Sri Lanka has rejected its basic responsibilities

" The human and economic cost of military victory -- if it is ever achieved -- will be phenomenal. Civilians are already paying a heavy price. The violent death toll continues to rise; more than 9,000 men, women and children were killed since the beginning of 2008. "
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by Victor Karunairajan

(January 11, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) Robert Muggah’s feature appeared in The Ottawa Citizen amidst two major attacks on the media by unknown goons and gunmen and in one of which a journalist who valiantly fought for human rights, Lasantha Wickrematunge was killed in broad daylight at a busy Colombo suburban junction at 9 30 AM. Sri Lanka is ranked as the second most dangerous country for media folks after Iraq.

Successive Sri Lankan governments have been talking about a meaningful political solution ever since the infamous Sinhala Only legislation was passed into law. The recent chorus has been that only once the LTTE is rooted out meaningful political solution is possible which is sheer poppycock!

A political solution in the 1950s would have avoided all the terrible ordeals the country has undergone since and continues to even now with still greater ferocity. There would never have occurred the repeated anti-Tamil pogroms and even the uprising of the Sinhala youth in the south. The bare-naked truth is that every government since independence wants to hold to power and have used the easy means to achieve it by either stoking or keeping the fires of racial and religious hatred and animosities alive.

In 1983 President Junius Jayawardene unashamedly aimed at genocide against the Tamils and that was a defining moment not only for Sri Lanka but even more for the Tamils. Since then no government has had the courage to redeem the country from the horror meted out to the Tamils and any talk about solution was only a disgraceful evasion of the reality. The current government’s sop to the Tamils was clearly expressed by the Army Chief Lt.Gen.Sarath Fonseka given the responsibility to liberate Wanni from the LTTE, when he said that Tamils are citizens of Sri Lanka by the grace of the majority Sinhala people, and the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse did nothing about it to show its integrity.

Under the circumstances, it could be assumed that even President Mahinda Rajapakse has no plans whatsoever to ensure that every citizen of Sri Lanka enjoys equal rights, none less and none more. If for five decades, Colombo governments could have treated the Tamils as lesser citizens living at the mercy of the majority Sinhalese, is there any hope the current government will rise and redeem the honour a country that deserves to be a part of a polity of nations where fundamental rights are sacrosanct?

by Robert Muggah
Courtesy: The Ottawa Citizen

The present Sri Lankan administration is committed to a military victory at any cost. A charitable interpretation of its strategy is that a decisive victory over the LTTE "terrorists" would pave the way to a meaningful political solution after more than two decades of war. The government is trying hard to convince people that it is winning on the battlefield: its political survival depends on it.

Sri Lanka is in the grips of a major humanitarian crisis. The resumption of all-out war between the nationalist government of Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has killed thousands of civilians and forcibly uprooted hundreds of thousands more from their homes. Much to the government's irritation, aid agencies have described conditions on the ground as similar to those in Somalia.

The defence ministry claims that its soldiers are laying waste to key rebel bases where the Tigers have concentrated their forces. If ministry statements are to be believed, the capture of the Tiger strongholds in the Vanni and Jaffna districts is "imminent." But behind each declaration of military victory are tragic stories of human suffering, eroding civil freedoms, and the deepening of Tamil angst at home and abroad.

The real scale of bloodshed in the north of the country is not known. The New York-based Genocide Prevention Project recently added Sri Lanka to a list of "red alert" countries. But the fact is that few journalists, let alone human rights monitors, are permitted to report above the war zones in the north. International and domestic newspapers are also routinely censored. Reporters critical of the Rajapaksa government are often harassed and assassinated.

The present Sri Lankan administration is committed to a military victory at any cost. A charitable interpretation of its strategy is that a decisive victory over the LTTE "terrorists" would pave the way to a meaningful political solution after more than two decades of war. The government is trying hard to convince people that it is winning on the battlefield: its political survival depends on it.

The human and economic cost of military victory -- if it is ever achieved -- will be phenomenal. Civilians are already paying a heavy price. The violent death toll continues to rise; more than 9,000 men, women and children were killed since the beginning of 2008. Owing to spiraling inflation and unemployment, poverty is deepening across the country.

Meanwhile, the Tigers continue to put up a stiff resistance and routinely perpetrate atrocities of their own. The fiercest resistance is likely yet to come. The insurgents are convinced that soaring government military expenditures will undermine the economy. The Treasury has already warned Sri Lankan parliamentarians that the escalation of war is not a license to print more money. The International Monetary Fund has grumbled loudly about inflation -- which has been as high as 20 per cent this year.

The Tamil Diaspora is increasingly disinterested in resolving the armed conflict. From North America to Western Europe, resentment among expatriate Tamils is growing. Even as India's sizeable Tamil population rallies peacefully behind the Sri Lankan Tamil cause, their frustration is palpable.

Whatever happens next, it is unlikely that the Sri Lankan army will be perceived as anything more than an occupying force in the north of the country. Nor will the insurgents simply fade away after the shooting stops. Even though government-led artillery and deep penetration attacks are weakening their capacities, the Tigers remain a credible insurgency force.

The international community watches on with a sense of déjà-vu. The armed conflict has claimed the lives of more than 75,000 people since 1983, and literally millions have fled abroad as refugees or within Sri Lanka's borders as internally displaced people. Meanwhile, donors have quietly shut down operations in the country. United Nations agencies and humanitarian organizations are also regularly denied access to the sick and wounded.

The outside world is failing to protect civilians in Sri Lanka. But blame cannot be shouldered by foreign governments alone. Development agencies have tried to offer financial carrots to the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in a bid to end fighting. Having been stung in the past, they are loath to keep trying in vain.

As bad as the situation is, now is not the time for the outside world to turn its back on Sri Lanka. Together with responsible civic leaders, the Sri Lankan government should be encouraged to craft a meaningful political solution. Much-needed constitutional reform, the resumption of the All Party Conference and the promotion of basic religious, education, and language rights are a starting point. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be much will to resume negotiations.

The Sri Lankan government would do well to craft a Marshall-style aid package for social and economic reconstruction in the north and east. This would mean assembling the country's brightest minds and designing a comprehensive strategy that starts without delay. In the current political climate, however, such a plan may not be seen as credible. The majority Sinhalese population and the all-important Buddhist clergy would likely interpret such "concessions" with outright derision.

The international aid community could also review its overall support to the Sri Lankan government, including preferential trade arrangements. Until meaningful progress is made on dealing with basic minority grievances, donors might also consider withholding certain forms of financial assistance.

The untied provision of aid dollars has allowed the government to shirk its fundamental responsibilities to protect. Unless the Sri Lankan government assumes its basic responsibilities, this war will surely continue without end.

[Robert Muggah is affiliated with the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) and is the author of Relocation Failures in Sri Lanka (Zed Books, 2008).] - Sri Lanka Guardian