ThamilEelam Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) has dismissed the kidnapping accusations leveled against them by the LTTE as a propaganda ploy to abandon the proposed talks in Geneva. When Asian Tribune contacted the TVMP spokesperson, Thooyavan (a nom de guerre), he said that it would be a violation of their unilateral declaration of a ceasefire . "TMVP is not that mad to kidnap LTTE personnel soon after declaring a unilateral ceasefire ," he said.
Explaining the reason behind this kidnapping story he said that this, - it is a propaganda ploy of the LTTE to (1) pull out of the proposed talks in Geneva and (2) to throw mud at the TMVP. "My guess is that the LTTE will produce them with some one to come up before a group of LTTE media personnel to allege TVMP was behind the kidnapping, sooner or later once they had got the mileage from their propaganda," he said.
Thooyavan also said that having studied pictures released by the LTTE they are certain that they had not seen any one of them working for the TRO in the east. He also denied carrying out any such kidnapping operations against anyone. He added: "If it is true that the TRO agents of the LTTE were kidnapped then it is an open admission by the LTTE that it has lost its grip in the east because they can't give protection to their own TRO agents."
Thooyavan said that it is not in their interest to commit such acts immediately after declaring unilateral ceasefire against the LTTE.
"If you notice'" he told the Asian Tribune, " their propaganda always link us to the Sri Lankan Army. They always claim that our group has committed atrocities against them within meters of a nearby Army camp, or that our forces had withdrawn into army camps after hitting them. In a devious manner their propaganda is to link us to the Sri Lankan Army. This is done first to blacken our name to give the impression to the Tamil people that we are agents of the Sri Lankan Army and not as a genuine movement of the Tamils of the North and East and secondly to impress the international community that we are operating jointly with the Sri Lankan Army to sabotage the peace process."
"It is possible that this incident was stage-managed by the LTTE to boycott the Geneva talks. The international community should not swallow the propaganda of the LTTE. It is the common practice of the LTTE to cook up all kinds of excuses to abandon talks. This is one of them. If this is promoted as an excuse then the Sri Lankan government has thousands of excuses for not holding talks at all. Besides, the Sri Lankan sources say that no complaint has been lodged with the police about this so-called kidnapping. The LTTE may have lodged this complaint with the NGOs and other agents of the LTTE to gain political mileage. This whole incident must be investigated thoroughly before the international community starts blaming any one in particular," said Thooyavan.
Latest reports from news agencies on the kidnapping
News agencies reported today that two TRO workers who went missing after the alleged kidnapping had surfaced and are now with their families.
TRO consultant Arjunan Ethirveerasingam told Reuters: "They had been with their families from yesterday, but they were too scared to come out. They were abducted and they have testified to that effect. We're still not sure exactly what happened."
Reuters added: "The army had said the report of 10 workers from the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) being abducted was a fabrication. The rebels had blamed the kidnappings on the government, warning they might make attending key talks in Switzerland difficult ."
(http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16908)
Thursday, February 02, 2006
New twist to TRO abduction drama, kidnappers communicated in Hindi By Munza Mushtaq
olombo, 03 February, (Asiantribune.com):In a surprising twist to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization’s (TRO) abduction drama, several of the Organization workers who were released by the 'armed gang' has made a statement to the effect that their kidnappers had been speaking to each other in Sinhala, Tamil and Hindi.
Meanwhile, TRO's project consultant in Colombo, Arjunan Ethirveerasingam told the Asian Tribune that his organization had still not seen anything positive coming out of the investigations, although statements have been recorded by the respective police station and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. "but we are continuing to be in touch with the police and the Monitoring Mission," he said.
Commenting on the denial by the Government that the incidents had not taken place in close proximity to the Welikanda check points, Mr. Ethirveerasingam pointed out that his organization was merely replicating the words of the TRO workers who were released.
At the time this articles was filed, eight TRO workers continued to be missing.
(http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16922)
Meanwhile, TRO's project consultant in Colombo, Arjunan Ethirveerasingam told the Asian Tribune that his organization had still not seen anything positive coming out of the investigations, although statements have been recorded by the respective police station and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. "but we are continuing to be in touch with the police and the Monitoring Mission," he said.
Commenting on the denial by the Government that the incidents had not taken place in close proximity to the Welikanda check points, Mr. Ethirveerasingam pointed out that his organization was merely replicating the words of the TRO workers who were released.
At the time this articles was filed, eight TRO workers continued to be missing.
(http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16922)
Ranil Accuses JVP Of Disarming Karuna Faction
he Janatha Vimuthi Permuna that vowed to strengthen Karuna faction had not given up its promises and accepting LTTE agenda of disarming Karuna faction said the opposition leader Ranil Wicramasighe while addressing rally of UNP supporters yesterday(29)
He also mocked Jathika Hela Urumaya and Janatha Vimuthi Peramuna for its previous opposition against international interference and Norway facilitator role for not taking a silent stance on the current peace developments.
“ If JVP and JHU did not adopt the disastrous “nonsense” attitude two years before, the situation of the country would be much better,” he said.
He also said such restraints would have saved the hundreds of lives of Army members who were killed by the LTTE during last several months.
“JVP who burnt the effigies of Erik Solhiem are now attending to dinners parties with him,” he added. He further reminded that the JVP and JHU who opposed the helicopter rides given to Anton Balasigham during UNP regime are shamelessly keeping silent over helicopter rides provided to Anton Balasigham by President Mahinda Rajapakse.
(http://www.independentsl.com/cgi-bin/newsscript1.cgi?record=224)
He also mocked Jathika Hela Urumaya and Janatha Vimuthi Peramuna for its previous opposition against international interference and Norway facilitator role for not taking a silent stance on the current peace developments.
“ If JVP and JHU did not adopt the disastrous “nonsense” attitude two years before, the situation of the country would be much better,” he said.
He also said such restraints would have saved the hundreds of lives of Army members who were killed by the LTTE during last several months.
“JVP who burnt the effigies of Erik Solhiem are now attending to dinners parties with him,” he added. He further reminded that the JVP and JHU who opposed the helicopter rides given to Anton Balasigham during UNP regime are shamelessly keeping silent over helicopter rides provided to Anton Balasigham by President Mahinda Rajapakse.
(http://www.independentsl.com/cgi-bin/newsscript1.cgi?record=224)
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Two abducted aid workers return, eight missing amid threats to Sri Lanka's peace bid by Shimali Senanayake
Two aid workers allegedly kidnapped by unidentified gunmen returned Wednesday, but eight other remained missing amid threats by Tamil Tiger rebels to pull out of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government.
The guerrillas accused para-military forces supported by the Sri Lankan army of kidnapping 10 aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization or TRO, and said the abductions made it "difficult to resume talks," with the government expected to take place in Geneva, later this month.
The TRO is a registered charity in Sri Lanka, believed to have strong links to the Tigers.
"There has been some miscommunication. The two girls had returned home Monday, but were afraid to report anything due to threats to their lives from the abductors," said Arjunan Ethirveerasingam, of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization. "We still haven't head anything from the others," he said, about the eight other aid workers who remained missing.
He said it wasn't immediately known if the two female workers had been released or had escaped, adding that they were being questioned.
The two separate alleged abductions had taken place on Sunday and Monday close to the Welikanda army check point in restive eastern Batticaloa, about 150 kilometers from the capital Colombo, Ethiriveerasingham said.
The government and the military refuted the charge. "The government categorically denies any such incident taking place in close proximity to the Walikanda checkpoint," the governments said in a statement.
"This is a fabricated story against the security forces," said Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe, military spokesman. He said the location the TRO alleges the abductions took place was a populated area and someone would have witnessed the incident, which however was not the case.
However, the alleged incidents that raised international concern, also worried the government about its effect on proposed talks with the Tigers. Some speculated meanwhile, that the alleged abductions were aimed at whipping up international sentiment against the government and for the Tigers to squeeze out of the Geneva talks.
The Tigers' threat on Tuesday came barely a week after Norway's top peace envoy Erik Solheim broke an almost three year deadlock to resume stalled peace talks between the government and the guerrillas amid fears that the island was on the brink of war.
The Tigers have been fighting for a separate state since 1983 for the island's ethnic Tamil minority, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people were killed before Norway brokered a truce in February 2002. Subsequent peace talks broke down a year later amid rebel demands for wide autonomy in the Tamil-majority north and east.
Sanctioned by religion, killings go on by Kumbakarna
In 1997 Sri Lanka had established a world record as being the country with the highest number of suicides in the world, with 47 per 100,000 persons. The total for the year was approximately 9000. While the figure came down to 4000 in 1998, the total number of people who had taken their own lives numbered one lakh since 1983. 90 percent of these were Sinhala Buddhists. But Sri Lanka does not seem to be too bothered by these deaths. Instead she is showing the greatest concern about the suicides of 147 Black Tigers.
Why is it that the government ignores the suicides of a lakh of people but is ready to even change the Constitution because of the suicide of 147 Black Tigers.
Could it be because the 147 are Tamils and the others are Sinhalese? Or is it because when they kill themselves they also kill eminent persons. The answer could be both reasons.
The Tigers have admitted that 14,000 of their cadres have been killed during the past 16 years. About 9000 have died after 1995 and among them are the 147 Black Tigers. Anton Balasingham once said that while the Tamils have thousands of youth willing to sacrifice their lives for Eelam, the Sinhalese had only one soldier -Gamini Gunaratne of Hasalaka. But the fact is that while there is no publicity and the government even tends to deliberately suppress the information, there is no dearth of Sinhala soldiers who are willing to lay down their lives for the country. Unofficial reports state that hundreds of them sacrificed their lives at Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi etc.
Unfortunately the Sinhala community which can repeat by rote the names of the Black Tigers including Captain Miller, has no such information on their soldiers. Instead they build statues and memorials and hold commemorations for soldiers- dead and missing in action.
The LTTE always uses the example of the Black Tigers as the personification of strong character, discipline and dedication because of their readiness to swallow the cyanide capsule, any time.
Many international commentators repeat the mantra that after the Vietcong of Vietnam, the Tigers are leading the world in sacrificing their lives. On the other hand the Sri Lankan security services are depicted as frightened mice who desert their posts, in order to show their low morale.
It is generally estimated that there are about 22,000 deserters from the forces. Some of them do return to the army but are moralised soldiers. However, when you look at the total numbers in the armed services which stands at about 247,000 the deserters amount to around 10 percent, in the last two decades.
More important is the fact that the soldier does not have a special place in the hearts of the larger segment of the Sinhala community whose life is one big carnival. It merely sees the soldier as another customer for its goods.
South of Vavuniya the soldier encounters a coterie ready to pick his pockets and a pack of self-interested power hungry politicians. In such a scenario it is a miracle that only 10 percent have deserted the armed forces.
Even in the LTTE where hosannas are sung about their heroism, deserters are plentiful. We don't hear about those who abandon the cyanide culture. But between 1993 and December 1998, 788 Tiger cadres surrendered to the Army. This year the figure was 276, making a total of 1064.
At present it is reported that the strength of the LTTE is around 5000 and for any combined operation they can muster some 3500 cadres. This itself is a miracle. Many commentators say if operation Riviresa had been followed immediately by Jaya Sikurui there was a possibility that in the Wanni at least 50 percent of the cadres would have deserted the LTTE. This was proved during the IPKF operation in the Wanni in 1988.
The cyanide culture, and the dedication of the Tigers is another myth invented to enhance the image of the Tigers.
But in the last five years there has been some impact of Hindu fundamentalism on the LTTE. Groups such as the RSS (Rashtiya Swayan Sevake) the International Hindu Front, the Shivsena have begun learning from the LTTE and vice versa. Even though the LTTE has been described as a Christian missionary army, the impact of Hindu fundamentalism is considerable.
While Prabhakaran says the LTTE is aligned with the Hindu vision, the US Secretary of State once said that the LTTE is a Hindu fundamentalist organisation. (She retracted this later, but US officials hold the view that Hindu fundamentalism influences the LTTE).
According to a dialogue between Krishna (Vishnu) and Arjuna, the taking of one's life and that of another is endorsed by religious belief. Under the Hindu concept of an unchanging soul transmigrating from life to life, death does not end life, and life does not end with death. Krishna tells Arjuna there is no sin in taking one's own life. The appearance may change, but the unchanging soul will not. So suicide and killing of others is justified by religion. Sections of the Defence authorities who are falling over each other to build Hindu kovils would do well to realise the newest spiritual sustenance of the Tiger killers is the Hindu Atman concept. With great foresight the LTTE is publicising a video which shows the Black Tigers performing Vishnu Pujas before their departure to kill their targets and themselves. The Christian missionaries supporting the LTTE and propagating their religion will soon meet the reincarnation of Vishnu, in the Wanni and the East.
(Sunday Times, 15th August 1999)
Why is it that the government ignores the suicides of a lakh of people but is ready to even change the Constitution because of the suicide of 147 Black Tigers.
Could it be because the 147 are Tamils and the others are Sinhalese? Or is it because when they kill themselves they also kill eminent persons. The answer could be both reasons.
The Tigers have admitted that 14,000 of their cadres have been killed during the past 16 years. About 9000 have died after 1995 and among them are the 147 Black Tigers. Anton Balasingham once said that while the Tamils have thousands of youth willing to sacrifice their lives for Eelam, the Sinhalese had only one soldier -Gamini Gunaratne of Hasalaka. But the fact is that while there is no publicity and the government even tends to deliberately suppress the information, there is no dearth of Sinhala soldiers who are willing to lay down their lives for the country. Unofficial reports state that hundreds of them sacrificed their lives at Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi etc.
Unfortunately the Sinhala community which can repeat by rote the names of the Black Tigers including Captain Miller, has no such information on their soldiers. Instead they build statues and memorials and hold commemorations for soldiers- dead and missing in action.
The LTTE always uses the example of the Black Tigers as the personification of strong character, discipline and dedication because of their readiness to swallow the cyanide capsule, any time.
Many international commentators repeat the mantra that after the Vietcong of Vietnam, the Tigers are leading the world in sacrificing their lives. On the other hand the Sri Lankan security services are depicted as frightened mice who desert their posts, in order to show their low morale.
It is generally estimated that there are about 22,000 deserters from the forces. Some of them do return to the army but are moralised soldiers. However, when you look at the total numbers in the armed services which stands at about 247,000 the deserters amount to around 10 percent, in the last two decades.
More important is the fact that the soldier does not have a special place in the hearts of the larger segment of the Sinhala community whose life is one big carnival. It merely sees the soldier as another customer for its goods.
South of Vavuniya the soldier encounters a coterie ready to pick his pockets and a pack of self-interested power hungry politicians. In such a scenario it is a miracle that only 10 percent have deserted the armed forces.
