“I believe that it would be superfluous for me to examine in closer detail the reasons which necessitated the Government to withdraw from the CFA on 16 January this year, after giving due notice to Norway as the facilitator of the Peace Process. But I would like to underline that the denunciation of the CFA, which was no more than a dead letter and had been reduced to an elaborate fiction does not in any way restrain the Government from addressing the genuine grievances of all sections of the people of Sri Lanka, particularly the Tamil speaking population.”___________________________________
by Dr. Palitha Kohona
(March 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Let me start by quoting President John F. Kennedy at the very outset. He said “Let us explore what unites us not belabor what divides us”. In the next few minutes, I will try to examine the measures adopted by the government to solve the conflict affecting the country through a process of inclusiveness, through embracing all our people. Despite the many differences in ethnicity, culture, religion, economic standing and education, we are still Sri Lankans. Sri Lanka is at the threshold of a decisive phase in her contemporary history. While on the one hand, the security forces are engaging in daily operations to clear the last hideouts in the Northern Province of the LTTE, in Killinochchi and Mullaitivu, the Government has embarked upon a comprehensive programme to extend the governance that we take for granted to all parts of the country and restore democracy and civilian administration in the Eastern Province. It is our firm belief that democratic inclusiveness must be the foundation of our efforts to being our country back together and heal our wounds.
The balm for our wounds will not be in stirring up past passions, in opening old wounds or in emphasizing our differences but in reaching out in a healing embrace. The government’s efforts followed the successful military campaign to free the Eastern province from the LTTE stranglehold. It was also a meticulously organized military campaign which was designed to minimize civilian casualties. It is underlined that civilians are not the target of the campaign. Innocent Tamil civilians must not be its victims. Except for one unfortunate incident when an artillery salvo targeting an LTTE gun position fell in the midst of civilians, it was a model campaign.
The holding of local government elections in the Batticaloa district on 10 March 2008, in a peaceful atmosphere, marked by a high voter turnout, almost 60%, after a lapse of 14 years augurs well for the re-establishment of normalcy and the dawn of peace and stability in the region. There were over 800 candidates competing for approximately 100 seats. The Government is greatly encouraged by this positive development and believes that the process of restoration of democracy and strengthening of the institutions of civil administration will be further enhanced with the holding of elections to the Eastern Provincial Council on 10 May 2008. We also note that the election was held in an extraordinarily peaceful environment. In fact, the election was probably more peaceful than any other similar election in the past. Candidates campaigned intensely, the voters turned out in record numbers and now the winning candidates are busily preparing to assume their offices. This is a major victory for democracy.
Concomitantly with this process, the Government is determined to fully implement the recommendations of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC), towards achieving a durable political settlement to the current conflict. The very fact that the APRC comprising 14 political parties represented in the Parliament have been able to debate a range of often contradictory proposals, in no less than 63 sittings over a period of 1 ½ years and arrive at a consensus, is testimony to the pragmatic and inclusive approach that the government has advocated in dealing with issues of national importance. Getting the widest possible consensus behind the APRC proposals was a key goal of the government. It was recognized early that a conflict that had dragged on for over a quarter of a century could not be solved overnight. Any solution needed the widest endorsement from the Sri Lankan political spectrum. The errors and the omissions made by successive governments in the past had also to be taken into account in formulating a solution.
