The LTTE arms purchasing issue

WE are compelled to return to the theme of the obligations cast on the international community in the context of the conflict in Sri Lanka, on account of an observation made by the Government Peace Secretariat that the world community needs to implement a practical mechanism to prevent illegal arms purchases by the LTTE, in its efforts to help work out a political settlement.

The Government Peace Secretariat bases its observation on the conviction that the LTTE uses periods of negotiations to re-arm itself and get back to war. These observations by the Secretariat go to the heart of the difficulties encountered in bringing peace to Sri Lanka.

In fact the problems of decommissioning arms and disarming anti-state entities wedded to violence are widespread in other global hotspots too and impinge very closely on the issue of world peace.

Therefore, the world community would also do well to place the problem of preventing arms buying by the Tigers in the wider context of world disarmament - an issue which the international community has been grappling with from the time the UN was established.

We emphasise this point for the purpose of pinpointing the special duty cast on the global community to ensure that the Tigers do not engage in re-armament under cover of negotiations.

This happened between 2002 and 2004 and should not happen again, if the international community is in earnest when it says that it is supportive of peace in Sri Lanka.

As for the Lankan State, it has made it abundantly clear repeatedly that it is entirely for kickstarting the peace process. Accordingly, some of the essential preconditions for reviving the negotiatory process are in place.

What is left to be done is for the world community to compel the LTTE to grab this chance to negotiate a solution. However, the Tigers have to talk in earnest and refrain from rearming themselves in the course of the talks.

The efforts taken by the Co-Chairs, in particular, to revive the search for a political settlement in Sri Lanka need to be appreciated but they also need to ensure that the Tigers are in earnest this time round and that they refrain from arms procurement.

It is our belief that the problem of continued arms-buying by the LTTE should be considered as a fillip by the world community to freshly address the issue of global disarmament, besides making them gain an insight into the issues bedevilling the Lankan peace effort.

The global arms bazaars are awash with bombs and bullets and this scourge has been growing under the eyes of the world community. If peace is to be a reality in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world, the arms procurement processes by terror groups, such as the LTTE, need to be crippled.

Besides, when the ceasefire is fully enforced, mechanisms need to be in place locally to ensure that the LTTE does not make a mockery of it by replenishing its armoury as usual. This is the challenge facing our Co-Chairs in particular and we hope the issue would be faced squarely.

We also urge a continuous and close rapport between the Co-Chairs, the peace facilitators and the State, to ensure that misunderstandings do not arise in the preparatory phase leading to negotiations. All these parties need to be of one mind, and we hope closer dialogue would bring this about.

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