“After the collapse of the Tamil Tiger in Nanthi Kadal lagoon the NGOs lost their power to meddle in the domestic affairs under the pretence of being in possession of the magic solution to end the Vadukoddai War launched by the Jaffna jingoists. They have also lost their self-appointed role as peace-makers. They are running scared, fearing the loss of status and income. Their only hope of surviving is by re-igniting the fires of the lost Vadukoddai War.”_________________
By H. L. D. Mahindapala
(August 29, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Vadukoddai War launched officially by the Jaffna leadership on May 14, 1976 ended on May 18, 2009 in Nanthi Kadal lagoon, eliminating all hopes of achieving the goal of a separate state through military means. The military solution endorsed as Plan A in the Vadukoddai Resolution of 1976 backfired and the Tamil separatist who relied on the violence endorsed in it are licking their wounds, either in hideouts in Sri Lanka or in seminars abroad.
Their fall back position in Plan B is to mobilize international backing to gain what they lost in the battlefield. Post-mortems are popping up in seminars held in various parts of the globe partly to manipulate the international community to pressure the Sri Lankan government, partly to regain the lost international sympathy, partly to boost their sagging egos after Velupillai Prabhakaran went down in the Nanthi Kadal lagoon and partly to keep the money flowing in from far-flung network.
Not surprisingly, the defeated remnants of the Tiger terrorists in the Tamil diaspora have teamed up with NGOs to fan the dying embers of the war into another conflagration, if possible. These politicized NGOs have a lot to loose if in the coming post-conflict period the issues of the Vadukoddai War are snuffed out. To begin with, the foreign funding sources will dry up and the NGO wallahs will be forced to give up their expensive life-styles. After the collapse of the Tamil Tiger in Nanthi Kadal lagoon the NGOs lost their power to meddle in the domestic affairs under the pretence of being in possession of the magic solution to end the Vadukoddai War launched by the Jaffna jingoists. They have also lost their self-appointed role as peace-makers. They are running scared, fearing the loss of status and income. Their only hope of surviving is by re-igniting the fires of the lost Vadukoddai War.
But the Jaffna jingoists in the Tamil diaspora have one thing going for them: they are flushed with millions of the unspent Tiger collections. They were happy to bankroll their $300 million killing machine in the Vanni. But after it sank in Nanthi Kadal lagoon they are looking for new ways of keeping the rank and file fired up with new strategies. So they are spending it lavishly on the second front abroad. To the Tiger supporters in the diaspora and their allies in the NGOs a seminar, right now, is war by other means. Lobbying foreign offices and financing mainly left-wing parliamentarians, or selling Tamil votes in exchange for political support are strategies pursued with renewed vigour to increase the pressures on the Sri Lankan government to give into their demands which they lost in Nanthi Kadal lagoon.
The latest seminar is in America. Ms. Teresita C. Schaffer, the director of South Asia Programs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank, and former American Ambassador to Sri Lanka, is running it for the US Institute of Peace (USIP) which is a prestigious body established by the Congress. USIP, however, has not paid much attention to Sri Lanka in the past. Its main focus has been the Middle East and Africa. Suddenly, it has turned its attention to Sri Lanka and invited Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternative and Jehan Perera of the National Peace Council as their experts on Sri Lanka. In addition, in October A. T. Ariyaratne is billed to speak on his Gandhian approach to peace in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankans are well aware that these three names are inter-connected in the NGO circuit particularly in their cut-throat competitions to get the dwindling dollars into their kitties. Their common strategy is to denigrate Sri Lanka abroad to make them look like venerable members of a glorified “civil society” which exists only in their minds and that of their foreign donors. At best, they are seen as-mercenary exploiters of human rights which they had used to stoke the fires of war burning. It is public knowledge that one peace merchant used to laugh all the way to the bank every month depositing Rs.1 million paid to him by foreign donors! In short, their primary source of income has come from the misery of the Sri Lankan people. They also enjoy perks like invitations from allied INGOs abroad. The invitations extended to these peace-charlatans of Sri Lanka is intriguing, more so because Ms. Schaffer is moderating it. All three characters mentioned above are known to her during her tenure as Ambassador to Sri Lanka. So it is not far-fetched to assume that it is a case of birds of a feather clucking together.
