SPECIAL REPORT : Part 368
On the eve of war victory anniversary
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Sri Lanka brought the war to a successful conclusion on the morning of May 19, 12 years ago. The nearly three-year-long combined security forces campaign ended on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon with the elimination of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the undisputed leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The then President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave resolute leadership until the armed forces eradicated the LTTE. The President disregarded intense Western pressure to halt the Vanni offensive, east of the Kandy-Jaffna A 9 road. Western powers made a determined bid to throw a lifeline to the LTTE, in order to save the LTTE-TNA (Tamil National Alliance) alliance. So much so, the British and the French sent their Foreign Ministers, David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner, respectively, to pressure President Rajapaksa. Their combined visit took place in the last week of April, 2009.
The writer was very fortunate to visit the SLN, deployed off Mullaitivu on the northern coast, to prevent the top LTTE leadership fleeing the country. The SLN threw a four-layered cordon, consisting of small boats (Arrows), Inshore Patrol Craft (IPCs), Fast Attack Craft (FACs) and Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) in January 2009. The SLAF, deployed a pair of jets at China Bay, in case of an emergency. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, quite determined to bring the LTTE menace to an end, told the visiting European ministers the offensive wouldn’t be stopped, under any circumstances. The Sri Lankan leader had no qualms in telling British and French Foreign Ministers, so, bluntly. Like a spurned lover, no wonder the West is so hell bent on going after those who made that victory possible against their then oft repeated mantra that Sri Lankan security forces were incapable of defeating the LTTE. This brings us to the question whether the West was throughout supporting the terrorist outfit, though outwardly they were condemning terrorism.
“They’re not willing to do that,” Miliband said in an interview soon after talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “The furthest the government has gone is to commit to no heavy weaponry and to minimize, what they call, collateral damage, mainly damage to civilians,” the media quoted him as having said.
If President Rajapaksa succumbed to Western pressure, the LTTE would have received the much-needed respite to re-group again. Their political arm in Parliament would have pursued the combined strategy. Had the LTTE-TNA coalition survived, the eruption of Covid-19 pandemic would have definitely presented the alliance an opportunity to exploit the situation.
Remember how they took advantage of the Dec 2004 tsunami to push for P-TOMS (Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure) during Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s tenure as the President. The JVP challenged P-TOMS in the Supreme Court. The SC ruled four clauses of the P-TOMS illegal. Among the four clauses, termed illegal, were the ones as regards locating the regional fund headquarters in Kilinochchi and the operations of the regional fund. The JVP asserted that P-TOMS impacted on the country’s sovereignty and dubbed the mechanism as one which would confer legitimacy to a terrorist group.
If the LTTE had been around now, even with a much weaker conventional military capability, the crisis caused by the raging Covid-19 pandemic would have paved the way for the lethal alliance to seek a consensus on a vaccination drive in predominantly Tamil-speaking areas, under some pretext.
Failure of 2006 talks, subsequent developments
The LTTE, always cleverly used opportunities to press for legitimacy. Successive political leaderships, too, played into their hands. Every national election presented the LTTE with a chance to press ahead with its despicable strategy. The 2005 presidential election was not an exception. Even the war-winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa, much to the discomfort of those who had backed his 2005 presidential polls campaign, gave into the LTTE’s demand for talks at overseas venues. Talks took place in Feb and Oct. 2006, in Geneva, under the auspices of the Norwegians, who took us trusting natives for many a ride, like the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British before them. The Norwegians inveigled the peace carrot, regardless of the abortive bids to assassinate the then Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka (April 25, 2006) and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Oct. 01, 2006). If the LTTE achieved its targets, Sri Lanka’s triumph over terrorism wouldn’t have been possible. That is the undeniable truth.
As the country marked the 12th anniversary of triumph over terrorism, today let me remind you the despicable way the previous administration treated the victorious armed forces. The treacherous Oct. 1, 2015 Geneva Resolution, co-sponsored by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, betrayed the military during an extremely difficult situation. Perhaps, it would be pertinent to briefly discuss the high profile arrest of the then Commodore D.K.P. Dassanayake (retired on Feb. 16, 2021) in July 2017 in connection with the wartime disappearance of 11 persons. Dassanayake played a significant role during Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda’s tenure as the Commander of the Navy. Regardless of the absence of credible evidence to link him to the disappearances blamed on the SLN, Dassanayake was called back from the USN Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, California. At the time Dassanayake was called back, he had completed six months of the one and half year-long course.
