Bogollagama and Burns: Sri Lanka merely urged to ‘do more’

Despite the international commuity’s expressions of concern over human rights abuses by Sri Lankan security forces, the Colombo government is under no serious pressure, as underlined by recent US expression of support and promises of access to US intelligence reports.

 

Sri Lanka was merely urged to “do more” in a meeting between the US Under Secretary of State, Nicholas Burns, and the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama.

 

Burns and Bogollagama reviewed the human rights situation in Sri Lanka during a 45-minute State Department meeting, a US statement said.

 

But not only did the US fail to take any action, even the wording of the statement was weak, analysts said.

 

Burns merely urged Sri Lanka “to do more to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations and to put an end to disappearances on the island nation” according to the statement.

 

"Burns welcomed progress in reducing abductions in Colombo. However, he noted serious concern over credible reports of continued severe human rights abuses in Jaffna and other parts of the country and ongoing threats to freedom of the press," the statement said.

 

During the meeting Burns also urged Sri Lanka to make progress on a power-sharing proposal that would give a political voice to moderate Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese, the statement said.

 

"Burns urged the government of Sri Lanka to do more to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations and to put an end to disappearances on the island nation," the statement said repeating similar words from previous statements that have had no impact on the deteriorating situation on the ground.

 

Rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed or abducted in Sri Lanka since last year, when the ceasefire agreement broke down and the war resumed after a near four-year lull.

 

The state security forces and paramilitary forces working with the Sri Lankan military have been implicated in many disappearances and killings.

 

International rights monitors have called for a UN human rights monitoring mission to work in Sri Lanka, but the government has responded by saying the reports are overblown and designed to tarnish its image. It has slammed foreign governments and rights groups for the criticism.

 

Sri Lanka also rejected calls for a United Nations human rights monitoring mission, with the foreign minister saying such an outside force would interfere with local investigations.

 

Bogollagama said his government has stepped up arrests, prosecutions and convictions of those accused of rights abuses.

 

“There is still room for improvement,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. But, he said, the government can continue to progress without any outside so-called presence.

 

“When we have this type of presence coming in, that has an unwieldy effect on the local investigations that Sri Lanka has started,” Bogollagama said of the proposed UN mission.

 

The government has come under increasing international criticism for a series of high profile killings under unexplained circumstances amid a new wave of fighting in the past two years, including the execution-style slaying last year of 17 workers for the aid group Action Against Hunger.

 

In a separate interview Sri Lanka's foreign secretary, Palitha Kohona, said an outside human rights intervention “could divert attention” from a democracy struggling against a terrorist organization and provide a lifeline to a terrorist organization at a time that it is coming under increasing pressure to rejoin the mainstream.

 

The meeting between Burns and Bogollagama was released in the same week as a meeting between US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert A. Blake and the Sinhala-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

 

The USA led international community, instead of preaching to the Sri Lankan Government of the values of engaging in talks with the LTTE, must extend their support to wipe out terrorism, the JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa had told the US envoy, according to reports in The Island.

 

Meanwhile, in the same week, the United States reported that it is likely to share its most advanced spy technology with Sri Lanka and several other Asian countries.

 

The US is planning to share intelligence gathered by the Global Hawk aircraft with Sri Lanka

The US would share the Global Hawk consortium idea at a conference being planned for next year to boost security in the Asia –Pacific region, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.

 

A highly placed Sri Lankan defence official told the Daily Mirror that unofficial discussions had taken place in this regard between the US and Sri Lanka although an official request or invitation to attend such a conference in the US had not been received.

 

The Reuters news agency, quoting the U.S. Pacific Command, said the conference tentatively planned for April in Hawaii would discuss an informal regional grouping to support the high-flying, remotely piloted Global Hawk built by Northrop Grumman.

 

“Our intent is to involve as many nations as possible in whatever capacity they want to be involved,” the command's air component said in e-mailed replies to questions from Reuters.

 

Global Hawk entered service after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. It is designed to survey vast areas with near pinpoint accuracy from as high as 65,000 feet for up to 35 hours. The data can be fed from the $27.6 million aircraft nearly instantly to commanders on the ground.

 

With its advanced radar, optical and infrared sensors, it will become a key U.S. intelligence asset in Asia and the Pacific when it starts flying from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam in 2009.

 

Partner countries could allow alternative landing and launch sites for the Global Hawk.

 

Sri Lanka needs to slash state spending and contain the budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund said last Sunday, warning that the island's debt exceeds gross national production.

 

It also rapped the Colombo government for not collecting enough revenue to meet day-to-day expenses and noted that investments were too low to sustain growth.

 

"Sri Lanka's gross capital formation is the lowest in the region and current government spending is high," the global financial lender said in a report.

 

"...increasing public sector investment spending while reducing the size of fiscal deficits -- thereby reducing fiscal dominance in economic activity -- can positively contribute to economic growth in Sri Lanka."

 

It said that Sri Lanka had recorded high and sustained deficits of around 8.0 to 9.5 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) for more than 10 years, while government spending accounted for 35 percent of GDP in the past decade.

 

"High growth economies tend to have a much higher ratio of gross public sector investment to GDP," IMF's Nombulelo Duma said.

 

"Sri Lanka's gross capital formation is the lowest in the region and current government spending is high," the report said.

 

Government debt averaging 101 percent of GDP over the past five years far exceeded that of other economies in the region, it said. In Nepal it was 63 percent, in Bangladesh 49 percent and 85 percent in India.

 

Sri Lanka, however, has reported economic growth of 7.4 percent in 2006 boosted by an influx of aid to rebuild areas affected by the 2004 tsunami. Growth has since slowed to 6.2 percent for the first half of 2007.

 

Central bank governor Nivard Cabraal last week lowered full-year 2007 economic growth figures from 7.5 percent to "slightly lower than seven percent" due to "constraints," but said the economy "remained resilient."

 

However, the Asian Development Bank forecast that Sri Lanka's 27 billion dollar economy will expand by 6.1 percent this year and 6.0 percent in 2008.

 

"The ethnic conflict that has dominated economics and politics in Sri Lanka over the last quarter century has constrained the economy's growth potential," the IMF said.

 

The government of President Rajapaksa is facing increasing charges of mismanaging the economy. He is pictured with his wife and the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister being greeted during a visit to New York that saw him take an entourage of 65, most of whom did not make it to the UN. Photo The Island

Asian Development Bank (ADB), the second largest lender to Sri Lanka, says two decades of aid has mixed results and the relevance of its current 5-year lending program has 'diminished' due to conflict and shifting government policy.

 

The ADB’s policy supporting loans, conflict assistance and agriculture sector lending have been “less than successful” or “borders unsuccessful” according to an evaluation of 90 loans worth 3.3 billion dollars granted over two decades.

 

The bank has been giving low interest loans to Sri Lanka since 1968 but 90 percent of the 3.7 billion total lending came after 1986.

 

“One of the findings was that with program or reform loans perhaps both sides were too ambitious,” says Johanna Boestel a country economist at the ADB Colombo office.

 

“The ADB missions came and thought that things can be done quickly and the government, in its enthusiasm, also agreed to theses reform loans. Perhaps both sides were too ambitious”.

 

Partly Successful

 

Program loans support broad economic reforms while ones targeting an identified project like constructing a school building or a road are called project loans.

 

For analyzing lending to Sri Lanka, which is one of the top ten borrowers from the ADB, the bank has split the 90 loans in to seven broad areas.

 

None of the seven areas have got the best possible “highly successful” rating on a four point categorization.

