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Towards a Just Peace or Just a Peace
Offensive?
November 1994
Background…
The Sri Lanka government delegation led by Prime
Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga's Secretary, Mr.Kumarasiri
Balapatabendi arrived in Jaffna on 12 October 1994 for
talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The other members of the four member Government
delegation were Mr.Lionel Fernando, one time Jaffna
Government Agent, Mr. Navin Gooneratne and Mr.Rajan
Asirvatham. None of them were Sri Lanka Ministers or
members of the Sri Lanka Parliament.
The LTTE delegation to the talks was led by Mr. K.
Karikalan, Deputy Head of the Political Section of the
Liberation Tigers. The LTTE delegation included
Mr.S.Elamparuthy, Political Organiser, Jaffna District,
Mr.A.Ravi, Head of the Department of Economic Research
and Development and Mr.S. Dominique, Head of the
Department of Public Administration.
Mr.Karikalan told a press briefing after the first
round of talks that the LTTE would participate in the
talks with an 'open mind'. He said that this was the
message of Tamil Eelam leader, Velupillai Pirabaharan and
added that the LTTE was prepared to go on with the talks
even without a ceasefire.
A Reuter report added that officials in Colombo have
indicated that the Sri Lanka government delegation for
the second round of talks may not be the same as those
who went for the first round.
And elements of
diplomacy…
Sardar K.M.Pannikar, Indian Ambassador to China
from 1948 to 1952, and later Vice Chancellor, Mysore
University, wrote in Principles and Practice of Diplomacy
in 1956:
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''The public habit of judging the relations
between states from what appears in the papers
adds to the confusion. It must be remembered that
in international affairs things are not often
what they seem to be. ..
A communique which speaks of complete
agreement may only mean an agreement to differ.
Behind a smokescreen of hostile propaganda
diplomatic moves may be taking place indicating a
better understanding of each other's position.
...''
''Foreign Ministers and diplomats presumably
understand the permanent interests of their
country.. But no one can foresee clearly the
effects of even very simple facts as they pertain
to the future.
The Rajah of Cochin who in his resentment
against the Zamorin permitted the Portuguese to
establish a trading station in his territories
could not foresee that thereby he had introduced
into India something which was to alter the
course of history.
Nor could the German authorities, who, in
their anxiety to create confusion and chaos in
Russia, permitted a sealed train to take Lenin
and his associates across German territory, have
foreseen what forces they were unleashing. To
them the necessity of the moment was an utter
breakdown of Russian resistance and to send Lenin
there seemed a superior act of wisdom...''
''Sri Krishna, when he was being requested by
Yudhistra to go as a special envoy to the Court
of the Kauravas, was asked by Draupadi what his
purpose was in undertaking so hopeless a mission.
He replied,
'I shall go the Kaurava Court to present your
case in the best light; to try and get them to
accept your demands, and if my efforts fail and
war becomes inevitable we shall show the world
how we are right and they are wrong so that the
world may not misjudge between us.'
All the secrets of diplomacy are contained
in this statement of Sri Krishna...
'If my persuasion fails', said Krishna, I
shall proclaim to the world your innocence and
their crime. I shall make the world understand
that you are fighting only for your
rights'...
There are but few cases in history where
both the parties to a conflict do not claim to
have been forced into a defensive war.Whether the
world accepts such a claim depends entirely on
the success or failure of diplomacy.
In the case of the Pandavas, Sri Krishna's
diplomacy was supremely successful even to the
extent of causing dissensions among the Kaurava
generals...''
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The desire to tell
the Tamil people that sunshine had moved into their lives
may be understandable…
Sri Lanka helicopters which rained down bombs on the
Tamil people have now taken to dropping leaflets. It
appears that some of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's
advisers believe that where bombs failed to quell Tamil
resistance, leaflets may succeed in advancing the peace
process.
In the days before the Sri Lanka government
delegation's visit to Jaffna for the first round of talks
on October 14, tens of thousands of leaflets, in English
and Tamil, were dropped by Sri Lanka army helicopters all
over the peninsula. The leaflets proclaimed that
'sunshine had moved into the lives of the Tamil people''
in the form of 28 items that had been taken out of the
banned list, including foreign soaps, audio cassettes and
medicine.
The leaflet ended by giving some seemingly
'altruistic' advice to the Tamil people: 'However dear
brothers and sisters, we must not forget that if peace
negotiations fail to take place or take place and then
fails, it is you who would suffer most. So what you have
to do is to prevail upon the LTTE to keep negotiating
with the government, until peace is achieved soon.'
