24.12.2007
Dr.
Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Secretariat for
Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) has charged the LTTE
of abusing Tamils and the truth. Dr. Wijesinha was responding
to a statement by the LTTE 'Spokesperson for Human Rrights
and Humanitarian Affairs'.
The
full text of his statement is given below.
The
attention of the Peace Secretariat was recently drawn
to a statement by the LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights
and Humanitarian Affairs regarding Jaffna civilians and
the transport of Sri Lanka military to and from Jaffna.
The
writer, Ms N Selvy, and the Development Spokesperson to
whom she had initially sent the statement, Mr V Bavan,
are – especially the latter - amongst the brighter
sparks in the LTTE. They were comparatively good students
in the heady days of optimism, when Bradford University
and the Social Scientists Association ran a Conflict Resolution
Course up in Kilinochchi. If and when the present intransigent
blight in the LTTE is lifted, such educated individuals
will we hope be part of a cohesive Sri Lanka.
The
present statement however shows a startling ignorance
or perhaps ignoring of the need for consistency and evidence
for pronouncements. It claims that the ' Geneva II talks
in October 2006, between the LTTE and the Government of
Sri Lanka, broke down because the Government of Sri Lanka
refused to open the A9 route to allow Jaffna civilians
land access to the rest of the island and the world. Prior
to the permanent closure of this A9 route, it served as
a life line to the people of Jaffna as well as Vanni.
Seriously ill medical cases from Vanni were taken in ambulances
to the Jaffna hospital. Every day ambulances plied seven
to eight times a day, carrying around six patients in
each trip. This is necessitated by the poor medical resources
in Vanni. Even the Jaffna hospital resources are very
poor in comparison to what is available in the south of
island. Many very seriously ill patients were taken to
Colombo for treatment through the A9 route. '
There
are several problems with these assertions. Firstly, talks
between the government and the LTTE have broken down on
several occasions simply because the LTTE decided they
would break down. Shakespeare's rather unfair characterization
of women – I have none other but a woman's reason.
I think him so because I think him so – would have
been far more appropriate for the LTTE, even if Ms Selvy
is the specific exponent of this school of non-thought
in this instance. In short, the particular pretext advanced
by the LTTE at any stage is not the reason for anything
because, as we have often seen, the reason changes each
time.
In
2003 the LTTE withdrew for the reasons given in Mr Balasingham's
long letter. In June 2006 they did not even start talking,
for reasons which are not clear, except perhaps in the
revelation of the Norwegian Ambassador that Mr Thamilselvam
'had insisted that the issue of child recruitment does
not fall within the parameters of the CFA'. The Norwegian
Ambassador had very properly disagreed with this and pointed
out that the CFA did mention abductions, and also that
'continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image
of the LTTE at the international level'. The LTTE may
have finally understood this, when Ms Radhika Coomaraswamy
spoke up boldly against their violation of national and
international laws. Having run circles round the last
UNICEF Head in Sri Lanka, they have finally said that
'by the end of this year LTTE will announce that there
are no more under-18 persons in the organization'.
Prevarications
regarding child soldiers
Entertainingly,
according to the LTTE, 'The UNICEF Head said that his
visit was an introductory meeting with the Political Head.
Among the topics discussed were the work of United Nations
in general in the Tamil homeland and the program of releasing
under-18 persons in the LTTE….Pointing to the delay
by UNICEF in completing its part in this program, Nadeson
called on the UNICEF Head to ensure that UNICEF carry
out its part in verifying the under-18 persons released
by the LTTE and also in doing its part to reunite the
released children with their families….UNICEF must
be ready to do its part to complete its role in this program
so that it too can remain in sync in its statement. The
children being killed and injured by the aerial bombing
and claymore attacks of the Sri Lanka were also discussed
at the meeting .'
Such
a release by the LTTE is understandable, though it is
sad that the UN has not as yet seen fit to dissociate
itself with the claim that there is 'work of United Nations
in general in the Tamil homeland' or 'claymore attacks
of the Sri Lanka'. But perhaps the UN has even now realized
how serious is the issue of child soldiers and, in welcoming
the declaration that the excuses offered to the previous
UNICEF head will now cease, perhaps it has forgotten all
its other obligations.
LTTE
resumption of large scale hostilities and destruction
of the A 9 route
Anyway,
by October 2006 there was another reason for withdrawal
from talks, namely the closure of the A9. Ms Selvy does
not however mention why the A9 was closed southward from
Jaffna. To put it quite bluntly, this happened after a
massive artillery and mortar attack launched by the LTTE
on the government forces on August 11th 2006, an attack
which was the gravest threat in years to the security
of the Jaffna peninsula, and which also destroyed the
entire infrastructure built by the government at Muhamalai
to facilitate the movement of people and goods.