 

Project loans for education, water supply and road development, have been the most successful in the ADB portfolio to Sri Lanka getting “successful” ratings which is a notch below the best possible rating.

 

Power and governance related loans have got partly successful ratings which is only one notch above being unsuccessful.

 

ADB categorizes agriculture and assistance to conflict areas also as “partly successful” but say they are “bordering unsuccessful” which is the worst possible rating.

 

Despite the posturing ADB is not pouring cold water on future lending to Sri Lanka.

 

“Sri Lanka has a complex political economy. And this is something we want to keep in mind when preparing our new strategy”, according to Johanna Boestel who is involved in preparing ADB’s new Sri Lankan country strategy.

 

Overall benefits of ADB lending have been categorized “partly successful” which is only a notch above “unsuccessful” in the 4 point rating scale.

 

Out of Line

 

Like many lenders ADB aid is based on a medium term (five year) plan formulated on the government's economic strategy.

 

The current one spanning 2004 to 2008 was negotiated soon after the country had signed a ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in 2002.

 

The conflict itself has pushed the Northern and Eastern regions into deep poverty, and donors have found it difficult to run projects in the area.

 

The 2004-2008 strategy focused on restructuring loss making state institutions and reducing government subsidies and transfers that had pushed budget deficits to around 10 percent of GDP.

 

But a left-leaning coalition replaced the fiscally prudent United National Party led administration in 2004 to who’s polices the ADB strategy was aligned.

 

“…the changing political economy context since April 2004, conflict resurgence and shifting government policies have diminished the relevance of the current strategy,” according to the ADB’s lending evaluation.

 

The bank's operations evaluation department said the current [2004-2008] country strategy was “satisfactory” when first issued but has been downgraded to “partly satisfactory” because of the changed context.

 

The current lending strategy has scored 1.33 points, the lowest score awarded to a Sri Lankan country strategy since the evaluation started in the early nineties.

 

Although the bank continued to write generous 200 million dollar annual aid checks it’s now worried about the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration’s loose fiscal management.

 

“We do still see a quite a high fiscal deficit and losses at state enterprises that are not shrinking,” Boestel said.

 

“Part of the government’s budget plan in 2006 was to reduce this. Increasing losses in state enterprise is something that’s difficult to bear.”

 

New Strategy

 

ADB’s 200 to 250 million dollars in annual aid have been funding 10 to 15 percent of Sri Lanka’s budget deficit during the last five years.

 

Together with the government of Japan and the World Bank, Sri Lanka’s top three lenders usually fund over half the government's annual budget deficit.

 

Letting poor countries fall behind is dangerous because their politicians are corrupt or policies weak, but the world's largest multilateral lender, the World Bank, has punished weak policies and governance in the last two decades.

 

In 1990, countries with bad policies and institutions got an average of 44 US dollars a person in aid, while those with better policies got 39 dollars according to a World Bank analysis of its lending.

 

But a decade later, countries with better policies were getting 29 US dollars of aid a person, while aid to countries with weak polices had shrunk to 16 dollars a person.

 

Unlike World Bank aid, which has fallen to an annual 70 million dollars from a 200 million dollar high a two of years ago, ADB disbursements have been consistent.

 

“Government has published its working paper,” says Boestel. “The main emphasis is to reduce the infrastructure bottleneck and regional disparities.”

 

“We are trying to help in infrastructure and in reducing the social or regional disparities”.

 

Infrastructure lending has been successful in the past according to the ADB’s own reckoning but eliminating regional disparities without opening up economic factor markets like land, labor and capital is likely to be a challenge.

 

World Bank has repeatedly stressed on the need to let markets freely operate to replicate the success of Sri Lanka's Western Province in reducing poverty in the rest of the country.

 

Johanna Boestel emphasises “the loans are tied to reforms; we are talking to the government on what type of reforms they will be.”

 

Lack of reforms that can boost growth makes it difficult to get cheap foreign budgetary support, forcing the government to tap expensive commercial finance.

 

Economic analysts say Sri Lanka is suffering from manipulated markets which benefit privileged sections of society. High and chronic inflation caused by money printing for more than five decades has also hit assetless classes and wage earners.

 

Meanwhile regulations have kept businesses from expanding though a wave of liberalization in the late 1970's and mid 1990's has managed to keep the island slightly above the poorest countries in the world.

 

The Sri Lankan government continued its efforts to deny the Liberation Tigers access to the international community last week by preventing two UN envoys from visiting LTTE –held areas and criticizing an Icelandic diplomat who entered LTTE-controlled territory without Colombo’s permission.

 

Sri Lanka said last Thursday that it would not allow the United Nation's human rights envoy to visit LTTE-held areas, while at the same time the government criticised the ceasefire monitors for meeting with the Liberation Tigers.

 

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, visiting Sri Lanka this week to assess the island's deteriorating rights record, had requested permission to visit the Vanni during her visit.

 

The Liberation Tiger had also requested that she visit the Vanni to ascertain the living conditions of civilians there.

 

The Colombo government has imposed a blockade on food and medicine into the Vanni and has been conducting daily air and artillery bombardment of the region.

 

Ms Arbour made the request citing a desire to get a first hand assessment of the situation in the LTTE controlled areas and also to meet LTTE political head S. P. Tamilselvan, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.

 

Her visit follows close on the heels of the UN's top torture investigator, Manfred Novak, who was in the country last week.

 

But Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said "neither Novak or Madam Louise Arbour can visit Kilinochchi," reported AFP.

 

The minister said the Tigers could use the visit for propaganda and that security was a concern.

 

"Visiting foreign dignitaries are free to travel to other parts of the country to get a first-hand idea of what's happening on the ground," Samarasinghe told reporters.

 

The decision to block access came after Sri Lanka avoided censure at the United Nations Human Rights Council last month.

 

The European Union, which was expected to move a motion, put off the decision to do so until after Ms Arbour’s visit, with the result that Sri Lanka’s human rights record was not criticised at the UN.

 

“The EU has decided to wait till the end of her visit next month and see the outcome before deciding on the next move,” an EU diplomat was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying.

 

Sri Lanka was quick to publicise, and indeed claim credit for, the lack of criticism.

 

"Many delegations, including India, Japan, South Africa, Indonesia and Bangladesh, in their interventions to the Council were appreciative of the initiatives of Sri Lanka in the promotion and protection of human rights," a press release from the Sri Lankan mission at the UN Office in Geneva said.

 

"We shall discuss with High Commissioner Louise Arbour when she visits Sri Lanka about how national institutions can be strengthened with the cooperation of the High Commission,” the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the UN, Dayan Jayatilleka, said during the UN sitting.

 

“Whether or not to establish a field presence, is a matter for Sri Lanka,” he added, deflecting calls for an international rights monitoring mission.

 

Meanwhile, the government Friday accused Nordic truce monitors of violating the terms of the 2002 ceasefire pact by helping a diplomat from Iceland meet the LTTE without its permission.

 

Iceland apologised last week for a meeting between Bjarni Vestmann, Minister Counsellor of the Foreign Ministry of Iceland, and Mr. Tamilselvan.

 

Sri Lanka said members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which is charged with overseeing the ceasefire agreement, had helped arrange the meeting.

 

"The (Sri Lankan foreign) minister strongly protested the action of Mr. Vestmann and requested his immediate recall," a ministry statement said.

 

"SLMM had misused ceasefire agreement and we are going to check SLMM vehicles at checkpoints if necessary," Defence spokesman minister Keheliya Rambukwella said, contradicting the diplomatic immunity of the SLMM.