According to Ms. Schafer’s advertisement (or is it USIP’s?) Paki and Jehan are billed as “two prominent individuals from Sri Lanka's civil society who are working to secure a lasting peace in the country.” USIP/Ms.Schaffer also claim that these two guest speakers will show “the pathways to a sustainable peace and reconciliation.” Those who know the recent history of the 33-year Vadukoddai War would justifiably conclude that these puffs could have come only from those who write one-liners to Jay Leno for his audience to laugh. If they are so good, as advertised by USIP/Ms. Schaffer, how come these two NGO apparatchiks failed in all the years they worked “as prominent individuals of Sri Lanka’s civil society….to secure a lasting peace in the country”? Or to get anywhere near it?
But, more importantly, what does USIP/Ms.Schaffer hope to contribute to peace and stability with these two hired hacks? Can the USIP forum consisting of these two peace merchants produce anything constructive to the people of Sri Lanka? USIP, of course, has on its staff scholars of repute. It is also linked to big names in the international community, from Condolleza Rice to Jimmy Carter. Though it is known as a body committed to promote peace it is also clouded in much controversy as to whose peace it intends to promote. In fact, when President George Bush appointed anti-Islamic Pipe as its head the Arab world, in particular, was up in arms protesting against his appointment.
This indicates that the USIP is not much different from many other NGOs, INGOs despite its claim to be an independent organization. If it is independent, as it claims, why is it that USIP has a tendency to invite only like-minded apparatchiks? Is it by coincidence that USIP decided to invite only Tweedledums and Tweedledees from Sri Lanka? Take the case of Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu and Jehan Perera – the Tweedle-dumbos from Sri Lanka. Their biggest contribution will be to do what they normally do: demonize Sri Lanka. How can USIP, or the genuine peace-lovers, benefit from the usual complaints made by these two charlatans whose contribution to peace in Sri Lanka has been as oceanic as ant’s urine?
A critical question that needs to be asked is: how will the presence/participation of these two invitees help to achieve the USIP’s mission and goals which are to (1) international andprevent resolve violent conflicts (2) promote post-conflict stability and development and (3) increase conflict management capacity, tools, and intellectual capital Worldwide. These goals are commendable but how can two failed partisan ideologues from Sri Lanka help USIP to achieve any one of its goals. The available records prove incontrovertibly that they failed in (1) and have not provided any credible evidence to prove that they are capable of achieving (3) either. Hopefully, they may be able to contribute something to (2) though that too is in doubt considering their past record.
Of the three goals of USIP what is most relevant to Sri Lanka right now is (2) – the promotion of post-conflict stability and development. Judging by their past performances can the Sri Lankans, who are now waiting expectantly to leave the failed past behind, expect anything positive from these two peace merchants? They are negative ideologues with a negative outlook. If they had anything positive to contribute in the past Sri Lanka would not have gone the devastating path of the Vadukoddai War. They have consistently skimmed over the war crimes and the crimes against humanity by the Tamil tiger terrorists because it is not profitable to look into that side. There are profits only if they run down the government. Besides, looking at the dark side of Sri Lankan terrorism undermines their one-eyed theories of blaming only the Sinhala-Buddhist south and/or the Sri Lankan government.
Their partisan approach focused exclusively on the infirmities of the Sri Lankan government – all of which are common, on a greater scale, to other democracies combating terrorism. Therefor, it is not surprising to see them blaming the Sri Lankan government for ending the 33-year-old war within 2 ½ years without taking the advice of the David Milliband and Richard Kouchner to stop the war at the most critical stage. Now they are working overtime raising human rights issues to push for international investigations into the conduct of the war. They are also harping on the IDPs who are being screened in Menik camp as if America had released the Germans after World War II without screening them for Nazi connections. De-Nazification was an official policy of US and some researchers have written books claiming that Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was so bitter with the Germans that he starved them. In the IDP camps in Sri Lanka they are given three meals a day and, according to BBC, contractors are making money hand over fist by supplying food. The NGO hacks do not like that very much because they could get more funding if the IDPs are starved like the Germans after World War II.
