Sri Lanka: Broadening the discourse on peace and by Asoka Bandarage, September 23, 2004

Sri Lanka: Broadening the discourse on peace and security
by Prof. Asoka Bandarage

(Text of a Talk presented at a session sponsored by The Society for International Development, Washington Chapter on September 23, 2004. The talk was attended by many policymakers and practitioners from the diplomatic, academic, NGO and state sectors in Washington D.C.)

We have come to a point in world history where the social development issues and the environmental issues cannot be addressed without addressing peace and security. The breakdown in peace and security is has an impact in all aspects of life everywhere. For long, I kept away from addressing so- called 'ethnic' issue and the civil war in Sri Lanka. My background is in socio-economic development, gender concerns and so forth, but, like many serious scholars, I am compelled to address the peace and security issues now. We have to address war and peace if we want to talk about sustainable development in the future. This is not just a situation peculiar to Sri Lanka; it is a global reality, this shift from economic and social development as well as environmental development to peace and security issues.

I don't need to tell you that it's a very tense time in the world, today; peace and freedom are undermined everywhere, deception and authoritarianism are upheld in the name of truth, freedom, and security. It is important for people everywhere to speak up urgently to safeguard our human traditions of peace democracy and to avert the further spread of global violence. It is very important to look at the Sri Lankan case within this broader context.

In a world where insecurity and violence are increasing, Sri Lanka is often presented as an exemplary case, the case where the terrorism is being overcome through the political means. A ceasefire was signed by Sri Lanka and the LTTE over two years ago and we have to commend the fact that the ceasefire has basically held. That is a very important achievement which has saved thousands of lives. The ceasefire must continue to hold. While recognizing this, it is important to look beneath the headlines commending the ceasefire. If you look at what is happening in the ground, you see some ominous developments: the hoisting of a terrorist, racist, and a totalitarian regime in the name of the peace.

Before we look at the peace process, I want to look at the background to the conflict which I have promised to provide in the description of this presentation. Let me go through this very quickly as a preface to looking at the peace process. The Sri Lankan case is commonly interpreted as a primordial conflict between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority. According to this simplistic explanation, the Sinhala majoritarian oppression has driven to the Tamil minority towards a violent secessionist struggle. The focus of this dualistic analysis is on the post independent period, specially starting the mid 1950s and going toward the 1970s when the Sinhala majority government passed legislation, especially linguistic legislation, making Sinhala the only official language. It also introduced legislation to curb Tamil entrance to the university and access to state employment. There is a vast literature on this issue and I cannot go into the details here. What is often overlooked in the literature is that those discriminatory policies were changed by the early 90's. Tamil is an official language in Sri Lanka and the regional quotas on university entrance were done away with decades ago.

However, the sense of grievance among Tamils has persisted and the conflict has gone ahead despite changes in discriminatory legislation. Certainly, the sense of grievance is understandable and it intensified after the horrific attack against the Tamils in 1983. Although this attack has been attributed to the Sinhala masses, there is evidence that it was led by goon squads of the government then in power. Following 1983, there was a vast dispersal of Sri Lankan Tamils to the west, what is called the Tamil Diaspora. The Tamil struggle for secession to create a separate state in the northern and eastern regions of the island, which are claimed as the 'traditional Tamil homelands', gained financial support and international legitimacy after that. From this vantage point, Sinhala resistance to the creation of a Tamil administration in the north and the east of the island appears to be the great stumbling block to the achievement of peace in the island.

However, to find a lasting peace in Sri Lanka we need to take in a broader perspective, a perspective that goes beyond the narrow primordial dualism as well as the narrow focus on the very short historical period in the post-independence era. We also need to consider perspectives that do not see secession and the creation of a new ethno-nationalist state as the only solution to the problem. The book I am writing has much more details on these issues than I am able to present in my brief presentation here.

In the long history of Sri Lanka including the long pre-colonial history of the island, we do not find two entirely separate communities of Tamil and Sinhalese. There was much intermingling and ethnic mix between the Sinhala and Tamil as well as other groups in the island. But, after Buddhism wiped our in India, Sri Lanka became the holy land of Buddhism and came to be known as Dhammadipa, the island of the Buddha's teachings. The state was very closely associated with Buddhism from the beginning. The northern part, especially the Jaffna peninsula was a center of Buddhism. According to the ancient literature, the Buddha himself is supposed to have visited there. Also, a branch of the original Bodhi tree under which Buddha received Enlightenment was apparently first brought to the north. So, the north was a center of Buddhist pilgrimage and worship as was the southeast. In fact, the earlier civilization of the island was centered in the eastern province much before the celebrated Anuradhapura in the north-central region became the center of population and cultural development. A Tamil kingdom came into being in the 13th century and lasted until the early 16th century; but, it was located just in the Jaffna peninsula and certainly did not extend to the eastern province. Although the entire north and eastern regions are being claimed by the separatists as their Œtraditional Tamil homelands', there is no historic evidence of that. I am not able to provide the details now. I do have a paper that is to be published on 'Pre-colonial Ethno Religious Evolution in Pre-Colonial Sri Lanka'; it should be coming out soon.