 

Rambukwella described the visit of the Iceland diplomat to LTTE areas as a private visit taking refuge under the SLMM, adding it was very alarming as to how the monitors managed to make a passage for the diplomat under the cover of truce monitoring, the Daily Mirror reported.

 

“It is a violation of the country’s laws for a diplomat on a diplomatic passport to make such a visit without prior permission from the government or informing relevant authorities,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

 

Days after Vestmann’s visit, other SLMM officials were blocked by the Sri Lanka Army from crossing the Oamanthai entry point.

 

The monitors turned back after being informed of new routines that involved going through a body check, inspection of vehicles and early enlistment of travellers.

 

Sri Lanka discourages visits by foreign officials into LTTE-controlled areas, saying it gives legitimacy to the Tigers whom it describes as "terrorists."

 

"What happens when we allow those visits, the LTTE begins to think that they are also a (separate) country... Our problem is when they (UN officials) go there, they (LTTE) take advantage," said Director General of the government's secretariat for coordinating the peace process, Rajiva Wijesinghe.

 

Thousands attended the funeral of Father Packiaranjith, an aid workers priest, in Mannar. Protests were also held. Photos TamilNet

 

Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith was killed 26 September, when his van was blown up by Sri Lankan commandos using a claymore mine as he was delivering aid to displaced people and orphans.

 

As a local coordinator for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Mannar District, Fr Packiaranjith lived and worked in a war zone.

 

The 40-year-old priest was killed by a Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit at Kalvilaan on the Vellankulam Road near Thunukkai, while he was engaged in providing humanitarian relief assistance to the recently displaced people in the Manner.

 

He had baby milk and essential humanitarian supplies for displaced children in his vehicle at the time of the attack.

 

And in so dying, he became the 59^th aid worker since September 2005 allegedly killed by the Sri Lanka Security Forces or paramilitaries affiliated with them..

 

“These killings of humanitarian workers appear to be aimed at limiting or ending the humanitarian work that local and international NGOs are engaged in and creating a climate of fear within the humanitarian community and the IDPs that they serve,” the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation said in a press release to mark the killing.

 

“If this situation prevails any longer, there is a real danger of the affected populations being deprived of any and all assistance from humanitarian organizations and being subjected to untold sufferings” the release noted.

 

The Caritas Confederation strongly condemned “the brutal attack” and called on all sides to safeguard the security of aid workers.

 

More than 10,000 people attended the funeral of Fr Packiaranjith on 29 September. Photos Tamilnet

The Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph, said in a press statement that Fr Packiaranjith served with 'exemplary dedication' and was 'deeply committed to the poor and the marginalised', which made his murder all the more heinous.

 

More than 10,000 people attended the funeral of Fr Packiaranjith on 29 September, while Another 2,500 gathered on 1 October to protest at the killing of yet another aid worker.

 

Several Christian and Hindu priests participated in the mile long procession. Catholic priests participating in the rally carried life sized photographs of Fr. Pakiyaranjith as well those of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, who disappeared allegedly in military custody last year.

 

Others carried life sized photographs of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) volunteers abducted and killed while serving the affected Tamil civilians in Batticaloa and also of the TRO volunteers killed by claymore attack while serving the displaced people in Mannar.

The Tamil Tigers have stepped up attacks on the Sri Lankan security forces in the east of the island, barely two months after the government declared that the LTTE had been completely driven away from the region.

 

In the last past two weeks thirteen commandos from the Special Task Force (STF), an elite police unit have been killed and at least six injured in separate attacks by LTTE guerillas.

 

Military analyst Iqbal Athaas writing in the Sunday Times newspaper this week says small groups of guerrilla cadres, mostly intelligence operatives, continue to operate in parts of the Batticaloa district and parts of Trincomalee north.

 

On Monday September 17, LTTE fighters ambushed an STF patrol unit =around 9:40 am at Bakmitiyawa in Ampaarai district, killing two and seriously injuring three of the troops.

 

On the same day, three STF troops were injured when their unit began an operation around 8:00 am in an attempt to penetrate into LTTE held territory in Ampaarai district, assisted by heavy artillery and mortar fire said LTTE District Political Head of Ampaarai, Kaviyarasan.

 

Exchange of fire between the STF and the LTTE continued into Tuesday Kaviyarasan added.

 

The bodies of the troopers killed were handed over to Ampaarai base hospital.

 

In the previous week, eleven STF troopers were killed and four others were injured in four separate LTTE attacks in Ampaarai district on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Kaviyarasan told media on Friday last week.

 

Two STF troopers were killed and two others injured when a claymore exploded near a tractor carrying STF personnel at Kagnchikkudichchaa'ru around 5:30 am Friday. The tractor was completely destroyed.

 

In another incident, one STF soldier were killed when a unit attempting to infiltrate into the LTTE controlled territory at Vammiyadi Friday came under fire. Two soldiers were also were injured in the incident.

 

Meanwhile, a STF foot patrol came under attack at Rubesh Kulam around 10:15 a.m. Thursday where two more STF troopers were killed.

 

Four STF troopers were killed and two seriously injured when another STF foot patrol came under attack at Bakmitiyawa around 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday. The injured troopers later succumbed to injuries later.

 

LTTE said its fighters suffered no casualties in any of the attacks.

LTTE soldiers pictured in Vanni training with 120mm heavy mortars. Shelling exchanges are a daily occurence in Jaffna. Photo LTTE

As Sri Lankan Defence secretary Gothabaya declared that crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with military force is the only way to end the island’s civil war, skirmishes between the security forces and the LTTE have increased in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

 

LTTE field officials on Wednesday September 19 said that they repulsed a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) ground offensive into the no-man’s area at the northern border at Naakar Koayil, after 12-hours of intense fighting.

 

The Sri Lanka Army suffered heavy casualties, the LTTE said. Two LTTE fighters were killed in action.

 

The SLA website claimed one SLA soldier was killed and four injured in the artillery and rocket fire duel between SLA and LTTE in the FDL positions in Naakarkoayil.

 

SLA troops had attempted to capture a Listening Post (LP) night position, forward of the Tiger Forward Defence Line (FDL), according to the LTTE.

 

The SLA had attacked backed by heavy artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire, during the night. The SLA offensive was finally thwarted on noon on Wednesday.

 

On Friday September 14, the SLA in Jaffna said that its troops attacked LTTE combatants in the FDL positions at Arukuveli and Kearatheevu area Thursday morning.

 

Whilst claiming that it had recovered weapons in the search conducted in the said areas, SLA also said that its troops attacked LTTE fighters found to be moving in Poonakari and Kearatheevu area.

 

Gunfire and artillery fire were heard from Kearatheevu area from morning till afternoon Thursday, Themaraadchi residents said.

 

A week earlier, on Friday September 7, the LTTE and SLA exchanged heavy artillery fire for nearly 3 hours at FDL in the northern province during the morning.

 

Shells launched by the LTTE fell inside SLA bases in Naakarkoayil and Manattkaadu, according to sources in the area.

 

During the exchange, helicopters, possibly evacuating casualties, flew in and out of the SLA bases.

 

SLA artillery bases in Manattkaadu and adjoining area kept firing shells in support of an attack on the LTTE from Naakarkoayil SLA FDL position.

 

No information on casualties, injuries, or outcome of the exchange was released by either side.

 

In addition to skirmishes near the FDL there have also been ambushes inside the army controlled peninsula and surrounding seas.

 

Amid increasing number of incidents along northern front lines including Muhamaalai, Naakar Koayil and Kilaali, on Saturday September 15, LTTE and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) clashed in Kilaali seas for nearly an hour starting from 8:00 am, the Palaly military command said.