Even in the LTTE where hosannas are sung about their heroism, deserters are plentiful. We don't hear about those who abandon the cyanide culture. But between 1993 and December 1998, 788 Tiger cadres surrendered to the Army. This year the figure was 276, making a total of 1064.
At present it is reported that the strength of the LTTE is around 5000 and for any combined operation they can muster some 3500 cadres. This itself is a miracle. Many commentators say if operation Riviresa had been followed immediately by Jaya Sikurui there was a possibility that in the Wanni at least 50 percent of the cadres would have deserted the LTTE. This was proved during the IPKF operation in the Wanni in 1988.
The cyanide culture, and the dedication of the Tigers is another myth invented to enhance the image of the Tigers.
But in the last five years there has been some impact of Hindu fundamentalism on the LTTE. Groups such as the RSS (Rashtiya Swayan Sevake) the International Hindu Front, the Shivsena have begun learning from the LTTE and vice versa. Even though the LTTE has been described as a Christian missionary army, the impact of Hindu fundamentalism is considerable.
While Prabhakaran says the LTTE is aligned with the Hindu vision, the US Secretary of State once said that the LTTE is a Hindu fundamentalist organisation. (She retracted this later, but US officials hold the view that Hindu fundamentalism influences the LTTE).
According to a dialogue between Krishna (Vishnu) and Arjuna, the taking of one's life and that of another is endorsed by religious belief. Under the Hindu concept of an unchanging soul transmigrating from life to life, death does not end life, and life does not end with death. Krishna tells Arjuna there is no sin in taking one's own life. The appearance may change, but the unchanging soul will not. So suicide and killing of others is justified by religion. Sections of the Defence authorities who are falling over each other to build Hindu kovils would do well to realise the newest spiritual sustenance of the Tiger killers is the Hindu Atman concept. With great foresight the LTTE is publicising a video which shows the Black Tigers performing Vishnu Pujas before their departure to kill their targets and themselves. The Christian missionaries supporting the LTTE and propagating their religion will soon meet the reincarnation of Vishnu, in the Wanni and the East.
(Sunday Times, 15th August 1999)
Tamil Separatism and the Christian Church by "Kumbakarna"
The agitation carried out by the Catholic church and other Christian denominations against the date for the PC polls ended in a victory for them. A special feature of this agitation was the demand for "the rights of the minorities". Up to now, this had not been addressed directly by the church, but rather by the network of non-governmental organisations funded by Christian countries.
It is after a long time that the Christian and Catholic churches have become politically active. In 1961, the campaign against nationalisation of schools was led by Thomas Cardinal Cooray. On that occasion, the effort was to "save the schools of God from the heathens". This time, the political rights of the chosen people are being addressed.
After the violence and corrupt practices of the NWPC polls, it was primarily the criticism levelled by the church which forced the govt on to the defensive. Next, despite the fact that the Supreme Court was already deliberating on the question of the date for the next polls, the church got God’s people out on the streets.
An interesting feature of this demonstration was the English slogan on placards carried by some of the participants, which read "LET US PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF MINORITIES". This is of course a standard slogan of Tamil separatism. Strangely, none of the Sinhalese slogans on display was a translation of this, but rather dealt with the reason for the agitation announced earlier, i.e. the presumed difficulty of worshipping on Good Friday if the polls were held the day before. It is obvious that there is a deliberate effort to feed the Tamil separatist agenda to Sinhalese Catholics and Protestants.
When the Dollar and Kent farm colonies were wiped out by the LTTE, and the Sinhalese Catholic fishing community at Kokilai was slaughtered and their church burnt down, the silence of the Catholic church was deafening. When the ‘Christian Brothers’ were murdered because they kept their schools open in defiance of the LTTE, there was not a word uttered about the ‘freedom of worship’. In the face of the LTTE’s ethnic cleansing, carried out by the slaughter of Sinhala villagers in the northern and eastern provinces, there was nothing said by the church about ‘rights’.
On the other hand, what the church is most eager to do is to ‘negotiate’ with the terrorists. The latest effort in this regard was the trip to the Vanni by Bishops Malcolm Ranjith and Kenneth Fernando.
It is worth examining why the official institutions of the Christian and Catholic communities are trying so hard to further the aims of Tamil rascism and separatism.
Internationally, the spread of the various denominations of the Christian faith has progressed slowly but steadily. Catholics, GreekOrthodox and Protestant Christians make up 36% of the global population at present, while at the beginning of this century it was 32%. However, their hold on economic power has been slipping. While 84.2% of manufacturing output was in the hands of Christian nations in 1928, it is projected to be 51% in the year 2000. There have been demographic changes as well. While 57% of Christians were ‘white’ at the beginning of the century, this number has declined to 40% now.
The struggle for converts is virtually over in Africa and Latin America. While the latter is more or less completely Catholic or Protestant, in Africa the lines between the Islamic north and the Christian south are clearly drawn. The battleground now is Asia, particularly the impoverished south. Providing assistance to the pan-Tamil agenda of people like Bishop Emannuel is a preliminary step towards the creation of a Christian, albeit Tamil, nation-state. The cry of ‘protecting minority rights’ and the call for the intervention of western (read Christian) govts is part of the process. Perhaps it is a matter of time before we hear the call for a NATO ‘implementation’ force to follow a western-brokered ‘peace accord’.
The church attempts to justify its support for the separatist cause in the following manner. If the Buddhists are permitted to defeat Tamil militancy, the argument goes, they will next attack the Christians. So backing the Tamil agenda is presented to Sinhalese Christians as self-preservation.
Buddhist-Christian relations were strained by the agitation over the nationlisation of schools in 1961. Further damage was caused by the subsequent conspiracy of Christian military officers, and schemes like "Catholic Action". Do the churches want to proceed further down the same road? It should be borne in mind by the leaders of these institutions that it is easier to prevent a fire than to put it out.
It is after a long time that the Christian and Catholic churches have become politically active. In 1961, the campaign against nationalisation of schools was led by Thomas Cardinal Cooray. On that occasion, the effort was to "save the schools of God from the heathens". This time, the political rights of the chosen people are being addressed.
After the violence and corrupt practices of the NWPC polls, it was primarily the criticism levelled by the church which forced the govt on to the defensive. Next, despite the fact that the Supreme Court was already deliberating on the question of the date for the next polls, the church got God’s people out on the streets.
An interesting feature of this demonstration was the English slogan on placards carried by some of the participants, which read "LET US PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF MINORITIES". This is of course a standard slogan of Tamil separatism. Strangely, none of the Sinhalese slogans on display was a translation of this, but rather dealt with the reason for the agitation announced earlier, i.e. the presumed difficulty of worshipping on Good Friday if the polls were held the day before. It is obvious that there is a deliberate effort to feed the Tamil separatist agenda to Sinhalese Catholics and Protestants.
When the Dollar and Kent farm colonies were wiped out by the LTTE, and the Sinhalese Catholic fishing community at Kokilai was slaughtered and their church burnt down, the silence of the Catholic church was deafening. When the ‘Christian Brothers’ were murdered because they kept their schools open in defiance of the LTTE, there was not a word uttered about the ‘freedom of worship’. In the face of the LTTE’s ethnic cleansing, carried out by the slaughter of Sinhala villagers in the northern and eastern provinces, there was nothing said by the church about ‘rights’.
On the other hand, what the church is most eager to do is to ‘negotiate’ with the terrorists. The latest effort in this regard was the trip to the Vanni by Bishops Malcolm Ranjith and Kenneth Fernando.
It is worth examining why the official institutions of the Christian and Catholic communities are trying so hard to further the aims of Tamil rascism and separatism.
Internationally, the spread of the various denominations of the Christian faith has progressed slowly but steadily. Catholics, GreekOrthodox and Protestant Christians make up 36% of the global population at present, while at the beginning of this century it was 32%. However, their hold on economic power has been slipping. While 84.2% of manufacturing output was in the hands of Christian nations in 1928, it is projected to be 51% in the year 2000. There have been demographic changes as well. While 57% of Christians were ‘white’ at the beginning of the century, this number has declined to 40% now.
The struggle for converts is virtually over in Africa and Latin America. While the latter is more or less completely Catholic or Protestant, in Africa the lines between the Islamic north and the Christian south are clearly drawn. The battleground now is Asia, particularly the impoverished south. Providing assistance to the pan-Tamil agenda of people like Bishop Emannuel is a preliminary step towards the creation of a Christian, albeit Tamil, nation-state. The cry of ‘protecting minority rights’ and the call for the intervention of western (read Christian) govts is part of the process. Perhaps it is a matter of time before we hear the call for a NATO ‘implementation’ force to follow a western-brokered ‘peace accord’.
The church attempts to justify its support for the separatist cause in the following manner. If the Buddhists are permitted to defeat Tamil militancy, the argument goes, they will next attack the Christians. So backing the Tamil agenda is presented to Sinhalese Christians as self-preservation.
Buddhist-Christian relations were strained by the agitation over the nationlisation of schools in 1961. Further damage was caused by the subsequent conspiracy of Christian military officers, and schemes like "Catholic Action". Do the churches want to proceed further down the same road? It should be borne in mind by the leaders of these institutions that it is easier to prevent a fire than to put it out.
"Tamilisation" and "Sinhalisatation" by Kamalika Pieris
The word ‘Sinhala’ applied to all those who peopled Sri Lanka in the ancient period. Sri Lanka was known as Sinhaladvipa, with the Sinhala people and Sinhala language. K. M. de Silva in his introductory remark to his book " History of Sri Lanka" suggests that ethnicity was not an important point of division in ancient Sri Lanka. He suggests that pre-colonial Sri Lanka was a multi-ethnic society (a conception which emphasised harmony and a spirit of live and let live) rather than a plural society (in which tension between ethnic and other distinctive groups is a main feature). (K. M. De Silva."History of Sri Lanka’ p 13)
The Sinhala kings had a policy of encouraging foreign contacts , specially those who could help in trade. This was possibly a factor in the assimilation of Tamil traders and Arab traders (Muslims) since both groups were very strong commercial powers in the Indian Ocean during the medieval period . The Muslims were also useful during the Portugese and Dutch occupation. They acted as envoys of the Kandyan king, to South Indian rulers. They were also probably acting as spies in the low county where the Portugese and Dutch were. This assimilation was done in a controlled manner. When the Muslims fled to the Kandyan Kingdom during Portugese times, King Senerat sent them to the Batticloa region, with the instruction that they were to take Sinhala vasagam and integrate into the community within a few generations.
Until recently the Muslims did not bother to publicise the fact that they had Sinhala vasagam. Now they do. At a recent Muslim function, N. M. Ameen pointed out that ‘Our forefathers married Sinhalese women. Some of our names such as Waidyasekara Mudiyanselage are in fact Sinhala names.’ Faiz Mustapha also said that he had a Sinhala vasagama and that he had been described as a "Kandyan Arab". (Daily News. 25.2.99 p3) The Al Islam Foundation appealed to all Muslim states and organisations throughout the world to fully support the call made by the International Buddhist conference that the United Nations declare Vesak as a UN holiday. It said: "The overwhelming majority of Buddhists in Sri Lanka have practised tolerance and lived in harmony for centuries with the local Muslims and it is but correct that the Ummah reciprocates. Of course there are chauvinists and buffaloes claiming to be animal lovers who are tyring to create a Muslim-Buddhist conflageration, but these are just a few on the lunatic fringe the vast majority are for amity in the correct Buddhist spirit." (Daily News. 25 .2 .99 p3)
The Portuguese and Dutch married local women. Therefore assimilation involved these groups too. Though Portugese and Dutch had fair hair and blue eyes, everybody in Sri Lanka has black hair and brown eyes. There is also evidence that from about the 16th century to about the 18th, the low country had waves of immigrants from South India, specially Kerala. Descendants of the southern coastal towns are now finding seventh generation ancestors who were from Kerala.
Tamils have assimilated into the Sinhala nation, at all times in its history. Some of these links are now dug out laboriously and presented as indications of Tamil domination. They are not. They are examples of assimilation. For example James Rutnam pointed out that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had a direct ancestor called Nilaperumal, a Tamil from South India who arrived in Sri Lanka in the 16th century. The history of Nilaperumal’s descendants was given. What this history actually indicated, was how anxious the descendants were to shed their Tamil origins through a series of marriages to foreigners and locals. (Sunday leader 18.10.98 p 11). Ralph Pieris has said that Keppetipola was a Tamil. This again indicates the degree of assimilation which was permitted in the Kandyan Kingdom.
Assimilation also extended to religion. A very special and unique feature of the Sinhala civilisation was its tolerance and hospitality to the various religions which took root in the country, such as Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. This is a unique feature not commonly found in other civilisations. We should keep in mind at this point that the Tamil separatist movement has issued a voluminous literature saying that the Sinhala Buddhists are regularly killing Tamil Hindus. Hinduism operates at two levels in Sri Lanka. Some of the Hindu deities are selectively included in popular Buddhism, but at a minor level. Sri Pada was also called Adam’s Peak and was venerated by Muslims.
Medieval Sinhala culture demonstrated a high degree of assimilation of foreign cultures. The ability to assimilate immigrants is surely an indication of the greatness of a culture, and also an indication of its confidence in itself. This assimilation was controlled and selective. For example, at no time was the Tamil-Hindu culture allowed to submerge the Sinhala culture. Tamil language and Hinduism were selectively incorporated into the medieval Sinhala culture, specially in the royal court. It was not allowed to dominate or overwhelm the Sinhala culture, which continued to roll along gloriously. (I have included the concept of ‘integration’ also in the term "assimilation".)