The desire of some of President Chandrika
Kumaratunga's advisers to tell the Tamil people that
sunshine had moved into their lives in the form of
foreign soaps, audio cassettes and medicine may be
understandable. But many Tamils may well have wondered at
the veiled threat that it was they who would suffer most
if negotiations break down. After all it was not as if
the war had not taken its toll of Sinhala lives and of
the Sinhala economy. Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga
herself told the Sinhala people during her Presidential
TV campaign speech in early November:
''To continue the military effort much longer we
require thousands of more soldiers. Would you agree to
compulsory conscription of all youths - I repeat - of
all youths irrespective of who their parents are over
the age of 18 years as is the practise in all war torn
countries? How do you propose to find sufficient funds
for the crying developmental needs of the nation while
the country's income is massively poured out
incessantly into the war effort?''
The veiled threat may have even led Tamils in the
peninsula to reflect that though 'gift' horses should not
be looked in the mouth, there may be a need to be wary of
Greeks when they come bearing gifts. In October 1987, the
IPKF too resorted to the tactic of dropping thousands of
leaflets, telling the Tamil people about the goodwill
mission on which they had come. Future events will reveal
the extent of RAW's influence within President Chandrika
Kumaratunga's circle of advisers.
Some of President Kumaratunga's advisers seem to
believe that the peace process will be advanced by
separating the Tamil people from the Liberation
Tigers…
Meanwhile, it seems that some, at least, of President
Chandrika Kumaratunga's current advisers believe that the
peace process will be advanced by efforts to separate the
Tamil people from the Liberation Tigers. Deputy Defence
Minister Anuraddha Ratwatte speaking to the Sinhala Sri
Lanka Army at Palaly camp in Jaffna during the week
ending 9 September declared:
'' There are many (Tamils) who do not want this war.
Such people must be encouraged. That's why we decided
to partially lift the embargo. '' (Report in Sinhala
owned Sri Lanka Sunday Island, 11 September 1994)
Two weeks later, Deputy Defence Minister, Anuraddha
Ratwatte, added, with unconscious humour:
''We have much esteem for those (Quisling) Tamil
militants who have joined the mainstream. We must
encourage the LTTE also to do the same.'' (Sinhala
owned Sri Lanka Sunday Island, 18 September 1994)
The Defence Correspondent of the Sinhala owned Sri
Lanka Sunday Times writing on 13 November 1994, after
Chandrika Kumaratunga's victory in the Presidential
polls, was somewhat more explicit:
''What are the options Ms.Kumaratunga has of dealing
with the LTTE insurgency? Essentially, she will be
forced to negotiate with the LTTE as that is the only
way she could govern Sri Lanka. She should adopt a
multipronged approach. As proposed by security
specialists, she should continue to negotiate but keep
the pressure on the LTTE by pressurizing the army to
walk into Jaffna."
"She should restructure the armed forces with more
innovative and daring men replacing those who stick to
the conventional rules of fighting an unconventional
enemy. She should empower the north-eastern Tamils
through a series of constitutional reforms that will
weaken popular Tamil support for the LTTE. The
strongest card the leader can use is the India factor -
the fact that India will bring Pirabaharan to trial for
the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.''
Further, RTF writing his Security Report in the Sri
Lanka State Controlled Sunday Observer on 13 November
1993 was at pains to emphasise the 'consultative' role of
the armed services and the importance of the new
President maintaining close links with them:
''Analysts feel that the ascent to the Presidency by
Mrs.Chandrika Kumaratunga, who consulted the security
forces personnel before lifting the embargo on some of
the items not being sent to the North, would create a
better working atmosphere for the forces if she was to
maintain a close link with them.''
The peace process
is simply a continuation of war by other means, with the
objective remaining the same - the annihilation of the
LTTE…
It appears therefore that to some of President
Chandrika Kumaratunga's advisers, the peace process is
simply a continuation of war by other means, with the
objective remaining the same - the annihilation of the
LTTE. Their blinkered vision prevents them from seeing
that the Liberation Tigers are not separate from the
Tamil people. They refuse to understand that, in fact,
the Liberation Tigers simply embody the determined spirit
of Tamil resistance to decades of oppressive Sinhala
rule. They refuse to understand the political reality
that Sunmantra Bose spelt out in the Lanka Guardian of 15
October 1994:
''The Tigers have proved to be an extraordinarily
formidable and resilient organisation over the past
decade. Today they control some 85% of the north ....
where they have established a de facto state with its
own police force, judiciary, taxation structure,
education department, transportation system and
information and broadcasting networks. They have also
consolidated significant popular legitimacy by
aggressively opposing various social ills and
inequities, such as caste oppression and the
subordination of women...
