‘Military victory followed by forgiveness and peacemaking’
The visit by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Sanchi this
week to inaugurate, with the Prime Minister of Bhutan, the ‘Sanchi
University of Buddhist and Indic Studies’ and for talks with Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi, has been the focus of much
attention in the Indian media. This is mainly due to angry protests in
Tamil Nadu, where the AIADMK and other parties avowedly supportive of
the LTTE and Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka, are making use of this to
benefit their internal political agenda of opposing the UPA government
in New Delhi, and asserting more power for the states and regions in
India.
The situation has been confused by the ill-thought out policies of
AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha. The Deccan
Herald (DC) commented that “while the recent unfortunate attack on
ethnic Lankan Tamil pilgrims to the Velankani shrine was a misfire of
sorts, with protesters not realizing that the Sri Lankans they had
attacked were not Sinhalas but Tamil Christians, more orchestrated
attacks can be expected this week in the run-up to the visit, upping the
embarrassment quotient.”
One sign of this was the first self-immolation in Salem on Monday,
and rabidly anti-Lankan Opposition politician Vaiko’s Marumalarchi DMK’s
threat of black-flag demonstrations when the Sri Lankan President
arrives in Madhya Pradesh, for the Sanchi event.
The DC also stated that: “this recent move against the Sri Lankan
government by the AIADMK-run state government, the Opposition DMK and
Vaiko’s group, with each party attempting to outdo the other in trying
to be more anti-Sri Lankan than the other is in keeping with a worrying
trend India-wide that sees the politics of state and region impinging
on, and in many ways, overwriting and influencing India’s foreign
policy.”
While the manipulation and orchestration of anti-Sri Lankan activity,
focusing on the visit of President Rajapaksa to New Delhi and Sanchi, is
gaining increased news coverage, political commentators are looking at
how far India will be willing to push the issue of the welfare of Sri
Lankan Tamils, as demanded by parties seeking to gain electoral benefit
through it, and how much the Congress Party that feels its hands are
tied on this issue will be ready to give the impression that it is
“abandoning the Sri Lankan Tamils”, which message will “be as good as
handing over a loaded electoral weapon to domestic political opponents,”
as the DC states.
Resettlement and reconciliation
On the visit of President Rajapaksa to India this week, both the
Union Government and the Madhya Pradesh state government have made it
clear they are not ready to give in to the threats of the anti-Rajapaksa
lobbies in the country, particularly in Tamil Nadu. President
Rajapaksa’s meetings with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh have already taken place as scheduled in a
spirit of warmth and cordiality. The Madhya Pradesh government has
stopped the Vaiko-led demonstrators who sought to carry out protests in
that State, at the border between Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Sanchi Stupa |
While critical of the rash and counterproductive policies of
Jayalalithaa and others of the pro-LTTE bandwagon, sections of the
Indian media are also helping to stoke the anti-Sri Lanka feelings, in
the highly emotive issue of the Sri Lanka Tamils, especially in Tamil
Nadu. They use now worn out allegations of the Tamil Nadu fishermen
being regularly attacked by the ‘trigger happy’ Sri Lankan Navy, despite
the Indian Coast Guard and other authorities having contradicted such
propaganda fabrications in the Courts. There is also much concern being
raised about the ‘continued’ presence of the military in the North of
Sri Lanka, presented as a threat to the Tamils there, and allegedly
hampering efforts at resettlement and reconciliation. These media
critics are not very different from the pro-LTTE elements in the UK,
carrying out baseless allegations of Tamil asylum seekers deported from
there, having failed in their bid for asylum.
In the light of such tendentious and misleading comments that keep
alive the anti-Sri Lanka feelings both in parts of India and elsewhere,
it was interesting to read a well researched report in
‘nationalinterest.org’ on what Sri Lanka, has achieved after the defeat
of the LTTE, by two senior researchers at the National Center for the
Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism in the USA. They are
Arie Kruglanskis a distinguished university professor and Michele
Gelfand a distinguished scholar and teacher at the University of
Maryland, College Park.
In a piece titled ‘Learning from Sri Lanka’ they state that since the
defeat of the LTTE, “the ruling authorities have done a remarkable job
forging reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation with the Tamil
minority. This is truly an example of how military victory needs to be
followed up by forgiveness and peacemaking.”
Contrary to the emotion laden falsehoods being spread by Jayalalitha,
and other pro-LTTE groups in Tamil Nadu in their use of Sri Lanka
against New Delhi, and the West based pro-LTTE groups who continue their
barrage against Sri Lanka, to ensure their asylum and refugees status,
Kruglanskis and Gelfand state that, “The Sri Lankan government proceeded
to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure in the LTTE controlled areas of
the island. It constructed a network of new roads, bridges, schools and
hospitals and provided economic and vocational assistance to the
returning IDPs resulting in over 20 percent annual growth in the
Northeastern parts of Sri Lanka.”
