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Democracy Continues, Sri Lanka Style...
'President faces new opposition'
fears Sinhala owned Sri Lanka Sunday Times
10 December 2006
On Wednesday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa armed
himself with a tough Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and
Specified Terrorist Activities laws under the State of Emergency to
crack down on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It was
propelled by Tiger guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's
declaration that he would have no option but an independent state.
It was fuelled by the failed guerrilla assassination attempt on his
brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary. He vowed that
the fight against terrorism and national development would go hand
in hand. Besides other reasons, some State officers, particularly in
guerrilla-held areas had also asked for new laws so they could tell
the LTTE they cannot heed some of the demands they are making.
Events moved at the speed of greased lightning after that Friday's
abortive attempt on the life of the President's brother. A scheduled
meeting of the Cabinet Ministers saw Ministers demanding stern
action against the LTTE. The re-imposition of the ban was argued by
some of them. On the sidelines, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)
and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) were long demanding the ban.
But now a year in power and in place, President Rajapaksa knows that
he cannot allow indiscretions and he must temper his feelings with
prudence and what he is permitted to do under the circumstances. The
banning of the LTTE would automatically jettison the peace process,
or what is left of it. That same day, the President
summoned senior officials of the Attorney General's Department to
draft new laws that would give further powers to the Security Forces
to stamp out terrorism, especially to flush out terrorists who have
infiltrated into the capital city. Initially, the
decision was to strengthen existing Emergency Regulations, and to
give life to the de facto moratorium on the use of the Prevention of
Terrorism Act, that went into dis-use with the signing of the 2002
CFA (Ceasefire Agreement) between the then UNP Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Prabhakaran. By
Saturday, it was agreed that there would be no ban on the LTTE, but
that in a roundabout kind of way, anyone having involvement "with
any terrorist organisation" would be caught up in the sweeping new
amendments to the Emergency Regulations. For the first time,
terrorism was defined under Sri Lanka law and the Government was
straining to ensure that these new laws conformed to UN standards on
combating terrorism and protecting national sovereignty.
As the weekend passed, the Government took one step
back; it decided it would not yet re-introduce the PTA, banking on
the new Emergency Regulations to provide the handle for the Forces
to deal adequately with the crisis.
These laws were then brought before Cabinet once
again on Wednesday and approved. Concurrently President Rajapaksa
met Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Colombo-based
Ambassadors, first the Asian and West Asian envoys and then the
Western Ambassadors, including the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission) representatives. Wickremesinghe had advised
Rajapaksa not to bring in media censorship by way of these
regulations, something Rajapaksa assured he was not doing. He was
also told to keep a tab on the deteriorating human rights situation
in the country, and not permit these new laws to exacerbate the
situation. Solicitor General C.R. de Silva PC was
designated the spokesman for the Government on these new regulations
when the President met the foreign envoys, and he was called upon to
defend them before some gentle questioning, particularly by the
Western diplomats. The SLMM representative asked him about the
implications of the new laws and whether they were obnoxious
vis-a-vis the CFA. De Silva argued that the new regulations only
related to the Public Security Ordinance and did not apply to the
PTA which was linked to the CFA. If Rajapaksa was
resolved to give the LTTE a firm response, he seemed equally
resolved to come up with a set of devolution proposals to settle the
national question. That is what India and the rest of the IC
(International Community) have been nagging him with. Last Saturday,
the All Party Representative Committee earmarked to produce a set of
devolution proposals was in session to hear what the experts had to
say. It so turned out that the panel of experts Rajapaksa had
named were divided on what form this devolution would take.
The major group had formulated a set of
proposals that would, in some instances, go far beyond what then
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had offered. This
group compromises Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan, Dr. Shivaji Felix,
R.K.W Gunesekera, Asoka Gunewardene, Faisz Mustapha PC, Dr. A.
Rohan Perera PC, Therese R. Perera PC, N. Selvakkumaran, Dr. K.
Vigneswaran, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC and. M. S.
Wickramasinghe.
