Improper monitoring helped Tigers to run riot - Prof Wijesinha

Former Peace Secretariat Chief and one time Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry Secretary Prof Rajiva Wijesinha said the lack of proper monitoring allowed the LTTE to run riot benefiting the organization.

“The worst example I came across which I constantly urged our Foreign Ministry to investigate was the US$1 million given to the LTTE by the UNICEF for rehabilitation of former child combatants,” he added.

Prof Wijesinha was giving evidence before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Centre Monday.

He added that the Peace Secretariat provided money to the LTTE and those involved in the negotiation process were interested in monitoring what they were doing with the money.

Prof Wijesinha was of the opinion that the manner in which the government lived up to its commitment regarding resettlement should have led to greater acknowledgement that previous negative pronouncements were misplaced.

“I believe we should do everything in our power to convince Tamils who suffered in the past that the Government is committed to reconciliation,” he said.

He opined that the work being done on rehabilitation also deserve more recognition. Prof Wijesinha stressed the need to be vigilant about the actions and motives of those who engaged in insidious and inaccurate criticism of the country’s forces. He added that the Government could have been more firm from the start with regard to the Ceasefire Agreement.

“We must also ensure for the future that the Government ensures that as the elected representatives of the Sri Lankan people, it makes the decisions albeit with full consultation of all interest parties including members of the international community who are well briefed about the ground situation,” he added.

Human Rights activist Manel Abeysekera said the negligence of Tamil language is the root cause of the conflict.

Speaking before the commission Monday, Abeysekera added that no ethnic group has the right to delimit any area of the country for themselves and every inch of land belongs to all citizens.

“I feel that it is our negligence of Tamil sensitivity that finally led the Tamil youth to take up arms to try to achieve a separate state.”

She was of the opinion that the country’s failure to use Tamil language as an official language without any documents, court procedure, communications and even road signs in Tamil was tantamount to undermining of Tamil human rights. She opined that this caused the aggravation of the conflict and widening of the chasm between officialdom and the main minority – the Tamils.