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The changing nature of conflicts

Our respected local think tank, the Marga Institute, headed by Chairman Emeritus Dr. Godfrey Gunatilleke, has made a comprehensive and insightful assessment of the controversial Darusman Report on Sri Lanka, which, everyone interested in the issues growing out of the last stages of our conflict, ought to read. Titled ‘An Analysis and Evaluation of The Report of the Advisory Panel to the UNSG on the Final Stages of the War in Sri Lanka’, it came out a couple of months or so back and was discussed at a seminar subsequently, which, in turn, proved important in promoting an understanding among sections of the public of the fundamental flaws in the Darusman Report.

An important issue raised by the Marga report is the applicability of the conventional rules of war to extreme and complex armed conflicts presented by the world today. This is indeed a question of the greatest significance. For, it is plain to see that we cannot understand bloody armed rebellions launched against lawfully constituted, democratic states in very simplistic, ‘black and white’ terms any more.

For instance, the view that held over the decades on intra-state conflicts that featured armed non-state actors and states was that the non-state actors were motivated by grievances that have their roots in deprivations of numerous kinds and in socio-economic injustices. These theoretical formulations on anti-state rebellions tended to lend some legitimacy to these armed uprisings and helped in projecting a highly romantic image of the militants concerned.

However, a close study of the armed uprisings in particularly our part of the world over the past 20 or 30 years reveals a starkly different situation to that just mentioned. It could be observed that rather than these uprisings having their roots in widely and keenly felt socio-economic grievances among the people, they were really the outcome of efforts by armed groups to create non-existent grievances among social groups. Thus, a preoccupation of the LTTE over the years was to launch terror attacks against civilian targets in the South and on villages in the North-East with a Sinhala majority, with the aim of forcing the armed forces into retaliating strongly against the LTTE and North-East civilians. It also expected to trigger communalism on a mass scale through these acts of savagery.

The LTTE was finally proved absolutely wrong when Northern citizens in their tens of thousands flocked to state-controlled areas in the North, seeking the succour of the Armed Forces, in the final stages of the humanitarian operation. The sinister ploy of the Tigers to sow the seeds of communal hatred really backfired through this show of faith in the state Forces by the Northern citizenry. However, what is of particular significance from the point of view of our subject today is that the Tigers’ efforts to create mass-scale incendiary grievances among the Northern people came to nothing because the Tamil people did not lose their confidence in the state.

An interesting parallel could be drawn between the LTTE and the Sikh militants of India’s Punjab state of the mid-eighties, who too proved that they were menacingly intent on creating mostly non-existent grievances among the Sikh masses. Punjab was the ‘Bread Bowl’ of India but the extremist terror outfit led by Bhindranwale was intent on breaking Punjab away from the Indian Union because it felt that Punjab was prosperous enough to go it alone. The Punjab blood-letting was essentially a product of the ‘Revolution of Rising Expectations’ and not an outcome of mass oppression.

Both, the LTTE and the Sikh extremists, to take just two examples, spilt innocent blood unconscionable and limitlessly and could in no way claim that they were powered by mass grievances or keenly experienced widespread oppression. However, the states concerned could not stand idly by when these atrocities were thus unleashed and had to reestablish law and order. This was a duty they could not evade. They had to exercise their sovereign right of keeping their countries intact.

It is plain, therefore, that these conflicts could not be viewed through conventional theoretical lenses. Their complex nature calls for new conceptual tools of comprehension. The international community cannot allow itself to be guided by ‘conventional wisdom’ on these questions. The time is ripe to unravel the multi-dimensional realities of today’s conflicts.

China’s peaceful development

The Chinese nation loves peace. From their bitter sufferings from war and poverty in modern times, the Chinese people have learned the value of peace and the pressing need of development. They see that only peace can allow them to live and work in prosperity and contentment and that only development can bring them decent living. Therefore, the central goal of China’s diplomacy is to create a peaceful and stable international environment for its development.

Full Story

Those who die and those who are to die

Death is the great leveller, they say. Just yesterday, by way of jest, I asked a colleague a question: ‘when people die, the sages say, they don’t take anything...is this true?’ Shelly looked at me half-amused and answered in the affirmative. ‘Not even their clothes?’ I asked. ‘I knew something like that was coming,’ she responded with a laugh. Then I went on and on about tattoos, body odours and other add-ons, designed and natural.

Full Story

‘Slum dwellers living standards will be uplifted’

The UPFA will win all Local Government bodies for sure. The UNP hopes that the CMC will always be green. But it is only a myth because the people are wise. They have eyes to see and ears to hear. Today, the people do not vote for the UNP on the basis that their parents used to do so. They think about what is best for the country and vote.

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