Moving on to the history of the colonial period, I would like to emphasize that the origin and the evolution of the conflict lie really in the colonial period, particularly the British era. The present provincial boundaries, including the northern and the eastern boundaries were drawn by the British in 1833 after the British conquered the entire island. They did it to dismember the ancient Sinhala kingdom, which was putting up a lot of resistance to colonial rule. The eastern province was carved out of the Kandyan kingdom; there is a lot of historical evidences to prove this. In addition, the colonial social transformation led to the creation of a new form of ethno-religious stratification on the island. English was made the official language and Christianity, the official religion. Those who received English language education; particularly at the missionary schools, became the privileged indigenous elite. In the Jaffna peninsula in particular there was a disproportionately large number of missionary schools and the education there was also made available relatively cheaply.

Therefore Jaffna elite, especially of the Vellala caste, had greater access to secondary school education and later higher education and government employment, the civil service, and the modern professions like medicine, engineering, and accounting and so on. There were also other groups that had greater access to western education, particularly the Burgher, mixed race Eurasian community and particular castes among the Sinhalese, like the Karava caste, for example. But the majority of the Sinhalese did not have access to modern education. Those who resisted Christianization and western education became marginalized in the colonial political and the social order. They included Buddhist monks, native teachers and Ayurvedic physicians who lost their traditional authority in the new colonial society.

The colonial transformation was also uneven and unequal: regional development in particular was very uneven. The uneven and unequal economic development led to massive changes in the ethnic, demographic distribution on the island. Many Tamils from the north migrated to the south where there were job opportunities in the commercial and state sectors. There were no plantations in the north; the plantation economy was centered in the central hill region of the country. Large numbers of low caste Tamil indentured laborers were brought by the British from south India to work on the plantation in the central hills. Today, the descendants of those Indian laborers form a plurality in certain district of the Central province that is, Badulla and Nuwara Eliya districts. They are all enfranchised now, although they maintain their distinct cultural identity as Indian Tamils.

Over time, plantation development and demographic pressure created increasing problems of landlessness and poverty, particularly in the southeast and central province of the island. To ease this demographic pressure and also the growing food problem , the British themselves began to resuscitate ancient irrigation technology of the north central dry zone areas and to transfer the population to those less populated areas in the north and in the north central and eastern provinces. The population resettlement schemes that were started by the British expanded under the Sinhala government in the post independence era. Tamil separatists blame the Sinhala settlements in the north and the east as representing Sinhala hegemony and colonization. Although there may be an aspect of that what is often overlooked is the historical reality and the economic and demographic pressure created by the colonial transformation. In this regard, it is important to recognize that in Sri Lanka , particularly the south western central region that is the so-called Sinhala south, demographic pressure is very high. Sri Lanka is considered as the 10th most densely populated country in the world.

In this context, it is also important to recognize that today, the majority of Tamils, are actually living in the Sinhala south and not the north and east claimed as the 'Tamil homeland'. Also, according to the latest projection, the Sri Lankan Tamil population in the island is only about 8% of the total population of Sri Lanka. Yet, the amount of land that is demanded by them constitutes one third of the island's land mass and two thirds of the coastline. This demographic reality underlies the resistance against the creation of a separate and exclusive Tamil regime.

Just to wrap up the discussion of the colonial period, it's important to point out the political advantage that the Tamils, the Jaffna Vellala Tamils enjoyed during the British colonial period. The system of political representation clearly favored them; throughout the British colonial period, the Tamils were treated as a majority community and always the Vellala Tamil elite of Jaffna rather than Batticoloa Tamisl from the east or the Indian Tamils from the hillside of the country were chosen to represent all of the Tamil community. Moreover, the Tamils were treated as a 'majority community' and a dominant community'- this was the language used by the British. This basically contributed to what came to be known as the 'majority complex ' of the Tamils and the 'minority complex' of the Sinhala. This phenomenon was also compounded by the existences of a large Tamil community in south India. There are about 60 million Tamils in south India.

