Pointing out that the "primary cause of the current violence has
been due to the refusal of the Sri Lankan State to implement key provisions of
the CFA that obligates the State to disarm and dismantle Paramilitary armed
groups in the Northeast of Sri Lanka," the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a
press release issued Monday, urged "that no action be taken which casts the
blame on one side," cautioning that "such a step can irretrievably harm the
legitimate interests of the long-suffering Tamil people," and called upon the
European Union and the International Community for a "more even-handed
approach."
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which consists of 22 Tamil
Members of Parliament of the 23 Tamil Members elected to Parliament from the
Northeast of Sri Lanka, the areas of historical habitation of the Tamil
speaking people, and as the Party that has consistently polled well over 90%
of the Tamil votes cast in the Northeast at consecutive elections, met to
consider the
Resolution that was recently passed in the European Parliament pertaining to
the current situation in Sri Lanka. The TNA wishes to make the following
observations:
The conflict between the Tamil Nation and the Sri Lankan State arose because
of the systematic refusal of the Sri Lankan State to accommodate Tamil
political aspirations to exercise the right to self-determination. All
attempts by the Tamil political leadership according to the democratic
mandates given by the Tamil people to peacefully arrive at reasonable
solutions to evolve a system of government for Sri Lanka that permit the
Tamil people to freely determine their political status and freely pursue
their economic, social and cultural development in the areas of their
historical habitation in the Northeast of Sri Lanka have been consistently,
systematically and unilaterally
denied by the Sri Lankan State for over 55 years.
In turn the Sri Lankan State while pursuing unjust legislative and executive
actions against the Tamil people, adopted violent repressive measures to
further subjugate the Tamil people and deny them any meaningful part in the
governance of the State, particularly in the areas of historical habitation
of the Tamil speaking people that is the Northeast of Sri Lanka.
It is in this backdrop that the Tamil National struggle that started seeking
self-determination through non-violent intra-state territorial nationalism
that in fact explicitly rejected separatism, transformed into separatist
nationalism. Even in the case of the latter, Tamil separatist nationalism
further transformed from a non-violent struggle to an armed struggle. The
TNA wishes to reiterate that the single causative feature that triggered the
evolution of the Tamil National struggle has been the intransigence of the
Sri Lankan State in its refusal to recognise the Tamil People's right to
self-determination and share power on the one hand, and its violent
repression against the initial 30 year non- violent Tamil demands on the
other.
In the current phase of the Tamil National struggle that has lasted over the
last two decades, it is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that has
ascended to becoming the predominant politico-military organization
commanding the support of the Tamil people. The Tamil people are acutely
aware that the current peace process that commenced with the signing of the
Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in
February 2002
arose not as a result of the LTTE being militarily weakened or defeated, but
rather as a result of the Sri Lankan State failing to achieve a military
solution despite strenuously attempting to do so. In fact it is this
reality, coupled with the fact that the LTTE had taken control of
substantial territory that comprised the areas of historical habitation of
the Tamil speaking people in the Northeast of Sri Lanka and had successfully
established a
parallel de-facto State, that compelled the Sri Lankan State to enter
into a CFA.
Consequently, the current peace process is a reflection of the strategic
balance of power that exists between the Sri Lankan State and the LTTE as
reflected by the aforestated ground realities. This includes all the
military formations possessed by the LTTE, including the Sea Tiger naval
wing.
It is in full recognition of this reality and the overwhelming support
enjoyed by the LTTE amongst the Tamil people, both in Sri Lanka and abroad,
that the TNA as a mark of solidarity sought and received a resounding
mandate from the Tamil people at consecutive elections recognizing the LTTE
as the authentic and sole-representatives of the Tamil people at any peace
process. The most recent demonstration of this mandate being the
overwhelming victories enjoyed by the TNA at the recently concluded Local
Government Bodies elections wherever held in the Northeast of Sri Lanka.
The cause of the current crisis in the peace process is the escalating cycle
of violence between the LTTE on the one hand, and the Sri Lankan Armed
Forces and Paramilitary armed groups on the other. This violence has been
characterized by the former head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM)
as a �shadow war�. Whilst Sri Lanka has been gripped by this violence
despite the CFA, this violence has become particularly acute in the past few
months since the new administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed
power in November last year.
The primary cause of the current violence has been due to the refusal of the
Sri Lankan State to implement key provisions of the CFA that obligates the
State to disarm and dismantle Paramilitary armed groups in the Northeast of
Sri Lanka. On the contrary the Sri Lankan State has been supporting and
working with new Paramilitary armed groups in the Northeast of Sri Lanka
that have been involved in targeted killings of LTTE members,
prominent
TNA political leaders including
elected parliamentarians, leaders of Tamil Civil Society,
Tamil humanitarian workers, and
prominent Tamil journalists.
