Counter Terrorism:
Sri Lanka's Experience
The speech by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama at the Centre for
Asian studies at Cairo University in Egypt, over the weekend.
Sri Lanka as many of you are aware is one of Asia's oldest
functioning democracies. From the time we gained independence in 1948, a
system of Parliamentary democracy has firmly taken root.
Presently elections are held based on a system of proportional
representation that is accommodative of minority communities. Our
electoral tradition is sustained by a vibrant multi-party system.
Elections have been held without interruption since independence and
different political parties that have come to power have striven to
introduce political and economic policies that have demonstrated
sensitivity to the aspirations of our people.
Minister Bogollagama addressing the gathering |
Reflecting the heterogeneous composition of our society, Sri Lanka
has two official languages; Sinhala & Tamil with English serving as the
link language. Our Constitution guarantees freedom to practise a
religion of one's choice among other fundamental freedom.
Through the introduction of the 13th amendment to the Constitution in
1987, we have also evolved from a largely centralised system of
administration to one that has gradually devolved power to the provinces
with a view to involving people in different parts of the country in the
development of their respective areas.
Our government has recently taken a series of steps to fully
implement these provisions on the recommendation of the All Party
Representative Committee (APRC) which was set up by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa. The APRC is currently engaged in consultations with all
political parties to reach a broad consensus on further devolution of
power.
Pluralism
I have attempted to outline broadly Sri Lanka's demonstrated
commitment to democracy and pluralism. This is to put in context the
challenge of terrorism that Sri Lanka is faced with today by the actions
of a ruthless terrorist group called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) that pioneered suicide bombing of civilian targets long
before 9/11.
The LTTE claims to be the sole representative of Sri Lanka's Tamil
community and is engaged in an armed campaign. It is indeed ironic that
the LTTE has killed a significant number of Tamil people most notably
those members of the Tamil community who were committed to the
democratic process.
Professor Jean Elshtain of the University of Chicago in his book
"Just war against terror" states "terrorists are those who kill unarmed
people whom they consider their objective enemies no matter what these
people may or may not have done."
The suicide bomb attack on the Central bus station in Colombo in 1987
which killed over 200 innocent civilians, the bombing of the Central
Bank of Sri Lanka in the heart of our commercial capital, Colombo, in
1996 resulting in the death of over a thousand office workers, the bomb
attack on the sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic in 1998 and the continued
bomb attacks on civilian buses around the country will exemplify the
challenge we are facing from this ruthless terrorist group.
This is besides the assassination of a large number of political
leaders in Sri Lanka including President Premadasa in 1991 and our
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil, in 2005 and also
the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
Michael Walzer in his book "Arguing about War" states that
"terrorism's purpose is to destroy the morale of a nation or a class, to
undercut its solidarity, its method is the random murder of innocent
people". Experts on terrorism have categorized terrorists into two
groups - corrigible and incorrigible terrorists.
However, there is agreement in these circles that the LTTE belongs to
the latter category. I say this because of their indiscriminate
violence, intransigence and the total absence of a realistic political
agenda. They are an entirely militaristic group who seek to achieve
their objectives only through terrorism.
It is widely accepted by scholars who have researched on political
violence that it is only after relative political stability, including
bringing illegitimate violence to heel that social questions can be
addressed meaningfully.
I believe that without a structure of political accountability there
can be no meaningful tackling of the social problems of local
communities. Thus terrorist activity including its denial of the space
for pluralistic politics has to cease in order to implement meaningful
political reforms.
Take for instance recent military operations carried out by the Sri
Lankan security forces in the eastern province which has resulted in the
province being cleared from the clutches of the LTTE.
The eyes of the world must now open and see how the people who lived
in these areas under LTTE control had for over a decade been treated
like slaves; denied the free exercise of their franchise, their children
conscripted as cannon fodder, subjected to cruel forms of taxation and
denied their basic freedoms including the freedom of movement.
