promoting human rights or any attempt to initiate a process of reconciliation and dialogue.
In April 2009, the Obama administration opposed the loan of 1,900 million dollars to Colombo by the International Monetary Fund, as a means of putting pressure on the government to protect its citizens and promote a political solution that would include the Tamil population. The United Kingdom has recently made a similar move.
Weapons and international responsibility. EU foreign ministers agreed on 18 May that those responsible for violations of humanitarian law during the conflict “should be brought to justice.” But while the EU flaunted its democratic eloquence, a number of member states sold weapons to the Sri Lankan government. An EU report published in 2008 revealed that eight European countries broke the European Union Code of Conduct on exporting weapons. France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Holland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia have sold weapons to the Sri Lankan government after the 2005 elections brought Rajapaksa to power.
Justice, truth and dialogue. Sri Lanka is facing a Rule of Law crisis. Peace can only be envisaged if the culture of violence and impunity is eradicated, a culture which has undermined the value of life in this country. The constitutional framework and administrative structures must be overhauled so that Sri Lanka can become a democracy based on equitable power. Rule of Law and fundamental liberties must be restored through several concrete measures: allowing members of the judicial system to work freely, free of fear and favouritism; disarmament of paramilitary groups and eradication of government sponsored killers; ending impunity for the security forces.
Speaking of human rights and justice during peacebuilding can be unpopular. The prevailing view after the 2002 ceasefire was that past injustices should not be brought to light and it was better to sweep them under the carpet. While it is necessary to focus on uniting people rather than creating division, this should never be at the cost of the truth.
Those people whose lives have been destroyed by the war should have the opportunity to tell their story, not only to heal themselves but also because the country needs to become reconciled with its past. Most Sri Lankans still need to know the truth about what has been, until now, an invisible war. Successive governments have denied media access to the combat zones.
The Tamil people’s long-standing legitimate demands for justice need to be listened to. Miliband and Kouchner stated: “In the future, the communities of Sri Lanka will have to find ways to live together. That will not be achieved through military victory alone. The deep-seated sense of political alienation that has fuelled Tamil resentment towards successive governments in Sri Lanka must be addressed through a political process of integrity and decency.”
For many Western leaders, the moment has come for Rajapaksa to respond to Tamil demands for autonomy and cultural rights. However, according to analyst Mark Tran in The Guardian, the increasingly authoritarian line of Rajapaksa’s government against the opposition, particularly the media, does not bode well.
Human Rights Watch stresses the need to create an impartial international commission to investigate violations and establish an accountability process for all those who have perpetrated human rights and Humanitarian Law abuses. US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, supports the investigation, and EU foreign ministers have also called for an inquiry.
Tamil representation. The Tigers always had a clear agenda: the creation of a Tamil state, Tamil Eelam. Their justification was that they were the only representatives of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. According to James Ross of HRW, quoted in the International Herald Tribune 21 May 2009, this guiding principle has been the Tigers’ great strength and also their weakness.
Since the creation of the Tigers in 1976, they have eliminated almost all the Tamil political groups that had emerged to protect their people’s rights against the discrimination and violence they suffered at the hands of the Sinhalese majority.
Many Tamils in exile, mainly relative of families who fled government abuses, have supported the Tigers, considering them to be the only bastion against state repression. If the LTTE has been destroyed, who can credibly represent the Tamils today?
One possible path is interreligious dialogue, and this must be based on the understanding of the conflict’s roots: ethnic issues and religion, and the influence of Sinhalese-Buddhist ideology. In Sri Lanka, there are four nikayas or religious Buddhist orders which are, in essence, castes.
The two higher orders are Malwatta and Asgiria, from the Central area of Kandy. Most members of the administration in Sri Lanka belong to the Govigama caste, also from Kandy, and have strong links with these two religious orders. These monks are the bearers of nationalist ideology and it is crucial to include them in reconciliation attempts. While most Sinhalese are Buddhists, the Christian minority includes both Sinhalese and Tamils, and Christians could therefore promote dialogue to ease the ethnic divide.
To date, the Sri Lankan government has ruled by military might. Pressing humanitarian issues must be addressed and will need international assistance. Western leaders have appealed for moderation, and this is the moment to exert pressure on Rajapaksa to open a dialogue with the Tamil population.
“Obviously the government of Sri Lanka has won the battle but has not won the peace,” observed Erik Solheim, the Norwegian minister for International Development. “Everything will depend on whether they can prove leadership qualities in this situation.” Solheim worked for 10 years with both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government and brokered a ceasefire deal from in 2002 that lasted until 2006. “If the Sri Lankan government can show generosity in victory, and give a substantial devolution of power to Tamil self-government in the north-east and create an inclusive state for Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims, then we may see a lasting solution to the Sri Lankan problem.”
The country’s leaders must distinguish between the enemy, the LTTE, and innocent civilians. Peace can only be reached in Sri Lanka when true justice, freedom, equality and respect for the sacred value of individual life, whether Muslim, Sinhalese or Tamil have been achieved. The international community must observe with attention President Rajapaksa’s next movements.
Translated from Spanish by Fionnuala Ní Eigeartaigh