Sri Lanka is losing her friends

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema

The stance adopted by President Mahinda Rajapakse's administration against concerns raised by foreign nations has caused much anxiety among the diplomatic community.

Following the gross violations of human rights, suppression of the media and other contributing factors and the government's lethargy in addressing these issues, the international community has more or less isolated Sri Lanka, says a senior Sri Lankan diplomat.

The diplomat however said that all was not lost - Sri Lanka hasn't lost all her friends in the international community. "We have friends in the international community, but we are pushing them aside with our short-sighted acts," he said.

The great danger faced by the country according to him is the lack of a proper foreign policy by the Rajapakse administration.

Isolated

According to him, the country has been pushed into this state of isolation due to the extremist and shortsighted acts of several politicians, government officials and several religious leaders including Buddhist monks.

Sri Lanka is known to be one of the oldest democracies in the world. The country also enjoyed a broad and open foreign policy with international trade to boot, which was appreciated by the international community. Sri Lanka was at one time accepted as a country that adhered to the rule of law, and was governed by politicians committed to the principle of good governance. The country enjoyed full international support then.

Whenever any criticism was leveled against the country, Sri Lankan leaders have accepted them with grace and made efforts to rectify the mistakes made.

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, her identity as a pluralistic nation with liberal socio-economic policies appears to have changed and been replaced by a hostile and sometimes cynical approach. The present administration's attitude towards the international community is causing further isolation for Sri Lanka. It is a risk that a country plagued by a protracted war cannot afford, at a time when the nation is faced with serious concerns - socio, political and economical.

Actions of a few

As noted by another senior diplomat, it is the actions of a select few that has pushed the country to its present state. "The international community cannot dictate terms to us," the government states frequently amidst cheers from a few extremist groups who claim, "we now have a leader with a backbone."

It is unfortunately the country and it's people who finally have to bear the consequences of playing to the gallery, adds the diplomat.

However, the administrations that have governed the country have on different occasions acted in contravention of their own stated country's foreign policies - mainly due to petty political gains sought by individuals.

"Isolating India was wrong. It holds tremendous power within South Asia and its nuclear power has brought India closer to the US and even Europe. Governments have in some instances isolated India when it came to making key decisions," a diplomat said.

"Due to the needs of former President R. Premadasa and the deadly protests carried out by the JVP, the Indian peacekeeping forces were sent back to India. The IPKF left after incurring losses in every front, especially feeling humiliated. After all that, several decades later, we now call for India's support to defeat the LTTE," he said, citing a lack of consistency in foreign policy.

The diplomat noted that the war in the north and east has been entangled with the country's foreign policies to suit the agenda of a few individuals. Not only politicians but also several organisations, state officials, religious leaders and Buddhist monks, sway foreign policy for petty political gain.

Consistency

It is former President Chandrika Kumaratunga ably supported by her Foreign Minister the late Lakshman Kadirgamar that brought about some consistency and took the initiative in obtaining the services of Norway as facilitator of the peace process.

However, instead of rectifying the minor hiccups and pushing the process forward, the JVP and other extremist forces ganged up against Norway and have virtually now destroyed the process.

The UNP, after setting fire to the 2000 draft constitution, which proposed extensive power sharing entered into a cease-fire agreement with the LTTE and once again called upon Norway to facilitate the process.

"Ranil Wickremesinghe when signing the CFA also sidelined India and approached Norway. The present government due to pressure exerted by extremist groups like the JVP and the JHU has sidelined the Norwegians, but expects Norway to respond when the state finally feels like calling them due to international pressure," the diplomat said.

According to him, India now does not wish to get involved in solving the north east conflict, but keeps a close eye on the process. The north east conflict has a huge impact on the South Indian states, which in turn would have an impact on the country's economy as a whole.

Address concerns

The Sri Lankan government according to the diplomat urgently needs to address concerns raised over human rights issues in the country.

"Sri Lanka has ratified the UN Human Rights Treaty and has prevented a UN fact finding mission from entering the country. However, the committee appointed by the President (Mahanama Thilakaratne committee) has named several cases of human rights violations but no action has so far been taken," he said.

