Kosovo: the escape and warning

“Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that further negotiations would lead to a mutually agreed solution to the status issue. At the same time, the status quo is no longer viable.

There is a need to clarify Kosovo’s future status so that it can continue its economic and political development. In the current situation, it is important that the members of the international community as far as possible take a common position. This in itself would contribute to clarity and stability.”

“A large number of European countries, including other Nordic countries, intend to recognise Kosovo. Given the situation, we feel it is appropriate to signal that [we] will do so as well.” Those were the words of Jonas Gahr Store, the Foreign Minister of Norway, announcing his country’s decision to recognise the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Kosovo.

That statement coming so soon after Kosovo’s UDI, and in sync with the United States and six countries of the European Union, is a chilling reminder of the danger that we have escaped very substantially, if not wholly, of the International Community (Western) or IC(W) for short, rushing to recognise a State of Eelam, if so declared by the LTTE.

One can be sure that a Norwegian Foreign Minister’s announcement in such a situation would have also said (as it said over Kosovo): “I would like to stress that the Eelam situation is a special case.

The conflict [lasting for over 20 years] and the fact that Eelam terrain has been under international administration for the past several years constitute special circumstances.”

And also that: “Norway attaches great importance to the obligations undertaken by the Eelam leaders with a view to implementing the provisions of the ICW plan. Eelam must now develop into a multi-ethnic, democratic state with respect for human rights and law and order.

Respect for the religious and cultural heritage of the various ethnic groups is essential in this respect.

The fulfilment of these obligations will be an important factor in the development of our relations with Eelam”.

It will also state that: “The Norwegian Government would like to reiterate how important it is that all parties refrain from violence. Any unrest or increase in tension in and around Eelam could have negative and dangerous consequences for the region. The Recognition of Eelam will also make it possible to engage it in a process of gradual integration into “Euro-Asian” institutions, distant though they may be. This process will be an important contribution to stability of Eelam and the “Euro-Asian” alliances, leading the way for similar understanding with all of South Asia.”

The goal

The statement will conclude: “I would like to underscore once again Norway’s close relations with what is left of Sri Lanka and its leaders.

We attach great importance to maintaining the mutual trust and cooperation we have built up over the years.

Recognition of Eelam will be effected in accordance with the procedures prescribed for such decisions, and will take the form of a Royal Decree.” QED.

We have for long been on the verge of this danger, and not fully out of it today. This is the goal behind the machinations of all those who seek to apply R2P responses here, and those who have been crying out for a greater UN Human Rights monitoring presence here, as well as the entire caboodle of heavily funded NGOs and INGOs that have made the humiliation of Sri Lanka the very purpose of their existence.

We were very near this tipping point, when the CFA was in place since February 2002, which had marked out the boundaries of territory controlled by the separatist LTTE. That was the time when the LTTE in pursuit of its goal of Eelam stepped up its “customs” and “tax” collections which in normal parlance was none other than extortion. It accelerated ethnic cleansing, especially of the Muslims in the East, having already almost completed that job in the North much earlier.

That was the time the INGOs, together with the international media reporting to the IC(W), wrote reams about the police stations and courts that had been set up by the LTTE, how good their traffic police was, in areas under its control.

It was also the time when the Nordic head of the CFA monitoring SLMM even suggested that the LTTE should be given a sea lane in the northern and eastern waters off Sri Lanka; a proposal which even the signatory to the CFA, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had to reject as outright folly.

It was in these situations that many self-appointed pundits of Conflict Resolution and Military Strategy were loud in their opinions that the LTTE cannot ever be defeated militarily, creating the mood for the acceptance of a situation of capitulation to an enemy that the Sri Lankan State could never expect to overcome militarily. It is significant that after the CFA was abrogated such observations are now not made as freely as earlier; and with many Indian reports of the LTTE facing a grave military set back, the talk of the inability to defeat it is either muted or put on the back-burner, for what its protagonists would hope is a more favourable time.

For those who would rush to recognise a declaration of Eelam the situation would have been ideal. As the Norwegian Foreign Minister said about Kosovo, they would have stressed that “the Eelam situation is a special case”. They will remind those in the world that are ready to listen to them, which means the IC(W), that the conflict here has lasted over 20 years, that no more negotiation is possible, that all other options have been exhausted (the LTTE would have ensured that), that Eelam terrain has been under international administration for a considerable period, all of which constitute special circumstances that justify the recognition of Eelam.