"Hindu and Tamil influences were increasingly felt in Sinhalese society of the 14th century and after. This has the result of active social and cultural contacts between the Sinhalese kingdom and South India. Such influences were strengthened by the arrival of a considerable number of Indian Brahmins,the activities of mercantile communities of Indian origin and the settlement of several such groups of Indians in the towns and the coastal regions. The Brahmins were Tamil and Telegu speakers. The court which inherited the legacies of the Malabar aristocracy of Gampola was very receptive to the new influences. Some members of the royal family had even Tamil names. The daughter of Parakramabahu VI had the name Ulakudayadevi. Sapumal, the adopted son and general of Parakramabahu VI is known to have had the name Canakapperumal. The two most influential and powerful families in the Sinhalese kingdom during 14th and 15th centuries were those of Alagakkonara and Senalankadhikara both of which were of Malayali extraction. Both families were from the Menon community. The use of Sanskrit and Tamil languages during the time, was because the court officials were familiar with those languages. South Indians were employed as court officials in the Kotte period. Tiruvarangaperumal, a Tamil officer of Indian extraction was in charge of royal documents in the reign of Buvanekabahu VII during the 16th century. (S Pathmanathan Journal Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. 18 n.s.1974 p61-62)
The notion of the pure Aryan Sinhala race is a notion invented by Europeans and picked up by the Sinhalese later on. The Tamil Separatist Movement forgets this, when it sneers at the Sinhalese. In his novel "the Lost Lenore" Regi Siriwardene deals with the issue of racial hybridity (1996). The characters are a Portugese Burgher, whose mother was half Tamil, with a Sinhalese wife. There is a great grandmother from Negombo who is a Tamil Catholic. In Negombo ‘there are even people there who call themselves Sinhalese but speak Tamil at home’. Then there are the Rangamas, probably Kandyan ‘aristos’ who would objects to ‘mikos’. A bizarre collection (p 40,66,68). We are told in this novel that Sri Lanka is one of the most hybrid nations on God’s earth. However Sri Lankans held hybridity in low esteem. Sinhalese themselves are utterly hybrid. "There are few people in the world whose culture is more hybrid than that of the Sinhalese". Their food is from South India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Tamilnadu. Their weddings are a cultural mishmash with a lot of Christian borrowing. Sri Lankan dress is eclectic too. The heroine remarks "There are deep racial prejudices in this country". Portugese Burghers are called thuppahi, miko, lafai or karapoththa. (Regi Siriwardene, "The Lost Lenore". p 41,42,43,44,65,70)
There is little indication of an inter-penetration of Sinhala and Tamil cultures. Both languages have borrowed words from each other. The Tamil language has borrowed words like "murunga’ from Sinhala. In the North and East there are personal names such as Mudiyanse Sinnethamby, Ratnayake Ramalingam, or even a combination like Ponnambalam Babunhamy (Names fictitious). Such combinations can found even today in parts of the Eastern Province. One explanation offered is that the first registrars of births were Tamil and they gave a Tamil name to each baby.
What is far more visible in Sri Lanka however are the stages in the progressive assimilation of the Tamil immigrants into the Sinhala culture. The Census for 1911 stated that ‘Many branches of the Tamil race have however settled in Ceylon and have been absorbed into the population and adopting Sinhalese custom. Certain castes in Ceylon trace their descent directly from South Indian tribes and along the coast from Negombo to Puttalam Tamil is as much spoken as Sinhalese by villagers calling themselves Sinhalese but undoubtedly of Tamil descent. In the Hiriyala Hatpattu (in Kurunegala district) there are Sinhalese who are Hindus and speak Tamil. They can read and write in Sinhala but speak Tamil at home (Census of 1911 pp 209, 222). "Though Tamils describe themselves in the Census Schedule as Buddhists and Sinhalese entered Tamil as the only language they could read and write, it is inconceivable that any Sinhalese would enter himself as Tamil or a Tamil as a Sinhalese" (p 196). If we ignore the idiotic conclusion it is clear, that ethnicity was not important in rural British Ceylon. The natives spoke Sinhala and Tamil, were Hindu and Buddhist and mingled comfortably with each other. These intermingled groups were mostly in the coastal areas, where the Tamil speakers first landed. As they established themselves and moved further into the interior of the country, they dropped Tamil and spoke Sinhalese. That is why even today, the Tamil speakers are to be found hugging the coast, while the interior is Sinhala speaking.
The history of the Sri Lanka Tamils as a distinct group can be traced back to the residual group left in the Jaffna Peninsula, after the South Indian invations of the 10th-13th centuries had come to an end. This residual group thereafter developed into as weak and wobbly kingdom which lasted from 13th to 16th century. It only included the Jaffna Peninsula and its environs and did not include even the Wanni. This kingdom does not have a clear history, let alone a glorious one. Its records are unsatisfactory and it lacks a systematic listing of its kings. That is because this kingdom was in fact, the landing pad for the later South Indian kingdom of Pandya and Vijayanagara, in their efforts to take over Sri Lanka. It was thus, during its 300 year history, often under subjugation, thus indicating how weak it really was and why its kings were sometimes called ‘kinglets’.
The Portugese, Dutch and British helped in the creation of a Tamil linguistic group, by providing western education in Tamil medium for North and East. In addition, the British encouraged the Jaffna Tamils to settle in or near Trincomalee. The Sinhalese villages in the East were starved off. The Census of the British period started calling North and Eastern Provinces, "Tamil areas". They also defined the Tamils as a separate race in Sri Lanka. Population density was ignored.
The Sinhala kings had a policy of encouraging foreign contacts , specially those who could help in trade. This was possibly a factor in the assimilation of Tamil traders and Arab traders (Muslims) since both groups were very strong commercial powers in the Indian Ocean during the medieval period . The Muslims were also useful during the Portugese and Dutch occupation. They acted as envoys of the Kandyan king, to South Indian rulers. They were also probably acting as spies in the low county where the Portugese and Dutch were. This assimilation was done in a controlled manner. When the Muslims fled to the Kandyan Kingdom during Portugese times, King Senerat sent them to the Batticloa region, with the instruction that they were to take Sinhala vasagam and integrate into the community within a few generations.
Until recently the Muslims did not bother to publicise the fact that they had Sinhala vasagam. Now they do. At a recent Muslim function, N. M. Ameen pointed out that ‘Our forefathers married Sinhalese women. Some of our names such as Waidyasekara Mudiyanselage are in fact Sinhala names.’ Faiz Mustapha also said that he had a Sinhala vasagama and that he had been described as a "Kandyan Arab". (Daily News. 25.2.99 p3) The Al Islam Foundation appealed to all Muslim states and organisations throughout the world to fully support the call made by the International Buddhist conference that the United Nations declare Vesak as a UN holiday. It said: "The overwhelming majority of Buddhists in Sri Lanka have practised tolerance and lived in harmony for centuries with the local Muslims and it is but correct that the Ummah reciprocates. Of course there are chauvinists and buffaloes claiming to be animal lovers who are tyring to create a Muslim-Buddhist conflageration, but these are just a few on the lunatic fringe the vast majority are for amity in the correct Buddhist spirit." (Daily News. 25 .2 .99 p3)
The Portuguese and Dutch married local women. Therefore assimilation involved these groups too. Though Portugese and Dutch had fair hair and blue eyes, everybody in Sri Lanka has black hair and brown eyes. There is also evidence that from about the 16th century to about the 18th, the low country had waves of immigrants from South India, specially Kerala. Descendants of the southern coastal towns are now finding seventh generation ancestors who were from Kerala.
Tamils have assimilated into the Sinhala nation, at all times in its history. Some of these links are now dug out laboriously and presented as indications of Tamil domination. They are not. They are examples of assimilation. For example James Rutnam pointed out that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had a direct ancestor called Nilaperumal, a Tamil from South India who arrived in Sri Lanka in the 16th century. The history of Nilaperumal’s descendants was given. What this history actually indicated, was how anxious the descendants were to shed their Tamil origins through a series of marriages to foreigners and locals. (Sunday leader 18.10.98 p 11). Ralph Pieris has said that Keppetipola was a Tamil. This again indicates the degree of assimilation which was permitted in the Kandyan Kingdom.
Assimilation also extended to religion. A very special and unique feature of the Sinhala civilisation was its tolerance and hospitality to the various religions which took root in the country, such as Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. This is a unique feature not commonly found in other civilisations. We should keep in mind at this point that the Tamil separatist movement has issued a voluminous literature saying that the Sinhala Buddhists are regularly killing Tamil Hindus. Hinduism operates at two levels in Sri Lanka. Some of the Hindu deities are selectively included in popular Buddhism, but at a minor level. Sri Pada was also called Adam’s Peak and was venerated by Muslims.
Medieval Sinhala culture demonstrated a high degree of assimilation of foreign cultures. The ability to assimilate immigrants is surely an indication of the greatness of a culture, and also an indication of its confidence in itself. This assimilation was controlled and selective. For example, at no time was the Tamil-Hindu culture allowed to submerge the Sinhala culture. Tamil language and Hinduism were selectively incorporated into the medieval Sinhala culture, specially in the royal court. It was not allowed to dominate or overwhelm the Sinhala culture, which continued to roll along gloriously. (I have included the concept of ‘integration’ also in the term "assimilation".)
"Hindu and Tamil influences were increasingly felt in Sinhalese society of the 14th century and after. This has the result of active social and cultural contacts between the Sinhalese kingdom and South India. Such influences were strengthened by the arrival of a considerable number of Indian Brahmins,the activities of mercantile communities of Indian origin and the settlement of several such groups of Indians in the towns and the coastal regions. The Brahmins were Tamil and Telegu speakers. The court which inherited the legacies of the Malabar aristocracy of Gampola was very receptive to the new influences. Some members of the royal family had even Tamil names. The daughter of Parakramabahu VI had the name Ulakudayadevi. Sapumal, the adopted son and general of Parakramabahu VI is known to have had the name Canakapperumal. The two most influential and powerful families in the Sinhalese kingdom during 14th and 15th centuries were those of Alagakkonara and Senalankadhikara both of which were of Malayali extraction. Both families were from the Menon community. The use of Sanskrit and Tamil languages during the time, was because the court officials were familiar with those languages. South Indians were employed as court officials in the Kotte period. Tiruvarangaperumal, a Tamil officer of Indian extraction was in charge of royal documents in the reign of Buvanekabahu VII during the 16th century. (S Pathmanathan Journal Royal Asiatic Society. Vol. 18 n.s.1974 p61-62)
The notion of the pure Aryan Sinhala race is a notion invented by Europeans and picked up by the Sinhalese later on. The Tamil Separatist Movement forgets this, when it sneers at the Sinhalese. In his novel "the Lost Lenore" Regi Siriwardene deals with the issue of racial hybridity (1996). The characters are a Portugese Burgher, whose mother was half Tamil, with a Sinhalese wife. There is a great grandmother from Negombo who is a Tamil Catholic. In Negombo ‘there are even people there who call themselves Sinhalese but speak Tamil at home’. Then there are the Rangamas, probably Kandyan ‘aristos’ who would objects to ‘mikos’. A bizarre collection (p 40,66,68). We are told in this novel that Sri Lanka is one of the most hybrid nations on God’s earth. However Sri Lankans held hybridity in low esteem. Sinhalese themselves are utterly hybrid. "There are few people in the world whose culture is more hybrid than that of the Sinhalese". Their food is from South India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Tamilnadu. Their weddings are a cultural mishmash with a lot of Christian borrowing. Sri Lankan dress is eclectic too. The heroine remarks "There are deep racial prejudices in this country". Portugese Burghers are called thuppahi, miko, lafai or karapoththa. (Regi Siriwardene, "The Lost Lenore". p 41,42,43,44,65,70)
There is little indication of an inter-penetration of Sinhala and Tamil cultures. Both languages have borrowed words from each other. The Tamil language has borrowed words like "murunga’ from Sinhala. In the North and East there are personal names such as Mudiyanse Sinnethamby, Ratnayake Ramalingam, or even a combination like Ponnambalam Babunhamy (Names fictitious). Such combinations can found even today in parts of the Eastern Province. One explanation offered is that the first registrars of births were Tamil and they gave a Tamil name to each baby.
What is far more visible in Sri Lanka however are the stages in the progressive assimilation of the Tamil immigrants into the Sinhala culture. The Census for 1911 stated that ‘Many branches of the Tamil race have however settled in Ceylon and have been absorbed into the population and adopting Sinhalese custom. Certain castes in Ceylon trace their descent directly from South Indian tribes and along the coast from Negombo to Puttalam Tamil is as much spoken as Sinhalese by villagers calling themselves Sinhalese but undoubtedly of Tamil descent. In the Hiriyala Hatpattu (in Kurunegala district) there are Sinhalese who are Hindus and speak Tamil. They can read and write in Sinhala but speak Tamil at home (Census of 1911 pp 209, 222). "Though Tamils describe themselves in the Census Schedule as Buddhists and Sinhalese entered Tamil as the only language they could read and write, it is inconceivable that any Sinhalese would enter himself as Tamil or a Tamil as a Sinhalese" (p 196). If we ignore the idiotic conclusion it is clear, that ethnicity was not important in rural British Ceylon. The natives spoke Sinhala and Tamil, were Hindu and Buddhist and mingled comfortably with each other. These intermingled groups were mostly in the coastal areas, where the Tamil speakers first landed. As they established themselves and moved further into the interior of the country, they dropped Tamil and spoke Sinhalese. That is why even today, the Tamil speakers are to be found hugging the coast, while the interior is Sinhala speaking.
The history of the Sri Lanka Tamils as a distinct group can be traced back to the residual group left in the Jaffna Peninsula, after the South Indian invations of the 10th-13th centuries had come to an end. This residual group thereafter developed into as weak and wobbly kingdom which lasted from 13th to 16th century. It only included the Jaffna Peninsula and its environs and did not include even the Wanni. This kingdom does not have a clear history, let alone a glorious one. Its records are unsatisfactory and it lacks a systematic listing of its kings. That is because this kingdom was in fact, the landing pad for the later South Indian kingdom of Pandya and Vijayanagara, in their efforts to take over Sri Lanka. It was thus, during its 300 year history, often under subjugation, thus indicating how weak it really was and why its kings were sometimes called ‘kinglets’.
The Portugese, Dutch and British helped in the creation of a Tamil linguistic group, by providing western education in Tamil medium for North and East. In addition, the British encouraged the Jaffna Tamils to settle in or near Trincomalee. The Sinhalese villages in the East were starved off. The Census of the British period started calling North and Eastern Provinces, "Tamil areas". They also defined the Tamils as a separate race in Sri Lanka. Population density was ignored.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Another five TRO staff reported missing
Five persons, four Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Pre School Education Development Center (PSEDC) personnel, and their driver, have been reported missing in the East, the TRO said in a press release issued Tuesday evening. The team, which was expected to have returned to the Kilinochchi FORUT office Tuesday, had left Valaichchenai, Batticaloa District, Sunday around 7:00 p.m. The PSEDC personnel had gone to Batticaloa to carry out the final assessment of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) funded Temporary Pre School Construction Project for Tsunami Welfare Centers and to evaluate the progress of the construction of Permanent Pre Schools funded by Save the Children in Sri Lanka.
Full text of the press release issued by TRO's Headquarters in Kilinochchi:
31 January 2006
23:00 Sri Lanka Time
2nd Group Missing: Pre School Teachers and Administrators Disappear en route from Batticaloa District
The following Pre School Education Development Center (PSEDC) personnel and their driver have been reported missing to Colombo:
- Mr. Kasinathar Ganeshalingam: PSEDC North-East Province Secretary
- Ms. S. Dosini: PSEDC Divisional Coordinator Mamunai North Division
- Ms. Nadeswari: Pre-School Teacher, Vavunatheevu Pre School
- Ms. Chithravel Sivamathi: Pre School Teacher Vavunatheevu Pre School
- Driver: Thangarasa
- Vehicle Number: WP PA 3074, PSEDC vehicle donated by TRO USA
These TRO and PSEDC personnel had traveled from Kilinochchi to the Batticaloa District to carry out the final assessment of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) funded Temporary Pre School Construction Project for Tsunami Welfare Centers (15 pre schools throughout the East) and to evaluate the progress of the construction of Permanent Tsunami Pre Schools funded by Save the Children in Sri Lanka (36 pre schools throughout the NorthEast).