Inclusiveness, in that sense of the word, signifies the spirit of pragmatism and consensus building of President Rajapaksa’s style of governance. It was in this spirit that soon after being elected President in November 2005, in his inaugural address to the Nation, he offered to meet the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, face to face, at a place and time of the latter’s choice. He continues to make this offer. His government has continued to seek a negotiated settlement. Notwithstanding the flaws inherent in the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) that was entered into between the LTTE and the administration of Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinghe in February 2002, the President even pledged to observe the CFA, despite grave and continued violations by the LTTE. The violations had rendered the CFA a nullity. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) which initially consisted of 5 Nordic countries, and which was later reduced to Norway and Iceland, following the blank refusal by the LTTE to guarantee the safety of the three EU members (Denmark, Finland and Sweden) and with which refusal those countries meekly complied and withdrew, had also reported 3830 violations of the CFA by the LTTE as against 351 by government security forces. While the LTTE was making pious pronouncements of its commitment to the Peace Process, it cynically and diabolically abused the goodwill of the international community to recruit a large number of cadres, including thousands of children to its ranks, retrain its combatants, and procure weapons, including heavy artillery and aircraft under the protective cover of the CFA. The LTTE also occupied and consolidated its strength in areas where they were not present previously, including in the area south of Trincomalee and the Silvaturai area in the north west. The interdiction of the water supply for agriculture at Mavil Aru and the launching of massive attacks on civilians and government positions under the “Unceasing Waves – Eelam War IV” occurred during the CFA. Despite all their provocations, the government maintained the CFA till the beginning of 2008.
I believe that it would be superfluous for me to examine in closer detail the reasons which necessitated the Government to withdraw from the CFA on 16 January this year, after giving due notice to Norway as the facilitator of the Peace Process. But I would like to underline that the denunciation of the CFA, which was no more than a dead letter and had been reduced to an elaborate fiction does not in any way restrain the Government from addressing the genuine grievances of all sections of the people of Sri Lanka, particularly the Tamil speaking population. It could be argued that the CFA in fact fettered the Government from engaging in a meaningful dialogue with all political entities representing the minority communities, towards achieving a political settlement. By recognizing the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil people, all dissenting Tamil groups and all the Muslims were excluded from the peace process. The Muslims, in particular, being more than 33% of the population of the Eastern Province were marginalized. This went against the grain of the inclusive approach of the present government. The LTTE had long demanded recognition as a sole representative of the Tamil people in the country, based on its military strength and its proven capacity to deploy unmitigated terror and mayhem as a political tool. This is anathema to any democratic government in the civilized world. In fact the world has long since expressed its utter abhorrence of terror as a legitimate political tool. Sri Lanka, being a country with a long established multi party democratic tradition and an abiding commitment to the rule of law could not continue to countenance such a demand. The LTTE should realize that this demand is unacceptable to the international community as well.
The Government is in a more comfortable position today to reach out to all parties and groups. In a manner of speaking, the Government of President Rajapaksa itself is a manifestation of his inclusive spirit, in that he has accommodated in his administration a large number of members who were elected to Parliament in April 2004 from opposition parties, including 24 members from the main opposition United National Party (UNP), as well as members of Muslim and Tamil parties and the Jathika Hela Urumaya. It is truly a rainbow coalition and it is a credit to the President that he has been able to implement Government policy, taking on board the divergent opinions of his Cabinet colleagues. In a nutshell, this approach underpins the President’s overall strategy of implementation of the Government’s 10 year development plan enunciated in the Mahinda Chinthanaya. I am frequently questioned on whether the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution is the political solution to the conflict that the Government has in mind. To this I must say that it is an important point of departure. The implementation of the 13th Amendment is but the initial and tangible step that has been proposed by the APRC towards achieving a durable settlement, which we all hope will usher in a lasting and honourable peace, in line with the government’s electoral pledge to the people of this country. What many critics fail to realize is that although the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted more than 20 years ago, following the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987, the envisaged devolution of power, including to the Northern Province and the Eastern Province, never materialized in full, due to the unsettled conditions in these areas and the LTTE’s insistence on armed dominance.