 

LTTE officials told TamilNet that they attacked SLN boats attempting to infiltrate the areas under LTTE's control, resulting in exchange of fire.

 

The SLN said that they took defensive action to confront LTTE boats entering Kilaali seas.

 

No details of injuries or casualties were reported.

 

On the same day, two SLA soldiers were killed and 7 soldiers seriously injured in a claymore attack on a SLA convoy 300 meters from the Manthikai Government Hospital along Jaffna-Point Pedro road at 9:00 pm. Friday, military sources in Jaffna said.

 

The convoy, deep inside SLA-controlled Jaffna, was transporting soldiers from the FDLs in Naakar Koayil in Thenmaraadchi to the Palaali military base when the attack occurred.

 

The injured soldiers were first taken to Manthikai Hospital and later transferred to Palali Military Hospital, according to hospital sources. Many of the injuries sustained by the soldiers were life threatening, hospital sources said.

 

Claymore mine hidden along the roadside bushes completely destroyed the military truck, according to local residents.

74 year old Nedumaran (speaking) has long been campaigning for the rights of Eelam Tamils.

Veteran Tamil Nadu activist Pazha Nedumaran’s attempted crossing of the Palk Straits in a bid to deliver emergency relief to Sri Lanka’s Tamils was thwarted last week when he and hundreds of volunteers were arrested. Whilst the attempted crossing and its ‘failure’ has been dismissed, especially in Sri Lanka’s south, as a stunt by mavericks on the fringe of Tamil Nadu’s politics, the event has both highlighted and boosted resurgent support in the south Indian state for the Sri Lankan Tamils’ cause.

 

Nedumaran began his protest fast last Wednesday after he was arrested, along with 300 volunteers from the Tamil Eelam Supporters Coordination Committee (TESCC) as they attempted to cross the Palk Straits at Nagapittinam.

 

On Saturday he called off the fast after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi wrote to him assuring that all steps would be undertaken to ensure that the relief supplies reach the Sri Lankan Tamils.

 

Whilst media reports in Sri Lanka have generally interpreted the attempted crossing as a failure in light of the early arrests of Nedumaran and TESCC activists, who have been portrayed as maverick figures of the political fringe attempting an illegal entry into Sri Lankan waters, the impact of the event in Tamil Nadu has been quite different.

 

Although the activists failed to make the crossing, their protest was well planned and had drawn the support of parties and figures representing a wide spectrum of the political mainstream in Tamil Nadu.

 

None of the local or national parties in Tamil Nadu opposed or criticised the TESCC’s declared intent to enter Sri Lanka.

 

The TESCC’s efforts have also been successful in generating further publicity and political attention for the Eelam issue.

 

Indeed, the events surrounding the attempted crossing and the responses from other political actors in Tamil Nadu to the TESCC’s humanitarian efforts reveals a great deal about the place of the Eelam issue in Tamil Nadu politics.

 

Furthermore, these events and reactions suggests that Tamil Nadu’s press, which routinely covers the Ealam issue in neutral or even hostile tones, is not a good indicator of popular sentiments – sentiments which Tamil Nadu’s parties are well aware of.

 

The TESCC, an umbrella group comprising a number of Tamil organisations, had collected relief material worth Rs. 1 crore ($2.5 million) for Tamils living under Sri Lankan government imposed embargoes in the north eastern areas of the island.

 

After repeated attempts to deliver the humanitarian supplies through the official channels of the Indian Red Cross failed, the TESCC declared in August this year it would cross the Palk Straits itself to deliver the aid.

 

Even as it organised the crossing, the TESCC openly acknowledged that the act would be illegal and the probability of arrests.

 

The TESCC’s main objective in courting arrest was to raise awareness in Tamil Nadu of the humanitarian crises facing Sri Lanka’s Tamils and to keep the Eelam issue firmly in the public eye.

 

TESCC volunteers attempted the well - publicized crossing after travelling across Tamil Nadu and holding public meetings to explain the intent of their protest.

 

Volunteers from the TESCC were divided into two groups, with one group led by Nedumaran, traveling from Trichy to Nagapattinam while a second group proceeded from Madurai to Rameshwaram to attempt the crossing to Mannar.

 

While addressing a public meeting at Thanjavore, en route to Nagapattinam, Pazha Nedumaran made it clear that the volunteers expected to be arrested.

 

"We know what will happen to us. But we are ready to make any sacrifice to save Sri Lankan Tamils," Nedumaran said.

 

Some analysts said the publicity of mass arrest was the TESCC’s central objective.

 

Volunteers from the Tamil Eelam Supporters Coordination Committee (TESCC) as they attempted to cross the Palk Straits at Nagapittinam

They referred to Mahatma Gandhi’s flagrant violation of the Colonial ‘Salt Laws’ which prohibited Indians from mining salt – an activity deemed a British monopoly. In the famous 1930 ‘Salt March’, Gandhi led a group of Indians to the salt plains at Dandi to mine salt in defiance of the laws. They were all promptly arrested, triggering widespread anger and a civil disobedience campaign.

 

It is not accidental, analysts said, that Nedumaran and the TESCC were using the language of ‘civil disobedience’ to describe their planned crossing when publishing it.

 

What is notable about the event, therefore, is how Nedumaran and the TESCC have also won support from parties across the Tamil Nadu political scene.

 

Parties like the MDMK, PMK and the Dalit Panthers of India, that are known for their solidarity with the Eelam Tamils took part in the TESCC’s efforts.

 

Although small, these parties play an active part in politics both at the State and Union level. The PMK is a member of India’s current United Front Government and holds the important Health Ministry.

 

Similarly, the MDMK was a member of the previous BJP led ruling coalition, the National Democratic Alliance.

 

The Dalit Panthers of India represents a new and important force in Tamil Nadu politics and is currently supporting the DMK government in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly.

 

Significantly, the TESCC protest and Nedumaran’s fast also drew vocal support from a number of major local and national parties.

 

Alongside the Tamil Nadu Parties, national parties like the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the formerly ruling BJP expressed their solidarity Nedumaran. His protest also received support from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI-M, well known for its stand against Tamil Eelam.

 

State CPI-M secretary N Varadarajan in a statement urged the Centre to allow relief material to be sent to the island Tamils.

 

The veteran CPI leader R Nallakannu, state CPI secretary D Pandian and BJP leader and former Union minister S Thirunavukkarasar, besides some Tamil scholars and film directors, also visited Nedumaran during his fast.

 

The MDMK, PMK and DPI were actively involved in the TESCC’s event.

 

While the Madurai campaign was launched by PMK leader Ramdoss, the Tiruchirappalli campaign was launched by MDMK leader Vaiko. DPI General Secretary, Thol Thirumavlavan received the group traveling to Nagapittinam while the second group was received in Rameshwaram by the Indian National League leader Basheer Ahamad.

 

The Indian National League is an all India Muslim based political party that is beginning to have an important presence in Tamil Nadu, entering into coalition agreements with both the DMK and the AIADMK. 

 

The fluid coalition politics of Tamil Nadu has meant that there is no simple line dividing the parties on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue.

 

The PMK and the MDMK, have both joined coalitions headed by leading parties and arch rivals AIADMK and the DMK.

 

Although the AIADMK, particularly its leader J. Jeyalalitha has a reputation, especially in Sri Lanka, as being strongly anti Eelam, in the 2006 state assembly elections stridently pro-Eelam MDMK contested as part of the AIADMK led coalition.

 

The DMK led coalition during the 2006 State Assembly elections included the INC, CPI and the pro-Eelam PMK.