The appraisal team was to have returned to Kilinochchi in time for a meeting at the Kilinochchi FORUT office on the morning of Tuesday 31 January 2006. TRO Kilinochchi informed TRO Colombo of the team’s failure to attend the meeting late in the afternoon of 31 January 2006 at which point TRO Batticaloa was contacted and inquiries were made as to the team’s where location.
TRO Colombo was informed that the team had left Valaichchenai, Batticaloa District at approximately 7 pm (19:00 hours Sri Lanka Time) on Sunday 29 January 2006. That was the last that anyone has heard of the team.
TRO requests that the Police, Government of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the ICRC, Embassies and Civil Society urgently investigate these missing humanitarian workers.
In light of the disappearance of these five (5) persons and the internationally highlighted abduction of five (5) other TRO personnel who were traveling from Batticaloa on Monday 30 January 2006 it appears that a campaign of Terror has been unleashed on TRO personnel in the NorthEast.
Background:
The Pre School Education Development Center (PSEDC) is an organization that is funded by TRO and implements projects in partnership with Save the Children in Sri Lanka, FORUT and UNICEF. PSEDC supervises the operation and coordinates the activities of Pre Schools in the NorthEast. The organization assures that pre schools in the NorthEast meet the minimum standards as set forth by the government of Sri Lanka. PSEDC also trains teachers and serves as a coordinating agency that ensures that there is a bottom up design and management of the pre school education of the children of all communities in the NorthEast. The PSEDC works closely with the Provincial Education Ministry and the Social Welfare Ministry.The PSEDC coordinates the activities of 2,990, 5.318 pre school teachers, and 87,045 children in the NorthEast and provides a valuable education for the children of all communities and works with all communities without regard to race, ethnicity, language group, religion, caste or any other basis.
Paramilitaries abduct 5 TRO staff in Welikande
"Five (5) staff members [of Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)] travelling from the Batticaloa office to Vanvuniya for training have been stopped by unidentified paramilitary personnel immediately after the Welikanda, (Polunnaruwa District) Sri Lankan Army Checkpoint at approximately 2:00 pm 30 January, 2006," TRO said in a press release issued Monday.
Full text of the TRO press release follows:
TRO has been informed that five (5) staff members travelling from the Batticaloa office to Vanvuniya for training have been stopped by unidentified paramilitary personnel immediately after the Welikanda, (Polunnaruwa District) Sri Lankan Army Checkpoint at approximately 2:00 pm 30 January, 2006.
Fifteen (15) TRO Batticaloa staff members were travelling from Batticaloa. The TRO staff vehicle had registered at the Welikanda army checkpoint and was continuing its journey when a “white van” that had been following them obstructed their path and forced them to stop. Five (5) members were dragged out of the TRO van and forced into the “white van” the others were assaulted and forced to go back to Batticaloa.
This incident occurred approximately 100 meters after the after the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) checkpoint on the A11 road from Batticaloa to Polunnaruwa. TRO Batticaloa Head Accountant Thanuskody Premini (also currently a student at the Batticaloa university) and four accountants from the TRO Children’s Homes (for orphans) in the Batticaloa District: Shanmuganathan Swenthiran and Thampirasah Vasantharajan of Shanthiveli Murakotanchani, Kailayapillai Ravinthiran of Vanni Nagar Palugamam and another as yet unnamed person were forcibly removed from the car. The other ten (10) persons in the vehicle were recent TRO staff recruits on their way to Vavuniya for office training.
TRO has contacted the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), ICRC, various human rights groups, international NGOs, Members of Parliament and other significant actors in the Sri Lankan peace process in an attempt to discover the whereabouts and ascertain the safety of these loved TRO Staff Members.
TRO would like to appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka, the international community and the Sri Lankan Civil Society to make every effort to assure the safe return of these persons to their families. These TRO staff members have been involved in post-tsunami/post-war humanitarian relief and development work with orphaned children and are staff of a registered Sri Lankan National Non Government Organisation(Charity)
(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=17052)
Tamil Tiger rebels threaten to pull out of Sri Lanka peace talks as 10 aid workers go missing by Shimali Senanayake
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Tuesday threatened to pull out of next months peace talks over the abduction of 10 Tamil aid workers in the island's volatile east, officials said.
"It will damage the atmosphere of negotiations and make it difficult to resume talks," said Daya Master, spokesman for the Tigers from the rebel-held capital of Kilinochchi. "They should be released immediately," Master said, blaming the abductions on para-militaries supported by the Sri Lankan army. The military denies any involvement.
The Tigers' threat comes barely a week after Norway's top peace envoy Erik Solheim broke an almost three year deadlock to resume stalled peace talks between the government and the guerrillas amid fears that the island was on the brink of war.
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization or TRO, a registered charity in Sri Lanka with alleged strong links to the Tigers said five among 15 of its members had been abducted by "unidentified gunmen," in the island's restive eastern Batticaloa, about 150 kilo meters from the capital Colombo, on Monday.
Less than a day later, the TRO reported that another group _ including three pre-school volunteer teachers _ affiliated to their organization had gone missing without a trace in the same area. "Under the circumstances, we fear that the same fate has befallen these humanitarian workers," said Arjunan Ethirveerasungham, the TRO's project development manager. "There seems to be a campaign of terror unleashed on TRO personnel in the northeast." He appealed to the Sri Lankan government and the international community to speedily investigate the abductions.
Earlier Tuesday, the United States embassy in Colombo, also urged authorities to "rapidly investigate," the allegations, while appealing to "all parties to exercise restraint and calm."
The kidnappings have been brought to the notice of President Mahinda Rajapakse and there was concern if the incidents will jeopardize the much-awaited negotiations to strengthen a fragile cease-fire.
European truce monitors said they had visited the scene but will return again Wednesday to probe the incidents further. "The LTTE has complained about these abductions and says this may jeopardize the whole Geneva conference," said Hagrup Haukland, chief of the 57-member mission. "We are very concerned as there are elements trying to disrupt the peace process."
The Tigers have been fighting for a separate state since 1983 for the island's ethnic Tamil minority, claiming discrimination by the Sinhalese majority. Nearly 65,000 people were killed before Norway brokered a truce in February 2002. Subsequent peace talks broke down a year later amid rebel demands for wide autonomy in the Tamil-majority north and east.
S.Lanka Tigers warn kidnappings may hurt peace bid by Peter Apps
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Tuesday that the kidnapping of five Tamil aid workers in the island's east could affect next month's peace talks in Switzerland and added the government might be to blame.
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which is considered close to the Tigers, said five employees were taken away by unidentified men on Monday in Welikanda, about 150 km (94 miles) from Colombo, after their van crossed an army checkpoint.
"It will affect the atmosphere of the peace process," media co-ordinator Daya Master of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam told Reuters from the rebel-held north.
"This will create panic in the people again. These are innocent civilians. It may be the Sri Lankan forces or it may be the Karuna group," he said referring to a faction led by former Tiger commander Karuna Amman which has split from the mainstream.
An army spokesman said he had no knowledge of the incident.
A string of attacks on the military in the minority Tamil dominated north and east tested a 2002 truce almost to destruction, but international monitors said tensions fell after the two sides agreed last week to hold direct negotiations.
Diplomats warn more clashes, killings or disappearances could kill the Geneva talks before they began, with a host of parties from rogue Tigers to the Karuna group to Sinhalese majority nationalists seen keen to provoke war.
SHADOW WAR Cease-fire?
The Tigers last week said they would cease military action provided the government did the same and abuses against the Tamil minority stopped. Since then, one militant was killed in an attack widely blamed on the Karuna group, but the rebels said the Geneva talks remained on.
Diplomats say the meeting has a real hope of avoiding a return to the two-decade old conflict that has already killed over 64,000. But the gulf between the two sides remains vast -- with little common ground over demands for a Tamil homeland -- and aid agencies continue to draw up contingency plans for war.
The kidnapping of the aid workers took place on the main road to the east near a stronghold of the former Tiger commander Karuna Amman, who the rebels say is now a government-supported paramilitary who has been fighting them.
"They had just gone through an army checkpoint," said TRO project consultant Arjunan Ethirveerasingam, adding that his organisation did not know who was behind the kidnapping.
"A white van forced them off the road. Five of them were long-term TRO employees. They were taken. The other 10 were new TRO recruits and they let them go."
The government denies backing Karuna's group, but truce monitors say they have at least been turning a blind eye to his "shadow war". With no clear role in a peaceful Sri Lanka, diplomats fear he might be trying to sabotage the talks.
On Tuesday, Sri Lankan newspapers published a statement apparently from Karuna saying he was calling a unilateral cease-fire to help the government's peace efforts, but there was no way of immediately confirming its authenticity.
(http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=
2006-01-31T070637Z_01_COL285595_RTRUKOC_0_UK-SRILANKA.xml&archived=False)
Monday, January 30, 2006
Blast hits causeway in rebel-held area of northern Sri Lanka by DILIP GANGULY
An explosion rattled a strategic causeway in a rebel-held area of northern Sri Lanka - on Sunday, a police official said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Elephant Causeway, located 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, was the scene of repeated battles during Sri Lanka - 's near two-decade civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam drove government forces back along the isthmus in April 2000 to secure control of the only road along which trucks can travel to deliver supplies to the area.
The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a Tamil homeland, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
Sri Lankan security forces, meanwhile, came under attack twice this weekend in the Jaffna Peninsula, leaving one soldier wounded, according to the military.
The violence Saturday came despite an agreement between the government and Tamil rebels to cease all hostilities and prepare for a new round of peace talks, to be held next month in Switzerland.
The Defense Ministry blamed ``terrorists'' for the attacks, but did not single out the LTTE by name. The guerrilla group, fighting to carve out a separate homeland for Sri Lanka - 's 3.2 million Tamils, is banned in the United States and neighboring India as terrorist organization.
The rebel group didn't mention the attack on its peace secretariat Web site, instead accusing the military of harassment.
``(The) Sri Lankan army's harassment, cordon and search operations and intimidation against civilians still continues in the Jaffna Peninsula though the government of Sri Lanka - and the LTTE have agreed to hold talks,'' the statement said.
(http://www.theacademic.org/#11385582810)
The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a Tamil homeland, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
Sri Lankan security forces, meanwhile, came under attack twice this weekend in the Jaffna Peninsula, leaving one soldier wounded, according to the military.
The violence Saturday came despite an agreement between the government and Tamil rebels to cease all hostilities and prepare for a new round of peace talks, to be held next month in Switzerland.
The Defense Ministry blamed ``terrorists'' for the attacks, but did not single out the LTTE by name. The guerrilla group, fighting to carve out a separate homeland for Sri Lanka - 's 3.2 million Tamils, is banned in the United States and neighboring India as terrorist organization.
The rebel group didn't mention the attack on its peace secretariat Web site, instead accusing the military of harassment.
``(The) Sri Lankan army's harassment, cordon and search operations and intimidation against civilians still continues in the Jaffna Peninsula though the government of Sri Lanka - and the LTTE have agreed to hold talks,'' the statement said.
(http://www.theacademic.org/#11385582810)
Friday, January 27, 2006
Clash erupts in Sri Lanka a day after peace deal by Peter Apps
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's military and Tamil Tiger rebels both said they came under attack on Thursday, a day after the two sides agreed to hold fresh peace talks in Geneva.
The rebels said the army had killed one of their men in an ambush, while the military said unidentified attackers had fired rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) at a bunker.
Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said he did not know who was behind the attack on a position near a major eastern supply route, but two RPG rounds were fired from a rebel area after an unconfirmed "incident" behind Tiger lines.
Tiger peace secretariat head, S. Puleedevan, said a senior Tiger fighter had been killed and another injured in an ambush in the east carried out by paramilitary forces and the army.
He did not say Wednesday's deal to hold peace talks in Switzerland was threatened, but said the rebels were upset.
"The leadership is seriously disturbed," he told Reuters from the rebel de facto capital Kilinochchi. "This is not going to help the peace process. Definitely it is going to create problems."
Earlier on Thursday, the Tigers freed a policeman as a goodwill gesture after agreeing to talks in Geneva with the government to stabilize the ceasefire.
The stock market soared on news of fresh talks, but many in the war-weary north and east were less euphoric even before the sides began trading accusations.
"I like peace," a soldier said as he patrolled the northern army-held enclave of Jaffna, surrounded by territory controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the scene of some recent attacks.
"But I have experienced peace talks three times and every time it ends with the LTTE attacking us."
One Tamil civilian was killed overnight by unknown gunmen in the east, the army said. Diplomats fear more killings could sabotage the peace deal, particularly if the government is not seen cracking down on those responsible. In Colombo, an army grenade misfire started brief bomb rumors.
RECENT ATACKS
A recent string of suspected rebel attacks on government troops nearly destroyed a 2002 truce and brought the island to the edge of a return to civil war.
Troops in Jaffna were still moving on foot instead of in vehicles, which have been repeatedly attacked by suspected Tiger ambushes, while the navy said it had intercepted a boat smuggling mine detonators heading toward rebel territory from India.
Although shaky, the current ceasefire is the longest since the Tigers began their fight for a Tamil homeland two decades ago. But fighters on both sides had expected war if Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim had not been able to break a deadlock and agree a venue for talks.
The government had refused to go to Norway, which has been facilitating the island's peace process since 1998 but which some of the Sinhalese majority say is too pro-rebel. The Tigers had refused to go anywhere else.
Agreeing to meet in Geneva, the rebels said they would stop violence if alleged army abuse of Tamil civilians ceased.
They also pledged to release one of three child protection policemen held since September when they strayed into rebel territory as they tried to catch a suspected British pedophile. Diplomats said the policemen were being held as bargaining chips.
The rising violence since November knocked some 25 percent off the value of the stock market and left aid workers working on post-tsunami relief projects fearing they might have to pull out.
Solheim said the agreement for February talks in Geneva could be a turning point. But he added that while President Mahinda Rajapakse and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran were both keen on peace, neither appeared keen on giving up stated goals.
"It's definitely important -- a clear positive step forward, but only one step," an exhausted Solheim told Reuters in an interview in the early hours of Thursday.
But he added: "There is real enthusiasm for peace but possibly not real enthusiasm for the necessary compromises."