Human rights violations have taken place in many countries and even the US has faced allegations of such violations.

When civilised nations face such issues, they take steps to rectify the situation. "Sri Lanka too should follow the same lines and address the issue rather than turn hostile towards the international community," the senior diplomat noted.

Former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera before being ousted from government in February expressed concern on several occasions about the diminishing image of Sri Lanka amongst the international community.

Samaraweera told The Sunday Leader earlier that until about mid last year, the government had a very good rapport with the international community mainly because of the good relations maintained by former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

Results

"As a result, we managed to get the LTTE banned in the EU, which was a major triumph. We got the US government to set up a special unit only to monitor the LTTE. We got the Canadians to ban the LTTE during this period. The Australians and the British also took a very pro-active role to curb fund raising of the LTTE. But when support was forthcoming I told the President and his brothers that along with the support and the banning of the LTTE, there would also be a lot of obligations on the part of the government," he said.

Samaraweera in his capacity as the Foreign Minister had then explained to the President that the government when dealing with the LTTE couldn't resort to the same tactics as a terrorist organisation.

"The argument that was always put forward by sections of the government was that if the LTTE was doing it why can't we. The simple answer is that the Sri Lankan government is not a terrorist organisation. It is part of a civilised group of nations and we have signed many international conventions, which are binding. We used to have a well-established rule of law. The answer given by the present leadership when anyone criticises the government is, 'why don't you say the same thing to the LTTE?'" he said.

Samaraweera last July and August raised concern with the government over the mounting pressure from the international community when five youths were killed in Trincomalee followed by the killing of 17 aid workers in Muttur.

Lost cause

According to Samaraweera, it came to a point that he was unable to find excuses for the government over the deteriorating situation with the international community.

"I met the President in November and I told him that the situation internationally was deteriorating rapidly because many countries are beginning to feel that there was a culture of impunity in Sri Lanka. I told the President, Lalith Weeratunga, Basil Rajapakse and Palitha Kohona that the blame was laid directly at the President's doorstep. The international community, which came to like Rajapakse was now beginning to say that either the President could not control his own army or that he is playing a double game. I said that if we are to take this country away from the impending disaster of international isolation, we should do something immediately to show the Sri Lankan government was seriously addressing the issues," he said.

Unfortunately, Samaraweera's warnings had fallen on deaf ears.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse according to Samaraweera felt that addressing any of these issues would amount to admitting that the government was guilty of human rights violations. "Nothing happened. I wrote a letter to the President after our disastrous visit to India. It really was a disaster and I don't want to go into the details," he said.

Cheated

Samaraweera explained that the Indian government felt cheated.

During that visit, Dr. Rohan Perera who was the legal advisor of the Foreign Ministry and a member of the committee which was asked to draft the proposals to solve the ethnic conflict was asked to give a presentation of the government's devolution proposals to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and other Indian leaders.

Dr. Perera did just that and the Indian leader was pleased with his presentation. However, once he came back to Sri Lanka, he was pulled up by the President for coming up with the proposals.

"You can't deal with the international community with a forked tongue," Samaraweera said.

Battle is won but not the war

The fall of the LTTE base at Thoppigala is said to have ended the hold of the LTTE over the Eastern Province. It is a great achievement by the poor village and urban youths of this country who fought the 'most ruthless band of terrorists in the world,' who were thought to be invincible by many a typewriter strategist and even some military strategists.

Our congratulations to the Army Commander, Lt. General Sarath Fonseka who rose from his death bed to lead his forces. Fonseka had saved the country from peril before, when after the fall of Elephant Pass, he with Lt. General Janaka Perera led a back-to-the wall fight against the LTTE to save a besieged, demoralised force cornered  in the Jaffna peninsula.

But amidst all this euphoria, it has to be said that the 'Battle is won but not the war.' Velupillai Pirapaharan is firmly entrenched in the Wanni jungles with most of his forces intact.

He had suffered similar defeats before but has made comebacks. It will be recalled that the east was cleared of terrorists before, when D.B. Wijetunge was interim president and Ranil Wickremesinghe prime minister. But Chandrika Kumaratunga in her exuberance embraced 'peace' and the LTTE, only to regret her enthusiasm later.