…effective Tamil opposition to the LTTE
remains almost non existent... also, because a sorry
record of criminality, 'collaboration' and opportunism
has debased the anti LTTE groups in the eyes of the
Tamil population. As an Indian Peace Keeping General
found in Jaffna 'Eelam has taken firm root as an idea
and the LTTE was firmly established in the
consciousness of the Tamils.. (as their) sole saviour,
fighter, hero and representative.''
Peace, like
everything else, comes in different sizes and
shapes…but what does justice mean?
Peace, like everything else, comes in different sizes
and shapes. There is the peace of the graveyard and the
peace of servile surrender. There is the peace of
appeasement and peace with honour. There is also lasting
peace - lasting because it is just. But what does justice
mean? An empty platitude devoid of meaning? A meaningless
cliche meaning anything and everything? A useful weapon
in the politician's armoury of rhetoric? High sounding
morality which serves to cloak the pursuit of mean
political advantage?
What does justice mean ?
Was it just that in 1956 the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike
government passed the Sinhala only law?
Was it just that the then Sinhala leader of the
Opposition, J.R.Jayawardene should have campaigned
against the 1957 Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact which
had made provision for one regional council for the
north-east?
Was it just that he should have declared that 'the
time had come for the whole Sinhala race to fight
without giving any quarter to save their
birthright'?
Was it just that Prime Minister S.W.R.D.
Bandaranaike subsequently abrogated an agreement that
he had solemnly entered into with the Tamil leader,
Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayagam?
Was it just that in
1958, peaceful Tamil protest at these actions of a
Sinhala dominated government was met with physical
assault, rape and killings of hundreds of Tamils
?
Was it just that in 1958, peaceful Tamil protest at
these actions of a Sinhala dominated government was met
with physical
assault, rape and killings of hundreds of Tamils by
Sinhala goondas often led by Sinhala politicians,
so much so that Tarzie Vittachi was impelled to write:
'What are we left with.. a nation in ruins and a
momentous question: Have the Sinhalese and Tamils
reached the parting of ways'?
Was it just that in 1961, the government of
Mrs.Srimavo Bandarainaike crushed a peaceful
Satyagraha campaign by sending the Sinhala army to
Jaffna?
Was it just that the then Sinhala leader of the
Opposition, Mrs.Srimavo Bandaranaike campaigned against
the
Dudley Senanayake-Chelvanayagam Agreement of 1965
which provided that land grants in the north-east
should be made firstly to the local landless?
Was it just that the Dudley Senanayake government
reneged on the Dudley Senanayake-Chelvanayagam
Agreement of 1965 and scuttled the District Councils
Bill which sought to devolve some minimal powers to
district authorities?
Was it just that
the coalition government led by Mrs.Srimavo Bandaranaike
rejected the proposals for federalism submitted by the
Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi leader, Mr.S.J.V.Chevanayagam
in 1971?…
Was it just that the coalition government led by
Mrs.Srimavo Bandaranaike rejected the proposals for
federalism submitted by the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi
leader, Mr.S.J.V.Chevanayagam to the Constituent
Assembly in 1971?
Was it just that the new 1972 Republican
Constitution should change the name of the country
to (Sinhala) Sri Lanka, declare Buddhism as the state
religion, and do away with the safeguards for
minorities enshrined in section 29 of the Soulbury
Constitution?
Was it just for the Srimavo Bandaranaike government
to introduce 'standardisation' of
admissions to Universities in 1972?
Was it just that the armed resistance of the Tamil
people against decades of oppressive rule was met with
the 1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act - an Act which was
described by the International Commission of Jurists
(British Section) as an 'ugly blot on the statute
book' of any civilised country?
Was it just that a genocidal attack
was launched on the Tamil people in 1983? Was it
just that no impartial inquiry was ever held to
identify and punish those who were responsible for the
careful planning and implementation of this
genocide?
Was it just to
impose on the Tamil people the 1987 Indo Sri Lanka
Accord, entered into behind their backs?…
Was it just to impose on the Tamil people the
1987 Indo
Sri Lanka Accord, entered into behind their
backs?
Was it just to impose on the Tamil people in
1989 Provincial Councils with a Sinhala Governor
and without control of planning, without control of the
provincial budget, without control of police and public
order within the province, without control of
disposition of state land within the province, without
control of higher education and whose remaining meagre
legislative powers are subject to the over riding will
of the Central Parliament?
Was it just for the Moonesinghe Select Committee in
1993 to offer 'federalism' with 'a nod and a wink',
within the confines of an unitary state and to devolve
on the North-East the same powers as the seven Sinhala
dominated provinces in the rest of the island -
provinces that had at no time struggled for autonomy
leave alone self determination?
Was it just for the Moonesinghe Select Committee in
1993 to deny the existence of the Tamil homeland in the
North-East?