It
is now forgotten that that attack, following hard on the
massive attack on Muttur at the beginning of the month,
represented the culmination of LTTE violations of the
2002 Ceasefire. And, while the 3000 odd violations before
that could have been characterized as individual incursions,
not part of a tactical plan (though undoubtedly part of
a sustained strategy of attrition), the two attacks of
August 2006 were designed to wrench control of the North
and East from the government. Sadly, given the oafish
antics of Gen Henricsson, diverted from intelligent analysis
by his emotional response to restrictions on his movements
in Muttur, the SLMM failed signally to monitor and report
on the conceptual change represented by these LTTE attacks.
Perhaps
because the attacks were repulsed so successfully, and
the strategy fell into abeyance, the SLMM, the Norwegians
and the rest of the international community have failed
to register that that was the culmination of the subtle
and not so subtle campaign of murder, abduction and intimidation
(to say nothing of purchase and importation of heavy and
lethal weaponry) that the LTTE had carried on sustainedly
from the day the Ceasefire was signed.
In
short, the actions of the Defence forces in August 2006
should have met with Churchillian gratitude, instead of
the relentless attacks on them and the government that
have ensured, by liars such as General Henricsson and
Nicholas Howen of the International Commission of Jurists
(who had the temerity to accuse the government of tampering
with evidence). In the East, disregarding the continuing
sniping, by the LTTE and by other votaries of falsehood,
the forces have ensured that such sudden attacks can no
longer occur. However, in the North, and in particular
at Muhumalai, the LTTE has continued with planned attacks
on Government forces, regularly causing death and injury.
It is precisely for that reason that the government is
unable to open the road there.
LTTE
refusal in Geneva to discuss modalities of opening the
A 9 or providing supplies and transport by sea
However,
when the government agreed at Geneva to discuss the issue
further, in trying to seek guarantees that national security
will not be compromised by opening up this route, the
LTTE remained intransigent. Its purpose after all was
not the well being of the citizens of Jaffna, but rather
the propaganda use it could make of the closure. Hence
its determination to prevent civilian shipping. As reported
even in the 'Leader', LTTE threats forced the ICRC to
stop its initial positive response to the government request
' to facilitate the movement of goods and people from
and to Jaffna by sea.' And still the failure to provide
the security guarantees necessary for the ICRC to act
continues. Indeed, after the attack on a civilian transport
in November 2006, there was also an attack on a food ship,
which contributed to shortages in Jaffna, though concerted
efforts by the Commissioner General for Essential Services
rapidly reduced the shortages and prices.
Meanwhile,
assuming the LTTE wants to continue to keep the navy occupied
in guarding the movement of civilians and supplies on
the longer routes, Civil Society, led by the Bishops as
well as genuinely concerned Tamil politicians such as
Douglas Devananda, has requested the commencement of short
haul services, from Mannar to the Jaffna islands. This
would provide a much cheaper service for people wishing
to travel from Jaffna, and for goods for sale. However,
though the ICRC has now been twice requested to facilitate
such a service, the required security guarantees have
not been forthcoming.
The
reasons for LTTE hostility to sea routes are suggested
by Ms Selvy's statement, in that generally when a particularly
outrageous claim is made, it is because that sort of behaviour
is characteristic of the complainant. She claims that
' It is a well known truth that each time this "civilian
passenger" ship plies to and from Jaffna and Trincomalee,
invariably the Sri Lankan military personal traveling
in the ship is many times more than the number of civilians
in the ship. It is also well known to the Jaffna population
the difficulties one must go through to first obtain a
pass from the military to travel and then obtain a seat
in the ship. Reports of the Sri Lanka military demanding
every civilian wishing to get a seat in the ship to give
the military a name of an LTTE supporter in Jaffna have
surfaced many times. '
Unsurprisingly,
these reports have surfaced nowhere except in Ms Selvy's
fertile mind, not even in those of the NGOs that joined
together with LTTE NGOs to denigrate the Sri Lankan forces.
And even if Ms Selvy believes her own fictions, the remedy
is very easy, namely to allow the ICRC to resume supervision
of such shipping.
But
no, the point is that the sea route cannot be allowed
to be successful, however much Tamils may want it, because
what the LTTE seeks is fuel with which to set the Sri
Lankan state on fire. Firstly, it hopes to rouse hostility
against the government. Secondly, it wants the A 9 reopened
so it could resume its practice of taxing those who use
it, taking ruthless advantage of those who need to travel.
Numerous studies, the most detailed perhaps being by the
essentially Tamil think tank, the Point Pedro Research
Institute, have made clear the enormity of Tiger taxation,
which has been levied even on aid projects. Needless to
say, the money raised by such taxes was used in the past
to buy up and transport weaponry.
