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Chairman Davis, Chairman Chabot and Members of Congress:
First of all, let me thank the Human Rights caucus for inviting me
to apprise you of the ground situation in the island of Sri Lanka,
and particularly the Tamil speaking Northeast of the island, and to
share my thoughts with you. I also would like to take this
opportunity to thank and congratulate Congressman Davis for visiting
the Tsunami affected Tamil areas of the Northeast of Sri Lanka. I am
confident that your visit, which enabled you to see first hand the
devastation and destruction, would be of immense help in planning
and executing relief work. Needless to say, your visit lifted the
spirits of our people during this difficult and unfortunate time,
especially since your visit came at a time when the Sri Lankan
Government was going out of its way to prevent prominent world
leaders from visiting the devastated Tamil Northeast.
The Tamil areas of the Northeast sustained approximately two-thirds
of the total casualties and over 60% of the destruction on the
island. This has created a serious humanitarian crisis for a people
who have suffered immensely during the last two decades of war that
had already destroyed the entire infrastructure and economy of the
region. The little that our people were able to gather for their
livelihood during the ceasefire has now been devastated by Mother
Nature’s fury. It is this backdrop that makes the impact of the
disaster particularly devastating to the Northeast in all respects.
The period when the Tsunami hit the island of Sri Lanka was a
perilous one. The three years of the peace process provided
asymmetrical consequences to the island. Whilst the predominantly
Sinhala South enjoyed the peace dividends, the Tamil areas of the
Northeast, the area most affected by the war, did not enjoy them.
Despite one of the primary objectives of the Ceasefire Agreement
signed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE was to
create conditions of normalcy, three and a half years have lapsed
and normalcy remains a very distant dream for the Tamil areas.
- The withdrawal of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces from private
property of civilians and public buildings as mandated by the
Ceasefire Agreement did not take place. As a result, hundreds of
thousands of civilians who are refugees, and are internally
displaced have been unable to return to their homes.
- The disarming of Paramilitary Forces as mandated by the
Ceasefire Agreement did not take place. On the contrary, the Sri
Lankan Armed Forces have been protecting and promoting new
Paramilitary Forces. This has resulted in killings and grave
incidents that are seriously jeopardizing the Ceasefire
Agreement, which significantly have all occurred in Government
controlled area.
- More than one and a half years have passed since the LTTE
submitted proposals for an
Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) to address the
urgent humanitarian and existential needs of the people of the
Northeast, but the present Government, after coming to power in
April 2004 failed to recommence negotiations from the point at
which the previous Government left office.
While the previous government, in which the Ambassador was also a
member of the negotiating team, agreed to resume the talks on the
basis of the LTTE’s proposals for an Interim Self-Governing
Authority, the present Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga
failed to do so. All the above contributed to the perception that
war was imminent when the Tsunami hit the island.
It should be noted that the ISGA was based on
Art 21(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
states the will of the people shall be the authority of the
government and the international law principle of effectivity.
As you may be aware, the LTTE is governing 70% of the Northeast
with their own police, judiciary, customs, immigration, etc. In the
ISGA, the independence of the Judiciary is recognized, the rule of
law is enshrined, the human rights are guaranteed, the minority
rights are preserved, the role and international and domestic civil
society are ensured, and the separation between the state and the
religion is assured.
Therefore, it was at a time when there seemed very little hope of
the resumption negotiations, and the
Ceasefire Agreement itself was becoming increasingly unstable,
that Mother Nature’s fury struck. Despite the
tremendous human tragedy the Tsunami created, it was hoped that
out of the catastrophe something positive could come. The
International Community correctly recognized that the Tsunami had
created some space for the Government and the LTTE to work together,
that was previously nonexistent, on what should have been an
apolitical, humanitarian response. It was hoped that Nature’s fury
will inspire peace and reconciliation. However, tragically, but not
too surprisingly, the six months following the Tsunami has further
polarized the parties, and further resulted in the deterioration of
the peace process.
When the current additional disaster struck, the LTTE did not delay
– with whatever resources it had – men and material – it put a
mechanism together at the District level working with government
officials, the TRO, UN agencies, INGOs, NGOs, and Members of
Parliament based on the very efficient, tried and tested coping
systems that had evolved during the 25-year war to deal with similar
humanitarian crises, and monitoring the process rigorously. This
mechanism was rooted in the local affected community, and gave them
ownership to the relief and reconstruction process and was based on
the recognition of the link between relief, reconstruction and
sustainable growth.