Colombo's stock exchange closed a provisional 7.5 percent up on the day, with traders saying they were thrilled to avoid a war that could have seen suicide bombings in the capital. But some diplomats were less optimistic on lasting peace.
"We're no better off now than we were when the ceasefire was signed," one envoy said. "What's the best we can hope for? Probably some form of the status quo. I really don't see how the two sides can come together."
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
US slams Tigers, asks Colombo to disarm paramilitaries
The US today flayed Tamil Tiger rebels and asked the Sri Lankan Government to disarm paramilitary groups operating in the northeast to salvage the island's troubled peaceprocess.
"My visit together with (Norwegian peace envoy) Erik Solheim's is focused on getting diplomatic efforts to reinforce the ceasefire agreement," Burns told reporters here. He said this morning's bomb attack was 'reprehensible' and blamed the rebels for the deaths.
"The major part of the burden of peace rests with the LTTE....The Tamil people have genuine grievances and these should be resolved through dialogue not violence," Burns said. "We don't have direct contact with the LTTE, so we have to judge them by their actions. The actions of the last several weeks would indicate that this is an organization bent on provoking violence, as it commits violence, as it kills innocent people. "And so, if we see that kind of terrorism anywhere in the world I think all of us, as democratic citizens, need to reject it and need to call upon those who perpetrate it to stand down. So that's what the United States is saying today," Burns said.
Peace envoy Solheim told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of Sri Lanka that the island is at cross roads. "My expectation is to find some ways for the parties to discuss how to reduce the number of (ceasefire) violations," he said. Burns also asked the government to take action against paramilitary groups operating in the northeast.
"There have been violence against Tamil civilians' activities of paramilitary groups have to be halted, investigated, people found responsible should be dealt with within the justice system. The government leaders I spoke to also believed that it (paramilitary groups) should be stopped," Burns said. His comments echoed warnings by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) who recently faulted the Colombo government for not acting against anti-Tiger paramilitary units targeting the LTTE.
"The LTTE claims that 'the People' are behind the attacks on the military," the SLMM said in a statement. "SLMM finds this explanation unacceptable. It is safe to say that LTTE involvement cannot be ruled out and we find the LTTE's indifference to these attacks worrying." Meanwhile, the Tiger's London-based peace negotiator Anton Balasingham, flew to Kilinochchi on a Sri Lankan air force helicopter after arriving in the island this morning. Balasingham is to aid rebel chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran during talks with Solheim on Wednesday.
Some 149 people, including security personnel, have died since the fresh upsurge in violence began in December.
The Tamil Tigers, are asking for a separate homeland in the northand east of Sri Lanka and have accused the majority Sinhalesedominated government of discrimination.
More than 60,000 people died during nearly three decades of conflict, before a Norwegian-brokered truce came into effect in February 2002.
SLA attempt to enter LTTE area in Mannar thwarted
A seven-member group of the deep penetration unit of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fled leaving their bags inside the LTTE controlled Adampan area when members of the Civil Volunteers Unit and LTTE cadres counter-attacked them Saturday morning around 6:00 a.m., LTTE sources in Mannar said. The bag recovered by CVF volunteers and LTTE cadres was found with army uniforms, military boots and food packets, according to the sources.
(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=16946)
SLA deep penetration group had entered the LTTE held Adampan through Papamoddai via Thiruketheeswaram area. Papamoddai area is also held by LTTE.
The sentry of the CVF and LTTE which is located at the entrance of Adampan Saturday early morning noted a group of persons walking towards their sentry in suspicious manner and started attacking them with small arms.
The DPU group thereafter dropped the bag and fled from the area, sources added.(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=16946)
"Burden of peace rests on the LTTE," says Nicholas Burns by M Rama Rao
New Delhi, 25 January (Asiantribune.com): Reaffirming U.S. support for Norway's efforts to revive the Lanka peace talks, the American Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, has asked the LTTE to end their violent attacks on the government forces. Simultaneously he told Colombo to investigate reported abuses of Tamil minority in the island nation.
He said the United States favours reinforcement of Lanka ceasefire and resumption of peace dialogue which has been stalled with discord over the venue for the talks.
Speaking to reporters in Colombo after meeting Lanka President , foreign minister and Norwegian special envoy Eric Soldheim, Burns outlined three goals of the United States' diplomatic efforts in Sri Lanka: "To reinforce the ceasefire; to convince the parties to agree to resume negotiations; and to see those negotiations succeed so that peace can be restored."
About his meeting with Norwegian envoy, Burns said, "We very much support an end to the violence and a return to negotiations, and the maintenance and building up of the Ceasefire Agreement. We think it's imperative that every step be taken by the Sri Lankan government and other parties to the conflict to show support to the Tamil community, for the needs of the Tamil community, and respect for the rights of the Tamil community."
"And it's certainly very important for the LTTE to end its violence, -- stop all violence so that negotiations may begin and peace may return to Sri Lanka. That has the support of my government, and we are very pleased to work in support of that with Minister Solheim and his government in Norway".
Deadly attacks by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) against the army over the past two months have threatened a ceasefire brokered by Norway in February 2002. Norway has sought to bring the government and the LTTE back into negotiations, but as yet the parties have been unable to agree on a venue for the talks.
US official, who flew into Colombo on Jan 23 after talks in Delhi, said the burden of peace rests upon the LTTE.
"[W]e hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun," he said.
The under secretary acknowledged that Sri Lanka's minority Tamil population has legitimate grievances but urged the Tamils to address those grievances through dialogue with the government.
"We think it's imperative that every step be taken by the Sri Lankan government and other parties to the conflict to show support to the Tamil community, for the needs of the Tamil community, and respect for the rights of the Tamil community," he said.
Burns said the United States would work to strengthen the capabilities of the Sri Lankan military through training and joint exercises. In the same breath, he condemned the reported activities of paramilitary organizations aligned with the Sri Lankan government and called for an end to such violence.
Excerpts from the press conference which opened with Burns’s observations.
Under Secretary Burns : Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great pleasure for me to be with you. I'm very happy to be here in Sri Lanka to visit this country for the first time.
I had excellent meetings today with the President and with the Foreign Minister. I was able to meet the Opposition Leader, to see a number of ministers and representatives of civil society, and, of course, fellow ambassadors from friendly countries to Sri Lanka. I had a wonderful lunch given by the Foreign Minister. I also was able to meet Minister Eric Solheim, and we compared notes on our mutual goal, and that is to work with the international community, and certainly work with the government, to try to restore peace and maintain the ceasefire here, and resume negotiations.
I want to say, first of all, we're very proud of the efforts of the American Embassy here, of Ambassador Lunstead, who has done such a wonderful job to represent the United States. We are a great friend to this country. We support its territorial integrity. We support the preservation of peace.
We work very closely with the government and we're proud of what the United States has been able to do as a friend to Sri Lanka. I think many of you saw that in the wake of the horrible tragedy of the tsunami. When our military came here, the U.S. Marines gave immediate help to the people who had been affected. We are also, in the longer term, very hopeful in 2006 we might reach an agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka to provide a considerable amount of economic assistance, so that reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country can continue, especially those areas that have been so badly affected by the tsunami.
In addition to that, I must say that the United States is dedicated to peace. We call upon the LTTE, especially, to cease and desist from the violence and terrorism that it has afflicted upon the people of this country. The bombing this morning, which cost two lives; the repeated attacks over the past several weeks; and of course the attacks over many, many years upon the political leadership and the average citizens of this country, are reprehensible and they are condemned by the international community.
And we hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun. Now, we understand the Tamil community here has legitimate grievances, and legitimate issues that ought to be addressed by the government. And there out to be a dialogue, a better dialogue, between the government and the Tamil community.
But the responsibility here lies with the LTTE, which has taken up terrorism and violence as its political weapon. So we hope very much that Minister Solheim's visit here will result in a resumption of negotiations on a date certain, and in a place certain. For those negotiations to take place, we hope the ceasefire can be restored and we hope a final peace can come to Sri Lanka. The United States wants that very much, and we'll support the government in its effort to protect this country, and its territorial integrity as these negotiations resume.
So I wanted to begin with that very brief statement. I'm happy to take any questions that you might have.
Question: You talked about Tamil Tiger violence. In your meetings with the government, did you address the accusations levelled at the military about violence against Tamil civilians?
Under Secretary Burns: Yes, we did. In fact, we raised that with the President, and the Foreign Minister, and the other officials with whom we met. We said for sure that the activities of the paramilitary organizations also ought to be condemned and they ought to be stopped. And if there are allegations of military abuse of Tamil civilians, they ought to be investigated. If there are people found responsible, of course they ought to be dealt with in the justice system here. We raised those issues because they are important issues, and they are important to the Tamil community and we've heard from the Tamil community of how important they are. I must say that the response we received from the government is that the government leaders also believe that those attacks must stop, and they must not be carried out in the future.
Question: If the U.S. will not negotiate with Al Qaeda in its war on terror, why does it support negotiation with the Tamil Tigers on behalf of the government?
Under Secretary Burns: Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization that has no grievances whatsoever to negotiate with the United States of America or the United Kingdom or any other country in the world. It's a nihilistic terrorist organization that uses terrorism for reprehensible aims. We also condemn the LTTE, and we brand it a terrorist organization. We sanction any individuals or groups of individuals who would seek to give financial support to that organization. But I must say that all of us who are friends with this country understand that this long conflict is only going to come to an end when the LTTE and the government sit down and find a way forward to end the violence and convince the LTTE to stop using violence as a political weapon. That has to happen.
I think any realistic observer of this country's long struggle would say, and agree, that that kind of dialogue has to take place. I'm not aware of any government in the world, or any significant NGO in the world, who believes we ought to be sitting down with Al Qaeda given its agenda.
Question: Is there some kind of direct role the U.S. can play in bringing about a final solution to Sri Lanka?
Under Secretary Burns: We are supporting the core role, the first and foremost role, played by Norway. I had a very good meeting with Minister Eric Solheim this afternoon. I told him that we support his efforts 100 percent and that he can rely on the United States to back him up. We're also part of the Co-chairs group which meets, as you know, regularly to try to provide diplomatic support to those who would want to end this conflict, including the government. I am the American representative to the Co-chairs, and I assume we will be meeting fairly soon to continue the Co-chairs' negotiations.
If there's any weight that America can bring [it is] to try to convince the LTTE to come in and negotiate, and to try to give advice to our friends in the government that they ought to find a way not to respond to the obvious provocations of the last several weeks. I think that is really what America can do best here. We're a friend of this country. We respect its territorial integrity and want to see it preserved. And the people of this country ought not to have to live for another 15 or 20 years with this reprehensible terrorist group keeping this country verged on the edge of war. What is striking about the situation here, in Sri Lanka, is how so many people are concerned about the possible outbreak of conflict, of armed conflict, of a civil war.
It is incumbent upon all the friends of this country to band together, as we have in the Co-chairs group, to send a message that we support peace, and that we'll do whatever we can diplomatically to help prepare the road for peace. At the same time, we are trying to show our support for the government by providing military assistance and training for its officers, military exercises between our troops and the government's troops, so that the government can be strong and the government's forces can deter future attacks against the people of this country.
Question: In light of the escalating violence, if conflict does break out, what moves will the U.S. take to assist Sri Lanka in the background of the U.S. Global War on Terrorism?
Under Secretary Burns: We're focused not on hypothetical questions, but on the work at hand this week -- and that is to try to give stimulus to a diplomatic effort to do three things: To reinforce the ceasefire; to convince the parties to agree to resume negotiations; and to see those negotiations succeed so that peace can be restored. That's the immediate diplomatic agenda. And our weight is behind that agenda.
I want to say again: while we do believe that the Tamil population has legitimate grievances, and they must be respected by the majority population, and there has to be a way for the Tamils to be able to articulate those grievances, the full responsibility here really lies with the LTTE. That's the organization that has to choose peace, instead of the reprehensible policies of the past decade and more. And so we're working for peace, and we will remain, whatever happens here, a friend to this country, and obviously a friend to the government of this country.
Question: Mr. Under Secretary, Human Rights [Watch] in its annual report a couple of weeks ago criticized your government for human rights violations in pursuing the War on Terror since 2001. If the Sri Lankan government was to pursue similar policies in prosecuting the terrorist organizations like the LTTE, would the U.S. Government endorse such activities or would you crack down or pressure Sri Lanka not to pursue the program that you've been pursuing in your War on Terror?
Under Secretary Burns: You know we have a friendly relationship with the Sri Lankan government. It's a responsible government, and it's a government that's dealing with enormous challenges, from rebuilding after the tsunami to the effort to provide economic growth, but particularly the fight against [terror], to preserve peace here, and so we support that government. If, from time to time, there is evidence of human rights abuses, then the United States, of course, would be concerned and would talk as a friend to that country to try to see if that country could redress those human rights abuses. That is normal in international politics.
But for the most part, if I were focused on human rights in Sri Lanka, in addition to trying to give advice to friends -- and for instance, one of the issues that I did raise today in all of my meetings was the need for the government to make sure that there is no official support for the paramilitary groups, that there is no involvement by the military in attacks on Tamils. But the major part of our concern here is not with the government. The government is democratic, the government is composed of people who are responsible, who are good people who want to help this country.
Our major concern is with the LTTE. There is no moral comparison, no moral equivalency that we see between the government and the LTTE and we think the major part of the burden for peace rests on that organization.
Question: Does the United States feel the LTTE is genuinely interested in peace?
Under Secretary Burns: We don't have direct contact with the LTTE, so we have to judge them by their actions. The actions of the last several weeks would indicate that this is an organization bent on provoking violence, as it commits violence, as it kills innocent people. And so, if we see that kind of terrorism anywhere in the world I think all of us, as democratic citizens, need to reject it and need to call upon those who perpetrate it to stand down. So that's what the United States is saying today.
It's also the message of all the other friends of Sri Lanka, all the other governments that are here trying to support a process of peace in this country. We want to avoid a war, and that is the strong wish of the government, as we [heard when we] spoke to the President and others today. They wish to avoid war, and so all of us need to be here to help peace prevail.
Thank you very much.
(http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16835)
He said the United States favours reinforcement of Lanka ceasefire and resumption of peace dialogue which has been stalled with discord over the venue for the talks.
Speaking to reporters in Colombo after meeting Lanka President , foreign minister and Norwegian special envoy Eric Soldheim, Burns outlined three goals of the United States' diplomatic efforts in Sri Lanka: "To reinforce the ceasefire; to convince the parties to agree to resume negotiations; and to see those negotiations succeed so that peace can be restored."
About his meeting with Norwegian envoy, Burns said, "We very much support an end to the violence and a return to negotiations, and the maintenance and building up of the Ceasefire Agreement. We think it's imperative that every step be taken by the Sri Lankan government and other parties to the conflict to show support to the Tamil community, for the needs of the Tamil community, and respect for the rights of the Tamil community."