Highlights of these recommendations ranged from
asking that Sinhala and Tamil be made compulsory subjects for all
Sri Lankan students sitting the GCE O/Levels, to restrict the
Cabinet to 24 members (1/8th of the number in Parliament) to forming
Provincial 'Governments'
There were others who were piqued by the move. They
broke away from this Committee and formulated their own set of
proposals. That came to be dubbed as Committee B. This Committee B
comprised senior lawyers H.L. de Silva PC, Gomin Dayasiri and
Manohara de Silva and Prof. G.H. Peiris. Their report was a
dissenting report which provided a critique of the original
Committee which was dubbed Committee A. The
Committee A report was not entirely unanimous on all matters, and
the report is studded with remarks that such and such a Committee
member expressed his "concern" on such and such an issue. (Please
see page 16 excerpts of the Committee A report).
Last Wednesday, the main report was discussed first. Senior lawyer
RKW Goonesekera went over his proposals clause by clause. He called
the country Republic of Sri Lanka with a merged north-east. There
was no concurrent list - the report basically says that the
Concurrent List (subjects and functions of Government that over-lap
to the arena of Central Government and Provincial Administration
authority) be deemed to be subjects and functions of the Provincial
List. The President's power to declare a State of Emergency was
restricted.
There was also a suggestion to give the Plantation
areas to a separate Council under a separate administration etc.
Committee B has slammed this as a move by the Committee A members to
create "ethnic enclaves" in the country, and was strongly arguing
for the need to create a Sri Lankan identity with areas (Provincial
Councils) based on grounds other than ethnicity. They said that all
of Sri Lanka should belong to all communities living in Sri Lanka.
After the presentation was done last Wednesday, at the APC, JVP's
Wasantha Bandara asked whether the main report was formulated after
considering public representations. RKW Goonesekera said "yes, we
took public representation into consideration", but Gomin Dayasiri
rebutted that by saying that not a single letter that came from the
public was opened except for one from the controversial INGO
Berghoff Foundation which had been offering many solutions to Sri
Lankan problems from military conflict to political solutions, with
a heavy accent on federalism as the panacea for the country's
problems.
LSSP's Scientific Affairs Minister Tissa Vitharana
was to say these matters could be discussed further. Views were also
expressed by former presidential (President R. Premadasa) Secretary
K.H.J. Wijayadasa , who together with former Prime Minister (Prime
Minister Sirima Bandaranaike) Secretary M.D.D. Peiris also sent in a
rejoinder to the findings of Committee A - and Committee B.
They were quoted as saying that both Committee
reports were prepared "hastily" and "are rather sketchy and not
comprehensive". Then, they have proceeded to give their own analysis
of some of the salient findings of the two Committee reports, which
now makes it that Rajapaksa has three reports to content with for
the present.
JVP's politburo met on Thursday and felt the
Government was in a crisis. In anger JVP's own newspaper Lanka had
described the RKW Goonesekera proposals as those of the
Government's. The politburo said the proposals went far beyond what
ex-President Kumaratunga had offered, and the party should oppose it
tooth and nail. They said this was a move by the President to please
the IC (International Community).
The JHU had also sensed much earlier that all was
not well. They met Rajapaksa on December 4 to raise these issues.
The President reached out to the telephone and asked the Temple
Trees operator to get Minister Tissa Vitharana on the phone. He was
not available. Then he had wanted Foreign Minister Mangala
Samaraweera. He was contacted in Matara, and Rajapaksa asked if he
knew what was happening with the Committee of Experts. Samaraweera
was at a post-tsunami reconstruction ceremony where aid had come
from Norway and where Norwegian special envoy Hanssen Bauer was to
participate but was unable due to other commitments. Unfortunately,
the Foreign Minister was unable to be of much help to the Head of
Government. When Rajapaksa asked whether a Foreign
Ministry representative did not take part in the APC talks, the
Foreign Minister replied in the affirmative and promised to check
and revert. But Rajapaksa was impatient to find out and checked from
elsewhere what developments were taking place with the Committee of
Experts.