The first Sri Lankan elected to the colonial legislature was a Tamil. But this situation of advantage began to change after 1930s with democratization and the introduction of universal franchise in 1933. After that much larger number of Sinhalese came into the legislature and the Tamil for the first time began to get the identity of a minority. A lot of the current problems can be traced to this. Tamil politicians brought up many schemes to maintain their earlier privileged position. A well know scheme known as " Fifty Fifty" was introduced by a leading Tamil politician to restrict the number of Sinhalese in the legislature to 50% and guarantee 50% of seats for the Tamils and other minorities. The British did not accept that attempt to make majority into a minority (the Sinhalese are about 74% of the population today).Tamil elite did not want to live under Sinhala majoritarian rule. The Federal Party known in the Tamil language as the Tamil State Party was created in 1949, i.e. well before the introduction of discriminatory policies in the post independence era.

Now, let me switch to post independence era. It is important to emphasize here that both the Tamil and Sinhala politicians have used ethnic mobilization opportunistically. The Sinhalese nationalism allowed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which broke away from UNP (United National Party) came to power in 1966. However, the nationalist policies that were introduced in the post independence era were not directed at Tamils per se but directed against westernized and privileged classes of all ethnic and religious communities. Those policies were motivated by a need to empower groups that were marginalized during the colonial rule.

So the conflict that ensued was not simply between Tamil and Sinhalese. In fact, many Christians, as well as westernized Sinhalese opposed the new legislation which required everyone to learn Sinhalese which was made the official language. The urban elite across the ethnic groups opposed regional quotas placed on university entrance in order to favor the rural area where students had difficulty competing to get into the university. They did not have the facilities that existed in urban areas like Jaffna and Colombo. However, the Tamil elite interpreted the nationalist policies entirely along ethnic lines, as a conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

In 1977 Tamil United Liberation Front was created and contested the election on a separists platform. Incidentally, for reasons we shall discuss later, the election that was held in 1977 is considered the last legitimate election in the north and the east of Sri Lanka. The LTTE is now claiming the results of that election have given them a mandate to create a separate state. But, when we look at the breakdown, especially the electorate in the eastern province, we see that the majority in the east opposed the separatist mandate sought by the TULF in 1977. If we look at the north and east combined, 53% opposed mandate at that time.

Moving beyond the narrow ethno-nationalist analysis, we see that the problems faced by the Tamils were also experienced by the Sinhalese and other communities in the sense that the majority of the Sinhalese particularly in the outlying areas did not have access to good education and employment. They also faced the problems of economic and cultural marginalization. If you don't speak English, you were marginalized not only in the colonial period but also the post-colonial period as well. In 1971, JVP insurrection of the Sinhalese youth emerged out of these frustrations. There are very close parallels between the grievances and charges against the central government brought by the Tamil nationalists as well as the JVP. The JVP insurrection of 1971 was the first armed rebellion in post-colonial Sri Lanka and it was a Sinhala rebellion.

Transcending the narrow ethnic analysis, it is important to look at the grievances of the two communities. It is also important to look at the policies of globalization and privatization in recent decades how they have widened economic disparity and the sense of marginalization of youth of all the communities. In fact, Sinhala language policy backfired on the majority of the Sinhalese in that it created a monolingual community unable to communicate with the rest of the world, a Sinhala youth unable to use the Internet and have access to the more valued sectors of employment in the global economy, for example. Most soldiers in the Sri Lankan government's armed forces have come from among these marginalized Sinhalese youth. Similarly among the Tamils, the cadres who fight for the LTTE war machine, the suicidal bombs and child soldiers come from among the poorest communities among the Tamils.

Like in other wars historically and today, it is the poor children of all communities who fight the wars of the elites on all sides. This is not just the situation in Sri Lanka. Similarly the idea of ethnic polarization has to manufactured in order to keep these ethno-religious wars going. But narrow ethno ideology based on dualism Sinhalese vs Tamil, in the broader global context west vs Islam actually contribute to the perpetuation of wars. Needless to say, war takes a tremendous toll on lives as well as material resources. It has a negative impact on sociological and psychological development, the environmental and sustainable economic development.

Having given this brief sketch of the historical evolution of the conflict let me now turn to the current Sri Lanka peace process. I hope that this background information has helped contextualize it. As I said earlier, the ceasefire is welcomed practically by all and it needs to be maintained. But, a ceasefire is not necessarily peace. We have to examine the costs of the peace process and what is often referred to as the 'peace at the cost approach' pursued in Sri Lanka. Internationally there is a great deal of support for the peace process and the Norwegian facilitation has been considered a great achievement. The international community has pledged a 4.5 billion dollars for rehabilitation and reconstruction and there is increasing pressure on the current Sri Lankan government to resume peace talks. If peace talks are not resumed aid may not be flowing to Sri Lanka and the government is in dire economic straits, particularly with hike in gas/ petroleum prices. So there is a lot of pressure being put by international community on the government to resume peace talks. International community sees the finalization of some kind of power sharing between the government of Sri Lanka and LTTE as a necessary foundation to get the economy rolling.