"And it's certainly very important for the LTTE to end its violence, -- stop all violence so that negotiations may begin and peace may return to Sri Lanka. That has the support of my government, and we are very pleased to work in support of that with Minister Solheim and his government in Norway".
Deadly attacks by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) against the army over the past two months have threatened a ceasefire brokered by Norway in February 2002. Norway has sought to bring the government and the LTTE back into negotiations, but as yet the parties have been unable to agree on a venue for the talks.
US official, who flew into Colombo on Jan 23 after talks in Delhi, said the burden of peace rests upon the LTTE.
"[W]e hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun," he said.
The under secretary acknowledged that Sri Lanka's minority Tamil population has legitimate grievances but urged the Tamils to address those grievances through dialogue with the government.
"We think it's imperative that every step be taken by the Sri Lankan government and other parties to the conflict to show support to the Tamil community, for the needs of the Tamil community, and respect for the rights of the Tamil community," he said.
Burns said the United States would work to strengthen the capabilities of the Sri Lankan military through training and joint exercises. In the same breath, he condemned the reported activities of paramilitary organizations aligned with the Sri Lankan government and called for an end to such violence.
Excerpts from the press conference which opened with Burns’s observations.
Under Secretary Burns : Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great pleasure for me to be with you. I'm very happy to be here in Sri Lanka to visit this country for the first time.
I had excellent meetings today with the President and with the Foreign Minister. I was able to meet the Opposition Leader, to see a number of ministers and representatives of civil society, and, of course, fellow ambassadors from friendly countries to Sri Lanka. I had a wonderful lunch given by the Foreign Minister. I also was able to meet Minister Eric Solheim, and we compared notes on our mutual goal, and that is to work with the international community, and certainly work with the government, to try to restore peace and maintain the ceasefire here, and resume negotiations.
I want to say, first of all, we're very proud of the efforts of the American Embassy here, of Ambassador Lunstead, who has done such a wonderful job to represent the United States. We are a great friend to this country. We support its territorial integrity. We support the preservation of peace.
We work very closely with the government and we're proud of what the United States has been able to do as a friend to Sri Lanka. I think many of you saw that in the wake of the horrible tragedy of the tsunami. When our military came here, the U.S. Marines gave immediate help to the people who had been affected. We are also, in the longer term, very hopeful in 2006 we might reach an agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka to provide a considerable amount of economic assistance, so that reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country can continue, especially those areas that have been so badly affected by the tsunami.
In addition to that, I must say that the United States is dedicated to peace. We call upon the LTTE, especially, to cease and desist from the violence and terrorism that it has afflicted upon the people of this country. The bombing this morning, which cost two lives; the repeated attacks over the past several weeks; and of course the attacks over many, many years upon the political leadership and the average citizens of this country, are reprehensible and they are condemned by the international community.
And we hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun. Now, we understand the Tamil community here has legitimate grievances, and legitimate issues that ought to be addressed by the government. And there out to be a dialogue, a better dialogue, between the government and the Tamil community.
But the responsibility here lies with the LTTE, which has taken up terrorism and violence as its political weapon. So we hope very much that Minister Solheim's visit here will result in a resumption of negotiations on a date certain, and in a place certain. For those negotiations to take place, we hope the ceasefire can be restored and we hope a final peace can come to Sri Lanka. The United States wants that very much, and we'll support the government in its effort to protect this country, and its territorial integrity as these negotiations resume.
So I wanted to begin with that very brief statement. I'm happy to take any questions that you might have.
Question: You talked about Tamil Tiger violence. In your meetings with the government, did you address the accusations levelled at the military about violence against Tamil civilians?
Under Secretary Burns: Yes, we did. In fact, we raised that with the President, and the Foreign Minister, and the other officials with whom we met. We said for sure that the activities of the paramilitary organizations also ought to be condemned and they ought to be stopped. And if there are allegations of military abuse of Tamil civilians, they ought to be investigated. If there are people found responsible, of course they ought to be dealt with in the justice system here. We raised those issues because they are important issues, and they are important to the Tamil community and we've heard from the Tamil community of how important they are. I must say that the response we received from the government is that the government leaders also believe that those attacks must stop, and they must not be carried out in the future.
Question: If the U.S. will not negotiate with Al Qaeda in its war on terror, why does it support negotiation with the Tamil Tigers on behalf of the government?
Under Secretary Burns: Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization that has no grievances whatsoever to negotiate with the United States of America or the United Kingdom or any other country in the world. It's a nihilistic terrorist organization that uses terrorism for reprehensible aims. We also condemn the LTTE, and we brand it a terrorist organization. We sanction any individuals or groups of individuals who would seek to give financial support to that organization. But I must say that all of us who are friends with this country understand that this long conflict is only going to come to an end when the LTTE and the government sit down and find a way forward to end the violence and convince the LTTE to stop using violence as a political weapon. That has to happen.
I think any realistic observer of this country's long struggle would say, and agree, that that kind of dialogue has to take place. I'm not aware of any government in the world, or any significant NGO in the world, who believes we ought to be sitting down with Al Qaeda given its agenda.
Question: Is there some kind of direct role the U.S. can play in bringing about a final solution to Sri Lanka?
Under Secretary Burns: We are supporting the core role, the first and foremost role, played by Norway. I had a very good meeting with Minister Eric Solheim this afternoon. I told him that we support his efforts 100 percent and that he can rely on the United States to back him up. We're also part of the Co-chairs group which meets, as you know, regularly to try to provide diplomatic support to those who would want to end this conflict, including the government. I am the American representative to the Co-chairs, and I assume we will be meeting fairly soon to continue the Co-chairs' negotiations.
If there's any weight that America can bring [it is] to try to convince the LTTE to come in and negotiate, and to try to give advice to our friends in the government that they ought to find a way not to respond to the obvious provocations of the last several weeks. I think that is really what America can do best here. We're a friend of this country. We respect its territorial integrity and want to see it preserved. And the people of this country ought not to have to live for another 15 or 20 years with this reprehensible terrorist group keeping this country verged on the edge of war. What is striking about the situation here, in Sri Lanka, is how so many people are concerned about the possible outbreak of conflict, of armed conflict, of a civil war.
It is incumbent upon all the friends of this country to band together, as we have in the Co-chairs group, to send a message that we support peace, and that we'll do whatever we can diplomatically to help prepare the road for peace. At the same time, we are trying to show our support for the government by providing military assistance and training for its officers, military exercises between our troops and the government's troops, so that the government can be strong and the government's forces can deter future attacks against the people of this country.
Question: In light of the escalating violence, if conflict does break out, what moves will the U.S. take to assist Sri Lanka in the background of the U.S. Global War on Terrorism?
Under Secretary Burns: We're focused not on hypothetical questions, but on the work at hand this week -- and that is to try to give stimulus to a diplomatic effort to do three things: To reinforce the ceasefire; to convince the parties to agree to resume negotiations; and to see those negotiations succeed so that peace can be restored. That's the immediate diplomatic agenda. And our weight is behind that agenda.
I want to say again: while we do believe that the Tamil population has legitimate grievances, and they must be respected by the majority population, and there has to be a way for the Tamils to be able to articulate those grievances, the full responsibility here really lies with the LTTE. That's the organization that has to choose peace, instead of the reprehensible policies of the past decade and more. And so we're working for peace, and we will remain, whatever happens here, a friend to this country, and obviously a friend to the government of this country.
Question: Mr. Under Secretary, Human Rights [Watch] in its annual report a couple of weeks ago criticized your government for human rights violations in pursuing the War on Terror since 2001. If the Sri Lankan government was to pursue similar policies in prosecuting the terrorist organizations like the LTTE, would the U.S. Government endorse such activities or would you crack down or pressure Sri Lanka not to pursue the program that you've been pursuing in your War on Terror?
Under Secretary Burns: You know we have a friendly relationship with the Sri Lankan government. It's a responsible government, and it's a government that's dealing with enormous challenges, from rebuilding after the tsunami to the effort to provide economic growth, but particularly the fight against [terror], to preserve peace here, and so we support that government. If, from time to time, there is evidence of human rights abuses, then the United States, of course, would be concerned and would talk as a friend to that country to try to see if that country could redress those human rights abuses. That is normal in international politics.
But for the most part, if I were focused on human rights in Sri Lanka, in addition to trying to give advice to friends -- and for instance, one of the issues that I did raise today in all of my meetings was the need for the government to make sure that there is no official support for the paramilitary groups, that there is no involvement by the military in attacks on Tamils. But the major part of our concern here is not with the government. The government is democratic, the government is composed of people who are responsible, who are good people who want to help this country.
Our major concern is with the LTTE. There is no moral comparison, no moral equivalency that we see between the government and the LTTE and we think the major part of the burden for peace rests on that organization.
Question: Does the United States feel the LTTE is genuinely interested in peace?
Under Secretary Burns: We don't have direct contact with the LTTE, so we have to judge them by their actions. The actions of the last several weeks would indicate that this is an organization bent on provoking violence, as it commits violence, as it kills innocent people. And so, if we see that kind of terrorism anywhere in the world I think all of us, as democratic citizens, need to reject it and need to call upon those who perpetrate it to stand down. So that's what the United States is saying today.
It's also the message of all the other friends of Sri Lanka, all the other governments that are here trying to support a process of peace in this country. We want to avoid a war, and that is the strong wish of the government, as we [heard when we] spoke to the President and others today. They wish to avoid war, and so all of us need to be here to help peace prevail.
Thank you very much.
(http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=16835)
Intelligence Chief Zacky in Jaffna to step up campaign
Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) Brigadier Rizvy Zacky, a hardliner, has been recently posted as Brigadier General Staff Officer (GSO, Intelligence) at the Sri Lanka Army Head Quarters (SF HQ) Jaffna in a major reshuffle of the SLA and Intelligence apparatus. Execution-style killings of five students in Trincomalee and three women members of a family in Jaffna mark a stark change of pattern in the escalation of intensified serial killings of non-combatant civilians in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the NorthEast. The pattern of violence also marks the return of hardliners who seems to prefer terror to subdue a population.
In December 2005, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, the new commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) appointed by the SL President Rajapakse, launched a major reshuffle of the top brass of the Sri Lanka Army and the Military Intelligence.
In December 2005, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, the new commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) appointed by the SL President Rajapakse, launched a major reshuffle of the top brass of the Sri Lanka Army and the Military Intelligence.
Major General G.A. Chandrasiri from Armoured Corps was posted as the Jaffna Commander to Security Forces Headquarters Jaffna (SF HQ (J)) replacing the previous Jaffna Commander of the SLA, Major General Sunil Tennekoon.
Rajapakse's brother, Gothabaya Rajapakse, a former Lieutenant Colonel, who was brought back from his retirement in California, USA, and who served as a security consultant to Rajapakse while he was premier, was made Defence Secretary in Sri Lanka.
Gothabaya (then Major) Rajapakse took part in the SLA operation, Trividapalaya, with Lt. Gen. Fonseka (then Lt. Colonel), to rescue the soldiers from the Jaffna Fort that was under siege by the Tigers in 1990.
Soon after his new assignment Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse requested assistance from the Ambassadors of USA, Pakistan, India and China to fight the Liberation Tigers.
A retired Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (Senior DIG), H.M.G.B Kotakadeniya, a hardliner and a politician from the extremist Buddhist Monks party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), was appointed as the Defence Ministry Advisor. The execution style killing of five Tamil students, all under 20 years of age, at Dock Yard Road in Trincomalee town, was allegedly carried out by "a team of Police Special Task Force (STF) commandos," said the Situation Report column of Sunday Times in its 8th January Sunday edition.
The paper further said the deployment of the STF was ordered by "a retired police official who has now been named as an advisor in the Defence Ministry." The advisor referred by the paper was Kotakadeniya.
The posting of Rizvy Zacky to Jaffna, which is Fonseka's previous terrain, is said to signal one of the top priorities of the new SLA Commander Fonseka: the active integration of Psychological Operations (PSYOPS) with the counter-insurgency efforts in Jaffna peninsula. Zacky who has earlier been Brigadier of the Batticaloa District, and later in charge of the psychological operations of the Sri Lanka Army, served as Sri Lanka's Defence Attaché in Pakistan, prior to his appointment as the Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) in August 2004.
Ex-militant sources in Batticaloa describe Brig. Zacky as more hardliner in his dealings with the paramilitary cadres compared to the slain intelligence officers, Major T.N. Muthaliff, assassinated in May 2005, and Lt. Col. Meedin, assassinated in October 2005, both senior officers attached to the Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) in Colombo.
The slaying of the Intelligence officers was attributed to the LTTE by the Sri Lankan Military. However, investigations into the killings revealed complicity of underworld Sinhala elements in the killings.
Following the assassinations of the Intelligence officials, who were fluent in Tamil and had a reputation among the paramilitary circles for their sophisticated approach to intelligence operations, a degree of distrust also developed among the paramilitary operatives in Colombo. Some have left the country, informed ex-militant sources say.
Zacky, when he served in Batticaloa, was cautious in placing his trust on paramilitary cadres following his previous experience with ex-Tamil militants who were later identified as LTTE moles.
"Zacky would not tolerate even a small doubt on an agent or someone who serves under him," an ex-militant source said on condition of anonymity.
A hardline PSYOPS approach, dominated by an agenda of terrorizing non-combatants, as evidenced in Jaffna, Trincomalee and elsewhere in serial, spree and group killings, now appears to be the strategy behing SLA's covert war against the Tigers.
The recent unbalanced statements made by the US Ambassador Mr. Jeffrey Lunstead and the visiting US Undersecretary of Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, have failed to reflect the scale of the negative impact of the killings, taking place in areas controlled by the SLA, on the peace process.
In the meantime, Defence Attaché at the US Embassy in Colombo, Lt. Col. James E Oxley and an assisting official have visited the SLA SF HQ in Jaffna following the reshuffle, according to the Sri Lanka Army website.
"US officials are aware of the background of the key military commanders in the Sri Lankan Government. But as a legitimate State, Sri Lanka Government has distinct advantages," says Selvam Adaikalanathan, the TNA MP who paid a visit to US a year ago.
"The 'white van abductions' and disappearances in Jaffna, create fear in the minds of Jaffna population, reminding the 'white van' abduction stories from Batticaloa and Colombo, of the past," says S. Gajendran, the Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna.
The reshuffle completed by Fonseka confirms his belief in techniques to create a fear-psychosis in the minds of the Tamils to crush their political uprising.
Analysts view that the appointment of Mr. Ratnasiri Wickramanayake was a clear message to the Tamils as well as to the international community of the hardline approach chosen by Rajapakse.
