LTTE terror: a retreat on all fronts

This week saw the publication of two important documents that presented to the world the true nature of the LTTE, and the threat it poses to all countries from its continued commitment to violence and practice of terrorism, and the oppression it is causing to the Tamil people of the Vanni.

The first was the presentation titled “Time to Act: The LTTE, its Front Organisations, and the challenge to Europe” made to the EU-US International Seminar on the LTTE organised by Europol, by Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the EU Ravinatha Aryasinha. It is easily the most comprehensive and well documented presentation that showed the LTTE with all its deadly ramifications of terror and the threat it posed to the US, Europe and other countries.

The other was the report by Human Rights Watch on the abuse of civilians by the LTTE in the Vanni, titled: “Trapped and mistreated: LTTE abuses against civilians in the Vanni,” is a telling exposure of what most Human Rights organisations have been almost shutting their eyes to for so long, and comes as an important confirmation of all what the Sri Lankan Government has been saying about the LTTE’s treatment of the Tamil civilians in the North, whose liberators it claims to be.

Both these reports, which will, be discussed later, came as the Sri Lankan Security Forces kept moving forward towards what the foreign media has been gloating over for years as the de facto capital of the LTTE’s separate state of Tamil Eelam, in the midst of continued efforts being made by sections of Tamil Nadu politicians acting in concert with the LTTE’s proxy here, the Tamil National Alliance, to pressure Colombo through New Delhi to pull back its current operations against the LTTE.

New Delhi’s own concerns about the actuality of terrorism, made more real with the attack on Mumbai, ensured that the pro-LTTE pleaders from Tamil Nadu, led by its politically desperate Chief Minister Karunanidhi, and political jokers such a Vaiko and his ilk, did not get the required response from New Delhi. It is obvious that the Tamil Nadu politicians, with material and other links to the LTTE, and manoeuvred by the TNA, are being blind to what terrorism has caused to India, as well as the surge of feeling against “situation as usual” politicians that is evident among the Indian public.

The desperation of the Tamil Nadu - TNA nexus in trying to halt the military operations against the LTTE, especially the fall of Kilinochchi with its symbolic deflation of Prabhakaran’s ego and giving the lie to reports of the LTTE’s boasts of invincibility, so well promoted by sections of the international media, was seen in the political kite that was flown about an imminent visit of Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Colombo. It was reported that the Indian Minister was coming here to urge the Government to call a ceasefire, which has been the call of the LTTE these days. In the event, no such visit materialised, and there were sufficient reports to establish that the talk of such a visit, and such pressure on Sri Lanka was a canard.

It was obvious that those who tried this spin to help the LTTE in its present crisis were lacking in understanding the political priorities in India, post Mumbai. This was best demonstrated in the two Bills to fight terror that were passed in the Lok Sabha last Wednesday.

One was the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill 2008 and the other a Bill to establish a National Investigation Agency to cut across state barriers in the hunt for terrorists and their activities. Both Bills were passed with overwhelming support from the Opposition too, which included the BJP.

With New Delhi expressing its determination to fight terrorism in India, as seen by these two Bills, and other steps it is taking and will take soon, it will be increasingly difficult for the LTTE to manipulate politicians in Tamil Nadu to act openly in its favour. As the Indian establishment takes a very harsh view of any form of support for terror and its agents, not even the liberal flow of cash from the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora, stacked away by the LTTE to pay its pleaders and promoters in Tamil Nadu, would be of much help for the LTTE today.

Tiger fronts

In his presentation to the Europol organised seminar Ambassador Aryasinha said sufficient evidence was available that the operations of front organisations are an integral part of the LTTE, as seen in recent action against the LTTE fronts in the US and Canada,

He said that: “Taking concerted action against such entities who act for, or on behalf of, or at the behest of terrorist organisations, is an obligation countries have voluntarily undertaken under the numerous UN conventions on terrorism. Doing so also casts on countries the obligation to implement these provisions equally, to all terrorist entities across the globe.”

Ambassador Aryasinha observed, this was probably the first time such a wide-ranging international group of experts had chosen to devote an entire two day seminar which focused on the worldwide activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This underlined the seriousness with which the law enforcement and criminal justice communities in these countries are watching developments relating to the activities of the LTTE and its front organisations.

In a detailed analysis of the origins of the LTTE, the trajectory taken by the group in its global operations, he said the actions of LTTE front organisations: the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO); the World Tamil Movement (WTM); the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC); and others, form an integral part of the LTTE overseas infrastructure directed by the LTTE’s international Secretariat in the Vanni. While acknowledging the action taken in the US and Canada to proscribe LTTE front organisations, the TRO and the WTM, respectively, Ambassador Aryasinha said the Government of Sri Lanka regretted that at present sufficient attention was not being paid in Europe to the activities of the LTTE front organisations, despite their activists being arrested and scheduled to stand trial in France, the UK and Italy, and TRO accounts being frozen in the UK and Denmark.