But, looking at the reality on the ground we have to question what has been happening in the name of peace over the last two years. There are massive human rights violations and violations of the MOU and these are overwhelmingly on the part of the LTTE. There is a lot of evidences showing that. There is systematic killing of Tamil dissidents. There have been killing of Tamil opposition to the LTTE, for example the members of the EPDP who have entered the democratic process. According to reports, just today, the 23rd of September, an EPDP member was gunned down. There have been increasing killings in Wellawatta in the heart of Colombo and not just in the east.

There was a suicide bombing this past July, which was targeted to kill the leader of EPDP; he escaped but some policemen were killed and some others were injured. The effort seems to be to completely wipe out Tamil dissidents. There have been killing of civilians and increasing skirmishes with the Muslims, particularly in the eastern province, continued forcible recruitment of children despite the demands of the UNICEF, Save the Children and other international organizations. There has been an arms build- up, many loads of sophisticated weapons have been brought to Sri Lanka during the course of ceasefire. There have been skirmishes on the sea involving LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka. The Harbor of Trincomalee in the north east has been surrounded by LTTE bunkers and LTTE military build up. The LTTE has extended its military beyond the lines of control set in the MOU.

But, what is very disconcerting is that those who are monitoring the Sri Lanka peace process, the Norwegian -Scandinavian peace monitors seem to be turning a blind eye or being partial to the LTTE. There is evidence that the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka may have helped the LTTE to obtain some surveillance equipment. There is also a charge that LTTE cadre visiting Oslo on a peace mission were given a tour of a Norwegian defense facility. Apparently, these charges and the nature of Norwegian involvement in Sri Lanka and Norwegian neutrality are under investigation in Norway. After the LTTE was banned as a terrorist organization in USA, Canada, Australia, and UK and so forth, LTTE fundraising activities shifted to Europe, especially Norway and Denmark. There has been concern in Denmark recently about certain remarks made by a LTTE representatives there that if the Sri Lanka peace process is not resumed on the basis of the LTTE's conditions, there will be suicide bombing and return to war.

The Norwegian approach to conflict resolution is built on the assumption of dualism and primordial hatred between the two groups the Sinhalese and the Tamils. Their approach to peace, like the approach of the conflict resolution school, is to equalize the two parties, in this case the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. The result is the strengthening of the LTTE and weakening of the Government of Sri Lanka to the point that the government of Sri Lanka is not able to maintain law and order and to carry out its rightful duty to maintain its authority in all parts island.

Let's move to the ISGA, Interim Self Governing Authority proposals put forward by LTTE last November. They are taking very firm position that for them to come to the table (they left the peace talks in April 2003) the talks must be resumed on the basis of their ISGA proposal. But, as analysts point out, the ISGA proposal constitute a blue print for separate state. The U.S. Asst. Secretary of State, Christina Rocca has also affirmed that. The ISGA does not recognize the Sri Lankan constitution, Sri Lankan parliament and court. It provides room for a separate army LTTE, Navy, air force as well as judiciary and the right for tax collection for the LTTE. As analyst have pointed out, it connotes not federalism, but, the demise of the Sri Lankan state. Although the LTTE said it is giving up the demand for a separate state at the Oslo conference in 2002. These demands and the peace process are build on the acceptance of the concepts of self-determination and the myth of the 'traditional Tamil homeland'.

It is important to mention that the acceptance of the Tamil home land also requires the merger of the northern and eastern provinces which have never existed as a unified and separate entity historically. According to the 1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord that was signed between the Sri Lanka and Indian government, the north and the east were to be merged, but, only temporarily subject to the referendum to be held within one year. And this referendum was to determine if the people of the eastern province wanted to be part the merged unit of with the north because there is no historical basis or administrative basis for a merger with the north. Except, for the Tamil separatist political demand. The eastern provinces is the key because without the eastern province the separatist Tamil state is not viable. The Eastern Provinces has not only the land but vast natural resources. Despite the 1987 Accord, the referendum, which was supposed to have been held within a year of the signing of the accord, was never held. But, now the LTTE is demanding that the ISGA be handed to them outside the Constitution and the democratic process. To offer that would constitute a violation of an international agreement on the part of the Sri Lankan government and the Indian government.