The Patriotic National Movement (PNM) had also
summoned all its affiliate organisations for a meeting. They were
discussing how to launch a protest. They said the Mahinda Rajapaksa
Government had got stuck with the proposals and was not able to find
a way out of the impasse. That's another headache
for President Rajapaksa now. The JVP-PNM-JHU combine is gearing to
oppose any moves at devolving more powers than they think are
necessary to appease the separatist cry for power-sharing. Rajapaksa
might well look at the main Opposition United National Party (UNP)
for a life-line.
The UNP is making passive noices from the
sidelines. They are thanking their stars, or more pointedly,
thanking Rajapaksa for having bailed them out of a situation when
party rats were preparing to desert a wobbly ship and join hands
with the Rajapaksa Government. The MoU they signed with Rajapaksa
also helped them stabilise their own rudderless ship from crashing
into the rocks at a time when a group was trying to veritably oust
the party leader. As a quid pro quo, the UNP had to
give 'side-support' as the common party worker would say, to the
Rajapaksa Government during the just concluded Budget debate.It is a
remarkable statistic for people to know. The country's main
Opposition's front-line leaders made the following contributions
during the entire Third Reading debate in Parliament, i.e. when the
votes of the 40-odd Ministries were debated and their monies passed.
Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe (not a single speech);
Milinda Moragoda (not a single); Karu Jayasuriya (once), G.L. Peiris
(once), Mahinda Wijesekera (once), Rajitha Senaratne (twice) and
Ravi Karunanayake did well speaking thrice, with one adjournment
motion on Mihin Lanka. It would seem that President Rajapaksa will
now have to content with a new Opposition - the JHU-JVP-PNM combine
politically, and of course, the LTTE, militarily.
Nowhere in the past has a Government faced the
mounting twin threats together - one from a lesser known but
potentially dangerous enemy from within and the other from a known
and increasingly violent one from outside. Both have begun to shake
the very edifice on which it stands.
As the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), Police Department's
arm to investigate terrorist activity, continues its probe into the
conduct of an Army major, chilling details are unfolding. The man,
by his own admission, had been selling intelligence and information
to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for money.
The latest find - he received some two million rupees for providing
detailed information on the movements of former Deputy Chief of
Staff of the Army, Major General (and posthumously promoted
Lieutenant General) Parami Kulatunga. The Major lived in the same
residential complex where the late Lt. Gen. Kulatunga lived at
Kendalanda near the Army cantonment in Panagoda. That is not all. He
videoed all movements of the former number three in the Army, his
security convoy and made the footage available to the LTTE. That
helped them plan the attack. On the fateful day when he became a
victim to a deadly suicide bomb explosion, it is this Major who had
allegedly reported on his movements.
Last week, The Sunday Times (Situation Report) revealed how the Army
Major, who once served in Vavuniya (with the Army's 521 Division)
came under close watch. This was after a tip off that he had
developed connections with the LTTE. This watch continued after he
was transferred to the Overall Operations Command, Colombo (OOC).
The officer had confessed to receiving large amounts of money from
the LTTE. He had given his brother Rs 500,000 to purchase a lorry.
It has now come to light that the brother was aware the money had
come from the LTTE. He had told the Army officer it would be a great
embarrassment if the matter became public.
The Major had now confessed that he received some Rs 800,000 for
providing information on Major (posthumously promoted Lieutenant
Colonel) Tuan Nizam Muthaliff. Until recently, detectives of the
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were puzzled over how Lt.
Col. Muthaliff's assailants knew his movements on the day he was
shot dead, May 31 2005. This is because he lived deep inside a
housing complex at Narahenpita allotted to Army officers. Hence, it
was not possible for anyone to have watched his house to learn he
was leaving without any escorts.
The Major was attached to the OCC as a Staff Officer. Thus, he was
privy to all military operations and other security measures in the
greater Colombo area. He had tipped off the LTTE on search
operations in different areas including the City and provided
details on other security preparations. It has now come to light
that the Major had provided details including regular movements of
two high ranking Army officers, one now holding a key position in
Colombo.