Firmly entrenched

The result was that the LTTE came back to the east and had been firmly entrenched till the latest events. Later the forces of President Chandrika Kumaratunga swept out the LTTE from the Jaffna peninsula along with Pirapaharan but the latter retreated in to the Wanni and remains there with his forces.

The challenge to the government and the armed forces is that having driven out the LTTE from the east, to prevent their return. It will be a tremendously difficult task unless the people in the east who have suffered so much under the LTTE cooperate with the government.

The consensus among military analysts is that the LTTE while resisting the advance of government forces did not commit all its cadres in the region to battle. Knowing the odds they faced, retreated into the Wanni and would be regrouping there.

The Rajapakse government enjoys an advantage this time which previous governments did not have. It has a guerrilla group, led by Karuna, the former military commander of the LTTE, opposing Pirapaharan's LTTE. Part of the success of the armed forces in the recent operations in the east is attributed to this factor.

Preventing infiltration

Karuna who is from the east and has the support of the Eastern Province Tamils could help in preventing infiltration of the LTTE. The government forces by themselves will not be able to hold the east nor develop good relations with the Tamil people and hope for Karuna's support.

But in this instance President Rajapakse's two-stance policy of conducting military operations while proclaiming his commitment for negotiations, comes into conflict with the international community without whose assistance defeat or even control of the LTTE will not be possible. Rajapakse it does appear wants to do the impossible - eat the cake and have it.

Meanwhile will Pirapaharan want to recommence negotiations? Norwegians, the peace facilitators, sent their Ambassador Hans Brattskar on Wednesday to Kilinochchi for talks with the LTTE. Whether the LTTE will want to negotiate now is the question.

Negotiations or not Pirapaharan appears to be having his own plans. The discovery of huge vehicles packed with powerful explosives such as CS-4 that can blow up vast areas indicates his future intentions. So far the government has been lucky in detecting these explosives laden vehicles but the odds are that some of them will unfortunately get through.

Ignoring rules and regulations

Taking control of the east will no doubt be considered manna from heaven by President Rajapakse. For one year, he has been carrying on merrily doing things his way, ignoring rules and regulations of government and financial procedures, forming political coalitions and breaking them, buying over politicians and journalists, and not giving much attention to what the big brothers of the international community say.

But now has come the financial crunch. Inflation is spiralling and the poorest of the poor are finding it difficult even to buy basic foods such as bread. While military victories had kept his popularity going in southern electorates, reports say that it is no longer so. The crowds drawn to UNP rallies are an indication.

Thus the temptation will be there to crown himself as the commander-in-chief of the Thoppigala victory. Chandrika Kumaratunga did so after operation Riviresa which swept the LTTE off the Jaffna peninsula. Defence Minister at that time Anuruddha Ratwatte was promoted Lt. General and declared 'Sapumal Kumaraya' after a legendary Sinhala king.

But all that glory soon evaporated as attempts were made to politicise military victories that led to disasters. At times it appeared that military operations were even timed for particular elections. Questions asked by journalists why the 'Capture of Jaffna' was being celebrated because Jaffna had always been a part of Sri Lanka fell on deaf government ears of that time. Such questions on Thoppigala remain valid. Is there a reason to go into song and dance over driving out a band of terrorists from the hill top of Thoppigala?

The temptation to make political capital out of the blood, tears and dead bodies of poor soldiers should be strongly resisted. 

Ominous days these are

My Darling Ma-hinder,

Dearie all this talk of Thoppigala is making me reminisce about the good ole days on the homestead. There I used to frolic as the resident ayah clutching my left hand in her right palm marking time by drawing imaginary lines in the air with her left index finger chanted piffle about Themis.

Themis if you care to know was the general keeper of the house, human look out post and even in those days in the prime of his youth not endowed with the Keratinous substance in his northern regions. Follically challenged if you like or in a word, bald. Bald as a bally eagle is what he was.