Black July

Just as much as the Serb attacks on the ethnic Albanians of its Kosovo region under Slobodan Milosevic are now made the principle reason to severe it from Serbia, the case will be made going back to the race riots of 1957, 1958, 1977 and capped with 1983 and Black July, for the situation in contemporary history that, in the minds of the divisive forces of the world, justify the recognition of Eelam. The fact that the new state would have a large number of the historical links to Sri Lanka, would be ignored in the same manner as the presence of the cultural treasures of the Serbs being in the region of Kosovo has been totally ignored, to be confined to a footnote in the newscasts about the Kosovo crisis today.

The biggest irony would be a homily from the IC(W) to Prabhakaran and the leaders of the illegal, breakaway rump that “Eelam must now develop into a multi-ethnic, democratic state with respect for human rights and law and order. Respect for the religious and cultural heritage of the various ethnic groups is essential in this respect. The fulfilment of these obligations will be an important factor in the development of our relations with Eelam.” Perfect Norwegian speak! Many are those who have said such things to the LTTE all through the years of this conflict, not only to fall on deaf ears, but rather to be totally rejected as the organisation carried on with its policy of terrorism, contempt for democracy and Human Rights, and complete disregard for a multi-ethnic society.

Although we may have escaped the imminent danger of the success of separatism through concerted action by the IC(W), it would be wrong to think that we are entirely out of the woods.

There is always cause for some justification for the demands for separation or self-determination, as long as there are conditions in a country that lend themselves towards such a demand. It is easy to dismiss the hopes and aspirations of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, and believe that the Sinhalese majority will not do wrong by them while doing what is right by itself. We can keep blaming the British colonialists for their policy of divide and rule, but 60 years after they have left our shores such excuses can be pretty hollow. What is needed are sincere attempts to put this entire issue of equal rights for all behind us, with credible political initiatives to unequivocally assure the minorities, especially the Tamil people, of their right to be equal citizens of Sri Lanka and that they will be treated so.

On more than one occasion, recently, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has stated publicly that we must give serious consideration to the plight of the innocent Tamil people, while the country carries on the task of ridding it of terrorism carried out by the LTTE, albeit in the name of the Tamil people.

It is now clear to all except those who wear the thickest of blinkers, that the LTTE is not any representative of the Tamil people. But, that does not mean they should be kept out of the national equation. Beginning with the 13th Amendment, which is as far as the Government could go in the current circumstances, given the composition of Parliament and feelings in the South, there is the need to see how much further we can move as a nation in resolving the issue of ethnic identity and equality.

Attila the Hun

Trying to equate the present situation vis-a-vis the Crusaders or Attila the Hun, or even Osama bin Laden who is referred to by some as the modern day Attila to suit their War on Terror, will be of little help in seeking to resolve our own problem, and avoiding a Kosovo-like solution here in the future. It was entirely right that Sri Lanka was among the first countries to reject the UDI by Kosovo, having the courage to stand up to the United States and the more powerful countries of the European Union on an issue that leaves no room for compromise.

Yet, we must take note of the reality of Kosovo today, and how western news casters seek to ridicule Russia, in particular, over its apparent failure to present the Kosovo UDI, despite the very clear opposition to it from the time the idea was mooted by the UN administrators and the Western Powers aka International Community. Russia’s warning of a dangerous precedent is wholly rejected, and the US says that Kosovo is so special it will not be any precedent.

While the battle against terrorism has to be taken to the heartland of terror, it is necessary to think in terms of reconciliation among our own people, and better understanding with our neighbours, especially India, instead of playing cheap politics that may end up in a much bigger crisis for the entire country. Freeing the Tamil people from the yoke of terrorist oppression by the LTTE is of prime importance. At the same time the need to allay their fears that are based on the realities of recent history, and assure them of recognition as equals, will be the most certain departure from the future appeal of separation that can be exploited by interested forces, whether in the South Asian region or outside.

With Sri Lanka already calling for international bids for oil exploration in the Gulf of Mannar region, the world is obviously more aware of the mineral resources of this country, particularly in its territorial waters.

The demand for these resources can only grow sharper, and in such situations, there are forces that will always be ready to trample on the sovereignty of nations in the interest of their own economies or strategic options. If Kosovo serves as an eye opener to Sri Lanka of these dangers, it would be a lesson well learnt.