Elaborating on front organisation involvement in fund raising, money laundering, criminality, “Thamil Cholai’ schools, Satellite TV/Radio and internet networks, telephone card business, he said it was vital for the international community, including the EU, to interdict these activities. Furthermore, with respect to engagement in propaganda, glorification of terrorism and martyrdom, The Ambassador said, it was imperative that the EU come to an early determination as to where the right of freedom of expression ends and the European Council’s recently sanctioned regulations to curb terrorist related acts of glorification of terrorism and martyrdom begins. He called for the early EU listing of the TRO and other LTTE front organisations in Europe, greater vigilance, cooperation in intelligence sharing and cooperation in the field of criminal justice.

Emphasising his theme “Time to Act”, Ambassador Aryasinha cautioned that failure to take timely action to curb LTTE and front organisation activity in Europe could have several ramifications: it could render the sacrifices being made on the ground to eradicate terrorism in Sri Lanka wasted and leave open the possibility for the renewal of the conflict; the loss of dominance of control in the Vanni could also result in the LTTE resorting to use greater pressure on the Diaspora to continue funding the organisation which is bound to intensify conflict within the Diaspora with those who opt for peace and reconciliation, further networked and trained as they are, in order to survive, members of the LTTE are also likely to continue to engage in clandestine businesses or engage in criminal activities in their host countries.

The detailed presentation which traced the LTTE from its origins in 1974 when Velupillai Prabhakaran formed the Tamil New Tigers (TNT), at a time many other Tamil youth groups also took to arms, and the developments that followed the Indian intervention in 1987, which saw all other Tamil militant groups give up arms and accept the democratic political mainstream, Ambassador detailed the aims, strategies and tactics of the LTTE, which stubbornly persists with its terrorist tactics demanding a separate ‘Tamil Eelam’ a mono-ethnic state for the Tamils in an area which covers over 28.7% of the landmass and 60% of the coastal belt of the country. From 1987-1990 it fought the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and ever since has engaged with the Sri Lankan Security Forces in armed combat.

LTTE atrocities

Emphasizing that the LTTE’s ruthlessness and violence is largely unparalleled by any other terrorist organisation, which since the inception of its struggle has left behind a trail of atrocities; the presentation detailed the key assassinations and such attempts. It said that most significantly, The LTTE is the only organisation to have assassinated two national leaders in two different countries. In May 1991, the LTTE assassinated Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India and in 1993, assassinated Ranasinghe Premadasa, the President of Sri Lanka. It also made an abortive attempt to take the life of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in December 1999. Besides the killing of Sinhalese and Muslim politicians, the largest segment of the LTTE’s assassinations has been directed against the Tamil community itself, where nearly two generations of moderate Tamil politicians and academics of Sri Lanka including former Opposition Leader

A. Amirthalingam, Tamil intellectual and constitutional expert Dr. Neelan Thiruchelvam, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the Deputy Secretary General of the Government Peace Secretariat Ketheeshwaran Loganathan (who incidentally was a member of the Tamil delegation to the very first round of talks the GOSL had with Tamil militants in Thimpu, Bhutan in 1985), and successive Mayors of Jaffna Ms. Sarojini Yogeswaran and Pon Sivapalan. Their only fault appears to have been the refusal to yield to the tyranny of the LTTE and abandon the democratic path. Today the Tamil community of Sri Lanka has been left bereft of moderate and democratic leaders due to the methodical process of elimination adopted by the LTTE during the past three decades.

This is easily the best documented analysis of the LTTE and the threat it poses to all countries with its commitment to terror, after the report prepared under the late Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, which was presented by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga when she canvassed the support of European leaders against the LTTE’s terrorism, shortly after Prabhakaran’s Martyr’s Day speech in 2000. Our ambassador in Brussels deserves all credit for this detailed and most credible exposure of the LTTE, which will be a formidable counter to the LTTE’s propaganda moves against Sri Lanka in support of a ceasefire to regain it flagging strength today.

Vanni Truths

The report by Human Rights Watch about conditions faced by the Tamils in the Vanni reads like a deliberate response to the LTTE’s backers in Tamil Nadu who are making a hue and cry about their concern for the Tamils in the North of Sri Lanka today. It says the “LTTE is subjecting Tamils in the Vanni to forced recruitment, abusive forced labour, and restrictions on movement that place their lives at risk”.

The 17-page report, detailing how the LTTE is brutally abusing the Tamil population in areas under their control, states: “The LTTE claims to be fighting for the Tamil people, but it is responsible for much of the suffering of civilians in the Vanni......As the LTTE loses ground to advancing Government Forces, their treatment of the very people they say they are fighting for is getting worse.”

The truth of how the LTTE uses the Tamil people as a human shield is well detailed by HRW stating that: “In the face of an ongoing Government military offensive, the LTTE has increased the pressure on the civilian population under its control.