If I remember right, pater would seat him at the far end of the garden where he could keep a sharp watch on the road and alert my immediate ancestor of any abnormal activity. In those days this would mean either that Pottupala from next door was inebriated to a fault or that Lassie Akka had again fallen into the well while sleep walking.

Lassie Akka's nightly perambulations were monitored with great interest by the villagers. Be that as it may if I remember right, my ayah would chant 'Themisge thattai dilisenawa Tokkak annoth pipirenawa.'

In those days life was less politically correct but a good deal more innocent and I would always inquire of my ayah why Themis wouldn't wear a thoppiya so he could protect himself. To which she deftly replied as if she had seen the question coming all along.

'Themisge thoppiya karakenawa

Karakila thoppigalatama yanawa.'

For some reason darling, try as I would, all your propaganda on the fall of Thoppigala couldn't prevent my mind from being transported to this curious fairy tale narrated by my Rosalyn where I imagined a thousand glistening pates in Thoppigala reflecting the sun and producing a blinding light competing heavily with the rock face.

Of this romantic jungle terrain my general factotum had told me much. Of foxes with diarrhoea who curved in and out of the thick trees and rabbits who always got the better of the cunning red one.

If only you had a thousand glistening pates now darling as you get ready to celebrate with fanfare and public funds the fall of this city of rocks and trees. Recall m'dear the place fell before as well during the green party time.

Nothing good ever comes of grabbing land darling. Can't find anybody to maintain the darn place. I find it difficult enough to employ a gardener to potter round on my little patch of green do you think you will be able to muster hundred thousand fellows willing to handle 2500 acres of overgrown bush.

And while you would be blaring hosannas and waving palm leaves and er...no...no...that's from another good book, I mean reading ola leaves and invoking blessings and shouting yourself hoarse from some propaganda stool something else is going to be happening in the still of the night.

The green party and the Mangy fellows will be staring into each others eyes, tying the love knot and scratching away on the dotted line.

And while the milk of human kindness is sloshing about in the bowels of those in the south a large number of Paradisians at the other end of the tether are just that. At the end of their tether.

My nose twitched in delight darling when I saw that you intended to bring back criminal defamation. I had my Cuban in one hand and my Moet and Chandon in the other so I couldn't readily applaud your efforts but let me tell you if he wasn't otherwise occupied the Cuban may have applauded too.

There's nothing like a little slap to induce a little tickle sweetheart and well you know it. You've been with the little woman long enough to know the media is like a woman. Don't ask me what that means but rumour has it, the implications are ominous.

And why not dear. What isn't ominous these days, the spending is voluminous, the economy is ominous and the cabinet papers are anonymous. 

Thoppi and Thoppigala

Myee hell of a hat no, as that 1950s beauty Wendy Van Rinderpest would have said in moments of confused excitement. That Lankglish, if you get what I mean, is a rather poor translation of the more racy Sinhala sayings - thoppi vatila and thoppi daagena, which in themselves mean one who has been put into trouble, and one who has invited trouble.

Though they mean two different situations, the one common factor is trouble.

That is what is so tantalising about the Rajapakse regime. Trouble seems to be second nature to the Rajapakse government, with or without the Chinthana. Still it is a rare sight to run across a powerful cabal that has not only got into trouble because of its apparent errant ways but has actually done so with what appears to be masochistic glee as if determined to self destruct.

The sad part of all this is that it is not pure tragedy. It is not all King Lear despite the rage and anger that seems to emanate from the peak of power like some volcano suddenly coming alive. It has its comic moments. The nation is then faced with a massive tragic-comedy being enacted on the national stage.

Grand celebrations planned

Only the other day I was reading about all the hullabaloo over the capture of Thoppigala and the grand celebrations to be held at Independence Square to hail a great military victory.

As citizens of Sri Lanka we should applaud our soldiers for fighting a war they should not have been fighting at all had our worthy politicians not made a right royal mess of ethnic relations.

Wars, whether between states or within states, are a tragic waste of life - of combatants and civilians. Economists and academics would perhaps call this a waste of human resources.

They lack the emotional make-up of the average Sri Lankan who would no doubt be pleased if terrorism, wherever it comes from and whatever its manifestations, is defeated and exorcised from our land.

