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  • ‘Orchestrated campaign to smear LTTE’

    Jul 20
    As a senior Norwegian envoy arrived in Sri Lanka to explore ways of stabilizing the fraying 40-month-old ceasefire, the Liberation Tigers assured international truce monitors of their cooperation in curbing the violence but demanded they take action against Army-backed paramilitaries.

    “Our organization and the Tamil people in general are seriously perturbed over the increasing acts of violence and killings in military occupied areas,” head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan said in a letter to the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

    The violence was being carried out with the intention of smearing the LTTE, Mr. Tamilselvan said, pointing out the violence has been escalating since the Tigers pulled their unarmed political cadres out of Army-controlled areas for their own safety.

    “Innocent people are targeted for assassination and given a political connection with this group or that with a reputation for being opposed to LTTE,” Mr. Tamilselvan said.

    “Without recourse to proper investigations … the government and the military spokespersons are engaged in a mud-slinging campaign against the LTTE,” he said.

    “The patterns of increase points to a systematically planned and timed orchestration to discredit the LTTE … We have no doubt that there is a political agenda behind these acts, meticulously planned to apportion the blame on our organization.”

    “While assuring you of our co-operation to curb violence, we regret that our capability in this respect is very much limited since the areas in which these killings and violence take place are fully under the control of the occupying Sri Lankan military,” Mr. Tamilselvan told the SLMM.

    The reaffirmation of the LTTE’s support for the CFA comes amid renewed international efforts in Sri Lanka’s peace process.

    The former head of the SLMM, retired Major General Trond Furuhovde, is visiting this week as special representative of the Norwegian government to consult the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government and to discuss the security situation and the truce.

    The Norwegian embassy played down expectations, however, saying “a meeting between the GOSL and the LTTE to discuss the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement is not likely to occur in the near future, the visit is an opportunity for both parties to propose measures for strengthening the implementation of the agreement.”

    Separately, International Human Rights Advisor to the Peace Process, Mr. Ian Martin is also visiting Sri Lanka.

    Mr. Martin, former Secretary General to Amnesty International, is to meet with LTTE and government officials before present proposals regarding the protection of human rights.

    These developments occur within the backdrop of escalating violence in the Northern and Eastern provinces. While the restive east has seen repeated skirmishes between Army-backed paramilitaries and the LTTE, violence has also spread to the Northern province.

    Meeting with SLMM officials, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing in Jaffna, Mr. C Ilamparithi said the SriLanka Army (SLA) was complicit in several of the recent killings.

    Mr. Ilamparithi said their office had received evidence implicating the head of SLA Intellligence Wing in Jaffna, Mr Mahes Banda, in some of the murders that have alarmed residents of the northern peninsula.

    Jaffna has seen an increase in politically-motivated murders, including the killing of Kopay Christian College Principal Nadarajah Sivakadadcham, organizer of Kopay’s Tamil Eelam Women’s Day events, since the withdrawals of LTTE officers from SLA-controlled areas.

    Mr. Ilamparithi further told the members of the SLMM that killings, harassment of Jaffna residents, thefts, drug abuse, and incidents of rape have increased following the withdrawal of LTTE political cadres from Jaffna district.

    Violence continued in the eastern province also, with SLA-backed paramilitaries ambushing a convoy of Tiger cadres in LTTE-controlled parts of Vavunathivu, 5 kilometers west of Batticaloa.

    The LTTE said three of their cadres were wounded by attackers who withdrew to the Vavunathivu SLA camp after a firefight. The SLA claimed four LTTE cadres were killed in the ambush, including a senior intelligence official, and that seven others were seriously injured. The LTTE denies the claim.

    Sri Lankan newspapers reported that the government provided a helicopter for an injured LTTE member to be evacuated to Colombo for treatment.

    The SLA claimed gunmen from the Karuna Group, a paramilitary outfit led by a renegade Tiger commander, were targeting LTTE Colonel Banu, who assumed command of Batticaloa-Amparai after Karuna defected to the SLA in April 2004following the collapse of his six-week rebellion against the LTTE.

    The LTTE says there are five Tamil paramilitary groups, including Karuna’s, which are paid and provided with logistic support by the Sri Lanka security forces and that a covert military campaign is being waged to destabilise the Eastern province and paralyse the LTTE’s political engagement in the region.
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  • Sri Lanka donor co-chairs 'alarmed' by rising violence
  • Poverty said driving underage recruits
    Donors must address the imbalance in international assistance to the north and east of the country compared to the south, and increase investment in long-term development programs in Sri Lanka’s conflict-affected regions to preclude under age youth from seeking to join the Liberation Tigers, Refugees International said last week.