 

Importantly the Dravida Kazhagam, the intellectual source of all the Dravidian parties and the moral guardian of the Dravidian movement as a whole, has been an active advocate of the Eelam Tamil issue.

 

Senior members of the highly respected DK have led agitations and protests against the Sri Lankan government’s treatment of the Tamils there.

 

Paradoxically, while political parties which have been vocal in their support of the Eelam issue are part of the Tamil Nadu political mainstream, the press coverage of the Sri Lankan conflict is generally either neutral or unabashedly pro Colombo.

 

The coverage of the Sri Lankan conflict by The Hindu, an important south Indian English language paper, is generally recognised to have a strident anti Eelam bias.

 

And even whilst not so openly biased, the mass circulation Tamil language dailies tend to take a neutral or slightly pro Sri Lankan government position on their reporting of the war.

 

This discrepancy between the sentiments towards the Eelam issue on the street and press coverage is, according to by south Indian political analysts, an accepted part of the political landscape.

 

As one analyst put it, ‘everyone knows that what actually happens in Tamil Nadu and what gets reported in the Tamil Nadu press are two different things.’

 

The Tamil Nadu press reporting of the Eelam Tamil issue is widely thought to be influenced by both political and economic pressures.

 

The politics of the press, as much as the politics it reports is a favourite topic of politically literate conversation amongst both the middle classes and at the ubiquitous and popular tea - shops.

 

Tamil journalists say fear of breaching India’s anti terrorism legislation was important in checking the tone of their reporting on Eelam-related issues.

 

Interestingly, reports of local journalists being paid handsomely by EPDP leader Douglas Devananda to adopt an anti Eelam bias are regularly heard. The paramilitary leader makes regular private visits to Chennai and operates out of five star hotel suites, some journalists say.

 

Despite the press coverage, the Eelam issue continues to be live in south Indian politics stemming from what analysts say is widespread sympathy for the suffering of the Sri Lankan Tamils.

 

In December 2005, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jeyalalitha cancelled a meeting with the newly elected Sri Lankan President Rajapakse who was on his first official tour to India.

 

According to sources close to the AIADMK leadership, the meeting was cancelled with a view to the forthcoming Tamil Nadu State Assembly elections in May 2006; it was felt that meeting the hard line Sinhala nationalist President would not play well with the Tamil Nadu electorate.

 

Political parties in Tamil Nadu have often found it difficult to ignore public sentiment on the Eelam issue.

 

In August 2006, when the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed the Chencholai children’s home in Sri Lanka, killing 52 school girls and wounding 129 others, the Tamil Nadu state assembly, reflecting widespread public anger, passed a resolution condemning the act as ‘uncivilized and inhumane.’

 

With no official reaction elsewhere in the world, some Tamil observers noted the similarity in reactions to the 1983 anti Tamil pogrom. The event provoked widespread protests in Tamil Nadu amidst complete silence from the rest of the world.

 

The DMK has also been publicly supportive of the Eelam Tamil cause. Then Mozhli, daughter of the DMK chief minister Karunanidhi and currently Rajya Sabha member was vocal in the protests against the Chencholai massacre.

 

DMK leader and current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, as the then leader of the opposition, visited Vaiko, the leader of the MDMK, in November 2002 while he was serving a prison term charged with making speeches supportive of the banned LTTE.

 

Senior MDMK sources say Karunanidhi’s visit was intended to demonstrate sympathy with the MDMK stance on the Eelam issue.

 

Then recently, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister sent a warm note of condolence to Adele Balasingham, wife of Anton Balasingham after the LTTE Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist’s demise in December 2006.

 

The widespread support from mainstream political parties extended to Pazha Nedumaran and the TESCC protest last week reflects the importance of the Eelam issue in Tamil Nadu.

 

Their attempted crossing of the Palk Strait unveils the complex relationship between Tamil Nadu politics and the Sri Lankan conflict.

 

Whilst successive Sri Lankan governments have focused exclusively on building a good relationship with the press, it is the suffering of island’s Tamils that underpins sympathy and support in south India.

 

It is in that context the attempted crossing should be understood. The event has heightened sentiments in Tamil Nadu around Colombo’s denial of food and other emergency supplies to the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

 

Conversely, the high profile agitation in Tamil Nadu is serving to ameliorate what many Tamils see as their deliberate isolation by the rest of the international community.

 

 

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former home minster Lal Krishna Advani.

Expressing concern over the "deterioration of situation" in Northeastern Sri Lanka due to prolonged embargo imposed by the Colombo government, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Lal Krishna  Advani last week that the Indian government should send humanitarian aid to the Tamils by despatching food and medicine.

 

He told reporters that the aid, in consultation with the Sri Lankan government, should be routed through the Red Cross.

 

Opposing the Tamil Tigers’ demand for an independent Tamil Eelam, to safeguard the Tamils from Sinhala oppression, Advani said a solution to the ethnic problem should be found within a unified Sri Lanka.

 

He admitted, however, that ensuring justice for the Tamils of Sri Lanka was important in solving the ethnic strife in that country.

 

The Indian government should deploy the full weight of its political and diplomatic resources to ensure justice and dignified living for Tamils within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, he said.

 

The Tamils should be reassured that the government in Colombo wouyld care for their welfare without discrimination. Unfortunately, there had been widespread grievances about discrimination in the tsunami relief work, he said.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapksa and Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda at a ceremony at the Trincomalee Naval Base last week to welcome the ships that reportedly sank three LTTE arms ships. Photo Dinuka Liayanawatte/ Daily Mirror

The undeclared Eelam War IV, now raging, has seen a slow but sure increase in the military thrust by the Security Forces against Tiger guerrillas. Since the Government's official claims that the guerrillas have been "completely driven away" from the East, the focus of military actions has been almost entirely in the North.

 

That is not to say the East has fallen silent. Small groups of guerrillas, mostly intelligence operatives, have re-appeared in some parts of the Batticaloa district. In the adjoining Ampara district, there has been a string of skirmishes with the Police Special Task Force (STF) commandos. They are also moving around in some parts of Trincomalee north.

 

In the North, the Security Forces have continued their efforts, particularly ahead of their defended localities west of the Omanthai entry-exit point, located some eight kilometres north of Vavuniya. Moves to seize guerrilla-dominated territory are meeting with heavy resistance.

 

Yet, their efforts continue. Air Force fighter jets have been bombing several locations in the North including Pooneryn, a guerrilla staging area where there has been a reported build up for the past several months. This is for a foray into the Jaffna peninsula.

 

It is against this backdrop that the Sri Lanka Navy made what is easily one of its biggest achievements - the interception and destroying of three cargo vessels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

 

Since the re-capture of Toppigala [in the Batticaloa district], there have been no major guerrilla attacks. It came amidst a relative lull in the form of any significant retaliatory response. This drew further attention after the Navy's attack on the LTTE ships.

 

This situation led to many conclusions by influential sections in the Government, both political and military. Some declare that the guerrilla military strength has been completely weakened. They even estimate that it is by over fifty per cent.

 

This has diminished their capability to strike at targets outside the North and East, they argue. Others contend that in the light of this, a military thrust towards the North would virtually finish the LTTE's military capability. Yet others also say the guerrillas were now incapable of staging any attacks in the City of Colombo, suburbs or other outstation areas.

 

No doubt the Security Forces and the Police (including the Special Task Force) have played a major role in curbing Tiger guerrilla attacks. However, has the military capability of the LTTE been completely weakened? The question requires a dispassionate appraisal.

 

There have been many such occasions in the past where such underestimation and a consequent "underestimated" response have led to unpleasant consequences.