Eastern Province
It was Thomas Hobbes who said that "tyranny and oligarchy are not the
names of other forms of government". The liberation of the east by the
security forces has restored to the people their fundamental rights and
freedoms.
Today the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has launched a
massive "Re-awakening of the East Programme" that seeks to rebuild
houses, schools, public buildings, roads and bridges and while creating
employment opportunities by encouraging investment in these areas.
These are people who had long suffered under LTTE tyranny. We are
encouraging foreign investors and international non-governmental
organisations to support the Government's reconstruction and
rehabilitation programme in the east the results have been encouraging.
As yet another step in this process local government elections were
held last month in parts of the eastern province where people had not
exercised their franchise for over 14 yrs.
Nine political parties and twenty-two independent groups fielding 831
candidates. The electoral turnout was around 60% of the 270,471 voters.
The turnout demonstrated the eagerness of the people of the East to
participate in the democratic process.
Through this election Sri Lanka has demonstrated that its government
has the ability to deliver on its promise to restore normalcy in the
areas affected by terrorism.
This is manifest in several ways. Firstly, it is an important
milestone in the government's policy of restoring democratic rights to
the people. Intrinsic in this development is the transition or shift of
faith of some groups who believed intensely in the bullet to being
ardent advocates of the ballot.
Secondly, the concluded elections has set in train plans for the
provincial council hustings that will be held next month in the entirety
of the Eastern Province. This is in keeping with one of the
recommendations of the All Party Representative Committee (APRC).
It is of utmost concern to my government as indeed all governments
that have gone before it that civilians in a small part in the north of
the country continue to live under the terrible clutches of the LTTE.
Such is our concern for them that the government has continued to
supply food, medicine and other essential supplies to these people,
while remaining deeply concerned about their condition in the hands of
terrorists. To us the Tamil people are citizens of Sri Lanka just as
much the Sinhalese, Muslims and other ethnic groups are.
Political issues
There are critics who argue that the Government is pursuing a
military solution to the conflict without first addressing the political
issues. This is far from the truth. I say here and now what I have said
many a time before that the Government remains firmly committed to a
political solution to address the grievances of all communities and the
APRC process is but one manifestation of it.
At the same time the government is fully conscious of the need to
eliminate terrorism in order for the political process to thrive. I have
just outlined to you how the clearance of the LTTE from the east is
transforming the lives of people in the area.
The fruits of this strategy is already evident. The Nagenahira
Navodaya Programme (Reawakening of the East) has restored civil
administration, resettled Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), provided
immediate infrastructure development, encouraged private sector
participation and promotion of industries in this region.
Arrangements for improvement of the law and order situation is also
underway. New police stations are being established while existing
stations are being strengthened to provide a better service to the
community. Plans are afoot to recruit Tamil speaking police officers to
serve the province.
Sri Lanka while addressing the issue of terrorism sustained an
economic growth rate of 7.4% during 2006 - the highest recorded growth
in 30 years. Unemployment declined to 6.5 percent.
We have seen an export growth of around 8 percent and attracted
overseas remittances of over 2 billion US Dollars. Foreign direct
investment in this period was in excess of 600 million US Dollars -
twice the normal annual level - while the country's per capita income
registered US$ 1,355 in 2006.
The momentum in 2007 was equally promising as evidenced by an
economic growth rate of 6.5 per cent during the first three quarters of
that year. Such growth is indeed commendable as it was achieved despite
major challenges such as high international oil prices; terrorist
activity and natural disasters.
This progress has been based on the "Mahinda Chintana" : Vision for a
new Sri Lanka, a 10-year development framework 2006 to 2016.
CFA
When the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) between the Government and the
LTTE was abrogated in January this year, critics of the move envisaged
that all these economic developments would unravel. Subsequent events
have proved otherwise.
Let us be reminded of the reality. First of all with regard to a
ceasefire, the question of confidence and bona fides are of paramount
importance. Unfortunately during the period when the ceasefire was in
operation some of the events that occurred did not inspire a great deal
of public confidence.