    “It is undeniable that the war has in effect created two countries: the south, with its relative wealth and economic opportunity, and the north, where the landscape is harsh and there is little economic investment, RI said.

    Anyone under the age of 18 is considered a child when volunteering for non-state militaries. For state militaries the age bar is 16, according to UN regulations.

    “Many former combatants maintain that they volunteered [for the LTTE],” RI said.

    But arguing that “in much of the LTTE controlled areas there is an all-pervasive environment of Tamil nationalism and political control,” the organisation said this “coupled with the lack of economic opportunity, suggests that physical intimidation and force are not always necessary to convince young adolescents to join the LTTE.”

    An LTTE spokesperson interviewed by RI said adolescents continued to volunteer due to lack of economic opportunity in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

    The LTTE official was critical of the international aid agencies for failing to provide adequate livelihood and psycho-social activities for the 5,000 children that he claims have been demobilized, RI said.

    The LTTE maintains that it is complying with its international commitments, first made in April 2003 in the Action Plan for Children Affected by War, to eliminate recruitment of child soldiers.

    RI also said that “while prevention of child recruitment is an essential element to working with children affected by the conflict, it is also important to address simultaneously the reintegration of former combatants back into society.”

    Many programs focus on vocational training and education. These are crucial elements to a successful reintegration but there are psycho-social and cultural issues that may also arise, RI said.

    But RI warned that the assistance programmes themselves can fuel volunteers for the LTTE.

    “We don’t want to see them rewarded for joining the LTTE. It might give them an incentive to join so they can benefit from leaving,” RI says it was told by one child group.

    “Specialized attention can provide an incentive for families to allow recruitment and it can encourage the propaganda that serving with the LTTE will benefit you and your family,” RI said.

    Nevertheless, RI is urging donors and agencies that provide programming for children impacted by the tsunami in Sri Lanka’s north and east expand programs to include children impacted by the war.
  • Aceh welcomes news of peace deal
  • Fears of new wave of Kashmir quake deaths
    Thousands of injured people languished without shelter and medical care in villages across the earthquake-stricken region of Kashmir and authorities warned that exposure and infections could drive the death toll up from 54,000 as the harsh Himalayan winter loomed.

    The Pakistani military, civilian volunteers and international aid groups are rushing aid and doctors to the region, as fast as the logistical challenges allow. Landslides caused by the earthquake cut off many roads, which will take several weeks to clear and heavy weather has made the relief operations more difficult.
    “It’s the injured who most urgently need help,” said Bill Berger, leader of the USAID disaster assistance response team.

    The local government of Pakistani-held Kashmir estimated that at least 40,000 people died there. Officials reported another 13,000 deaths in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, and India said 1,360 people died in its portion of Kashmir.

    In addition to those killed, some 80,000 people were injured in the October 8 quake and many are in desperate need of medical care. The United Nations has estimated 3.3 million were also left without homes and need food and shelter ahead of the winter, which was moving in rapidly.

    Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan, Pakistan’s top relief official, said 33,000 tents and 130,000 blankets have been distributed to quake survivors. He said 260,000 tents and two million blankets were needed.

    Packages of food and blankets have been dropped to more than 580 remote villages in the Muzaffarabad district, army spokesman Col. Rana Sajjad said.

    “It’s very difficult to reach each and every place,” he said, adding many people had walked into the bigger settlements from the mountains seeking aid.

    Eighty Pakistani soldiers were flown by helicopter into the Neelum Valley, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, to carry emergency rations and other relief supplies on foot to those in need, the army said.

    Soldiers also drove mule teams with relief supplies to some of the region’s steep-sided villages, crossing people with bundles on their shoulders carefully walking down to lower elevations.

    “There are serious patients with infected wounds and gangrene,” said Sebastian Nowak of the International Committee of the Red Cross, after a team of the group’s doctors landed in Chekar, about 65 kilometres east of Muzaffarabad.

    In the part of divided Kashmir that India controls, torrential rain and snow hampered relief operations on Monday as roads to the badly hit Uri and Tangdhar areas were cut off from the rest of the region. Trucks loaded with supplies were stranded on mountain roads, and survivors huddled in rain-sodden tents and lit fires to keep warm.

    Pakistan said it was willing to accept an offer from rival India to send helicopters for earthquake relief operations, but without Indian pilots - either military or commercial. The nations have fought three wars since 1947, but India has sent quake relief aid to its neighbor.