The Major has confessed that the LTTE sought his help to obtain more
intelligence and information on Douglas Devananda, leader of the
Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and V. Anandasangaree, the
former Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) parliamentarian, both of
whom are bitter critics of the LTTE. This is particularly in respect
of their movements and the areas they regularly frequented so
assassination plots against them could be planned. He has disclosed
that he was regularly reporting to LTTE's Trincomalee district
intelligence leader whose nom de guerre is Niroshan.
The account of the Major in a Colombo bank has now been frozen. At
the time this was done, a balance of over four million rupees had
remained in his account. His lifestyle has been lavish and he is
known to have regularly visited night spots. TID detectives are now
probing reports that the disgraced officer had been involved in
extortion rackets together with Army deserters. The officer's
confession has also led to widening of the investigation to probe or
check involvement of other officers who had been similarly helping
the LTTE.
The Sunday Times learns that the Major will first be arraigned
before an Army Court Martial. This is whilst TID inquiries are
completed and charges are filed against him under existing laws for
different offences. If found guilty before a Court Martial, the
punishment for the offences related to treason (under the Army Act)
is the death penalty. Other penalties in descending order of
severity include rigorous imprisonment; simple imprisonment;
detention for a term not exceeding three years; discharge with
ignominy from the Army and dismissal from the Army.
Another Major in the Army, also found helping the LTTE with
intelligence and information, is now being tried for treason by a
five member Court Martial. This Major from an infantry unit was
arrested four months ago for allegedly receiving money from the LTTE
to help them. This Court Martial has already begun. It is now in
recess and will resume next month.
It is not only members of the Security Forces that the LTTE had paid
vast amounts of money to obtain intelligence and information. Once
again, the focus of a major investigation has turned the spotlight
on the Department for the Registration of Persons where some corrupt
officials were involved in issuing fraudulent National Identity
Cards (NICs). The Tiger guerrilla, who was killed in the December 1
assassination attempt on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had
used one such forged NIC to pose off as a Muslim civilian. Some of
the records relating to the issue of these NICs, which have turned
out to be fraudulent, are now said to be missing from the
Department.
The Government proposes to apply the recently introduced tough new
Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist
Activities Regulations to deal with those helping the LTTE.
Gazetted on Wednesday (December 6), these Regulations under the
Public Security Ordinance note that the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Sri Lanka continue to be threatened and endangered by
acts of terrorism. However, it does not identify who is threatening
and endangering it. It simply says it is "perpetrated by certain
persons and organizations, particularly with the intent of seceding
from the Republic and establishing a separate sovereign State in
certain parts of the territory" of Sri Lanka. The Government action
has sent shivers down the Karuna faction too.
Why did not the Regulations name the obvious, that the LTTE is
threatening and endangering the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Sri Lanka? The Government, a high ranking source
explained, "carefully avoided any reference to the LTTE" since that
could be construed as a ban on the LTTE. "The Government officially
remains committed to the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002.
Hence, a reference to the LTTE would have created wrong impressions
worldwide," the source, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, argued.
If that argument is correct, why then have the Regulations at all?
This is by no means to say the Government's efforts to punish those
helping the LTTE by providing intelligence and information and on
various other matters is a wrong move. But leaving out the reference
to the LTTE, for whatever reason, the Regulations appear to be a
joke.
More so, after the events that followed the promulgation. In his
widely televised address to the nation on Wednesday night, President
Mahinda Rajapaksa declared, "These regulations will only defeat the
fascist thinking of the LTTE." He repeated the reference again.
Asserting that if, under whatever pressure the LTTE honestly comes
for talks with us, he said, we have no need to shut the door. Then
he added, "We believe that these new regulations will clear the path
for the LTTE to legally enter into the democratic stream." Thus,
President Rajapaksa has expressly declared what the Regulations
avoided - naming the LTTE.