But even they would be bemused by this inordinate hurry to 'fix a date' to celebrate a victory even before the victory is achieved.

There might be meaning in fixing a day for an offensive, for trying to liberate your occupied land or somebody else's territory. When the allies named D-Day during World War II, it was the day on which an offensive would be launched at Normandy to rid occupied France of Hitler's forces and start the liberation of occupied Europe from Nazism.

Imagine if the British and their allies named V-Day, later called V-E Day (Victory in Europe) even before victory was achieved and named V-J Day (Victory over Japan) long before the armies of Nippon were defeated in the Pacific!

But in our blessed isle the date and venue for victory celebrations are fixed and important persons invited even before the battle is won.

Army wants tamasha postponed

Then what happens. The army has reportedly asked the committee organising the celebrations to postpone the planned July 19 event because the army chief believes it might take a little more time for his soldiers to evict the Tigers from their lairs in Thoppigala.

There is nothing wrong in preparing to celebrate what the government considers a military victory though there is a need to be cautious about over-zealousness. "Well they seem to be jumping the gun, if I may call it that," observed Puli Pachchathanni, the poet laureate of Pungudavitu when the habitu‚s of Paradise Club discussed the ensuing confusion when we met the other day.

"Some of you might remember how a former Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte, a man who suddenly rose to the rank of a General, also claimed military victory and raised the Sri Lanka national flag in Jaffna suggesting that Jaffna had been cleared of terrorists. That was over 10 years ago. Tigers are still roaming in the Jaffna peninsula while Ratwatte is in hibernation somewhere having fallen faster than Jaffna," reminded Kosala "The Fixer" Kehelmala.

"So what is the moral of your story?" asked Hamid "Fast Cash" Mansoor of Kehelmala.

"The moral my friend is very simple. There is an old English saying not to count the chickens before they are hatched."

"Our government has scored a great victory. Our forces have defeated the terrorists and driven them out of Thoppigala. The east has been freed from the terrorist menace," said Tissa Isakudichchi, secretary to the Ministry of Ali Boru in strong rebuttal.

"That is not the point Tissa. If the east has been finally cleared and Thoppigala has fallen that is great and the nation salutes the heroic soldiers who made this possible, as your minister Dharshana Diratchchalanu would say. But why did your leaders decide as early as June to celebrate a Thoppigala victory and actually fix a date prematurely? That is the question because after all the talk you have had to postpone it," claimed Ravi Ratevedah, former MP for Nadagama.

"Who is the wise guy who scheduled a date when the job was yet to be done? That is what I'd like to know?" came in Kandiah (call me Ken) Vinasapathi of the former Civil Service. "It is one thing to have faith in your security forces. It is another thing to try and force them into reckless action merely to satisfy the political needs of some politicians. Because that is what it amounts to."

Secretary sends invitations

"Well according to news reports the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration sent out letters under his own name to invitees as early as July 4," I said.

"I say Pachoris, that is exactly my point. Why this hurry? As I see it those connected with the government were trying to bury other bad news by celebrating the capture of Thoppigala. In ancient times Roman emperors tried to divert the attention of their suffering people by holding circuses and offering food," said the poet offering a rationale for the local bread and circuses.

"What is the bad news that you are talking of?" asked Dr. Ananda (Andy to foreign NGO types) Ansabage.

"Perhaps I might offer an explanation. This newspaper has carried detailed articles about an alleged pre-election deal struck between the presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapakse or those acting for his benefit and the LTTE to stop the Tamils in the north and east from voting. Normally those votes would have gone to Ranil Wickremesinghe. By depriving the Tamils of their voting rights the LTTE ensured Mahinda's victory," I said.

"No, no I cannot believe this. Mahinda denounced the ceasefire agreement and threatened to smash the Tigers if he wins. How could he have done a deal with them as your newspaper says?" asked Pandu Pusvedilla of the Notorious Peace Committee.

"It is all lies made up by the media," remonstrated the faithful secretary to the Ministry of Ali Boru. "Minister Diratchchalanu will reply to these lies when the time comes."   