    However, India Tuesday rejected Pakistan’s request. The India Foreign Minister “conveyed to his Pakistani counterpart that it would not be possible for India to provide helicopters, which are in service with its armed forces without pilots and crews” an Indian foreign ministry statement said.

    Meanwhile, the United Nations has revised its Flash Appeal after the Pakistani quake upwards from US$ 272 million to US$ 312 million over six months, with the World Health Organisation reporting that less than 50% of the entire affected area has been accessed so far.

    The UN has also scheduled an international conference next week on aid to earthquake-hit Pakistan, its humanitarian arm said.

    Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the October 24 meeting was expected to bring together ministers from Pakistan and donor countries, plus international aid agencies and other relief groups.

    The UN has so far received only US$ 6 million of the amount it appealed for after the earthquake, while donors have pledged another US$ 44 million.

    Most of the aid has been in kind - ranging from food supplies to helicopter flight hours and the UN figure does not include all the direct aid to Pakistan offered by donor countries.

    Although neighbouring India was also affected, the UN conference will focus on Pakistan because New Delhi has not asked for foreign aid, Byrs said.
  • Open or closed is not the question
    Among the muddled themes on election platforms and press briefings is the confusion regarding what the Mahinda Rajapakse coalition’s position is about open economic policies. Although these meetings and press conferences are expected to clarify each candidate’s economic and other policy stances, they end up confusing the electorate. This confusion is an inevitable result of the incompatible policies of the SLFP-JVP-JHU coalition.

    They proclaim that they are not opposed to open economic policies, but not the open economic policies of the past UNP and UNF governments. The question is not one of whether the policies are open economic policies or not, as there is no possibility of returning to a closed economy. The issue is the extent of liberalisation of trade and investment that they espouse and the internal consistencies of these problems.

    What are these open or not so open economic policies? Open economic policies appear to mean different things to different people. In fact open economic policies appear to be a euphemism for any kind of economic policies with undefined restrictions. In fact open economic policies mean a liberal trade regime. It incorporates a minimum use of trade restrictions.

    It also implies a low tariff regime and the jettisoning of non-tariff barriers to trade. This system of liberalised trade has been subscribed to by both SLFP and UNP led governments. The SLFP led government between 1994 and 2000 and the 2002-2004 government followed these policies with a few changes of no serious consequences to the broad framework of Open Economic Policies. Besides this, throughout this period the President subscribed to these policies and pursued them with vigour. The free trade agreements with India and Pakistan are instances of such a commitment.

    Does the new coalition supporting Rajapakse have a different trade regime in view? If the answer is in the affirmative, he should make it clear what the changes are. Alternately he should make it clear that there are no substantial changes and that the coalition partners are agreeable to the continuation of liberalised trade policies.

    It is mandatory to specify what controls the coalition intends to place beyond what are there already. It is also important to keep to the specified policies if returned to power. Both these are unlikely propositions.

    The rationale for open economic policies is very clear. A small country with very little raw materials, inadequate capital and technology and a very small domestic market, cannot produce quality industrial products at competitive prices.

    The rhetoric that Sri Lanka is blessed with natural resources is plain falsehood. We do not have petroleum, iron, coal or chemicals. In fact we do not even have adequate land and water resources with a population density of about 315 persons per square kilometre.

    If our economic policies are based on fanciful ideas of non-existent bountiful natural resources, we are heading for an economic disaster. We have a very limited domestic market, as the purchasing power of the 19.7 million for many goods is extremely limited.

    The attempt at widespread import substitution in the 1970s failed owing to the non-recognition of these facts. Today even big countries like China and India with a good endowment of some of the basic resources and a large domestic market have also adopted open economic policies as they realise the benefits of trade.

    In Sri Lanka’s case, there is no option but to pursue a liberalised trade regime and be competitive in international markets. It is this need for greater efficiency and enhanced productivity that requires to be stressed, not the extent of openness.

    The danger lies in the attractiveness of the political rhetoric that we must produce everything; that we must not waste money to import unnecessary things; that we must be self-sufficient in food; if translated into policies can only lead to slow economic growth and serious balance of payments problems. A liberalised trade regime is an essential regime for a small country in the present global context.

    Some of the coalition partners are ideological in their economic policies and chose to largely ignore the changes within the Sri Lankan economy and in the global economic context.

    If however the rhetoric we are hearing is only the stuff of electoral politics to gain votes and the policies they would implement, if returned to power, would be vastly different, then there is still hope irrespective of whoever may be elected President.

    If however due to their beliefs or ignorance they think that a regime of trade controls in which the country can produce all it needs is the panacea, then we are in for a retrogressive period.
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