To further complicate matters, it must be noted that the current Sri Lankan government came to power in April this year on the basis of its opposition to the ISGA. The previous government was heavily criticized by the current government. It pointed out that the ISGA was going far beyond federalism and decentralization. The current government's major coalition partner, the JVP, continues to oppose the resumption of peace talks on the basis of the ISGA.

There is a massive and growing opposition to the ISGA. proposals. A large demonstration was held just yesterday. I think to understand this opposition we have to go beyond the simplistic critique of this opposition as constituting Sinhala chauvinism. It is important to look at what the LTTE as an organization stands for and the social and demographic reasons for opposition to the ISGA proposal on the part of large number of people and groups.

If we look at the map of the north we see a Tamil majority, but, the creation of this absolute majority involved a process of ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese and Muslims who had lived there historically for centuries. But, in the Eastern province, the Tamils are not a majority; there is a much more complicated picture. The LTTE did not allow the 2001 census to be carried out so there is no accurate population estimates. I too am using the 1981 estimates. Roughly the Sinhala, the Tamils and the Muslims each constitute about one third of the population each in the eastern province. The Sinhalese own the 50% of the land. In the Eastern province, there are extensive Buddhist heritage sites, in fact, all over the north and eastern provinces. These are threatened if an exclusive Tamil regime is brought into power in the north and the east.

Moreover, because of the way communities are dispersed in the eastern province, the Tamils and the Muslim populations living contiguously along the coast line, for example, it would be very difficult to create a merger of the north and the east. Trincomalee district which brings the north and the east together has a Sinhala plurality. Because the different ethnic groups are distributed in a Œsandwich' like pattern, it would be extremely difficult to create an exclusively Tamil regime. There are areas where Sri Lankan Tamils are the majority like in Batticoloa, but, there are certain areas where the Muslims are the majority and there are areas like Ampara which is predominantly Sinhala. And then, within these areas there are pockets where another ethnic group has a plurality.The fact of the matter is that for thousands of years and even now, the different Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim groups have been living side by side and for much of that time there has been mutual co-existence and harmony. In fact, it is the war that has exacerbated communal tensions. So, the artificial creation of a primordial ethno-nationalist state could lead to balkanization and population transfer and ethnic cleansing which are already happening

So, there is a lot of opposition to a Tamil LTTE led regime even not only in the east, but, also in the north from where many thousands of Muslims were ousted by the LTTE. There have been skirmishes between the LTTE and the Muslims during the course of ceasefire and these have led to a Muslim demand for a separate administrative unit of their own in the east. Something called the Oduvil Declaration was issued by some Muslim groups last year to that effect. And there is also some signs of the internationalization of the Muslim struggle apparently with increasing Muslims visitors form other part of the world. British journalist Paul Harris ( incidentally, his visa to remain in Sri Lanka was not renewed by the previous government) has painted a possible future scenario of a struggle between of the LTTE and Islamic fundamentalism in Sri Lanka.

But, right now the greatest opposition to the LTTE comes from Tamils themselves, the dissident Tamil groups. Groups such as the EPDP are feeling desperate. Just a few days ago after an EPDP leader was killed, the EPDP organized a demonstration in front of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo and left the dead body of their assassinated leader in the coffin right in front of the embassy gate. They are asking why the Norwegian facilitators and the international community are not taking a stand against the massive human rights violations that are going on. The university teachers for Human Rights, that is also Tamil group, that used to operate in Jaffna but are now in Colombo, have produced report after report about the child recruitment, killing of dissidents and other violations of human rights and democratic norms.

The LTTE is the 'sole representative of Tamils', this is the false premise that is unfortunately accepted by the international community and upon which the Sri Lanka peace process is built. Just the break up of LTTE into two factions: the Northern faction and the the Eastern faction in Batticoloa alone shows the falsity of the LTTE's claim of the sole representation. It is an anti-democratic premise and it is obviously dangerous to build a peace process on it. Despite its pronouncement at the Oslo conference, the LTTE has not given up its struggle for Eelam, and it is likely that if the ISGA proposal or something very close to it is accepted, it is unlikely that it would bring peace, but, rather border wars, population transfers, balkanization and a state of anarchy.