Mr. Wickremanayake, a well-known Sinhala hardliner, who has spoken against the peace process with the LTTE, Norwegian facilitation, and the existing ceasefire agreement, had earlier introduced the anti-conversion bill in June 2004.
The "inner circle" of the personalities associated with the former Presidents in Sri Lanka often dictated the direction of the Presidents in their approach to fight the Tigers.
Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Former President of Sri Lanka, chose her uncle Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte as Deputy Defence Minister.
Fonseka was the commanding officer in Jaffna. And Jaffna has earlier witnessed Chemmani graves and mass disappearances.
Northeast witnessed a record high human rights abuses during the war waged under the leadership of the former president Kumaratunga.
Gen. Tissa Weeratunga, popularly known as "Bull" Weeratunga, was appointed the overall commander of the Sri Lankan Forces in the Northern Province, by the then Sri Lankan President J.R. Jeyawardene on 14 July 1989 with a mission to "eliminate" the "menace of terrorism" within 6 months, before December 31, 1979.
Jeyawardene, after appointing his nephew "Bull" Weeratunga to contain uprising in Jaffna, enacted the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA), which was modelled after the notorious Terrorism Act of South Africa. Jeyawardene termed his act to echo the British PTA of 1974, which was revised a year before in Britain, although the Sri Lankan PTA was modeled after Apartheid Era South African law, the Terrorism Act of 1967.
Jaffna District was placed under Emergency Regulations (ER), which gave the armed forces the power to shoot and kill any suspected persons and to dispose dead bodies without an inquest.
It was the beginning of arrests, detention of Tamil youths in Jaffna, an act that forced Tamil youths either into the militancy or exile, both of which were later described as having instrumental in fueling and sustaining the Tamil struggle.
(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=16994)
Journalist killed for reporting on paramilitary abuses- RSF
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) in a press release issued Tuesday said that Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli was killed for writing about "abuses committed in his region by Tamil paramilitary groups," and that in Sri Lanka, "the impunity enjoyed by the instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more violence against the press."
(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=16995)
Full text of the release follows:
Reporters Without Borders today condemned the murder of Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli in the eastern city of Trincomalee, who was gunned down early this morning after writing yesterday about the abuses committed in his region by Tamil paramilitary groups
³We are horrified by the level of violence against Tamil journalists,² the press freedom organisation said ³The impunity enjoyed by the instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more violence against the press We urge Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to do everything possible to ensure that the police identify and arrest Sugirdharajan¹s murderers, as well as the murderers of Relangi Sevaraja and Dharmeratnam Sivaram, who are still at large.²
Sugirdharajan is the third Tamil journalist to have been killed in the past 12 months Ten others have been arrested, physically attacked or threatened by the security forces or the Tamil armed movements
Aged 35 and the father of two small children, Sugirdharajan was a Trincomalee port employee as well as a journalist He was shot dead at about 6 a.m. today as he was waiting for public transport to go to work His killers used a motor-cycle to get away after shooting him. Police went to the scene of the murder According to the Tamilnet website, he was gunned down near the governor¹s secretariat
In an article for yesterday¹s issue of Sudar Oli, he detailed the abuses committed by Tamil paramilitary groups including the EPDP in the Trincomalee region The newspaper also recently ran photos taken by Sugirdharajan showing that five Trincomalee students were shot dead at point-blank range on 2 January, disproving the army¹s claim that they were killed by a grenade explosion
Sudar Oli, which tends to support the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), was attacked and threatened several times last year Two grenades were thrown at the office of its advertising department on 20 August but did not explode Three days later, a staff journalist was roughed up and detained by the police on suspicion of being an LTTE spy. A security guard, David Selvaratnum, was killed in a grenade attack outside the newspaper¹s office in Colombo on 29 August Sudar Oli belongs to the Jaffna-based press group Uthayan, which has also been the target of attacks
Reporters Without Borders issued a detailed report on July 2004 about threats to journalists in eastern Sri Lanka : http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10957(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=16995)
SL Intelligence, paramilitaries responsible for Manipay, Kodikamam killings - NESOHR
NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) in the case histories of Manipay killing of three members of the same family and the killing of a 15 year old youth in Kodikamam, released this week, provides details of involvement of Sri Lanka Intellligence operatives and paramilitary cadres belonging to Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in the killings.
With several Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers wearing black bands covering their faces, clearing Kanagasabai Road leading to Bojan's family, nine members of EPDP paramilitaries scaled the fences of the two storied house at 10 p.m. and killed Renuka, 30, Shannuka, 23, and Arthanareeswary Bojan, 51, NESOHR said in its report after interviewing residents of Manipay and family members who escaped death. The killings took place on 14 January.
In the shooting death of student Thambirajah Arulajanthan, 15, of Kodikamam on 28 December, NESOHR report said, EPDP cadres and SLA Intelligence operatives had visited the house three times in search of Arul's brother-in-law Kirubakaran. Kirubakaran was an LTTE member and had left the movement six years ago, the family told NESOHR.
The family said the SLA for planted two grenades in their backyards to implicate the family for possessing arms.
The report said, on the day of shooting, gunmen had entered the house at 10.15 p.m. and when the family was awakened by the noise the invaders ran away after firing three shots. Arulajanthan was killed by the gun fire.
The report added that after the incident Kirubakaran escaped to LTTE area and another attempt by the paramilitaries to find Kirubakaran failed.
(http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=16998)
Prabhakaran, paramilitaries and peace by H. L. D. Mahindapala
By and large, the current phase of intensified violence has shifted from the east to the Jaffna and Trincomalee. When the violence reached a climax in the east Erik Solheim, the Norwegian led-Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), S.P. Tamilselvan, the LTTE proxies in parliament, the Tamil National alliance (TNA) and NGOs were blaming the "paramilitaries" (meaning Col Karuna’s TamilEelam Makkal Viduthalai Puligal - TMVP). Now that the violence has shifted to the LTTE-controlled areas of the north Erik Solheim, SLMM (to a certain extent), NGOs, Tamilselvan and TNA continue to blame the "paramilitaries" of the east.
This is also an indirect way of blaming the government even though they do not have the evidence, as stated by Ms. Helen Olafsdottir, the spokesperson for the SLMM, in her latest interview with Sunday Leader (15, January, 2006). She told the newspaper: "We do not have evidence that the government is directly supporting or harboring Karuna. But the government is aware of such a group and its existence but has not addressed it properly. This makes our monitoring even more difficult."
The accusation here is that the government "is aware of such a group and its existence but has not addressed it properly." She does not say how it should be addressed by the government though "addressing it (paramilitaries) properly" has serious implications. It means going to war with Col. Karuna who is waging a war against Velupillai Prabhakaran. Is this an option available to the government which is already besieged by the violence of the LTTE? According to the SLMM, international community, and NGOs the government must fight the wars against forces that "makes things difficult" for them (as stated by Ms. Olafsdottir) and not fight the enemy of peace – the LTTE. In any case, will the Norway, SLMM, Co-chairs pick up the bill of a war against Col Karuna and compensate for the human cost? Besides, a war against Col Karuna is not a war for peace but to strengthen the hands of the war-mongers in the LTTE. So how can peace or the people gain by waging another war against Col. Karuna?
Ms. Olafsdottir’s interview is in contrast to the casual approach of SLMM to violations of CFA and the obstructions to peace caused by LTTE with a regularity of the guns and grenades fired by Prabhakaran. Either the SLMM is totally incapable of comprehending the events exploding around them or it is in the business of manufacturing excuses for its own failures and that of the LTTE.
There is, however, a significant difference in the violence that went on in the east and the current violence that rages in the north: the violence in the east was sporadic with hit-and-run attacks but the northern violence has been escalating according to a pre-planned agenda accompanied by war hysteria. Ms. Olafsdottir, summed up the situation with a degree of accuracy when she said: "But now at present with the situation heating up the mood is changing and it is a question now as to how long we could keep the two forces away from each other. Escalations are very difficult to predict. You see, for a war to begin one does not have to wait for a signal from the top. The present escalation itself is sufficient."
She was not that alarmed when the violence was confined to the east. Quite rightly, she is alarmed now that the violence has been intensified in the north. She also says: "In the three-and-a-half-years (since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement) there was no direct or return of fire. The forces were quite disciplined." And she concludes: "Escalations are very difficult to predict. You see, for a war to begin one does not have to wait for a signal from the top. The present escalation itself is sufficient."
She is right again. In the current "heated up mood" the most unexpected incident can spark off a war. However, she has deftly avoided identifying the source of "heating up the mood". If she had paused to consider the provocateurs she could have found out "as to how long we (SLMM) could keep the two forces away from each other." Since the general tendency of Erik Solheim, Anton Balasingham, Tamilselvan, and SLMM (to a certain extent) is to blame the "paramilitaries" it is necessary to examine the accusation.
For the moment, let us grant that the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed in February 2002 has held for the last three-and-a-half-years, though the repeated questioning of its existence by the SLMM and others has undermined the underlying assumption. As acknowledged by her, the Sri Lankan soldiers have been extremely disciplined without returning fire despite grave provocations. So who is “heating up the mood” and who is reneging on the CFA for Ms. Olafsdottir and Erik Solheim to be so alarmed? Perhaps, the following flash-back to November 2005 will probably help to jog the memory of the peace-facilitators:
On November 19, 2005 Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn in as the fifth president of Sri Lanka. On November 27, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in his annual speech, said that he has "decided to wait and observe, for "sometime", his political maneuvers and actions….since President Rajapakse is considered to be a realist, committed to pragmatic politics…." Now “sometime” even in Tamil cannot mean December 5, 2005 – the day when Prabhakaran detonated two claymore bombs, killing six army personnel at Kondavil,. This was followed by killing another seven army personnel on December 6 at Irupalai Junction
Besides, when Prabhakaran launched his stealth war on December 5, 2005 – just eight days after he said "sometime" -- he contradicted the clarification issued by Balasingham who said that "news agencies have distorted and reported that Prabhakaran will start a war within a month. Prabhakaran did not say like that. Prabhakaran did not give a deadline of a month. He said a short period and it will be next year. He did not mention a date. But he has said he cannot wait for long. This is the important final news our leader." He added: "We are giving time for you. If you do not do anything for our people and drag on any talks we will start our war for right of self determination. "
Prabhakaran earlier warned the Government "Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration. They are not prepared to be tolerant any longer. The new government should come forward soon with a reasonable political framework that will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people. This is our urgent and final appeal. If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland."
In this key paragraph neither Prabhakaran nor Balasingham refers to “paramilitaries” as the excuse. They emphasize the urgency, without dragging on the talks any further, as the reason for "starting our (next) war". Trigger-happy Prabhakaran stated on November 27, 2005: "Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration." The ploy here was to dress up the LTTE – instigated violence against the Security Forces as another Palestinian-style "intifada". It was a blatant attempt by the LTTE to hide behind the Jaffna population by projecting them as the impatient, frustrated people wanting another war. But this proved to be a hollow propaganda tactic which was dismissed by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission as "unacceptable". Not even D. B. S. Jeyaraj, who was hoping that it would turn into something like an "intifada", concluded that it was an "intifada".
The identifiable source of violence was neither the people of Jaffna nor the "paramilitaries" of the east but Prabhakaran who revealed his latest blue print for the next war in his November 27, 2005 speech. He said quite bluntly that his planned Eelam War IV was halted by the unexpected blast he got from the tsunami. And he went on to emphasize that the war he postponed in 2005 will be launched in 2006 after giving "sometime" to "pragmatic" President Mahinda Rajapakse. The paramilitaries did not – repeat NOT -- come into his politico-military agenda as detailed by him.
Of course, Prabhakaran does not want the world to think that he is a bloodthirsty war-monger. He and his propagandist unfailingly project him as a man of peace. They deny that he is "heating up the mood" even when he is detonating deadly claymore mines. Tamilselvan says that the violence has been organized by the incensed Jaffna people. Now it is common knowledge that the only group capable of producing claymore mines and the technology to go with it, particularly in the north, is the LTTE. Naturally, political commentators and the diplomats have been asking pointedly: from where did the civilians (who are not combatants) get costly claymore mines and the skills to blast the soldiers? And if the "civilians" are planting these claymore mines are they "civilians" or a part of the LTTE killing machine?
Which also points to a serious chink in the LTTE armour: propaganda. The LTTE killing machine needs legitimacy for its brutalities. This task has been assigned to their apparatchiks abroad and, of the course the local NGOs. For instance, the killing of 13 soldiers in the north which sparked off the horrendous 1983 backlash against the Tamils in the south was justified as a revenge attack for raping an unnamed Jaffna woman. Every agent of the LTTE believed and propagated it. But it was later admitted by the LTTE that the killing of 13 soldiers in 1983 was retaliation for the killing of Col. Anthony by the Army. Prabhakaran was to name one of his sons after him.
LTTE propaganda is laboring tirelessly to (1) psyche its cadres and its population to be in readiness for its next war; 2) to whip up war hysteria to force its population to cross over to India as refugees – a move to win sympathy in Tamil Nadu and to neutralize the Delhi centre; and 3) to legitimize its violence that will be unleashed in its Eelam War IV. A part of the propaganda ploy is to raise human rights issues by faking human rights issues, more often than not. Example: an attempt was made to pin the blame on the Security Forces for the death of Tamil girl in Pungudutivu. The LTTE propaganda said that she was raped and killed by the Security Forces. But the SLMM and the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) both dismissed this accusation, proving that the LTTE propaganda has lost its credibility. It no longer has the clout it had in the past. Its war crimes and crimes against humanity have reduced the LTTE to a Pol Potist regime acting with impunity.
Even a pro-LTTE NGO agent like Kethesh Loganathan of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo is forced to admit that the LTTE is not for peace. Reuters’ (Nov. 8. 2005) Simon Gardner, quoting Loganathan said: "The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- blamed for the August assassination of the island's foreign minister -- are refusing to resume peace talks they pulled out of in 2003 because they are not ready for a long-term deal," analysts say. "The LTTE simply are not in a position to give up their demand for a separate state yet," said "It is one of the factors which is holding them back from entering into negotiations on a permanent settlement," he said.
In plain English, Loganathan, a pro-separatist participant at the Thimpu talks, is saying that the LTTE’s insistence on a separate state will not let them enter into negotiations for a permanent settlement. In other words, he is admitting that separatism and violence are inseparable. And yet Erik Solheim, SLMM, NGOs and TNA are making desperate bids to pass the blame on to the “Sinhala chauvinists” or to the paramilitaries. Besides, the reports of independent NGOs confirm that their excuses are wearing thin. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented in its world report for 2006 issued on January 18, 2006 that the LTTE has been killing at the rate of one a day. It adds that this "alarming rate" is owed to the killing of "particularly of Tamils in opposition to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam….Tamil Tigers continued to assassinate political opponents with complete impunity," accuses HRW.
