‘Sri Lanka’s Foreign and Security Policy: The Challenge of Terrorism’

Address made by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, on ‘Sri Lanka’s Foreign and Security Policy: the challenge of terrorism’ at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London on March 8.

SPEECH: I am extremely happy to have this opportunity to speak at the IISS which is well known internationally for its contribution towards deepening our understanding of defence and security related issues in today’s world.

My predecessors have held the work of your institute in high esteem and today we have established a similar

 institution in Sri Lanka named after one of my distinguished predecessors, the late Lakshman Kadirgamar.

I take this opportunity to record our appreciation for the valuable advice by the IISS when we were taking the first steps in seeking to establish our institute.

At the outset may I thank Dr. Patrick Cronin, Director of Studies for the kind introduction and also Dr. John Chipman, the Director-General and Rahul Chaudhury for inviting me and arranging this event.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy in the first decade after independence was largely influenced by the Post World War environment of reconstruction, reconciliation and peaceful co-existence.

In the Cold War era that followed our leaders at that time favoured non-alignment with the objective of consolidating our newly regained independence and breaking away from the shackles of imperialism.

The closure of British military bases at Katunayake and the port city of Trincomalee was also aimed at manifesting our commitment to this policy.

Our non-alignment however, did not prevent us from constructive engagement with those very power blocs of the cold war period. We especially played an active role in multilateral fora as a founding member of the Non-aligned Movement and in the United Nations.

However, as a developing country with a growing population our primary focus in the decades that followed was trade and economic relations.

Obviously it remains in our interests to ensure that the fruits of economic progress are distributed as equitably as possible to all corners of our country as this would help create a domestically stable environment.

Prof. F. S. Northedge in his book - “The Foreign Policies of the Power” - states that the Foreign Policy of any country is a product of environment factors both internal and external to it.

In this context Sri Lanka’s proximity to the vast sub-continent of India on its northern flank and our vulnerability on the southern flank, given that there is no land mass from the south of the island straight down to the South Pole are key factors that have shaped our Foreign and Security Policy.

Maritime security becomes a key factor for an island that is as strategically located as we are. Prof. Joseph Frankell in his treatise “The Making of Foreign Policy” expands on this by stating that the Foreign Policy of any government simultaneously will seek two inter-related objectives: enhance national security and greater economic development.

This brings me to the main focus of my presentation and that is the challenge of terrorism which has hampered to pursuit of our priorities in the last two decades.

The violent terrorist activities of the LTTE in Sri Lanka which is known worldwide to have pioneered the lethal art of suicide attacks against civilians now being copied by the al-Qaeda network and instilling a similar culture in innocent children has posed a serious challenge to our national security.

The LTTE being steeped in violence has resulted in the loss of over 60,000 lives. In May 1991 an LTTE suicide bomber assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Yet another suicide bomber in 1993 assassinated Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

In January 1996 they conducted a suicide mission on the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and a year later yet another similar mission occurred on Sri Lanka’s holiest temple - the Temple of the Buddha’s Tooth Relic in Kandy.

These are only a few examples of the suicide attacks carried out by the LTTE. This terrorist organisation which claims to represent the Tamil people has in two decades of fighting killed more of their own ethnicity than any other ethnic group in Sri Lanka.

In the last Presidential Elections, it prevented the Tamil people in several parts of the North and East from exercising their franchise through various forms of threat and intimidation.

The LTTE itself has shied away from presenting itself before its own people for election and has ruthlessly suppressed dissent among the Tamil community.

Almost the entire Tamil political leadership from Alfred Duraippah, the one time Mayor of Jaffna to Appalillai Amirthalingam, the late TULF leader to Neelan Thiruchelvam and Lakshman Kadirgamar were silenced by the barrel of the gun.

The LTTE’s criminal activity has transgressed our national boundaries. The IISS publication ‘Military Balance 2007’ refers to possible commercial links between the LTTE and the Al-Qaeda movement.

In fact there is a evidence that the LTTE established linkages with the Mujahiddins in Afghanistan as far back as 1987. There is further proof to establish that even in 2001 an LTTE delegation travelled to Kabul shortly before nine eleven.

A few weeks ago India’s National Security adviser M. K. Narayanan in a speech at the Munich conference on Security Policy informed that both Jihadi movements and the LTTE were relying heavily on funds from trafficking in narcotics which has doubled in recent years.

The LTTE with its fleet of merchant vessels run by a front organisation and established presence in the arms black market has been providing mercenary services to several other terrorist groups around the world.

Regrettably the world tends to view certain terrorist organisations with a degree of tolerance. Dispensers of terror are sometimes viewed as rebels or freedom fighters as long as they do not wreak havoc on those countries’ door steps.

Some countries are not too concerned about allowing terror organisations to establish front offices, organisations, lobby groups and charities based on the premise of democracy and if those activities do not impinge on their own national security.

By this they have demonstrated insensitivity and indifference to the fact that terror at the national level is inextricably inter-linked to terrorism at the international level.

Since the problem of terrorism is global, any measures to effectively counter this menace requires inter-state bilateral cooperation.

For instance to discharge obligations clearly imposed on states under international law and the elimination of all activities within a territory of one state which are of terrorist leanings and are directed towards the carrying out of terrorist activity in other states, bilateral cooperation in this area is vital.