Wartime Navy spokesperson, Dassanayake served as coordinator of the SLN cordon off of Mullaitivu – Nayaru (January-May 2009) stretch and was present when the writer visited the naval units, in April 2009. The then Commander of the Fast Attack Craft Flotilla Captain Noel Kalubowila (retired over a year ago in the rank of Rear Admiral), too, had been present during the media visit to the ‘naval frontline’. Instead of bringing the case to a successful conclusion, the previous administration played politics. The police as usual quite blatantly cooperated with the diabolical political project. The police had no qualms in falsely naming Dassanayake as Director Naval Operations (DNO). The police also falsely asserted Dassanayake supervised two teams accused of carrying out abductions. Finally, a disappointed Dassanayake retired in Feb. 2021 as the high profile case that had even been taken up in Geneva dragged on.
Dassanayake’s role in Sri Lanka’s seizure of an LTTE ship, in Dec. 2009, at an overseas harbour – seven months after the eradication of the LTTE – is something the country can be proud of. A small SLN team seized ‘Princess Christina’ — said to be one of the largest LTTE arms ships — and brought it to the Colombo harbour.
In spite of the change of government, in Nov. 2019, the armed forces are yet to take tangible measures to set the record straight. There cannot be any dispute over the need to punish those who had engaged in clandestine activity outside legitimate overt and covert operations undertaken by the armed forces and police to eradicate the LTTE. The previous administration’s treachery and the incumbent government’s failure, so far, to address accountability issues properly, is quite contrary to the assurances given in the run-up to the 2019 presidential and 2020 parliamentary polls. The external environment is so bad, that the Commander of the Army and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Shavendra Silva remains blacklisted by the US. America’s bosom allies like Canada and Australia, too, have followed suit in blacklisting our war heroes.
The US imposed travel restrictions on wartime General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the celebrated 58 Division/formerly Task Force 1, in Feb. 2020. The US State Department declared travel restrictions were imposed on General Silva “due to credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights, namely extrajudicial killings, by the 58th Division of the Sri Lanka Army during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009.”
Accountability issues (or, in reality, trumped up charges) should be addressed without further delay. The continuing failure to set the record straight should be closely examined, taking political developments into consideration. A recent exchange between lawmakers, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (Samagi Jana Balavegaya, Gampaha District) and Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Colombo District) emphasized how politics divided the country. Having served the country for over three decades, they accused each other of pursuing personal agendas in this most unfortunate cockfight. Furious accusations and counter allegations, in Parliament, on May 5, when they clashed over the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) denying a suspect in the Easter Sunday attacks, SJB MP and ACMC (All Ceylon Makkal Congress) leader Rishad Bathiudeen, an opportunity to attend Parliament, painted a bleak picture. Weerasekera, who retired having finally served the SLN as its Chief of Staff, accused Fonseka of being part of the Tamil Diaspora project whereas belligerent Fonseka alleged his political opponent of taking advantage of Geneva sessions for personal gain. Their clash underscored Sri Lanka’s pathetic failure to keep the country’s war victory out of politics.
Post-war politics
Fonseka’s unexpected entry into politics, in 2009 with the backing of a UNP-led alliance, weakened the country’s defence against war crimes accusations. By switching his allegiance to the new coalition, that included the LTTE political wing, the TNA, Fonseka undermined the country’s defence and after quite a turbulent political career has ended up with the breakaway UNP faction, the SJB.
Fonseka’s unexpected entry into politics, in 2009 with the backing of a UNP-led alliance, weakened the country’s defence against war crimes accusations. By switching his allegiance to the new coalition, that included the LTTE political wing, the TNA, Fonseka undermined the country’s defence and after quite a turbulent political career has ended up with the breakaway UNP faction, the SJB.Fonseka and Weerasekera clashed over the latter’s assertion that lawmakers arrested in terms of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) shouldn’t be allowed to attend parliamentary proceedings. Weerasekera’s declaration that he couldn’t agree with TNA heavyweight M.A. Sumanthiran, PC’s stand as regards the issue at hand, is understandable. However, can there be a dispute between Fonseka and Weerasekera over the use of PTA in respect of lawmaker Bathiudeen, arrested in connection with the Easter Sunday carnage. Fonseka and Sumanthiran taking a common stand on the issue, at hand, should be examined against the latter publicly justifying the Easter Sunday attacks. Both served the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that investigated the Easter Sunday attacks. The then Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, who had been present when Sumanthiran justified the Easter Sunday attacks a week after the carnage, accommodated him in the PSC. Actually, the former Speaker, now Chairman of the NMSJ (National Movement of Social Justice), owed an explanation why he disregarded Sumanthiran’s declaration when accommodating him on the PSC, chaired by Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri.
Sumanthiran alleged that the Easter Sunday carnage was a result of Sri Lanka’s failure to ensure certain basic values. Sumanthiran warned of dire consequences unless the government addressed the grievances of the minorities. The lawmaker said so at an event, organized by the Sinhala weekly ‘Annidda’ to celebrate its first anniversary at the BMICH. Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, the then Human Rights Commissioner Dr. Deepika Udagama, J.C. Weliamuna, PC and the then Constitutional Council member Attorney-at-Law Javid Yusuf and filmmaker Asoka Handagama dealt with the topic ‘Sri Lanka beyond 2020.’