A real thoppi

"That is a real thoppi. People are talking of this everywhere and even diplomats are lapping it up like their daily soup. So when do you think Diratchchalanu will say a word or two in denial, Tissa. This year or next year?" Dr. Ansabage goaded the bureaucrat.

"Very soon, very soon, we will put a stop to all this nonsense," said a tormented secretary trying to defend himself.

"Why, what are you going to do to stop us from digging up political dirt?" I asked.

"Criminal defamation," he said. Then Isakudichchi suddenly clamped up tighter than an oyster and hurried to the exit.

Will Bush save his face in Iraq?

To a Third World observer far removed from the scenes in Iraq and developments in Washington, but in close touch with them through press and TV reports, parallels of what happened in Vietnam in the '60s and '70s and what's happening in Iraq now keep coming back.

Deaths of US soldiers are causing immense concern among the American public and their legislators - both Democratic  and Republican.

With mounting pressure on the US President to pull back the troops, despite some degree of optimism expressed by political and military leaders, the American cause seems lost. The local regimes propped up by the Americans then and the Iraqi regime now are at the receiving end of the American ire. The only difference from the Vietnam scenario is that the American campuses are still quiet and not afire. Yet is has to be said that the magnitude of the problem appears to be rather explosive.

The once tough talking President George Bush who confidently went to war against Saddam Hussein  is now on his knees, pleading with US legislators rebelling against his war strategy. The Democrats want the troops pulled back on a fixed time table which Bush is still resisting.

Pleading with Congressmen

He pleaded with Congressmen to hold their fire till September, the deadline for a report called by Congress on the progress that is being made by the Iraqi government.

Early this year Congress passed a bill with 18 targets which the Iraqi government had to keep on political, security and economic reforms. The bill required President Bush to certify that by July 15 and again on September 15 the Iraqi government was progressing towards these benchmarks. If not the bill requires that US aid must be cut.

It has been reported that the Iraqi government had failed to make progress in many refrom goals set by President Bush and Congress. Inability to pass laws considered essential to national cohesion, and major economic recovery are some of the observations made.

US officials have also noted the failure of the Baghdad government to enact legislation governing oil revenue sharing and organising  provincial elections which the US had considered as key measures to quell sectarian violence.

Reduction of troops

Friday's reports said that Bush had urged  the legislators to  wait for the assessment of the US Commander in Iraq, General David Petraneus in September. That would be the final report on the benchmarks, he had said but stood firm on the reduction of troops called for by Congressmen. Troop levels will be decided by commanders on the ground and not by politicians in Washington, Bush had said.

Meanwhile on Friday the United States House of Representatives had voted in favour of pulling most combat troops out of Iraq by April next year.  The legislation calls for the Pentagon to begin withdrawing combat troops within four months.

The vote came despite President George W Bush's threat to veto any timetable.

The surge of troops as demanded by Bush was granted by Congress  and now the effect of the increased number of troops to bring the carnage in Iraq to a halt is being watched very closely by the public and legislators.

What happens if the sectarian violence continues as American casualties too keep mounting? Can America afford to pull out of Iraq as a defeated force as it did in Vietnam?

The fear of pulling out of Vietnam was that it would lead to a domino effect - the rest of the countries of South East Asia too going under communist regimes. Some did go communist others didn't.

But can the US pull out its troops leaving Iraq and the Middle East in the present chaotic state? The world economy itself will be severely threatened if chaos engulfs the entire Middle East and there is no government in control of Iraq.

Congressional plan

The joint Congressional plan drawn up by former US Secretary of State James Baker calls upon regional cooperation of both Iran and Syria to bring about order in Iraq. While US and Iranian diplomats met in May to discuss Iran, as present  US-Iranian relations stand,  Tehran has everything to gain by stirring up the Iranian pot.

What would George Bush do at the tail end of his term with Iran, whose nuclear programme he is determined to stall? Attack the Iranian nuclear plants with missiles? Iran which too has missile capability but with Israel within their range may  feel tempted to carry out its promise of "wiping out Israel from the face of the earth."

 Even though  the consensus in America right now may be to pull  out of Iraq it is likely that it would have to be a prolonged and phased pull out.

This is Paradise