A submission in defence of the President :

The doctrine of Military Necessity during internal armed conflicts

Dr Telli. C. Rajaratnam

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The duly elected Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces had to take affirmative action to destroy terrorism. He was morally and legally bound to protect his subjects from all forms of terror.

Continued from last Friday (27)

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Due to our internal conflicts which we could have long resolved, external forces with vested interests have all sought to intervene some in the pretext of resolving the conflict but our experience has proved that the gap of resolution of conflict does not seem to be narrower now.

The US State department reports have repeatedly reported about the paramilitary forces which are the Tamil militant groups who have been pampered by successive governments to have arms and in addition are provided State security because their militant organizations are registered as political parties. The survivals of these parties are by extortion, abduction and hired assassinations. Some of these Tamil Leaders are wanted Criminals in India however they hold office regardless of the Rule of Law.

Human rights

Those who finance terror, those who launder their money, and those that cover their tracks are every bit as guilty as the fanatic who commits the final act.

We look for diplomacy. But there is no diplomacy with some of those opposed to us. We do not consider them opponents but they oppose every conceivable move we make to develop the country.

Sometimes, there is no compromise with such people, no meeting of minds - no point of understanding - so we would have a just choice - defeat it or be defeated by it. This is where there was a necessity for military intervention. We learnt that however much we strive for peace, we need a strong defence capability where a peaceful approach fails. Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are far greater.

Laws will have to be changed not to deny the basic liberties but to prevent their abuse and protect the most basic liberty of all; freedom from terror. The people are terrorized by certain vested interests in their vile pursuits for power committing crimes and targeting a reflex scenario as if the government was responsible.

Tamil diaspora

Lakshman Kadirgamar is remembered to have said “A criminal organization - whether involved in rebellion against a State or not - must depend for its sustenance outside the law. For its massive operations and massive weaponry, massive collections of funds are continually required.

“As funds available for criminal activities within a State, especially a developing State, are Inevitably small, and the monitoring of their collection and disbursement relatively simple, fund collection for such activities is carried out abroad - through international criminal networks, of course - and also, as in all criminal enterprises, through knowing or unknowing front organizations or other entities that now proliferate in many forms, in many countries - often in the guise, sadly, of charitable groups or groups ostensibly concerned with human rights, ethnic, cultural or social matters.....

The many disparate forces for international terrorism do not come together in one monolithic whole. They are variously interconnected in numerous ways and their international networks are extensive.

They are mutually supportive and communicate through the global underworld of crime when special missions are afoot. If international terrorism is to be ever removed from our midst, we must begin with the recognition that international terrorism is a form of global criminality. We must not let ourselves be deceived by the artfully crafted cloaks of false pretensions. It is the method of terrorism as in the murder of innocent civilians and the defiance of the sanctity of life - that defines terrorism.”

We must work as a community to ensure that everyone not just a privileged few get the collective ability to further the individual’s interests. Terrorism of any sort should be abolished and No one should be above the law. All Tamil militants should be tried for their crimes against humanity.

UN

The Tamil militants’ parties can survive only if there is conflict with the legitimately elected government and the International community so they contribute through their agents overseas to discredit the government while holding office in the government.

We should therefore not be surprised that allegations of civilian casualty in the present times generates from certain corporate interests involved in international trade and terrorism.

One of the magnificent achievements of the UN, in the last half-century, has been the transformation that has taken place in global opinion on the relationship that should obtain between the governing and the governed, between the government and the citizen.

It was on the basis of the moral authority of the General Assembly’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the determined endeavours of the Commission on Human Rights, that this transformation was achieved. To be continued

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