Those who refuse to acknowledge that the Prabhakaran does not need an excuse for killing, or for intensifying violence should not be in the peace process or in any political discourse on the peace process. Prabhakaran began his career in killing by first pinning insects he caught when he was a child, according to M. R. Narayan Swamy. He wrote: “He even inserted pins into his nails. At other times, he would catch insects and prick them to death with needles to gain the mental preparations to torture the "enemy". ” (p.52 Tigers of Lanka –from boys to guerillas). He graduated into killing humans by gunning down Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975. He hasn’t stopped killing since then. His whole career has been devoted to refining the art and technology of killing. It is second nature to him. Did the LTTE liquidate the entire Tamil leadership in the democratic stream because of "paramilitaries"? The prestigious Hindu states that the LTTE has killed more Tamils than any other force. Was it the "paramilitaries" that prompted him to kill the insects or the Tamils?
The horrendous tragedy is that Prabhakaran continues to treat Tamils like the insects. Each time he kills a Tamil he comes alive and feels that he is invincible. Liquidating his perceived enemies is a regular fix he needs to stabilize his quivering nerves. Is this the dignity he has given to the Tamils? There are even Tamil theologians in the Churches who are working to deify this "insecticide cult" as a divine mission. But not all Tamils are worshippers of this cult. A growing body of dissident Tamils is resisting this cult of sacrifice in the name of a devouring god. Unfortunately, for them the Ceasefire Agreement did not provide space for them. It provided arms only for the "insecticide cult" to thrive.
If the CFA acknowledged and allotted a political space for the democratic Tamils to exercise their inalienable rights by disarming the LTTE along with other armed groups the peace process would have had a better chance of ending violence. Instead it turned the CFA into an instrument of war by legitimizing the use of violence by the LTTE. No other government in the West who preaches peace and human rights to Sri Lankans would permit one armed group to retain their weapons to be used against those outside their ring of violence. Failure to disarm the deadliest fanatics of violence is fundamentally counter-productive to any peace process. Disarming armed groups is a pre-requisite for peace.
Of all the terrorist groups the LTTE is in a unique position because the Co-chairs (represented by Erik Solheim) acted on the belief that it is a great victory for peace not to disarm the LTTE. The inevitable consequence is there for all to see. But who cops the blame? Invariably, it is the LTTE complaints against the "paramilitaries" and/or the Sri Lankan government that takes priority at any discussion of advancing peace. Erik Solheim, the Pontius Pilate of the Sri Lankan crucifixion, also blames the Sri Lankan government.
Having paved the path for violence along with Ranil Wickremesinghe, Erik Solheim returns once again to the scene of his crimes. He will go to Vanni and will not hesitate to thank Prabhakaran for his offer of a towel to wipe his hands. Then, with some luck, he will come out of Vanni, may be with the LTTE agreeing to meet in Geneva. But for how long will the talks last? Erik Solheim has gone to Vanni to reap what he has sowed and – mark my words – to repeat the excuses trotted out by Prabhakaran.
This is also an indirect way of blaming the government even though they do not have the evidence, as stated by Ms. Helen Olafsdottir, the spokesperson for the SLMM, in her latest interview with Sunday Leader (15, January, 2006). She told the newspaper: "We do not have evidence that the government is directly supporting or harboring Karuna. But the government is aware of such a group and its existence but has not addressed it properly. This makes our monitoring even more difficult."
The accusation here is that the government "is aware of such a group and its existence but has not addressed it properly." She does not say how it should be addressed by the government though "addressing it (paramilitaries) properly" has serious implications. It means going to war with Col. Karuna who is waging a war against Velupillai Prabhakaran. Is this an option available to the government which is already besieged by the violence of the LTTE? According to the SLMM, international community, and NGOs the government must fight the wars against forces that "makes things difficult" for them (as stated by Ms. Olafsdottir) and not fight the enemy of peace – the LTTE. In any case, will the Norway, SLMM, Co-chairs pick up the bill of a war against Col Karuna and compensate for the human cost? Besides, a war against Col Karuna is not a war for peace but to strengthen the hands of the war-mongers in the LTTE. So how can peace or the people gain by waging another war against Col. Karuna?
Ms. Olafsdottir’s interview is in contrast to the casual approach of SLMM to violations of CFA and the obstructions to peace caused by LTTE with a regularity of the guns and grenades fired by Prabhakaran. Either the SLMM is totally incapable of comprehending the events exploding around them or it is in the business of manufacturing excuses for its own failures and that of the LTTE.
There is, however, a significant difference in the violence that went on in the east and the current violence that rages in the north: the violence in the east was sporadic with hit-and-run attacks but the northern violence has been escalating according to a pre-planned agenda accompanied by war hysteria. Ms. Olafsdottir, summed up the situation with a degree of accuracy when she said: "But now at present with the situation heating up the mood is changing and it is a question now as to how long we could keep the two forces away from each other. Escalations are very difficult to predict. You see, for a war to begin one does not have to wait for a signal from the top. The present escalation itself is sufficient."
She was not that alarmed when the violence was confined to the east. Quite rightly, she is alarmed now that the violence has been intensified in the north. She also says: "In the three-and-a-half-years (since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement) there was no direct or return of fire. The forces were quite disciplined." And she concludes: "Escalations are very difficult to predict. You see, for a war to begin one does not have to wait for a signal from the top. The present escalation itself is sufficient."
She is right again. In the current "heated up mood" the most unexpected incident can spark off a war. However, she has deftly avoided identifying the source of "heating up the mood". If she had paused to consider the provocateurs she could have found out "as to how long we (SLMM) could keep the two forces away from each other." Since the general tendency of Erik Solheim, Anton Balasingham, Tamilselvan, and SLMM (to a certain extent) is to blame the "paramilitaries" it is necessary to examine the accusation.
For the moment, let us grant that the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed in February 2002 has held for the last three-and-a-half-years, though the repeated questioning of its existence by the SLMM and others has undermined the underlying assumption. As acknowledged by her, the Sri Lankan soldiers have been extremely disciplined without returning fire despite grave provocations. So who is “heating up the mood” and who is reneging on the CFA for Ms. Olafsdottir and Erik Solheim to be so alarmed? Perhaps, the following flash-back to November 2005 will probably help to jog the memory of the peace-facilitators:
On November 19, 2005 Mahinda Rajapakse was sworn in as the fifth president of Sri Lanka. On November 27, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in his annual speech, said that he has "decided to wait and observe, for "sometime", his political maneuvers and actions….since President Rajapakse is considered to be a realist, committed to pragmatic politics…." Now “sometime” even in Tamil cannot mean December 5, 2005 – the day when Prabhakaran detonated two claymore bombs, killing six army personnel at Kondavil,. This was followed by killing another seven army personnel on December 6 at Irupalai Junction
Besides, when Prabhakaran launched his stealth war on December 5, 2005 – just eight days after he said "sometime" -- he contradicted the clarification issued by Balasingham who said that "news agencies have distorted and reported that Prabhakaran will start a war within a month. Prabhakaran did not say like that. Prabhakaran did not give a deadline of a month. He said a short period and it will be next year. He did not mention a date. But he has said he cannot wait for long. This is the important final news our leader." He added: "We are giving time for you. If you do not do anything for our people and drag on any talks we will start our war for right of self determination. "
Prabhakaran earlier warned the Government "Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration. They are not prepared to be tolerant any longer. The new government should come forward soon with a reasonable political framework that will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people. This is our urgent and final appeal. If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland."
In this key paragraph neither Prabhakaran nor Balasingham refers to “paramilitaries” as the excuse. They emphasize the urgency, without dragging on the talks any further, as the reason for "starting our (next) war". Trigger-happy Prabhakaran stated on November 27, 2005: "Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration." The ploy here was to dress up the LTTE – instigated violence against the Security Forces as another Palestinian-style "intifada". It was a blatant attempt by the LTTE to hide behind the Jaffna population by projecting them as the impatient, frustrated people wanting another war. But this proved to be a hollow propaganda tactic which was dismissed by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission as "unacceptable". Not even D. B. S. Jeyaraj, who was hoping that it would turn into something like an "intifada", concluded that it was an "intifada".
The identifiable source of violence was neither the people of Jaffna nor the "paramilitaries" of the east but Prabhakaran who revealed his latest blue print for the next war in his November 27, 2005 speech. He said quite bluntly that his planned Eelam War IV was halted by the unexpected blast he got from the tsunami. And he went on to emphasize that the war he postponed in 2005 will be launched in 2006 after giving "sometime" to "pragmatic" President Mahinda Rajapakse. The paramilitaries did not – repeat NOT -- come into his politico-military agenda as detailed by him.
Of course, Prabhakaran does not want the world to think that he is a bloodthirsty war-monger. He and his propagandist unfailingly project him as a man of peace. They deny that he is "heating up the mood" even when he is detonating deadly claymore mines. Tamilselvan says that the violence has been organized by the incensed Jaffna people. Now it is common knowledge that the only group capable of producing claymore mines and the technology to go with it, particularly in the north, is the LTTE. Naturally, political commentators and the diplomats have been asking pointedly: from where did the civilians (who are not combatants) get costly claymore mines and the skills to blast the soldiers? And if the "civilians" are planting these claymore mines are they "civilians" or a part of the LTTE killing machine?
Which also points to a serious chink in the LTTE armour: propaganda. The LTTE killing machine needs legitimacy for its brutalities. This task has been assigned to their apparatchiks abroad and, of the course the local NGOs. For instance, the killing of 13 soldiers in the north which sparked off the horrendous 1983 backlash against the Tamils in the south was justified as a revenge attack for raping an unnamed Jaffna woman. Every agent of the LTTE believed and propagated it. But it was later admitted by the LTTE that the killing of 13 soldiers in 1983 was retaliation for the killing of Col. Anthony by the Army. Prabhakaran was to name one of his sons after him.
LTTE propaganda is laboring tirelessly to (1) psyche its cadres and its population to be in readiness for its next war; 2) to whip up war hysteria to force its population to cross over to India as refugees – a move to win sympathy in Tamil Nadu and to neutralize the Delhi centre; and 3) to legitimize its violence that will be unleashed in its Eelam War IV. A part of the propaganda ploy is to raise human rights issues by faking human rights issues, more often than not. Example: an attempt was made to pin the blame on the Security Forces for the death of Tamil girl in Pungudutivu. The LTTE propaganda said that she was raped and killed by the Security Forces. But the SLMM and the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) both dismissed this accusation, proving that the LTTE propaganda has lost its credibility. It no longer has the clout it had in the past. Its war crimes and crimes against humanity have reduced the LTTE to a Pol Potist regime acting with impunity.
Even a pro-LTTE NGO agent like Kethesh Loganathan of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo is forced to admit that the LTTE is not for peace. Reuters’ (Nov. 8. 2005) Simon Gardner, quoting Loganathan said: "The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- blamed for the August assassination of the island's foreign minister -- are refusing to resume peace talks they pulled out of in 2003 because they are not ready for a long-term deal," analysts say. "The LTTE simply are not in a position to give up their demand for a separate state yet," said "It is one of the factors which is holding them back from entering into negotiations on a permanent settlement," he said.
In plain English, Loganathan, a pro-separatist participant at the Thimpu talks, is saying that the LTTE’s insistence on a separate state will not let them enter into negotiations for a permanent settlement. In other words, he is admitting that separatism and violence are inseparable. And yet Erik Solheim, SLMM, NGOs and TNA are making desperate bids to pass the blame on to the “Sinhala chauvinists” or to the paramilitaries. Besides, the reports of independent NGOs confirm that their excuses are wearing thin. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented in its world report for 2006 issued on January 18, 2006 that the LTTE has been killing at the rate of one a day. It adds that this "alarming rate" is owed to the killing of "particularly of Tamils in opposition to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam….Tamil Tigers continued to assassinate political opponents with complete impunity," accuses HRW.
Those who refuse to acknowledge that the Prabhakaran does not need an excuse for killing, or for intensifying violence should not be in the peace process or in any political discourse on the peace process. Prabhakaran began his career in killing by first pinning insects he caught when he was a child, according to M. R. Narayan Swamy. He wrote: “He even inserted pins into his nails. At other times, he would catch insects and prick them to death with needles to gain the mental preparations to torture the "enemy". ” (p.52 Tigers of Lanka –from boys to guerillas). He graduated into killing humans by gunning down Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975. He hasn’t stopped killing since then. His whole career has been devoted to refining the art and technology of killing. It is second nature to him. Did the LTTE liquidate the entire Tamil leadership in the democratic stream because of "paramilitaries"? The prestigious Hindu states that the LTTE has killed more Tamils than any other force. Was it the "paramilitaries" that prompted him to kill the insects or the Tamils?
The horrendous tragedy is that Prabhakaran continues to treat Tamils like the insects. Each time he kills a Tamil he comes alive and feels that he is invincible. Liquidating his perceived enemies is a regular fix he needs to stabilize his quivering nerves. Is this the dignity he has given to the Tamils? There are even Tamil theologians in the Churches who are working to deify this "insecticide cult" as a divine mission. But not all Tamils are worshippers of this cult. A growing body of dissident Tamils is resisting this cult of sacrifice in the name of a devouring god. Unfortunately, for them the Ceasefire Agreement did not provide space for them. It provided arms only for the "insecticide cult" to thrive.
If the CFA acknowledged and allotted a political space for the democratic Tamils to exercise their inalienable rights by disarming the LTTE along with other armed groups the peace process would have had a better chance of ending violence. Instead it turned the CFA into an instrument of war by legitimizing the use of violence by the LTTE. No other government in the West who preaches peace and human rights to Sri Lankans would permit one armed group to retain their weapons to be used against those outside their ring of violence. Failure to disarm the deadliest fanatics of violence is fundamentally counter-productive to any peace process. Disarming armed groups is a pre-requisite for peace.
Of all the terrorist groups the LTTE is in a unique position because the Co-chairs (represented by Erik Solheim) acted on the belief that it is a great victory for peace not to disarm the LTTE. The inevitable consequence is there for all to see. But who cops the blame? Invariably, it is the LTTE complaints against the "paramilitaries" and/or the Sri Lankan government that takes priority at any discussion of advancing peace. Erik Solheim, the Pontius Pilate of the Sri Lankan crucifixion, also blames the Sri Lankan government.
Having paved the path for violence along with Ranil Wickremesinghe, Erik Solheim returns once again to the scene of his crimes. He will go to Vanni and will not hesitate to thank Prabhakaran for his offer of a towel to wipe his hands. Then, with some luck, he will come out of Vanni, may be with the LTTE agreeing to meet in Geneva. But for how long will the talks last? Erik Solheim has gone to Vanni to reap what he has sowed and – mark my words – to repeat the excuses trotted out by Prabhakaran.
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