 

Before examining these aspects, first to the Navy's success story as recounted by a high-ranking officer. The intelligence had come from different credible sources. The background data were available from confessions made by captured Sea Tiger cadres. Yet, the LTTE ships were operating in the high seas, off the Sumatra coast in Indonesia.

 

The next day (Monday September 3) SLNS Suranimala , the Israeli-built Fast Missile Vessel (FMV) set sail from the Eastern Naval Area Headquarters at the Dockyard in Trincomalee. Also heading out from the same port was SLNS Sayura, the Indian built Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV). Departing from the Navy's SLNS Rangala base in Colombo was SLNS Samudura, the former United States Coast Guard vessel "Courageous." This vessel was a gift from the United States and was refurbished in that country at a cost of US $ 10 million (over Rs 100 million).

 

The Sri Lanka Navy flotilla sailed for almost a week. They had to resort to mid sea re-fuelling to continue their voyage. Arriving at a location in the international waters off Sumatra (Indonesia), the flotilla began their search operations for LTTE vessels beginning midnight on Sunday (September 9). Officers and sailors on board were well briefed on logistics movements of LTTE vessels and the sea-lanes they used.

 

The first encounter with MV Manyoshi, an old cargo vessel with a crane on board, came at noon on Monday (September 10). Upon confirming that it was one of the LTTE cargo vessels, 76 mm guns on board the SLNS Suranimala began to fire. Others followed engulfing the aft of the vessel in a ball of fire. The second to be hit on the same day was MV Scishin shortly after dusk had set in. Its aft too was enveloped in black plumes of smoke. It was only before dawn the next day (Tuesday September 11) that the Navy flotilla spotted MV Koshiya, said to be a tanker that was carrying fuel for the LTTE. Navy officials say it was hit and sank early morning. There were no signs of the vessel after the crack of dawn.

 

One of the ships the Sri Lanka Navy says was destroyed off the coast of Indonesia whilst carrying arms for the LTTE. Photo SLN

A fourth cargo vessel, MV Matsushima, high ranking Navy officials said, could not be located in the vicinity. It was known through intelligence information that this vessel was one of those operating in the deep seas off Sumatra. However, efforts to trace it had not been successful.

 

According to high-ranking Navy officials, MV Manyoshi was carrying a large quantity of 120 mm mortar shells, fuel for aircraft, a variety of spare parts for vehicles, boats, communication equipment and striped Tiger guerrilla camouflage uniform material. On board the MV Scishin there had been three 120 mm mortar launchers, mortar rounds for them, medical supplies and a variety of canned food items.

 

But it must be remembered that despite the heavy losses to the LTTE, last week's deep sea encounter in itself does not alter the military balance.

 

Replenishing their military supplies, where the LTTE is concerned, is an ongoing process. In March 2003, just over a year after the Ceasefire Agreement between the then Government and the LTTE, the Navy sank a guerrilla tanker in the deep seas northeast of Mullaitivu. The vessel was identified as MV Koimar and had been carrying large stocks of ammunition and artillery shells. Thereafter, in June 2003 the Navy sank two more LTTE cargo vessels, each with a deadweight of 600 tons. This was some 200 nautical miles northeast of Trincomalee.

 

In June 2003, the Navy received credible intelligence information that two guerrilla cargo ships were each towing heavily laden boats. These boats, it was later revealed, had been built in a boatyard in Indonesia. They were being towed until it reached closer to Sri Lankan shores. Thereafter, their engines were powered and the boats were moved to a Sea Tiger base. Among the cargo on board the two vessels were 23 mm anti-aircraft guns, assorted ammunition and artillery shells.

 

[Last week] There was a grand welcome ceremony at the Gun Boat Pier in the Dockyard in Trincomalee for the Sri Lankan Naval flotilla that took part in the attack on these two cargo ships. The flotilla included the Navy's Israeli built former Fast Missile Vessel (FMV), SLNS Nandimitra, SLNS Ranawickrema, SLNS Ranajaya, SLNS Prathapa and SLNS Udara. Navy Commander Vice Admiral Karannagoda was on hand at the ceremony to receive the return to port of the flotilla.

 

There have also been instances where inclement weather or other obstacles prevented the Navy from tracking down guerrilla logistics vessels. One such event, where they were almost on the verge of closing in on a big cargo vessel came in May 2003 in the deep seas some 150 nautical miles off the shores of Mullaitivu. This cargo vessel was also towing a heavily laden boat. However, Naval craft lost track of it after trailing it for days.

 

As is clear from the above events, it has been a practice for the LTTE to change the modus operandi of its logistics movements periodically. More so, after the latest attack by the Navy bared detailed information of its operational activities.

 

For over two years now, there has been considerable concern in the defence and security establishment that the LTTE was using hideouts in Indonesia.

 

Last year, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake flew to Jakarta for a meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudyono. As a special envoy of President Rajapaksa he raised issue over this matter. The Indonesian authorities had assured co-operation but urged that specific instances be made available to them. Government sources said that a full dossier that will include details pertaining to the Navy's recent attack was now being formulated.

 

An instance where the pattern of LTTE logistics movements changed became known recently. This was after reports that the guerrillas were using hideouts in the neighbouring southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu as a "transhipment facility." After stockpiling military supplies there, they were using the shallow Gulf of Mannar to smuggle them into Sri Lanka across the western seaboard. The Sea Tiger base at Viduthaltivu is known to play an important role in this regard, according to intelligence sources. This is causing considerable concern to the Security Forces in view of the induction of some quantities of military supplies through this sector.

 

Another was the shores of Silavathurai, located north of the Wilpattu National Park. Here the Tiger guerrillas had regularly maintained a mobile presence to take delivery of military supplies smuggled from Tamil Nadu. They considered it safe since larger Navy patrol craft could not traverse the Gulf of Mannar due to the shallow seas. The fact that there was no major permanent guerrilla presence in the area was proved after the Security Forces conducted a complete sweep of the area.

 

This came after the LTTE demonstration of its air strike capability early this year. During the recent military offensive, an LTTE intelligence cadre and a member of the political wing were among those killed. A "suicide boat" and 39 other boats were seized. Now Security Forces are to return the boats said to belong to the civilians.

 

The fact that the Tiger guerrillas have not engaged in any major military attacks in the recent months, particularly after the re-capture of Toppigala in July this year, means they have not expended vast quantities of ammunition. Even the use of mortar and artillery has been less.

 

The main reason for this is the undivided attention to meet a military thrust to the North, either from south of the Jaffna peninsula or northwards from the defended localities astride the entry-exit point at Omanthai. The latter would be either from the Mannar side or from the Weli Oya end. That pre-occupation has been militarily uppermost to them.

 

That is why a considerable strength holed up in the jungles of Toppigala were ordered to return to the North. These cadres were earlier on the hop when the Security Forces seized Sampur, Vakarai and later made their foray into Toppigala. Intelligence sources confirm that in the light of this triggering off any major incidents, be it in the North, East or areas outside including the City of Colombo became low priority. Stepped-up efforts to stockpile more military supplies, needed when they come under heavy pressure from the Security Forces, are also for the same reason.

 

 

LTTE's Political Wing leader S.P. Tamilselvan broke silence during past months to tell Tamilnet that it has been intentional. It may be rhetoric.

 

But it is not rhetoric that is to be dismissed. Despite the attacks on the ground, at sea and by air, Tiger guerrillas retain a military capability. Whilst strongly acknowledging the brave role of the Security Forces and Police to deal with them, the truth of the threats posed by the guerrillas should not be buried by heaps of propaganda. Those who do so are fooling only themselves.