The Government response to the LTTE’s initiative was to take
advantage of the situation by militarizing and re-centralizing its
control, showing callous disregard to the concept of Conflict
Sensitivity. Further, the Paramilitary activities that targeted
prominent unarmed LTTE political cadres were increased. Mr.
Kausyaln, the head of the LTTE’s Eastern political wing and the
Tsunami Eastern Province coordinator’s assassination in an
army-controlled areas, is but one of many such incidents.
In this backdrop, coupled with past experiences spread out over the
last 50 years, the Tamils were unable to rely on pious
pronouncements made by the government, that there would be a just
and equitable distribution of all international financial and other
assistance in a manner commensurate with the damages suffered by
different areas. The international community also recognized the
legitimate concerns of the Tamils. In view of the above, the
international community proposed that a joint mechanism for the
Northeast be created where the Government and the LTTE work
together, which would contribute to the creation of a conducive
environment for the resumption of the peace process. The result was
the Post-Tsunami
Operations Management Structure or P-TOMS Agreement, which has
the explicit backing of the International Community, including the
US Government.
However, the reaction from the Sinhala polity has been sad and
shocking. The Sinhala nationalists, led by the JVP, a Marxist
radical party, and the JHU, a party of Buddhist monks, vehemently
opposed the signing of the Joint Mechanism – a simple administrative
machinery to handle relief work in 2 Kilometer area from the sea
coast. It brought back the memory in the Tamil psyche, of the
repeated breaking of agreements with the Tamils by consecutive
Sinhala Governments. Despite over 50 years having passed, more than
60,000 people having died in the twenty-year armed conflict and more
than 30,000 people having died as a result of the Tsunami, still the
Sinhala Polity’s refusal to share power with the Tamils, remains
undiminished.
These Sinhala nationalists resorted to the Supreme Court, which
by granting a
preliminary injunction against four salient features of the
P-TOMS agreement effectively made it defunct. It must be seriously
noted that the Sinhala nationalist forces that have been at the
forefront in perpetuating Sinhala hegemony over the Tamils, this
time resorted to petition the Supreme Court, and cited the
Constitution of the Sri Lanka to achieve its goals! And they
succeeded!
I would like to take this opportunity to address the constitution of
Sri Lanka.
The Tamils never participated nor consented to the making of the Sri
Lankan Constitutions. The U.S. Declaration of Independence
states “… Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed.” Every constitution gets
its legitimacy only from the people giving their consent. The Tamils
did not give their consent to the Sri Lankan constitution. They do
not owe their allegiance to the Sri Lankan Constitution. Indeed, the
Sri Lankan constitution, which does not provide a political space
for the Tamils to articulate their grievances and seek redress is
the main cause for the armed conflict. Sovereignty does not reside
in an abstraction called the State, but with the people. The Sinhala
polity’s fidelity to its Constitution is nothing but a naked attempt
to entrench the Sinhala Polity’s hegemony over the Tamils.
Since the last six months, political events in the South have
demonstrated yet again that the Sinhala polity neither has the will
or the power to engage in a collaborative effort with the Tamils,
whether it is to address the urgent needs of the Tsunami victims, or
the larger peace process. Instead of negotiating with the LTTE in
good faith, the Sinhala Polity continues to do its utmost to
undermine and destroy the collective will of the Tamil people. When
this is in fact the state of play, it is quintessential that the
international community recognize that the peace process is based on
the fragile balance of power that should not be altered or tilted in
one way or the other.
The question before the international community is “what next”?
Accordingly, I strongly urge that the International Community face
certain undisputable facts, namely that, there two parallel state
structures in the island of Sri Lanka; One under the writ of the
Government of Sri Lanka, and the other under the writ of the LTTE.
For the immediate task of Post Tsunami recovery, if the Government
of Sri Lanka is unwilling or unable to work with the LTTE governed
Northeast administration, as has been amply demonstrated by events,
then the international community must seek innovative steps to
ensure that the Tsunami victims of the Northeast, including LTTE
governed areas, are not deprived. Accordingly, it is strongly urged
that the US resolve any legal issues that prevent the US government
from directly, equitably and expeditiously providing all forms of
assistance to all parts of the Northeast.
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