Except for The Island no other print, or electronic media, bothered at least to report on what Sumanthiran said as the country was still in shock in the aftermath of the slaughter of 270 people. Even the Catholic Church refrained from taking a strong stand on Sumanthiran’s declaration, though the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith condemned the statement when The Island raised the issue at a media briefing at the Archbishop’s House.
Sri Lanka obviously hadn’t been able to come to terms with political realities, even 12 years after the war ended. Canada recently recognized that Sri Lanka subjected the Tamil community to genocide. The unprecedented Canadian move was taken against the backdrop of Geneva adopting an anti-Sri Lanka resolution, with 22 countries voting for, 11 against and 14 skipping the vote.
On May 6, 2021, Ontario became the first jurisdiction in the world to recognize Sri Lanka genocide as a result of Scarborough MPP’s (Member of Provincial Parliament) private bill passed the third reading in that legislature. Let me emphasize it was adopted without a vote, under controversial circumstances, and, subsequently, received the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Elizabeth Dowdeswell’s approval, two days after Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena raised the issue with Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo, David Mckinnon.
The Bill 104 (the Tamil Genocide Education Week Act), allocated seven days each year, May 11 to 18, during which Ontarians “are encouraged to educate themselves about, and to maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides that have occurred in world history.”
On Twitter, Scarborough-Rouge Park MPP Vijay Thanigasalam, a Canadian of Sri Lanka origin, who spearheaded the project, called the passage of his Bill ‘a historic event for the Tamil people in Ontario and across the world.’ The first reading of the Bill took place on April 30, 2019, the Second Reading on May 16, 2019 and the Third Reading on May 06, 2021. It received Lieutenant Governor’s approval on May 12.
But where is the justice for acts of real genocide committed by white settlers against natives of Canada to grab their land and, of course, also in rest of Americas and even Australia?
The Canadian recognition of Sri Lanka genocide underscored the pathetic handling of the accountability issue. In fact, Canada, a member of the Sri Lanka Core Group, in the Geneva process, relentlessly pursued the issue at hand. Wouldn’t it be pertinent to examine what Sri Lanka did during April 2019-May 2021 to reverse the process? It would be a serious mistake, on Sri Lanka’s part, to consider the genocide rap as a project of the Ontario Legislative Assembly instead of a Canadian move. The Canadian move is severely inimical to Sri Lanka. The incumbent government, struggling to cope up with the rampaging Covid-19 pandemic, shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the threatening Canadian move. With major Canadian political parties seeking to win over the large Canadian population of Sri Lankans of Tamil origin, at Sri Lanka’s expense, the Ontario project would further strengthen the Geneva-led campaign meant to weaken Sri Lanka.
Canada-based Dr. Neville Hewage, who had made representations to the Ontario Legislative Assembly, in respect of Bill 104, and was engaged in a campaign against the move throughout this period, says the propaganda project should be thwarted. In response to The Island queries as regards his decision to move the Canadian judiciary against Bill 104, Dr. Hewage said; “I am the Applicant. I submitted a constitutional question in respect of Bill 104 at the Superior Court of Justice. We expect the Superior Court of Justice to take it up within 60 days. But there may be a delay due to COVID-19 restrictions. Facts presented in Bill 104 were completely false. Truth is a Fundamental principle of the Rule of Law. Therefore, it has to be defeated in the best interest for all parties.”
Dr. Hewage stressed that he moved the court as a Canadian Citizen. Declaring he acted as an individual, Dr. Hewage explained how he could much easily navigate the legal process as a Canadian. Asserting the action would represent the interest of all groups opposed to the ongoing harassment of Sri Lanka, Dr. Hewage said some groups, such as Sri Lanka Canadian Action Coalition (SLCAC) would make interventions.
Sri Lanka should carefully examine the Canadian challenge. Those at the helm of current dispensation should realize the impact the Canadian acceptance of the genocide charge could undermine Sri Lanka’s overall defense at the Geneva HRC. Political parties, represented in Parliament, should study Bill 104. The Parliament should take up this matter on behalf of Sri Lanka and make every effort to set the record straight or be ready to face the consequences.
Over 12 years after the conclusion of the war, Sri Lanka remained divided over her finest post-independence achievement, thanks to despicable petty politics practiced here. Perhaps, the whole Geneva process should be examined now against the backdrop of Canadian acceptance of Genocide in Sri Lanka. The Geneva onslaught will take a new turn with the recognition/acceptance of Genocide charge.