Civilian casualty of Sri Lankan Air Force bombing.

The Sri Lankan Air Force has intensified its bombing raids on Tamil Tiger-held Vanni region in the past week, targeting populated areas.

 

Several civilians have been killed and injured in five separate air raids since September 11. The Sri Lankan military insists it is attacking LTTE bases and cadres.

 

Some analysts suggest the increased aerial bombardment signals an imminent offensive by the Sri Lankan security forces into the region.

 

On Saturday September 22, for the second day in a row, Israeli-made Kfir jets bombed Viswamadhu, bordering the Kilinochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts, killing an 85-year-old man and injuring 14 people including elderly and children including a six-months-old baby and a 9-year-old girl.

 

Civilians at the Visuvamadu market, situated 350 meters from the attack site, fled in panic as the bombs tore through the village.

 

On Friday September 21 two Kfir bombers dropped eight bombs in two sorties just after midday on Visuvamadu junction, behind the shops in the area.

 

A 65-year-old man and a three year old child were wounded.

 

Five students in a school located 800 meters from the bombed area fainted in shock when the bombs exploded.

 

Mother and child injured in Viswamadhu bombing.

However the Sri Lankan military claimed to have bombed a LTTE military complex targeting a meeting of top leaders.

 

Over 400 students from Punnai Neeravi Viththiyalam, and 900 students from Visuvamadu Maha Viththiyalayam narrowly escaped death and injury in the bombings.

 

Had the schools been hit in the indiscriminate bombing, a tragedy of the magnitude of the massacre of schoolgirls in Vallipunam last year would have been inflicted again on residents of Puthukkudiyiruppu.

 

Over fifty school girls were killed in August 2006 when SLAF jets bombed the Sencholai children’s home where a residential first aid course was underway.

 

According to Air Force spokesman Group Cap. Ajantha Silva, the air strike badly damaged an LTTE complex west of Puthukkudiyiruppu.

 

On the previous day, September 20, six civilians were injured and rushed to Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital after SLAF bombers dropped bombs near Puthukkudiyiruppu town, targeting the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Mullaiththeevu district office and the civilian settlements in the area.

 

The TRO buildings were damaged, and a civilian house was fully destroyed in the attack when the bombs exploded on the air and the ground, 1 km near the town on A-35 highway.

 

Tension prevailed in the town as civilians at the market and other locations fled in panic.

 

Patients at the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital ran out of the hospital as doors and windows of the building rattled. An average of four hundred people attend the hospital each daily.

 

Following that bombing, the Sri Lankan Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said that the Air Force jets had bombed a weapons and ammunition storage site of the LTTE.

 

The MCNS even claimed the airstrike had set off a wave of explosions that lasted more than 90 minutes. The MCNS did not comment on injured civilians or the damaged TRO offices.

 

Damaged TRO office

A week earlier on Thursday September 13, SLAF bombers dropped 12 bombs on Puthukkudiyiruppu. The bombs exploded for twenty minutes, between 8:30 and 8:50 am, shaking the buildings in the town.

 

The students of Puthukkudiyiruppu Central College were out in the grounds at the time, assembled for morning prayers. Many students fainted in fear while the rest of the students and teachers scattered in panic. In the ensuing scramble many students were injured.

 

Out patients and those warded in Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital also fled from the hospital premises fearing attacks on the hospital area.

 

Following this attack, Sri Lankan defence sources claimed to have accurately hit a vital strategic operational base of LTTE's financial wing leader, Mr. Thamilendi.

 

Two days earlier, on Tuesday September 11, four SLAF Kfir jets bombed Vaddakkachchi area in Kilinochchi district Tuesday morning, first between 8:30 and 8:45 am and then again at 9:00 am, causing panic among students and teachers in schools who fled in fear seeking safety.

 

 

As human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan security forces continue unabated, the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has come under severe international criticism - but nothing more painful. Indeed, the collective reaction of the international community to the soaring brutality of the state has been to do nothing - except for the obligatory hand wringing. Since last year it has been an open secret that the United States, which has been actively supporting the Sinhala armed forces since the mid-nineties, gave the Rajapakse regime a clear green light to militarily weaken, if not destroy, the LTTE. The rest of the international community has been content to watch or assist in other ways. It is with this international support behind it that the Sinhala state planned and unleashed a new war in the east last year, displacing 300,000 Tamils, blockading and starving large areas for months, and indiscriminately killing hundreds of civilians. The confidence with which the Sri Lankan military on two separate occasions shelled the chief of the Nordic ceasefire monitors, the SLMM, underscores the impunity Colombo enjoys today.

 

The point is that international criticism of Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses is just that – mere words. This week the EU again dumped its’ much talked about resolution on Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Councils– just as has in the two other sessions in the past year. However, even if the EU resolution had been passed (and there was no real expectation that, even if tabled, it would) it would have had no real impact in restraining the Rajapakse regime. This is primarily because the critics are the same international community which is ensuring Sri Lanka has the financial, political and, especially, military assistance to prosecute the war against the LTTE. International dismay over the abuses is genuine – if only Colombo would fight a clean war, their moral dilemmas would end. But the priority for the US and other like-minded states, as President Rajapakse reminded the United Nations this week, is ‘fighting terrorism.’

 

Whilst pledging its continuing ‘friendship’ the United States this week urged the Rajapakse regime to come up with a political solution to the conflict. Any solution, apparently, would do - the word ‘federalism’ could even be left out, the US helpfully said, tacitly endorsing Rajapakse’s declaration last month that this much hailed compromise on ‘separation’ had now become a ‘dirty word.’ The irony is that whilst the LTTE is vilified for seeking independence (‘extremism’), the Sri Lankan state is encouraged to offer even less than the international community was advocating it had to in 2002. The only reason for this abandonment of federalism is misguided confidence that (i) the LTTE can be militarily marginalized and (ii) without the LTTE, the Tamils would (have to) accept anything going. Whilst the US et al continue the mantra that ‘there is no military solution,’ this is precisely the option they are encouraging and supporting the Rajapakse government to pursue.

 

This approach turns on a belief, as we have argued before, that the Tamils have no sense of shared political community and would be satisfied with ‘more development’ of the Northeast. Furthermore, the Sinhala leadership and, now, the international community explicitly link the viability of the Tamil liberation struggle with the LTTE’s military standing. The LTTE, it is argued, has ‘lost’ the east and is under military pressure. Ergo, the Tamil struggle is weakened and the Tamils will accept a much lower extent of power-sharing. As ever, we will not join the burgeoning ranks of military analysts on Sri Lanka, but simply point out that the LTTE has been written off (and written out) many times in its 30 year history.

 

The irony is that amid this sanguine belief in (even anticipation of) a military victory, there is no consideration of what is rapidly happening to Sri Lanka’s socio-political fabric - or what this means for the future of war and peace in the island. The Sinhala chauvinism that successive southern leaders have concealed to varying degrees is now naked. From the abandon with which the all-Sinhala military blasts Tamil villages at will to the arrogance with which Tamils and Muslims areas in the east are being systematically colonized by state-backed Sinhalese, the racism endemic to the Sri Lankan state is now uninhibited. At no stage in Sri Lanka’s past has the polarization of Sri Lanka’s ethnic communities been more acute; the Sinhalese versus the minorities (all of whom speak Tamil).