Having long used a coercive pass system to prevent civilians from leaving areas it controls, the LTTE has now completely prohibited movement out of the Vanni, except for some medical emergencies. By refusing to allow displaced persons to leave for Government-held territory, the group has severely restricted their access to essential humanitarian relief. Only about a thousand people have managed to flee the conflict zone since March 2008.

The sufferings of the Tamil people under the jackboot of the LTTE are detailed further: “By refusing to allow people their basic rights to freedom of movement, the LTTE has trapped hundreds of thousands of civilians in a dangerous war zone...Trapped in the LTTE’s iron fist, ordinary Tamils are forcibly recruited as fighters and forced to engage in dangerous labour near the front lines”.

The HRW report, from an organisation that has usually placed the LTTE’s violation of Human Rights as a mere sidebar to its often strong criticisms of the Sri Lankan Government, which have been well countered when necessary, should take much wind off he sails of those who are joining a non-unexpected chorus calling for a cessation of military operations at this stage of the fight against terror in Sri Lanka. Regrettably, this includes Bishops of the Catholic Faith who do not find it difficult to send the same message as the corrupt and opportunist LTTE agents in Tamil Nadu.

Stronger action

Far from such appeasement of the LTTE, there is a strong body of strategic and political opinion building both in Sri Lanka and India of the need for even more firm action to tackle the menace of terror that is posed by the LTTE. With the latest reports of the smuggling of diesel from Tamil Nadu to the LTTE using fishing craft, and the continued activities of TNA politicians espousing separatism in Sri Lanka in South India, there are pressures building up for prompt action by New Delhi against such politicians; for Sri Lanka and India to pay more attention to jointly patrolling of their coastal waters to plug the porous borders between the two countries, and for Sri Lanka to impose a ban on the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, while India enforces its already existing ban with even more rigour. The next week or two may see significant developments in this regard on both sides of the Palk Strait.

All of which shows that what is taking place just now is the retreat by the LTTE on all major fronts — in the military front against Government Forces advancing in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, on the propaganda front especially in Europe, and the on HR front, with the falling out of its what proved to be its strongest allies among the international human rights activist organisations, who were hitherto prepared to turn a squint if not a totally blind eye to all its atrocities in the past, believing its claim to be the liberators and not the oppressors of the Tamils.

RsF - Contemptible

When it comes to interference in Sri Lankan affairs, especially the rights of the Media, there are some foreign organisations that seem to believe they have a divine mandate to pontificate over developments in Sri Lanka. While some of their observation may be deserving of serious study, many can be seen as contemptible interference in Sri Lankan affairs. One such organisation is Reporters sans Frontiers (RsF) based in France, which often comes with strident and non-researched reports about developments here.

The latest is the statement titled “BBC World Service and Sunday Leader newspaper censored” (Dec 12). While I leave it to SLBC or the Media & Information Ministry to respond to RsF’s comments about alleged interference with the BBC’s “Sandesaya” programme, it is necessary to make the strongest response to RsF’s description as “censorship” of the stay order placed on the Sunday Leader mentioning the name of the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa in its reports. Referring to its worries about an increase in direct and indirect censorship in Sri Lanka RsF gets on to questionable punditry in stating that: “one of the country’s most outspoken newspapers, the Sunday Leader, has been forbidden to refer to the President’s brother,” and that “The authorities must accept the free flow of news even when it contradicts what officials are saying and irritates certain politicians.”

In an insidious definition of so-called censorship of the media in Sri Lanka, RsF states: “On December 5, a judge ordered Leader Publications, the publisher of the Sunday Leader, not to print during two weeks any report whatsoever about the President’s brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who personally went to the court to accuse the press group of publishing “slanderous” reports about him. He is demanding 1 billion rupees (7 million euros) in damages.”

It is time for RsF and any other such organisation to know that the temporary stay on any reports about the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was an order made by the District Court from which Rajapaksa sought relief in a matter of what he considers to be serious defamation, and what RsF refers to as “slanderous” -within quotes.

Whatever the merits of the allegedly offending reports and Rajapaksa’s petition, it is well within the powers of Sri Lankan courts to make such orders as they consider fit and necessary in given circumstances, in keeping with the facts presented in court; this can and should in no way be considered as censorship by the state, whether done covertly or overtly. Such relief is a right enjoyed by every citizen in a democracy, - Sri Lanka and France included. It is not only improper, but wholly contemptible of RsF which claims to be a media watchdog, to even remotely consider such a judicial order as being an act of censorship.

Criticism of developments in Sri Lanka is not unwelcome, but it must be based on fact and an understanding of the actualities of this society, including its legal system and judiciary.

RsF cannot arrogate to itself the right of behaviour of a wild ass in matters relating to the judiciary of Sri Lanka, and the inalienable rights of its citizens to obtain redress from the Court for what one may consider libel or defamation. RsF appears to be imputing motives to the court when it refers to “indirect censorship”, relating to the temporary injunction issued.

One is aware that imputing motives to a court on its findings or orders could amount to an act of contempt of court. I hope there is judicial notice taken of this citizen’s observation.