There is also fear and some of it is justified that the creation of an exclusive, Tamil totalitarian regime in the north and east could also result in the annexation of districts in the central province, such as, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla where Indian Tamils are a plurality today. The sources of the water for the north and the east come from the central hill country. That water is necessary for ecological survival. And as many Indian analysts have also pointed out the creation of an exclusive Tamil regime in the north and east of Sri Lanka would have very great implications for sovereignty and security of India particularly South India where over 60 million ethnic Tamils live. It would also have very serious international implications given alleged ties of the LTTE to other terrorist organizations. International defense analysts are in fact pointing out that the LTTE represents the prototype of terrorism in the 21st century. Indeed, the suicide bomb pack and the Sri Lankan airport attack and other initiatives of the LTTE have been copied by terrorist organizations else where. So, let me just mention some possible solutions before I open this up for discussion. As I see it there are two broad positions with regard to the Sri Lanka peace process. On the one hand, we have the 'peace at any cost approach' which is currently supported by the international community, the various peace NGOs that work within the country and outside. This position is guided by the necessity to keep the LTTE in the peace process, maintain the ceasefire and continue peace process. On the other hand, there is a belief that the LTTE will never give up the demand for Eelam and terrorism and only armed war and victory can bring a peace, that is, victory over the LTTE. This position may underlie the increasing demand that Norwegians go home and that the country be freed from undue international meddling. These seem to be the two positions. But, I think that we have to look at a middle ground based on an analysis that goes beyond the primordial dualism which informs both these positions. We have to move beyond the dualism of the Sinhala as the oppressor and the Tamil as the victim or vice versa. We have to develop an analysis that recognize the suffering and the grievances of all the communities and a position that is committed to finding the just and democratic approach to peace for all. We need to be talking about peace with democracy, human rights, political pluralism and justice rather than Œpeace at any cost' or war. The international community has been putting a lot of pressure on the Sri Lankan government as I said before, even threatening aid cut-off. But, I think the international community needs to put much more pressure on the LTTE to uphold democratic norms and human rights. This was agreed upon at the Tokyo peace conference last year. In the Declaration that was signed there, there is specific stipulation with regard to respecting human rights, stopping child recruitment and honoring democratic process. Here, the roles of the USA and India are extremely important to make these stipulations go beyond words and to lay down specific conditions.

With regard to other specific solutions, I am just going to share some ideas that different analysts have put forward in the course of the ongoing debate and discourse. One suggestion is that there should be a referendum in the eastern province in order to know what the people in the eastern province want. This is long overdue. There is another suggestion put forward by Indian legal scholars that there should be a clause in the Sri Lankan constitution which dismisses any attempt at cession by any future regime along the line of a similar clause in the Indian constitution which dismisses any attempted cession. Another idea which is very important is the necessity for a bill of rights and certain constitutional provisions in Sri Lanka for minority protection. In spite of the war and all that has transpired over the last 20 years or so these has not been attended to.

It is also really important to have an international initiative for the protection of heritage sites in the north and the east because they are not only the heritage sites of Sri Lanka but world heritage sites. You know how the Buddhist statues the enormous statues in Bamian in Afghanistan were blown up. In Sri Lanka's north and east, there are incredible sacred structures, not only statues, but temples and other archeological sites that need to be protected. There has to be international attention before they disappear quickly.

It is important to emphasize the role of the Diaspora, the Sri Lankan Diaspora. The Diaspora which has contributed to the war by sending money and moral support needs to re-evaluate its positions, broaden its perspective. Members from different ethic groups really need to work together to look at the common problems facing the different groups.

I know it sounds like wishful thinking. We can't ignore our responsibility and leave the task of change up to others. We can't simply try to focus on our individual lives. There is no escape from the broader physical and economical realities of the world, they effect all our lives. We face a common struggle for human dignity and freedom around the world and we each have to make a greater efforts to safeguard peace and democracy in Sri Lanka and elsewhere before it is too late. And I think that every telephone call and every letter makes a difference. There is a role each person can play regardless of where we are placed within the global social order. Yes, compassion is important, but, compassion alone is not sufficient I think it has to come with wisdom and awareness of what is really happening in Sri Lanka as well as in the world.

I will stop here. I thank you and welcome discussion.

Q and A:                  (Not all questions were clearly recorded)

Q: You said that the international community needs to put pressure on the LTTE which is understandable but realistically what leverage does the international community have … ? Do you have any suggestions?

A: We need to find more creative approaches.I definitely recognize the difficulty. The ban of the LTTE by the U.S. and various pronouncements by U.S. officials like Mr. Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State have gone a long way in terms of bringing attention to the issue of child recruitment, killing of Tamil dissidents, and so on. That kind of attention needs to be continued. Denmark and other countries are questioning threats to return war, use of suicide bombing and so on. Efforts to ban LTTE in Denmark & EU would put pressure further on the LTTE.

Q: How have things changed after Sept-11? Specially transferring funds? At what level?