This is what prompted me to mention at the outset that we are at a crucial juncture in our history. The Re-awakening of the East Programme (Negenahira Navodaya) that the Government has launched in the Eastern Province under which it has restored civil administration, settled internally displaced people (IDPs) in their original homes and undertaken immediate reconstruction of damaged vital infrastructure, is testimony to the Government’s sincerity and commitment to the people of the province that it will deliver Peace and Development. Many elements of this process, including military operations to clear areas formerly controlled by the LTTE, were carried out with minimal civilian impact and strict adherence to International Humanitarian standards by the security forces. This is a shining example of a successful hearts and minds campaign, worthy of emulation by the armed forces of other countries, facing similar insurgencies. You will recall that the President was greeted by the Chief Hindu Priest of Vakarai himself following the entry of the security forces into the town. Unfortunately he was brutally gunned down by the LTTE. The re-settlement of IDPs was also carried out in a highly professional manner with the consent of the people. In fact, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have acknowledged that the re-settlement of IDPs was voluntary and conformed with international standards. I underline that fact that over 120,000 IDPs have returned to their homes - in some cases to better homes in less than a year. Areas which never had electricity have now been connected to the national grid. Livelihood issues are being addressed methodically. The livestock industry in the East is being revived. Vast acres allowed to lie fallow, are now being brought under the plough. We can expect a significant upturn in the economy of the East in the coming months.
The Government is also conscious of the paramount need to restore law and order in the areas that have been cleared of LTTE occupation. New Police Stations have been established while existing stations are being strengthened to provide a more efficient and friendly service to the public. Towards this end, the Government has initiated action to recruit 2000 Tamil speaking Police officers to serve in the province. Already, 175 Tamil speaking personnel, including 50 women police constables, have been recruited, trained and deployed. Given more resources, this program which is designed to normalize the situation in the East could be further accelerated. The Ministry of Nation Building has allocated a sum of Rs 1.3 billion towards infrastructure and human resource development, livelihood support development programmes in other sectors such as education, health, irrigation and fisheries in the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee in an equitable manner. The private sector has also been given generous tax breaks in order to encourage it to invest in employment generating projects in the East. The government recognizes that the paucity of economic opportunity was a prime cause for the disaffection of the youth. This is true not only of the Tamil youth, but at an earlier time, of the Sinhala youth in the South. The development programme in the Eastern Province can be held out as a model for post-conflict development of countries emerging from situations of internal armed conflict. The experience that Sri Lanka is gaining from this process can be used effectively in other parts of the world. It is also important to note that our effort is to address the root causes of disaffection in their entirety. This may be the cause of dismay for some who thrive on human misery. But we will address these problems with a view to solving them. This being so, it is rather disconcerting for us to be preached human rights. These bromidic sermons are in many instances, a rehash of dated figures and information which is no longer relevant. The propensity to rely on yesterday’s statistics to prop up arguments of convenience is quite distressing and is quite unhelpful in the Government’s efforts to restore peace and normalcy. The Government recognizes that language has been one of the most contentious issues underline the present conflict. Although Tamil has been recognized as an official language since 1987, it is a sad fact that the vast majority of Tamil speaking population, especially those living in areas outside the North and the East encounter numerous impediments in transacting business with government institutions, primarily due to the paucity of officers proficient in Tamil. In this respect, I too have to plead mea culpa for my own lack of total proficiency in the Tamil language. It is my belief that if citizens of this country had an understanding of Sinhala and Tamil, coupled with at least a working knowledge of English, the task of national integration would be that much easier. We have the successful examples of multilingual societies in Canada and Switzerland from which to draw inspiration. This would involve greater commitment of the Government to undertake serious reforms in the education system of the country, whereby all children will be taught the three languages at school. These efforts made by the government are producing encouraging results. Only this month, 5419 Sinhala public servants sat the Tamil proficiency examination. 960 Tamil public servants sat the Sinhala proficiency examination and some of them came from Killinochchi and Mullaitivu. In the short term, the Government has made it mandatory for all persons who are recruited to the Public Service to be proficient in the two official languages. Ladies and gentlemen, as I conclude, I am tempted to quote the good book. “As we point one finger at another three fingers point back at us”. It is time to stop pointing fingers, passing judgments of convenience and preaching from the pulpit. We all have skeletons in the closet and some of them are gargantuan. Sri Lanka is making a concerted effort to deal with a brutal terrorist threat, re-establish a comfort level for all its people and return to normalcy. It needs to reestablish a confidence level throughout the country so that the entire country can be the homeland for every one of us. Our efforts to embrace each other and create hope in our future deserve your support.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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