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Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust takes lead :

Communal harmony through tank re-building

A ground breaking ceremony took place at Morawewa in the Namalwatte Village incorporating the sites of a former Buddhist Temple, a former Hindu Kovil, and a former Muslim Mosque, on Monday 28 June.

This was initiated by the Mahanayake Theros from the Malwatte, Asgiriya Chapters of Siyam Nikaya, and Amarapura and Ramanna Nikayas, - to rebuild a few rain fed water tanks initially as a symbolic confidence building measure involving war affected and impoverished Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities living in villages in the Anuradhapura District and in Kinniya in the Trincomalee District, which border the former war zone in North-East Sri Lanka.

Members of the Executive Committee of the Asian Conference on Religion and Peace comprising of thirty eight delegates representing sixteen Asian countries, the Asian regional body of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, the world's largest multi religious organization, joined the religious leaders from Sri Lanka and the People of the water tank area/village in this historic initiation of Asian Action for Peace and Development in Sri Lanka.

The natural resource of water was abundantly and freely available, before the centuries old rain-fed irrigation system fell into disrepair, as a result of armed conflict and forced migration. The ample gift of water provided a strong bond between the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities.

The rebuilding of water tanks in all the other districts of Sri Lanka is also to be undertaken to considerably strengthen ethnic harmony and inter-religious harmony.

The initiative is through the Mahanayakes' Peace and Development Trust which was established by the four Mahanayakes soon after their historic visit to Japan in May 2002, which was promoted by the World Conference on Religions and Peace worldwide services, New York.

The joint declaration of the Mahanayakes the "Tokyo Statement" unequivocally supported the peace process, in solidarity with Japanese Buddhist brothers, civil society organizations, and the international community as a whole.

The Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust has been established to support the ongoing peace efforts, to support immediate confidence building measures on the ground for the benefit of all three communities affected by the war, to construct and repair rain fed water tanks for rice and other agricultural production, to assist in stabilizing Sri Lanka's economic infrastructure, to create employment opportunities, and assist in or organize poverty alleviation programmes.

The Japanese Buddhist brotherhood have indicated their strong commitment to the initiative of the Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust to engage in this project to rebuild water tanks, even on a longer term basis.

The Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust is very grateful for the support of the Japanese Buddhist Brotherhood and look forward very much to being able to implement this project to rebuild water tanks and other confidence building measures for the impoverished people of the three communities.

28'June' was a symbolic inter-religious ground breaking ceremony for initiation of the rebuilding of rain-fed water tanks. The Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust is most grateful to the local NGO Surekuma for their support in all the work done for the area and the arrangements for the day, supported by the IWTHI Trust the implementing agency for the Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust.

The mobilization of the People of the other three areas/villages of the rain fed water tanks proposed to be rebuilt initially, Vellankulam a predominantly Tamil and Panichchankulam Predominantly Muslim, both large tanks in Kinniya in the Trincomalee District, and Padaviya Predominantly Sinhala - a small tank in the Anuradhapura District are also taking place and confidence building measures involving their places of worship, schools or other amenities have been initiated.

The Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust is most grateful to the World Conference on Religion and Peace World Wide Services and to Rev. Kyoichi Sugino in particular for making all these arrangements possible through an initial funding, pending the grants of funds.

The Mahanayakes and Hindu, Muslim and Christian Religious Leaders are committed to working towards establishing a representative, high-level inter-religious council in Sri Lanka to promote peaceful co-existence among ethnic and religious communities through such confidence building which the Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust will promote and could be taken over and implemented by a high level inter-religious council.

(International War - related Trauma and Humanitarian Intervention Trust.)

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Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust Sri Lanka

The Indenture and Declaration of Trust by which the Mahanayakes Peace and Development trust was established was on the 9th day of July 2002. The four Mahanayakes, the Chief Incumbent of the four Nikayas (sects) of Buddhism in Sri Lanka established this Trust as the result of the historic visit to Japan by the Mahanayakes / their Representatives to meet with the Supreme Patriarch Rev Nichiko Niwano of Rissho Kosei - Kai, and the Buddhist Brotherhood Japan.