A: There have been restrictions in USA Canada, UK, & so forth. But there is still collection of funds and various ways of transmitting those funds. But the anti-LTTE sentiment has been growing in places like Canada. There have been exposes about how the Tamil immigrant community is suffering because of forced donations they are being   made to give. I think looking at the issue, investigation and educational process, are very much part of the pressure that can be put on in a non- violent, democratic way. It is beginning to happen. Canadian journalists have covered these fund-raising events that are held in the name of Tamil cultural rejuvenation, when in fact they are intended to collect money for the war.

Question: Human rights violations on the part of the Sri Lankan government?

A: I have focussed on violations during the course of cease-fire during the last two and half years and they have been overwhelming on the part of LTTE. Human rights violations by any party or any group must be condemned and every group involved in violation of human rights and violation of democratic norms should be held accountable. If you look at the record during the course of the cease fire, there have been some 3000 violations on the parts of LTTE and nothing comparable on the part of the government. The violations are documented not just by Sinhala and Sri Lankan Government sources, but, also by University Teachers for Human Rights and other Tamil groups.

Q: Would you like to say something about internal division within LTTE and what impact it has for the future negotiation so that the unity and integrity of the country should be retained on the peace process ? Now on the demand of the LTTE. Last February they walked out because the previous government was not willing to fulfill that demand and that is why they did not continue the negotiations. So, how do you see this new governments and opposition which was the former government, is there a better understanding among them? May be last thing in terms of what you have said about the Norwegian government and some equipment sent by LTTE. But, the Sri Lanka President the day before yesterday at the UNGA commented positively the role of Norway in relation to India, Japan and USA etc.

A: The division within the LTTE is very serious and the split of LTTE into the northern ring and eastern wings. The northern LTTE is playing it down, but, there are fighting and killings going on between the two which makes it essential to question the very basic premise of the LTTE as the ‘sole representative of Tamils’ and Tamils as a homogeneous entity. It is unlikely that the split will be going away any time soon, the brother of Karuna, the leader of the LTTE East was apparently killed just yesterday. If the ISGA is given to one wing it does not seem that the struggle will wither away because it is embedded in deep historical differences between the communities. It is not just a personality difference between two military commanders, there are significant cultural and political –economic differences within the Tamil communities and the charge is that the Eastern Tamils have always been discriminated by the Jaffna Tamils who represent a very small group.

India and USA are the two countries which have a very consistently upheld the position that the unity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka and territorial integrity need to be respected This is also why many groups are looking particularly to India despite what happened with the IPKF in 1987. Many groups that opposed Indian intervention at that point are now calling on India to play a bigger role. This is because of lack of alternatives and because India is the major player in the region. So, even if India doesn’t intervene, India has to play a prominent role. For instance, India has a presence in the Trincomalee Harbor which is now surrounded by the LTTE.

With regard to the ISGA, party politics and desire of politicians to maintain themselves in power or get into power play a big role. What is happening is that the JVP which is the major coalition partner of the current regime does not support the ISGA. They have said that they would leave the coalition if talks are resumed on the base of ISGA. On the other hand, the UNP has said that they would support the resumption of talk on the basis of ISGA. This is a first because the UNP and the SLFP has never agreed on anything before. But, if this happens there could be massive opposition in the country particularly given that the current government came into power opposing the ISGA, in fact, it was a basis of their coming to power. So, if the proposed ISGA is granted, there could be major realignment of forces and an anarchic situation, which needs to be avoided. By simply trying to create peace with the LTTE, there could be other forms of the violence and extremism that could be created. This singular focus which overlooks the multiplicity of factors and actors involved, is dangerous.

With regard to the Norwegians. It is interesting that Ms. Chandika Kumaratunga, when she was a President said that Norwegians should go back home. But now she is praising the Norwegians. Indeed, the Norwegian role is tricky one. They are simply facilitators and they don’t have power to enforce anything. But, when they do not say anything about the killings, the cold blooded murders of innocent people, like the Tamil dissidents, there is a sense of despair and they appear to be are siding with the LTTE by their silence. I think some kind of facilitation is necessary. There is now an attempt to get a million signatures to get the Norwegian to leave Sri Lanka and that is gaining momentum. I think we need to really look at the broader picture and understand the growing concerns of many different groups. The broader picture needs to be looked at and a more comprehensive framework for peace put forward. If not, new forms of extremism and violence are likely to spread.

Q: International community and the current ceasefire…?