Particularly, in the past few months, as several local and international
observers, including the SLMM have noted with alarm, the Sri Lankan Armed
Forces along with its Paramilitary armed groups have been involved in
extra-judicial killings of Tamil civilians. Further, in retaliation for
attacks on the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces have
carried out
punitive aerial bombardments and indiscriminate shelling from land and
sea of Tamil civilian residential areas, killing and grievously injuring
several Tamil and Muslim civilians, and displacing tens of thousands of
Tamil civilians. Large numbers of such persons have fled across the sea to
India, and in so doing, there have been several casualties.
It was in a very grave situation that the Sri Lankan State and the
LTTE met in Geneva in
February this year
and agreed to the full implementation of the CFA by both parties. The Sri
Lankan State and the LTTE particularly committed themselves to taking all
necessary measures to ensure that there will be no intimidation, acts of
violence, abductions or killings. Further, the LTTE committed itself to
taking all necessary measures to ensure that there will be no acts of
violence against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and the Police. The Sri Lankan
State in turn committed itself to taking all necessary measures in
accordance with the CFA to ensure that no armed group or person other that
the Government Armed Forces will carry arms or conduct armed operations. The
parties also agreed to meet again in Geneva from the 19th to the 21st of
April 2006.
A close look at the events consequent to the agreements reached in Geneva
will clearly show, all hostile acts against the Sri Lankan State Armed
Forces and the Police were brought to an end. However, the Government
delegation no sooner that they returned to Sri Lanka began to behave in a
manner that was disrespectful, and undermined the said agreements. Further
to this, the Government also failed to take any action whatsoever to disarm
and dismantle the functioning of the Paramilitary armed groups. Contrary to
this, the violence and killings by Paramilitary armed groups against the
Tamil civilian population and the LTTE escalated many fold. The fact that
the Paramilitary armed groups worked together with the Sri Lankan State
Armed Forces in all these activities is well known.
There can be no doubt that despite the agreements reached in Geneva, the
unabated violence by the Sri Lankan State Armed Forces and its
Paramilitaries against the LTTE and Tamil civilians, which also included
the
assassination of Mr. V. Vigneswaran, the prominent TNA member who was to
be appointed as a National List Member of Parliament to take the place of
the late
Mr.
Joseph Pararajasingham who was also assassinated by the Sri Lankan State
Paramilitary Forces, is what triggered counter-attacks against the Sri
Lankan State Armed Forces and Paramilitary groups.
As such, recent events more than ever before have demonstrated yet again to
the Tamil people that not only are the Sri Lankan State Armed Forces not
going to be affording any protection to the Tamil people, but more
importantly, the Tamil people in fact need protection from those very same
Sri Lankan State Armed Forces. Therefore there is no doubt in the minds of
the Tamil people that the LTTE's military formations is something that is
directly linked to the Tamil people's need for human security and deterrence
against repressive measures by the Sri Lankan State Armed Forces.
The TNA also points out that though the primary objective of the CFA was the
evolution of a peaceful political solution, the Sri Lankan State has never
demonstrated a genuine commitment to take forward the political process in a
meaningful way. This was amply demonstrated by the deliberate scuttling of
the commencement of negotiations on
the proposals for an ISGA submitted by the LTTE in 2003, and the
abrogation of the agreement between the Sri Lankan State and the LTTE
regarding the
Post-Tsunami operations
Management Structure (P-TOMS).
The Sri Lankan State and leading members in the political
hierarchy in order to fulfill their personal political ambitions have been
more concerned with pacifying Sinhala chauvinism and extremism than with the
achievement of progress in the political process. Such attitudes on the part
of the Sri Lankan State have raised legitimate concerns about the genuine
commitment of the State to peacefully resolve the Tamil question. It is
imperative that the frustration caused to the Tamil people and the LTTE by
such an attitude on the part of the Sri Lankan State is properly understood.
This situation has been exacerbated by
(i) the failure on the part of the Sri Lankan State to
honestly implement the February Geneva agreement,
(ii) the killing of around 200 Tamil civilians in the Northeast since the
February Geneva agreement
(iii) deliberately impeding the LTTE and complicating its efforts to prepare
for the further round of talks.
These actions of the Government clearly demonstrate that
though the Government verbally reiterates the desire to engage in dialogue
with the LTTE, every action of the Government is directed towards thwarting
of such dialogue.
In the above background the TNA urges that no action be
taken which casts the blame on one side. Such a step can irretrievably harm
the legitimate interests of the long-suffering Tamil people. It would also
strengthen the hands of Sinhala chauvinists and extremists who oppose a just
and honourable resolution of the Tamil question. It also provides an
opportunity to the intransigent Sri Lankan State to evade its responsibility
to meaningfully move towards progress in the political process.
The TNA on behalf of the Tamil speaking people appeals to the European Union
and the International Community for a more even-handed approach.
R. SAMPANTHAN M.P.
(Leader of the TNA Parliamentary Group)
MAVAI SENATHIRAJAH M.P. (ITAK General Secretary)
SURESH PREMACHANDRAN M.P. (EPRLF Secretary General)
SELVAM ADAIKALANATHAN M.P. (TELO President)
G. G. PONNAMBALAM M.P.
(ACTC General Secretary)