This obligation also covers acts which though seemingly legitimate are clearly directed towards sustaining terrorist activity in other states such as fundraising, which are ultimately channelled for the purpose of purchasing of arms etc.

The obligation under international law is emphasized in unequivocal terms in the UN Declaration on measures to prevent international terrorism contained in Resolution 49/60.

“States guided by the purposes and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and other relevant rules of international law, must refrain from organizing, instigating, assisting or participating in terrorist acts in territories of other States or acquiescing in or encouraging activities within their territories directed towards the commission of such acts.”

The LTTE’ capacity to engage in terrorist activities in Sri Lanka is mainly due to the continued flow of funds to the LTTE war chest even from the UK, through which the procurement and smuggling of illicit arms have been sustained.

Expectedly funds collected by the LTTE overseas continue to have a de-stabilising effect on Sri Lanka. This is manifest both in terms of supporting terrorist activities in Sri Lanka and precipitating the displacement of people internally and externally.

The people so displaced who go abroad continue to be exploited by the LTTE to extort money, creating a vicious and self-supporting cycle of intimidation, arms smuggling and terrorism.

In addition the LTTE is engaged in money laundering, credit card fraud, money transfer through couriers and a range of other illegal activities.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has described terrorist groups which capitalize on the nexus between drug trafficking and gun running as representing a supra-national subversive threat to peace and security within and among nations.

There is also a clearly evident relationship between collection of funds in foreign countries and the promotion by the LTTE of the outflow of asylum seekers into western countries.

The LTTE needs a considerable population of asylum seekers abroad in order to generate sufficient funds through extortion.

There are several examples cited in the Human Rights Watch report titled “Funding the Final War” on the manner in which funds are collected in the UK and Canada.

There is no difficulty in finding evidence of these activities as this report and recent television documentaries have shown.

What is new and significant in this is the fact that the fundraisers now openly list the LTTE as one of the organisations through which funds can be channelled for humanitarian purposes.

It is significant to note that none of the fundraisers ask the donors to channel their contributions to any of the recognised humanitarian organisations such as the ICRC and other respected INGOs.

They always request donations to be channelled to LTTE fronts like the British Tamil Association (BTA) here in the UK.

Most often the governments and foreigners who contribute to these organisations have no substantial proofs as to how these funds are used. Some internet providers have circulated more direct and serious messages “urgent appeal for money for missiles - contribute generously to LTTE.”

This openly acknowledges what the fundraising is for, with community radio and TV stations, places of religious worship are also being used openly for propaganda purposes in Europe.

Continued fundraising abroad through which terrorist activities in Sri Lanka are being sustained by the LTTE, has become a major factor militating against government’s search for a political solution on the basis of extensive devolution of power to address the grievances of all groups comprising the country’s citizenry. The activities of the LTTE abroad have also received considerable publicity in Sri Lanka.

There is therefore a growing public opinion against the impunity with which the LTTE conducts its fundraising activities and their propaganda work directed at sustaining terrorism in Sri Lanka.

Public opinion in Sri Lanka is that therefore the government should take the strongest possible measures to eradicate terrorism with or without external support.

As we are aware post nine eleven the LTTE was listed as a terrorist organisation both in the UK and USA and subsequently in 2006 by the European Union. However, there has not been any significant decline in the fundraising and blatantly flagrant propaganda activities.

This leads us to the conclusion that proscription like any other domestic law has to be implemented.

Firstly by enacting national laws and then their application, for which purpose considerable resources need to be allocated by states on whose soil the LTTE operates openly and freely. There has also got to be above all the will to prioritise such action.

The international community in this instance must translate their goodwill shown towards Sri Lanka into practical action rather than spin rhetoric.

Like poverty, terrorism anywhere is a threat to humanity everywhere. It should be defeated if democracies are to survive.

Despite the challenge posed by this most ruthless terrorist group, the Government of Sri Lanka is aware of its obligations to respect the rule of law and the need to address to grievances of the affected minorities.

This is the reason we remain committed to a negotiated political settlement. After President Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected, he took a new approach towards the peace process.

He established an All Party Conference and has obtained the support of most of the political parties with a view to reaching a consensus on a political settlement.

Already the All Party representative committee has reached the final stage of its deliberations and is shortly due to publish its proposals on devolution of power to address the grievances of all groups.

Military action has been resorted to in a targeted manner only to ensure the safety of the innocent civilian population.

The challenge before us however remains; the LTTE stubbornly refuses to sit down for talks.

After two rounds of negotiations with representatives of our Government it walked out of the talks without any basis and has continued its campaign of terror and be intransigent.

I hope during the discussion that will follow my presentation that I can enumerate further the need for a collective global response to terrorism, whatever its origin or particular brand and to explain the government’s sincere commitment to resolve the crisis peacefully.

Sri Lanka is one of Asia’s oldest functioning democracies where respect for human rights and the rule of law is a high priority.

We sincerely hope that the LTTE too will realise the futility of violence and decide to transform into a democratic entity where every citizen will have the freedom to choose their leaders and manner of governance.

The LTTE needs to transform from being a fascist dictatorship to a democratic one, whilst the state needs to transform into a devolved entity.

The latter process has already begun and the onus is on the LTTE to transform itself since the patience of the majority of our people is fast running out.

The international community should for its part assist the Sri Lanka Government in bringing about a home grown solution in keeping with ground realities and use its leverage with the LTTE, which has an extensive network in those countries.