The Peace and Development Trust was the outcome of the very warm and friendly welcome and the gestures of cooperation and assistance for the success of the peace process which had been initiated in Sri Lanka a few months earlier.

The Mahanayakes have through this Trust committed themselves to the following objectives, which they have laid down by the Trust document:

(a) To create a Trust Fund for the furtherance of the objects of the Trust.

(b) To support the ongoing peace efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka and help to nurture support for these efforts across the political spectrum and across party lines.

(c) To organise moral, political, spiritual and material support for the peace and development efforts in Sri Lanka from the distinguished Buddhist brothers, sisters and close friends from Japan, and from the international community led by the United Nations.

(d) To support immediate confidence - building measures on the ground for the benefit of all three communities in Sri Lanka that are affected by the war.

(e) To construct and repair rain-fed water tanks and irrigation channels for rice and other agricultural production.

(f) To construct a Peace Bridge to the Jaffna peninsula at the site of the Mahadeva causeway.

(g) To assist in stabilizing Sri Lanka's economic infrastructure, power generation, road and rail transportation over the long term.

(h) To create employment opportunities through productive manufacturing industry.

(i) To assist in or organise any such poverty alleviation programme as the Trustees may think fit.

The Trustees who are of very high standing in Sri Lanka to whom the Mahanakes have entrusted the supervision of the objectives are:

The Mahanayakes and their entourage and the several Trustees in their own right are involved in a host of measures for the uplift of the people. But considering the high office held by the Trustees and the need for planning and implementation progressively of the objectives of the Trust it is envisaged that a legally constituted body having similar objectives towards peace, people their well-being and their development such as the International War-related Trauma and Humanitarian Intervention Trust (IWTHI Trust) would be able to carry out some of the important and far reaching objectives of the Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust.

It is significant that two of the Trustees of the Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust were in fact the founders of the International War-related Trauma and Humanitarian Intervention Trust and that one of them functions as its Chairperson.

This facilitation by the IWTHI Trust would be readily possible as the IWTHI Trust has its operations In the North and East of Sri Lanka and therefore have contacts and staff and other facilities available. This assistance will not however affect the responsibility and ownership of the 'peace and development' functions performed, which would always vest with the Mahanayakes Peace and Development Trust.

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The LTTE's ISGA proposal and Lanka's peace process -Part 5 : 

The Sea Tiger unit quandary

by Prof. Gamini Keerewella

(Continued from July 10)

It extends from the Ganges-Brahamaputra Delta, past Sri Lanka and beyond Equator. In addition to the seabed oil resources, this seabed and sub soil is highly endowed with other mineral resources.

In the view of the possibility of nearing the depletion of land-based mineral resources, the exploitation of off-shore mineral resources will acquire added importance in the future. According to article 76 of the UNCLOS-III, India and Sri Lanka have to establish outer limit of our continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles by establishing the foot of the continental slope by meeting the requirements stated for the thickness of sedimentary rocks, distance and depth criteria.

Both Sri Lanka and India have already embarked on a co-ordinated effort to demarcate outer limit and submit their respective claims to the United Nations by 2005.

The grave repercussions of the provisions giving authority over the marine and off-shore resources of adjacent seas to the ISGA should be understood when in conjunction with the other provisions which empower the ISGA to enter into any agreement with any other party.

The powers bestowed upon the ISGA to regulate the access to marine and off-shore resources compels it to have a naval arm of its own to execute this responsibility. Even though the proposal does not mention directly to the Sea Tigers, the sea wing of the LTTE, the above provisions legitimise the Sea Tigers by giving them a 'lawful' role and, in effect, strips off the Sri Lankan Navy from its responsibilities in the North-Eastern waters.