A: I like to repeat that the fact that the ceasefire has held is a great achievement and I don’t want to downplay that. I think it is really important to try to support that, but, it is true that it is very fragile. A major confrontation between Sri Lanka government and LTTE reemerging is quite possible. Skirmishes between Muslims and the LTTE and LTTE North and LTTE East have been going. This is such a fragile and very tense moment and there are indications of preparation for war. In trying to avert the resumption of war, we need to remind ourselves that politics ultimately is about life. The poor people have suffered so much on both side and all sides, especially the children, the girls who are suicide bombers and so on. I think we need to take this discourse beyond party politics and look at the suffering of all the people. All groups have to compromise to avert war.

Q:   …colonial period…?

A: I don’t want simply to focus on the colonial period or the pre-colonial period. It is important to look at what happened in 50s ,60s, ans70s and very legitimate grievances and the fear particularly after 1983 on the part of Tamils. Certain Sinhala nationalist groups who focus on the historical victimization of the Sinhalese overlook that, just as certain Tamil national groups do not recognizes the historical grievances of the Sinhalese particularly what happened in the colonial period .So I think there is work that has to be done on both sides. I think the Diaspora is important here because we have the luxury of engaging in these discourses while a lot of people back home don’t have that. Some of the mistakes that the Diaspora made contributed to the ethnic polarization and animosity. But, I think it can be turned around; part of it is about education and communication. So thank you very much for your question and your good work.

Q: Gender issue…?

A: This is a very important question and many articles have been written about this. On the one hand, for a young girl coming from a poor background, the opportunity to carry a weapon and wear a uniform is a sign of empowerment, a recognition that they have a valued role to play. The LTTE like other armed groups elsewhere has used this in their propaganda as representing women liberation. But, this notion that participation in armed nationalist struggle represents women’s liberation has been questioned by Tamil feminists andothers. They have pointed out that being a suicide bomber is the ultimate form of sacrifice. Similar patterns are emerging in other situations. Young women are used more widely as suicide bombers. It is said that LTTE female suicide bombers wear two cyanide capsules around their necks as opposed to one worn by the males. Is it because women are more patriotic and more malleable or because they have to make greater sacrifices and are more expendable?

Q: Are there mothers in sacrifice or are they mostly young women demographically?

A: In terms of that level of sacrifice it is mostly the young women. But, there is also the interesting phenomenon of mothers for peace. The mother’s traditional role as nurturer has been politicized beyond the realm of the home. It is seen as mothers’ responsibility to call for their disappeared children and speak for the right of their children, not only in Sri Lanka, but, internationally. This politicization of the role of the mothers in the context of war has been very important phenomenon and it has cut across the Sinhala-Tamil divide in Sri Lanka.

Q: Tamil being discriminated at what levels… ?

A: Yes, I mean the discrimination of Tamils as well as all other groups needs to be addressed. It is not enough to pay lip service to multiculturalism but take initiatives at the constitutional level, such as a bill of rights and various institutional mechanisms. But, it becomes very difficult to do that in the Sri Lankan context when there is a demand for separate state, an exclusive separate state for one particular group and then at the same time a demand of multiculturalism for the south. Two parallel tracks. This becomes complex; the south is to be multicultural and supposedly democratic and the north and east is to be mono-ethnic and totalitarian. It is very difficult to justify one set of norms for one part of the island and another for the rest of the island. I think we need to talk about democracy and human rights for all groups and certainly for Tamils, but, also for other groups, for example, Muslims who are left out of the picture and their rights and the grievances of the majority community about which the international community knows practically nothing.

According to the dualistic ethno- nationalist analysis, communities are homogeneous. But, if we break it down, we find tremendous disparities within groups. Certainly, the Sinhalese elite and the politicians in particular have been greatly responsible for what has transpired. The majority of poor people of all groups have suffered tremendously although it’s not seen in those terms. Just focusing on the ethnic issue contributes to   further ethnic polarization. While recognizing the salience of ethnicity and the fact of ethnically based conflict, we need to broaden the dualistic analysis and the ‘peace at any cost approach’ to include other factors and aspects of a sustainable peace.

We need to keep talking about this, as hard as it is. Democratic principles can’t be taken for granted. Often times when limitations of dominant approaches are pointed out, they are shunted aside as ‘anti peace’. The attempt is not to scuttle the peace process, but, to   strengthen it so that the peace is a lasting peace and that it is a peace with human rights and democracy. There is a fear and a kind of paralysis sweeping across the society not only in Sri Lanka but around the world. But if that is allowed to take over, the cherished values of freedom and democracy for everybody, everywhere are threatened. We can’t just look to the ‘international community’ or NGOs to uphold human rights and democracy. Civil society actors, plain citizens have to play our roles.

Thank you very much!