 

From the outset, the Tamils have been arguing that their grievance is (Sinhala) state oppression. The demand for a greater say in running the post-colonial state was not to get better access to resources, but to halt the Sinhala chauvinism that was rapidly permeating it. The 1956 Sinhala Only ‘revolution’, as President Rajapakse proudly refers to it, was not about a problem of economics, but of identity – who is a legitimate inheritor of the island and who is not. The Sinhalese have collectively failed to acknowledge the Tamils as founding race of the island and, more importantly, the post-colonial state. The initial Tamil demand for power-sharing at the centre was an effort to secure their birthright. The escalation to a demand for federalism was an effort to prevent the dismemberment and colonization of their homeland. The demand for outright independence (and that was made long before the militants took charge) was a final bid to escape the total institutionalization of Sinhala supremacy in the 1972 constitution.

 

However, some members of the international community have opted to see Sri Lanka’s conflict simply as one of two abstract extreme demands – the ‘Sinhala nationalist’ insistence on a unitary state and a ‘Tamil nationalist’ demand for independence. Based on this abstraction they have urge both sides to ‘compromise’ and have proposed all manner of solutions based on a different points in a perceived continuum between these two extremes. But, to reiterate, the Tamils began demanding independence as a means to escape (Sinhala) state oppression, not as an arbitrary political ambition in itself.

 

In a misguided belief the LTTE can be forced to negotiate (and there is curiously no consideration of the sustainability of a ‘solution’ induced thus) for something short of independence, the international community has allowed the full blown emergence of the very state racism that triggered the Tamil freedom struggle in the first place. The past two years have been critical ones; Sri Lanka’s state, polities and communities are being slowly but steadily transformed. As the ethnic polarization escalates, the limited communal linkages that survived through the three decades armed conflict are snapping. Ethnic hierarchy is being writ large – from the ceremonies of state to interaction on the street, what else explains when ‘the army’ becomes, for ordinary Sinhalese, ‘our army’?

 

To reiterate, the Tamil struggle emerged as a reaction to (Sinhala) state oppression. Amid the frustrations at the impotence of democratic processes in stemming the racism, the armed struggle emerged (primarily post 1983) as a reaction to state terror. Now both Sinhala racism and state terror are rampant, unrestrained by either international norms or international action. The consequences on Sri Lanka’s sociopolitical fabric will be powerful and long-lasting. Amid these dynamics does the argument the LTTE is weakened still make strategic sense?

Despite coming under strong criticism at the 6^th session of United Nations Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka is showing no signs of acknowledging rampant abuses by its military or intent to taking measures to rein in the forces.

 

Instead, Colombo, is bluntly rejecting all charges made against by international human rights organisations.

 

Since the President Mahinda Rajapakse came to power in November 2005, the number of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and abductions by the security forces has increased savagely.

 

According to a report jointly compiled by three reputed civil society organizations - The Law & Society Trust, the Civil Monitoring Commission and Free Media movement - at least 547 civilians have been killed and 396 gone missing in government controlled areas in Sri Lanka this year alone.

 

In the past two UN human rights council sessions also, Sri Lanka’s human rights record came under intense criticism and the council was urged by rights group to pass a resolution censuring the island state.

 

However, with Sri Lanka making last minute promises to improve matters, the council backed away from taking any action against the state.

 

At the time Sri Lanka promised a political package aimed at ending three decades of ethnic conflict within a month and assured the international community to improved human right record.

 

Foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama at the time stated that an all-party consultative committee had emerged with several proposed constitutional reforms to be refined into a "final" plan "within a few weeks from now," setting the stage for what could be devolution of power in Sri Lanka.

 

However, no solution has been put forward so far and the All Party Representative Council (APRC) on which the international community placed all their hope on has collapsed with president Rajapakse indefinitely suspending it last month.

 

This time around, in addition to the number of human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch voicing concerns and urging action against Sri Lanka, an international panel of eminent persons has published a scathing report dismissing Sri Lanka’s own presidential enquires into the abuses and the European Union is considering its own resolution condemning the state, adding further pressure.

 

However, according to the Daily Mirror newspaper in Sri Lanka the Bogollagama is confident of avoiding any sanctions this time around too.

 

Whilst admitting a ‘negative sense’ prevailing in the international circles he was quoted as stating “We should be okay”.

 

The paper further quoted him as saying “There are always two stages in a debate of this nature. They will first go straight off into the ultimate conclusions, and then they will stop short of that and look at optional arrangements. We can always play within these two determinations,”

 

Sri Lanka remains confident of stalling international action against it whilst continuing to wage a dirty war in which killings and disappearing of disappearances are a daily routine.

 

Many international voices including the European Union continue to call for United Nations monitoring.

 

However the detailed reports compiled and presented by rights group such Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International clearly shows that lack of monitoring is not the issue but lack of incentive for Sri Lanka to cease the abuses is.

 

Whether a resolution in the human rights council is passed against Sri Lanka or not, as long the Sri Lankan state enjoys total impunity against the human right violations it perpetrates against the Tamil people the abuses can be expected to continue.

BESET by censure over a rash of civil war human rights abuses, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa set out his case at the UN General Assembly this week -- but critics doubt it will wash.

 

Rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed or abducted since last year, when the civil war resumed after a near four-year lull. Some abuses have been blamed on state security forces.

 

The government says the reports are overblown and designed to tarnish its image, and has vilified United Nations envoys for voicing concerns and slammed foreign governments and rights groups for criticism.

 

"The government is denying what is happening on the ground," Jehan Perera of non-partisan advisory group the National Peace Council said on Friday.

 

"All the government's denials lead to is an erosion of credibility."

 

Relatives of the murdered and disappeared -- some of the abuses blamed on state security forces or paramilitaries seen allied to the government, others on the Tigers -- want answers and accountability, and critics say they are getting neither.

 

Some government officials have said many who have disappeared have gone abroad on holiday or eloped with lovers.

 

One even accused aid group Action Contre La Faim of being responsible through negligence for the deaths of 17 of its own local staff, whose murder Nordic truce monitors have blamed on the military.

 

The government has also rejected calls from rights groups and aid workers for a United Nations human rights monitoring mission, saying it would infringe on its sovereignty and that it is capable of probing abuses itself.

 

International experts observing a presidential commission probing a raft of abuses including the aid worker murders, say the commission is not cooperating fully with them, is failing to meet international standards, and is proceeding so slowly the probe is on course to fail.

 

"We have never been as isolated internationally as we are now," said Mangala Samaraweera, a former foreign minister who was sacked from the cabinet in February amid a political spat with Rajapaksa and is now allied to the main opposition.

 

"A government which obviously doesn't want to mend its ways and is determined to fight terrorism at the level of terrorists, I think they have a lot to answer for now."

 

The government is forging on with military offensives to evict the Tigers from territory they control, justifying its actions by pointing to how the United States is waging its own "war against terrorism".

 

Political and military analysts say seeking to annihilate the Tigers militarily will only result in more bloodshed, and see no clear winner on the horizon. An estimated 5,000 people have been killed since early 2006 alone, including many civilians caught in the crossfire.

 

Sri Lankan officials say the international community is being too soft on the Tigers, who have mounted repeated bombing and suicide attacks on troops and the authorities in their campaign for a separate state in the north and east.

 

They say abuses by the Tigers, widely outlawed internationally as a terrorist group, are being overlooked.

 

"By and large (the criticism) is unfair, because all the factors in Sri Lanka are not being taken into consideration," an official in Rajapaksa's office said, asking not to be named.

 

"In the rest of the world there is suppposed to be a war on terror. We are carrying out our own war on terror."

 

"The government is taking and has taken as many steps as possible to ensure that human rights are safeguarded," he added. "There could be shortcomings, but what is being said internationally is largely overblown."