The Legitimization of the Sea Tigers in the North-Eastern waters would definitely have grave implications on Sri Lankan national security. It is well known that the North-Eastern waters are used by the LTTE to smuggle arms to the island.

The LTTE maintains links with the clandestine international arms trade network and its arms supply route lies via the North-Eastern waters. The Small Arms Survey published by the Geneva based Graduate Institute of International Studies observed: 'The illegal procurement system developed by the LTTE over the course of the conflict is perhaps the most innovative and impressive ever witnessed for a non-state organisation. Backed by expatriate Tamils willing to provide money and contacts, the LTTE was able to trawl many countries in Southeast Asia-Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Myanmar and Singapore - for the weapons and non-military equipment it required to sustain the civil war.

There were many confirmed evidence on LTTE attempts to smuggle more sophisticated weapon systems to the island across the sea during the period of ceasefire. To cite an example, the Russian Ambassador in Sri Lanka, in a 'non-paper' submitted to the Foreign Ministry in May 2003, intimated that members of the LTTE in Laos (Vientiane) approached the representative of the Russian state organisation Rosboronoexport to procure small arms, portable anti-aircraft missile complex (IGLA), communication means and other types of Russian weapons.

The recognition of its Sea Tigers and the free access to waters remained a long-time demand of the LTTE. It should be noted that when the Scandinavian Monitors (SLMM) presented a proposal in the earlier occasion to recognise the Sea Tigers and allocate sea space for their firing practice during the ceasefire the objections were so strong that it was not even discussed.

As Chris Pattern, the External Relations Commissioner of the European Union, observed, the LTTE still has 'a long way to go to change from rebel outfit into legitimate political group'. He is further reported to have stated 'We want to be absolutely sure that the LTTE have given up violence.

There is a difference between Kalashnikovs and the ballot-box and we want it to be absolutely clear that they have stopped murdering people for political ends'. The implications of assigning the Sea Tigers of the powers to control the 'adjacent seas' for the national security need to understood in this background.

Regional security implications

The implications of the control over marine and off-shore resources of adjacent seas and power to regulate access by ISGA stretch beyond the national parameters. The legitimisation of the third Naval Force in the waters between India and Sri Lanka is a matter of grave concern for India.

Given the fact that the proposed ISGA is in reality a LTTE authority, if the provisions relating to 'Marine and Off-shore resource' are implemented, the security architecture of the South Asia has to take into account the emergence of another Navy which is controlled by a non-state entity in the South Asian waters. India has a legitimate right to be concerned on this matter as the Indian Navy has to share the maritime boundary between Indian and Sri Lankan territorial waters with the Sea Tigers.

Sri Lanka as a sovereign State located in South Asian geo-strategic sub system has definite obligation in relation to the regional peace and stability. Any lapses on the part of Sri Lankan State in fulfilling these obligations in the context of the regional security architecture create serious destabilising effects on entire South Asia.

Another important issue is the control of Trincomalee. It is not just another harbour located on the eastern shore-line. The strategic value of Trincomalee in relation to the defence and security of the entire island is enormous.

The headquarters of the EastCom of the Sri Lankan Navy is located there and it is the nerve centre for all the Naval Operations in the eastern waters. Even in any federal set-up such strategic locations essential for national defence come under the purview of the Central Government.

When one considers all the inferences of the provisions of the Proposal together, it is obvious that Trincomalee harbour will be under the exclusive control of the ISGA. In view of the sensitivities and concerns of the regional and extra-regional powers over the way in which Trincomalee relates to their strategic planning, the fabric of strategic linkages of Trincomalee needs to be decided carefully without leaving any room for a security dilemma syndrome.

In this context, the control of Trincomalee by the LTTE is not acceptable to any regional or extra-regional power. In such eventuality, its national and regional implications for peace and stability in the respective spheres would be far more profound, which Sri Lanka will be compelled to grapple with.

(To be continued)

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