Here is the text of their piece ‘Learning from Sri Lanka’, published
on September 19, 2012.
“The world has a lot to learn from Sri Lanka. This island nation,
South of India, was torn by a vicious civil war for 26 years, which
ended in 2009 with a clear victory for Government Forces over the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Since then, the ruling
authorities have done a remarkable job forging reconstruction,
rehabilitation and reconciliation with the Tamil minority. This is truly
an example of how military victory needs to be followed up by
forgiveness and peacemaking.
Without a doubt, the LTTE has been one of the most vicious and
dangerous terrorist organizations ever. It was formidable militarily,
complete with a navy (the Sea Tigers), air force (the Air Tigers) and a
highly developed intelligence capability. The last push against it was
relentless and bloody, claiming significant casualties on both sides.
When the war ended, nearly three hundred thousand displaced Tamil
civilians were left in the government’s care. These were persons who the
LTTE dislocated from their villages and whose land was strewn with
hundreds of thousands of mines (across five thousand square kilometres
of land), making their resettlement impossible. An immense demining
effort took place; now, three years later, only 5,424 internally
displaced persons (IDPs) remain in a temporary welfare village awaiting
their return home on completion of the demining process.
International community
The Sri Lankan government proceeded to rebuild the destroyed
infrastructure in the LTTE controlled areas of the island. It
constructed a network of new roads, bridges, schools and hospitals and
provided economic and vocational assistance to the returning IDP
resulting in over 20 percent annual growth in the Northeastern parts of
Sri Lanka.
Particularly impressive was the government’s treatment of the nearly
twelve thousand LTTE fighters who surrendered to the Sri Lankan Army.
Given the bloodiness of the protracted fight, the heavy casualties
suffered by the military and the murderous track record of the LTTE, the
surrendees feared the worst (our interviews indicate). They were in for
a shocking surprise. President Rajapaksa publicly instructed the army
“to treat them as your children.” Rather than being imprisoned or
punished, a vast majority of the LTTE cadres were put in rehabilitation
centres where they were offered vocational education, artistic
activities, psychological and spiritual counselling. The 549 LTTE child
soldiers were put in a special programme cosponsored with UNICEF and
received psychological counselling and catch-up education.
Systematic empirical research we have carried out with thousands of
detained LTTE fighters yielded encouraging results. Over time, Tamil
attitudes toward the Sinhalese have significantly improved; this seems
attributable to the rehabilitation programmes rather than the mere time
away from the ‘killing fields.’ Of the twelve thousand initial inmates
of the rehab centres, over ten thousand have been released to their
villages, and efforts are being made to reintegrate them into their
communities.
To be sure, the process wasn’t perfect. Unfortunately, as often
happens, numerous civilians (used by the LTTE as human shields) perished
in the final fight. At present, members of the international community,
including the United States, are questioning the intensity of the army’s
onslaught and accuse the Sri Lankan government of Human Rights abuses.
The Sri Lankans, for their part, feel disappointed by what they see as
hypocrisy and betrayal by nations they had considered allies in the
global war on terror.
Tamil Nadu politicians
As academics, we are unwilling to take sides in that debate. We would
like to bear witness, however, to the remarkable reconciliation efforts
by the Sri Lankan government that we saw on several recent visits to
this country in our capacity as terrorism researchers. We held informal
conversations with Tamils and Sinhalese, including members of the Tamil
Diaspora and of the Tamil Nadu community in Southern India. We
interviewed commanders of the Sri Lankan Army and ministers in the Sri
Lankan government. We talked with members of an international NGO
assisting in the reconstruction efforts. Most importantly, we carried
out empirical research with over nine thousand former LTTE members,
visited their rehabilitation centres and interviewed senior former LTTE
fighters released into their villages. All these studies add up to an
impression that what has been happening in the post-2009 years in Sri
Lanka is truly unique.
A great deal remains to be done, hopefully with the full
participation of the international community. The tasks ahead are
challenging, yet there are reasons for optimism. To quote Winston
Churchill: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the
end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The world would do well to pay attention to the case of the Tamils
and the Sinhalese. The United States urges the Pakistani and Afghan
armies to crack down harder on Taliban and other extremists, but does
anyone have a plan for what to do after the war on terror is won? Sri
Lanka does.”
There is no surprise in Tamil Nadu politicians, jockeying for
strength in possible early elections, by using the Sri Lankan Tamil
card. But sections of the Indian media who seem as out of touch with
reality as these opportunist politicians, would benefit by doing their
own empirical research, to be better informed of the Tamil situation in
Sri Lanka, instead of repeating what are fast becoming hackneyed
allegations on a template of misinformation. They have much to learn
from Sri Lanka today. |