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission reports and not those of the
Government showed that there were over 6500 deliberate violations of the
ceasefire agreement by the LTTE as compared with a couple of hundred
infringements by the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
It is now known and accepted on all hands that there were large
quantities of arms that found their way into the hands of the LTTE
during the period of the ceasefire, including aircraft parts.
So the opportunity that presented itself during the ceasefire
agreement was misused by the LTTE in a manner that was gravely
prejudicial to the security of the State and the safety of the general
public.
So that is the memory that is fresh in the minds of the public. And
that is the reality that needed to be taken into account when the
government decided to abrogate the CFA because it had become a mere
piece of paper. These factors need to be recognized by those who
advocate a cessation of hostilities.
A word here on the cessation of hostilities. It has been the
experience of successful peace processes all over the world that the
cessation of hostilities has generally been linked to a peace agreement
providing for a mechanism for the decommissioning of weapons.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland is a very clear
and convincing example of that; you engage in political discussions to
resolve a series of issues. Forming a vital part of such discussions is
one relating to the decommissioning of weapons over a period of time and
under proper supervision.
That element was conspicuously lacking in the ceasefire entered into
in 2002. A study of peace negotiations in the past reveal three key
strategies adopted by the LTTE. First, the demand for concessions on the
ground such as the withdrawal of armed forces from established camps and
access to strategic locations such as the High Security Zones.
Though described by the LTTE as confidence building measures they
were really aimed at giving themselves a strategic advantage over
government forces. The other has been the demand for an interim
administration with wide ranging powers - a ploy to achieve what they
have failed to obtain militarily.
Had such an interim administration been granted the hegemony, both
politically and militarily by the LTTE in the North and the East would
have been an immediate fait accompli. The third strategy evident from
the Thimpu talks in 1985 right down to the Geneva talks of October 2006
is that the LTTE has clearly demonstrated a reluctance to engage in a
meaningful discussion on core political issues.
This brings me to the point that you need two hands to clap. The
Government may remain committed to the hilt but if the LTTE does not
demonstrate a serious commitment to political dialogue and continues to
unleash violence no meaningful headway could be made.
You would thus see that Sri Lanka is faced with a terrorist group
which engages in the indiscriminate slaughter of innocents and is not
interested in the subtleties of diplomacy or in compromise solutions to
political questions.
As Hannah Arendt argues in her book Armed struggles " terrorists have
taken leave of politics". They have embraced what she calls the
"instrumentalities of violence rather than the complexities of
generating political power, to struggle for doable social and political
change".
Commitment
Sri Lanka is reassured however that the international community's
perception of the LTTE has changed in spite of its well oiled propaganda
machine. Today the LTTE stands proscribed as a terrorist organization in
the 27- member European Union, in the United States, in India, and in
Canada.
According to Jane's Intelligence Review - the LTTE has been described
as being second only to Columbia's FARC in its fund-raising and has
claimed that it raises $200-300 million a year for arms procurement. Fen
Osler Hampson in his book 'Nurturing Peace: why peace settlements
succeed or fail' has referred to "self-sustaining patterns of hostility
and violence". Getting parties to the negotiating table and building
momentum towards an agreement is an enormously difficult exercise.
What cripples this exercise is when financial sustainability of an
organization prevents it from exploring other options that may
eventually result in its transformation. The LTTE's ability to raise
funds particularly in the west through extortion, commercial activities
including drug trafficking and credit card fraud etc enables it to
sustain its armed campaign.
I have just elaborated to you in the time available Sri Lanka's
experience in dealing with terrorism. No nation state can effectively
deal with this scourge without receiving the support and cooperation of
the international community.
The terrible events of 9/11 have drawn us together, in a manner never
witnessed before, in dealing with this issue. Of course there is some
way to go before complete unanimity is achieved. The sooner this is
achieved the better it would be for world peace and stability. |