If all this was
just, then justice would be an empty platitude devoid of
meaning…
If all this was just, then justice would be an empty
platitude devoid of meaning. So much so that it would be
pointless entertaining hopes of securing a just peace by
talking with those who continue to insist that all this
was just - because to them, justice means everything and
nothing.
But justice is not an empty platitude. It is the cry
for justice that led thousands of young Tamils to give
their lives, and continue to give their lives, in a
struggle for freedom from oppression.
It will be idle and wrong to dismiss the cyanide
capsule in the hands of the Liberation Tigers as a simple
minded willingness of a suicide to die. As the late
Sathasivam
Krishnakumar once remarked, a liberation fighter
values his life even more than an ordinary civilian -
certainly not less. But his willingness to give up that
which he values so highly is but a measure of a fierce
determination that cries out: 'I will not lose my freedom
except with my life.'
It is the
willingness to suffer to bring about change which has
made Velupillai Pirabaharan and the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam the undying symbols of the Tamil struggle for
justice…
It is this determination and this cry which has found
an answering response in the hearts and minds of the
Tamil people living in Tamil Eelam. It is this
determination and this cry which has found an answering
response in the hearts and minds of thousands upon
thousands of Tamils living as refugees and wandering
nomads without a land, in many lands across the
globe.
It is this thyagam, it is this willingness to suffer
to bring about change which has made Velupillai Pirabaharan and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam not simply the leaders
of the Tamil people but also the undying symbols of the
Tamil struggle for justice.
A meaningful peace process cannot begin without
understanding not only the Tamil mind but also the Tamil
heart. It will be futile for any of President Chandrika
Kumaratunga's advisers to believe that the peace process
will be advanced by demonising the LTTE or by trying to
isolate the LTTE from the Tamil people.
And here, let it be said that it is not enough to
simply tell the Sinhala people that the war in the
North-East cannot be continued without conscription. It
is not enough to tell them that the war in the North-East
is draining economic resources and hampering
development.
It is not enough to tell them that the war is
unwinnable. It is necessary to tell them that the war
against the Tamil people is not only unwinnable but also
that it is unjust - and that it is unwinnable, BECAUSE it
is unjust.
That it is unwinnable not because the Sinhala security
forces lack the requisite resources or for that matter
the necessary skills but because the spirit of a people
resisting alien rule of their homeland cannot be
suppressed.
'Sinhala thesam
should understand that a solution to the Tamil question
cannot be found by resort to war'…
In the words of Tamil Eelam Leader, Velupillai Pirabaharan,
'Sinhala thesam should understand that a solution to the
Tamil question cannot be found by resort to war and by
military suppression of the Tamil people.' (BBC
interview, September 1994)
That, then is the bottom line.
So long as the Sinhala people believe that a military
solution remains an option should talks fail, so long as
they believe that they can conquer the Tamil homeland and
rule a people against their will (perhaps through
quislings and collaborators), so long will they fail to
see the need to talk to the Tamil people on equal
terms.
So long also will they fail to see the need to
recognise the existence of the Tamil people, as a people,
with a homeland and with the right to freely choose their
political status.
So long also will they fail to see the need to
structure a polity where two peoples may associate with
each other in freedom. So long also will they fail to see
the force of reason in that which 17 non governmental
organisations told the UN Commission on Human Rights
at its 50th Sessions in February this year:
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'' There is a need to recognise that the deep
divisions between the Sri Lanka government and
the Tamil people cannot be resolved by the use of
force against Tamil resistance. The Tamil
population in the North and East of the island,
who have lived from ancient times within
relatively well defined geographical boundaries
in the north and east of the island, share an
ancient heritage, a vibrant culture, and a living
language which traces its origins to more than
2500 years ago.
...Before the advent of the British ...,
separate kingdoms existed for the Tamil areas and
for the Sinhala areas in the island. The Tamil
people and the Sinhala people were brought within
the confines of one state for the first time by
the British in 1833. After the departure of the
British in 1948, an alien Sinhala people speaking
a language different to that of the Tamils and
claiming a separate and distinct heritage has
persistently denied the rights and fundamental
freedoms of the Tamil people. ..
It is ...our view that the Secretary General
should consider invoking his good offices with
the aim of contributing to the establishment of
peace in the island of Sri Lanka through respect
for the existence of the Tamil homeland in the
NorthEast of the island of Sri Lanka and
recognition for the right of the Tamil people to
freely determine their political status.''
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It is said that those who do not learn from history
are condemned to relive it. The peace
process in the island of Sri Lanka will be furthered
only by learning the lessons of the past. Justice is not
an empty platitude devoid of meaning.
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