The Free Media Movement (FMM) warned in a statement on Thursday, the
new Regulations may result in censorship, the violation of human
rights, restrict the space and ability of civil society to engage in
conflict transformation and the further erosion of media freedom.
The FMM acknowledged that prevention of terrorism is a legitimate
aim of any democratic government, and legally defining terrorism and
specified terrorist activities attracting a penal sanction in
principle is justified and necessary. However, FMM expressed concern
that the new Regulations, which are in addition to those already in
operation, attempt to define terrorism in broad terms and in their
enactment, potentially post a serious threat to democratic
governance and fundamental rights. It noted that some of the
provisions are couched in very wide language allowing for the
"possible criminalisation of a range of democratically legitimate
activities including the role of the media and civil society."
Some of the broad provisions in the Regulations tend to place
constraints on reportage and comments. I am therefore compelled to
be restrained on some issues which are otherwise of public interest
and importance.
There is also an element of uncertainty over the continued
enforcement of the new Emergency Regulations. The Janatha Vimukthi
Peramuna (JVP) is disappointed that there was no ban on the LTTE and
the re-enforcement of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). They
had staged a public agitation campaign to force the Government to
take these measures. The matter figured at Thursday's politburo
meeting of the JVP.
Earlier, there were hopes of a re-enforcement of the PTA.
President Rajapaksa in his address to the nation on Wednesday night
said, "The Cabinet of Ministers has decided to implement the
provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act as well as a large
number of other regulations…" However, on Friday defence spokesman
Keheliya Rambukwella declared that the powers of search and arrest
under the PTA, on which there was a moratorium under the Ceasefire
Agreement would remain. But, such powers and arrest by the Security
Forces and the Police have now been brought under the new Emergency
Regulations. The move is to obviate criticism that the Government
had re-written the CFA.
The JVP has decided it would closely watch how the new Emergency
Regulations were being enforced. If they are not happy, they are to
vote against it when the State of Emergency comes up for approval
before Parliament. The main opposition United National Party (UNP)
will also watch how the Regulations will work but for different
reasons. This week, UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe
asked President Rajapaksa during a meeting whether the new
Regulations included censorship. The President said there was no
such censorship. However, legal experts in the UNP are of the view
that the provisions are so far and wide that the media could easily
be roped in if they do not "play ball" with the Government. If for
some reason these two parties are not satisfied, it may see the two
sides getting together to vote against.
There was such a rapport between the UNP and the JVP in Parliament
this week that the two sides decided not to press for electoral
reforms immediately. This is until such time the security and
political situation in the country stabilizes. The move followed a
request by UNP's Joseph Michael Perera to JVP Parliamentary Group
leader, Wimal Weerawansa. The latter agreed to meet Mr.
Wickremesinghe within minutes after the request was made in the
lobby. He met in the company of Anura Dissanayake. Mr. Perera, a
former Speaker was associated with the UNP leader.
The new Emergency Regulations seeks to explain that it originated
primarily from the LTTE Leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran's Maveerar
(Great Heroes) Day address on November 27. That was of course
speeded by the assassination attempt on the Defence Secretary. Mr.
Prabhakaran declared "the uncompromising stance of Sinhala
chauvinism has left us (the LTTE) with no other option but an
independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam." The preamble to
the Regulations noted that persons and organizations involved in
terrorist acts may "establish a separate State" and "unilaterally
declare" their purported independence from Sri Lanka.
It is true that the LTTE has not formally or publicly shifted from
its position of expressing commitment to a separate State of "Tamil
Eelam." Even in his address, Mr. Prabhakaran declared that the LTTE
had postponed its "freedom struggle" to find a "peaceful
resolution." As for a unilateral declaration, it is a far cry. In
the past years, the LTTE has scrupulously avoided such a declaration
though it became a pastime for some sections of the intelligence
community to forecast it annually. The LTTE is aware, without the
backing of a single country in the world; a formal declaration of
independence would be a recipe for great disaster.