Humanitarian
support provided by government to the people of Jaffna
and the Vanni
Ms
Selvy's desperation to criticize is apparent too in the
inconsistencies of her attack. She claims that people
in the Vanni have no access to good medical treatment
because the road from there to Jaffna is closed. This
begs the question of the good medical facilities now available
in the Vanni itself, services which the government continues
to fund, while it recently ensured the development of
the Kilinochchi hospital into one of the better equipped
in the country. But it also ignores the fact that the
government had throughout kept the route southward from
the Vanni open.
Indeed
the government wanted this open all week, and it was only
because of the LTTE that for some time it was open only
for three days. With regard to this too the government
made several requests to the ICRC before the required
security guarantees were obtained. A mark of LTTE duplicity
is that it had insisted – and several British parliamentarians
were foolish or cunning enough to believe this –
that it was the government that wanted the road closed,
and it even convinced the SLMM initially that it was because
of an LTTE request that the road was opened for a longer
period from a couple of months back.
The
SLMM was however soon disabused, though SCOPP said it
had no objection to the LTTE also being given credit for
this. This failed however to win a similar concession
regarding sea routes. Meanwhile the SLMM confirms regularly,
since SCOPP as opposed to the LTTE is genuinely concerned
about food supplies to the Vanni, that these are not a
major problem.
So,
despite Ms Selvy's crocodile tears, those in the Vanni
are able to get to the south for treatment if the recently
modernized hospital in Kilinochchi cannot help them. Why
they would therefore want to get to Jaffna should then
be a conundrum to Ms Selvy, given how contemptuous she
is of the situation and the services there. But the people
of Jaffna disagree, as is clear from the use they make
of the health services government provides, and obviously
the people of the Vanni must agree, if the closure of
the Muhumalai checkpoint is as great a blow as Ms Selvy
suggests. But, just in case there are shortfalls, there
is provision to move people by air or sea, to Colombo
or Trincomalee, and the navy even provides transport on
special requests if the regular ferry is not available.
It should be noted that the ICRC also assists as necessary
with regard to air transport, though as mentioned it cannot
help as far as sea travel is concerned since it has not
received the required guarantees.
But
the hypocrisy continues. The LTTE and its agents still
go on about starvation in Jaffna, despite the steady supplies
government sends, despite the latest UN report claiming
that even those in the Welfare Centres find basic needs
both readily available and affordable. That report makes
clear that government not only continues to provide education
to almost all children in these centres, it has even supplied
uniforms to the vast majority of them. Health and education
are also freely supplied to the citizens in the Vanni,
bitterly circumscribed as they are otherwise by the LTTE
impositions, which even the United Nations has begun to
talk about, in finally drawing the attention of international
media to the habit of forced conscription.
Support
of the military for civilians
Finally,
Ms Selvy exceeds herself in her conclusion, which is that
'Transporting military personnel using civilians, especially
the ill, is also a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.'
She has evidently forgotten that it is the Sri Lankan
government that now protects all transport (much of it,
incidentally, owned by Tamil businessmen), since the ICRC
has been in effect debarred, despite its initial helpful
intervention in August soon after the LTTE assaults led
to the closure of Muhumalai. Far from the government using
civilians – unlike the LTTE, which launched its
attack when a busload of apparent civilians turned their
guns on the soldiers at the checkpoint – it provides
services for civilians at the cost of several man hours
of protection duty by our much malighed servicemen.
Indeed,
it was pointed out that SCOPP could not expect the LTTE
to allow the ICRC to look after civilian and food transport
between Jaffna and Trincomalee / Colombo, because the
poor ICRC might then be accused of freeing up navy personnel
to perform their primary duty, that of fighting terrorism.
However, at least on humanitarian grounds the LTTE could
allow ICRC to run short haul transport, since that would
be no advantage to the navy which is not doing that now.
But
humanitarian grounds do not matter to the LTTE, not even
to its spokesperson on humanitarian issues and human rights.
By withdrawing poor Mr Thamilselvam from peace talks,
and forcing him into military fatigues – including
at the attack on Muhumalai – the LTTE exploded the
myth of a political wing. By making the LTTE Peace Secretariat
glorify suicide cadres on the eve of their (self)-destructive
mission, the LTTE exploded the myth of an institution
concerned with peace. And now, by making poor Ms Selvi
issue self-contradictory statements regarding the closure
of the road that resulted from its brutal assault last
year and its categorical refusal at Geneva to discuss
modalities of reopening it, the LTTE has exploded the
myth of at least one person more concerned with humanitarian
issues rather than militaristic propaganda.
But
all this, we must hope, is simply due to the continuing
intransigence of the leadership. Ms Selvy showed intelligence
once, and awareness of at least some of the realities
of the world outside. For her sake, and that of the suffering
thousands still in the Vanni, we must hope that at least
some elements in the leadership will ensure a sea change
(in every sense) in the near future.
Courtesy
- Government Information