News Watch, 18 December 2005

"It is important that the SLMM maintains an even handed approach and its findings are not arbitrary but made on reasonable grounds. The SLMM should not succumb to  pressure by the Sri Lanka government and rush to conclusions which cannot be supported by reason. A failure to adopt an even handed approach will threaten the credibility of the SLMM itself and in that way jeopardise the Peace Process which the SLMM is at pains to safeguard."

Fact:

A Sri Lanka Army  Helicopter on its way to pick up Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver from Arumugam Bay in Amparai district (in the East of the island of Sri Lanka) was hit by two bullets on 14 December 2005. The Russian-built MI-17 helicopter suffered minor damage but returned to Amparai town safely.

Finding by Norwegian led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
(SLMM): (BBC Report, 17 December 2005)

"As the small arms fire against the helicopter originated from an area controlled by LTTE, the LTTE must bear the responsibility for the incident". Firing upon the unarmed Sri Lankan air force helicopter "is ruled as a gross violation" of the ceasefire..."

Denial by LTTE Political Wing Leader,
Mr.Thamilchelven: (Tamilnet Report, 17 December 2005)

"...The attack Wednesday on a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter enroute to transport a senior Italian diplomat was stage managed to spoil relations between Italy and the LTTE. In the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Italy was one of the first countries to rush desperately needed aid to the Tamil people in Vanni. Italy had also been strongly supportive of the peace process in Sri Lanka. Elements in Sri Lanka’s armed forces intent on alienating the LTTE from the Italian government have stage managed this incident. The Colombo government has deliberately blown the incident into a major issue in which the LTTE was held responsible."

Tsunami Background:

Caroline Gammell  reporting from Colombo in Scotsman 8 January 2005

"The Sri Lankan airforce has confiscated two planes donated by the Italian government which can land on sea or ground and were brought in to deliver aid to the most remote areas. Each aircraft can carry six tonnes and were welcomed by relief workers last week. But now they are being held by the air force and are lying idle at the domestic airport in Ratmallan, Colombo.... “They say they want to check that the aid is not going to any Tamil organisation. The stuff (to be loaded on to the planes) was actually from the UN, it was completely legitimate and this is the air force’s way of keeping control.”

Sinhala owned Sri Lanka Sunday Times on Kofi Annan's Failure to Visit Tamil Areas - An Agenda within an Agenda, 16 January 2005 

".. The Italian government has already justified giving direct aid to the LTTE areas. UN agency chiefs have meanwhile made it a practice to visit the Tiger den and sup with the rebels while engaging their officers in these areas.."

Sri Lanka's Dirty Tricks Campaign
(Tamilnet Report, 12 December 2005)

Two paramilitary cadres who surrendered to the LTTE in Amparai  revealed that Sri Lankan Government Ministers A L M Athaullah, Douglas Devananda and Maithripala Sirisena are complicit in helping paramilitaries operating in the east. The cadres also said that the paramilitaries were involved in violence against Muslims to create dissension between Tamil and Muslim communities.

Comment by News Watch

In the light of the direct aid given by the Italian Government to the LTTE areas and the action of the Sri Lanka air force in confiscating two planes donated by the Italian government in January 2005, the SLMM may want to ask the question whether it was  Sri Lanka or the LTTE which had the motive for the attack on the helicopter.

Additionally, given the dirty tricks campaign being carried out by Sri Lanka sponsored para military groups in the East, the SLMM may want to consider whether the circumstance that  'the small arms fire against the helicopter originated from an area controlled by LTTE' provides sufficient ground to conclude that the LTTE should be held responsible.

Finally, the SLMM may want to ask itself whether it  has applied the same standard for culpability  in the case of cease fire violations in Sri Lanka controlled areas, for example the killing in February 2005, of Mr.Kausalyan, the LTTE political leader and coordinator for Tsunami relief work in the Eastern part of the island of Sri Lanka and Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru, former Member of Parliament and founder of the Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR). On that occasion, the SLMM stated

"SLMM monitors are currently making inquiries into all the incidents. However, it is important to underline that the SLMM is tasked to monitor and assist the Parties in implementing the Ceasefire Agreement. SLMM is not here to conduct police investigations. Such work falls outside of our mandate, which is spelled out in the CFA. We, thus, encourage and sincerely hope that the Police will be able to shed light and bring the perpetrators to justice."

On that occasion, the SLMM  concluded that simply because the killings had taken place in 'an area controlled by Sri Lanka'  Sri Lanka should not be held responsible - and that though the SLMM monitors were 'making inquiries' the SLMM was "not here to conduct police investigations". It may have been understandable, if in relation to the helicopter damaged by a couple of bullet holes, the SLMM had responded in a similar vein (and encouraged the Tamil Eelam Police in LTTE controlled areas to 'shed light and bring the perpetrators to justice') and refrained from attributing culpability simply on the ground that the incident occurred within an area controlled by the LTTE.

It is important that the SLMM maintains an even handed approach and its findings are not arbitrary but made on reasonable grounds. The SLMM should not succumb to  pressure by the Sri Lanka government and rush to conclusions which cannot be supported by reason. A failure to adopt an even handed approach will threaten the credibility of the SLMM itself and in that way jeopardise the Peace Process which the SLMM is at pains to safeguard.