Such a formal declaration would give the strong licence to the
Government to urge the civilians to move out of guerrilla held
areas, place a blockade of all supplies and launch a massive
military campaign. Such a move would receive even international
endorsement since the Government would, in such a situation, be
engaged militarily to deal with a formal declaration to divide the
country. There is no country that has not pledged its support to Sri
Lanka's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
But the Government's measures assume more significance in the light
of recent developments. Even if some Government leaders wished to
hide it, the hardening of the Government position came after the
attempt on the life of the Defence Secretary. On hand in Colombo to
witness the development was Norway's envoy to the peace process, Jon
Hanssen-Bauer.
He was asked to put off his visit to Kilinochchi scheduled for
Tuesday. The go-ahead signal came only on Thursday. Together with
Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, he flew to Vavuniya on Friday
morning.
Returning to Colombo in the evening, they first reported to Peace
Secretariat Secretary General Palitha Kohona. Mr. Bauer said he had
conveyed the three requests placed by Dr. Kohona to LTTE Political
Wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan. They were (1) Allow some 4,000
private traders in the (Government-controlled) Jaffna peninsula to
operate and sell whatever they wanted without intimidation; (2) To
seek an immediate LTTE response to the Government proposal to send a
convoy of urgent relief supplies through A-9 route and the Muhamalai
checkpoint to Jaffna; (3) An immediate response to the Government
proposal to create a safe haven for Internally Displaced Persons in
Vakarai.
Mr. Bauer told Dr. Kohona that the first two requests were promptly
rejected by Mr. Thamilselvan. Hence, he had not placed the third. He
also explained the same matter to Foreign Minister Mangala
Samaraweera. Associated with him was advisor H.M.G.S. Palihakkara
and acting Foreign Secretary Geetha de Silva.
The Norwegian team heard complaints from Mr. Thamilselvan that the
Security Forces were planning a major military offensive in the
East. He also responded to questions on LTTE “commitment” to the
Ceasefire Agreement by accusing that the Government had made it
defunct. He had said that the LTTE was ready to adhere to the CFA if
the Government abided by it and unconditionally re-opened A-9
Kandy-Jaffna highway and the access road to Vakarai (via A-15). The
Government, it was clear yesterday, will not heed both LTTE demands.
In fact President Rajapaksa said in his address to the nation that
A-9 was closed after the LTTE sent a message "through its website
asking that 50,000 coffins be readied for the Sri Lankan troops." He
said "we did not close the A-9 completely but only at Muhamalai,"
the only land-based gateway to Jaffna.
A disappointed Mr. Bauer left Colombo yesterday morning. Norway's
role as a facilitator in the peace process has shrunk so much there
is little political space left for it to restore peace talks. Mr.
Bauer is to consult Norway's International Development Minister Erik
Solheim on the next step. This week Mr. Solheim spoke on the
telephone with President Rajapaksa. But that was to express his
concern over the assassination attempt on President's brother and
Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
An LTTE statement after Bauer-Thamilselvan talks in Kilinochchi
appeared an extension of Mr. Prabhakaran's address. It said, among
other matters, that the "final straw that appears to have broken the
back of the CFA is the introduction of new regulations under the
Public Security Ordinance, which is the old PTA under a new cloak.
The statement also criticised Norway and the international
communituy for "encouraging the Rajapaksa government on its
genocidal programme" and warned that "a military solution will
steadily push the island into monumental irrecoverable state of
destruction." The LTTE statement appears to be once again seeking
"justification" for what it may be planning.
But President Rajapaksa appears to have provided the answer even
before the statement was issued. He said in his address to the
nation that "the anti-terrorist struggle and the development of the
country should be a parallel process." He declared that "I am not
ready to carry on the lament that the North East crisis will weaken
our development activities. Similarly, I am not ready to make
excuses before you that this crisis is an obstacle in our pursuit of
national development."
So, the LTTE has spoken of "irrecoverable state of destruction."
President Rajapaksa has pledged to continue the anti terrorist
struggle. It is only a matter of time for the transition now. That
from an undeclared Eelam War IV to a declared one with greater
ferocity.
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