Human rights not only butter the bread of Paki or Jehan but also buy free passage into Western countries as experts on Sri Lanka. Their passage to USIP or any other American institute depends on how well they denigrate Sri Lanka. Clearly, no one in their proper senses will deny that stability in the post-conflict period can come primarily by promoting development and this needs analysis, planning, scrutiny and careful implementation. But in their presentations they will have no constructive road map to go into the future. They will speak in generalities and divert attention to the failures of the government which is tasked to fulfill the needs of the north and east within shortest possible time.
Development and stability need aid. But Paki and Jehan are busy lobbying to cut aid. Will they urge at USIP that the West should give more aid for stability and development or will they argue to cut aid because the government is not fulfilling their criteria on selected issues that serve their political agenda? My bet is that they will run down Sri Lanka with the ulterior motive of cutting off aid. These two are quite used to playing their conventional role of perverted nurses who pinch the Sri Lankan baby while rocking the cradle of human rights.
Last but not the least, let me deal with A. T. Ariyaratne – one of the best known cheats in the NGO circuit. He is due to speak on the topic of: In the Footsteps of Gandhi: Creating a Culture of Inter-Religious Peace in Sri Lanka. The text used by USIP to advertise Ariyaratne reveals how he is selling Buddhism and Sri Lanka for his gain. The USIP text says: “For over two decades, Sri Lanka has been beset with a civil war fought between government forces and a minority insurgent group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which seeks an independent Tamil state on the island country. Although rooted mainly in ethnic, linguistic, and political differences, religion has also come to play a role in the identity-dynamics shaping the conflict and its beleaguered peace process. Elements of the majority Sinhala Buddhist population in Sri Lanka argue against peace with the Tamils, who are predominantly Hindu, in defense of Buddhism. Meanwhile, the minority Muslim population, composing Sri Lanka's third major ethnic group, is often caught in the cross-fire of war, and the Christian minority population has been accused of unethical conversion practices and targeted violently.”
The picture is painted in subtle terms to project the Buddhists as targeting Hindus, Muslims and Christians. This text could have been written only by the USIP, or by Ariyaratne. If the USIP wrote it, it would have been with the advice and consent of Ariyaratne. Jointly or severally, they have presented the Vadukoddai War as a “religious” war between the Buddhists and all other religionists. The religious element is woven in subtly when the blurb says that “religion has also come to play a role in the identity-dynamics shaping the conflict and its beleaguered peace process”. Then it goes on to add: “Elements of the majority Sinhala Buddhist population in Sri Lanka argue against peace with the Tamils, who are predominantly Hindu, in defense of Buddhism.” Which serious and credible analysts have ever concluded the Vadukoddai War as a religious war? When did the Hindus and Buddhist clash in this Vadukoddai War?
This makes Ariyaratne, who would have seen this text by now and done nothing about it, a cheap and venal liar. Of course, he has spent a life time selling Buddhism and Gandhism as his main products to his buyers in the peace market. His greatest contribution to Sri Lankan peace has been to march from one suburb to another in the south, mainly to video the parade as an earth-shattering event that would bring about peace. In reality, these marches are staged charades to hoodwink foreign donors who been deceived to believe that he is the Gandhi of Sri Lanka moving the masses towards peace. Though perceptive and serious individuals who have seen through his deceptions and lies dismiss his claims to be a Gandhi he has managed to win some awards from naïve promoters of peace abroad. His strategy is simple: he mass produces videos of his peace marches which brings him peace awards which, in turn, rakes more funding from abroad for more peace marches that moves only from one suburb to another. These are the pillars of peace in Sri Lanka which would have been ideal material for another play of Henrik Ibsen.
Now if USIP thinks that it can serve the cause of peace in Sri Lanka with Ariyaratne’s concocted lies and cheap tricks then it must think again. Independent commissions of inquiries into his money-making rackets have exposed him as a cheat too. So it is time for USIP to take a step or two back and question the advisors who recommend these charlatans and racketeers as credible agents for peace. These are qualified professionals who are adepts in selling the misery of the war-weary people of Sri Lanka for a fistful of dollars. People of Sri Lanka deserve better than this. And so does USIP.
----------------------END -Sri Lanka Guardian
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