By Harsha Gunasena
The war ended two years back with the wipe out of LTTE concluding
three long decades of agony faced by the entire population and giving victory
to the forces of the Government of Sri Lanka. This is the most significant
event in the post independent era of the history of Sri Lanka achieved through
courageous and dedicated leadership and tremendous level of commitment and
teamwork displayed by the armed forces.
The Government unfortunately did not display the same
level of efficiency in handling the foreign affairs at this crucial point of
the history of the country. As a result the country faces a severe pressure
from the international community led by the West. In turn this pressure is also
mishandled by the Government by putting forward pseudo heroes cum so called
patriots to criticize the West in public.
Today we badly miss Lakshman Kadirgamar who
was mainly responsible for convincing the western governments that LTTE was a
terrorist movement and thereby encouraging them to prohibit LTTE in those countries. This was indeed a U turn considering the level
of reputation Sri Lanka earned during the previous regimes.
The persons including the responsible officers of the
Government who criticize the West should bear in mind
that LTTE was a proscribed organization in the countries which led the campaign
against Sri Lanka. Till the time of reaching the war to the final levels, the
international community was with the Government of Sri Lanka. Surely no sovereign
government would like to see a terrorist organization operating anywhere in the
world with air and naval power combined with a fleet of suicide cadres capable
of killing reputed leaders of neighboring countries let alone the leaders of its own country.
India was shocked by the air power of LTTE and had given
additional security cover for the nuclear plants in southern India.
It is no secret
that Sri Lanka received valuable military assistance from those very countries
who criticize Sri Lanka today for the so called war crimes and human rights
situation. Also Sri Lanka received
valuable intelligence tips from those countries to counter the procurement of
arms by LTTE. At one point Sri Lanka was supported by USA, UK, India, Pakistan
and China which was an odd combination thanks to the tactful handling of rival
countries which was a rare phenomenon. So what went wrong during the latter
part of the war?
LTTE kept the civilians as a cover since there was a
military advantage. LTTE also knew the sensitivity of the West to the human
right violations. Government asked the Red Cross and the NGOs operating in the
LTTE held areas to move out citing the reason that the security of them cannot
be guaranteed. Civilian casualties were highlighted in western media and the
world attention was drawn to Sri Lanka. Government did not disclose true
picture of either the civilian casualties or the casualties of the soldiers. The fact remains that there was a genuine
humanitarian issue.
When the international community started expressing
concerns of the situation, the Government reacted strongly and condemned and
labeled them as LTTE sympathizers and terrorists. Several UN dignitaries
visited the country and all of them were heavily criticized by responsible
Ministers of the Government. Politicians have taken over the function of the
diplomats.
This arrogant behavior aggravated the situation further
and I think that it was the turning point of the international support towards
Sri Lanka. Government unfortunately lacked the services of able diplomats.
When there were reports that so many civilians were
killed in the last stages of the war and LTTE leaders who wanted to surrender
were murdered, international community wanted an investigation. The best action
a sensible Government would have taken was to investigate the matter on its own
and take action against who were responsible. These types of things happen
during wars and the Governments should be transparent. Two previous
Governments, both SLFP, handled similar situations effectively. The first one
was Premawathi Manamperi case during the
time of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, a result of an incident happened during the
first JVP insurrection. The second one was Krishanthi Coomaraswamy case during the time of Chandrika
Kumaratunga, a result of an incident happened during the war with LTTE. In both
cases the two Governments displayed the courage to do the justice for the
aggravated parties.
Quite contrast to this approach, the present Government
in two previous occasions did not display the willingness to do the justice for
the victims. One incident was brutal killing of the students of Trincomalee and
the other was the killing of workers attached to an NGO.
The Government did not handle the Tamil population
effectively after the war and lost a golden opportunity to rebuild the nation
with the support of all the communities. The political solution much talked
about is yet to come and is going to be a mirage. After two years of ending the
war there is virtual military state in the North. Buddhist religious shrines
are erected in non- Buddhist areas and Tamil names in the North are being under
sinhalization. Tamils in this country would rate dignity over economic prosperity,
which fact is yet to be understood by the Government.
This whole scenario is supported by the ignorant majority
Sinhalese population who are intoxicated with pseudo patriotism. If they want to
know what true patriotism coupled with able statesmanship is, they should turn
to true heroes in the history of this country.
Two of these great personalities were Vijayabahu the Great and Dutugemunu.
About ten centuries back Vijayabahu the Great defeated
decisively the Chola imperialism prevailed in the region at that time. Having
defeated the Cholas, he defended the religious rights of the Tamils and more
importantly he communicated with the Tamils
in their own language, Tamil. The rock script written in Tamil at
Palamottai ( near Kanthale) describes a donation by a brahmin lady to Siva and the
script also dealt with the security given by troops of Velakkara . Commenting
on this, Dr.Paranavitana said that (E.Z.Vol iv) although the King had placed
his full strength to uplift Buddhism, he had not hesitated to patronize the
beliefs prevailed among his subjects.
Dutugemunu who ruled the country in second century BC built a tomb of Elara who was defeated by him and ordered everyone who passes by the tomb
should not use any mode of transport but walk as a mark of respect. Dutugemunu
understood very well that it was of paramount importance to win the hearts of
the defeated masses. Elara deserved this treatment by his very
conduct.
These were the actions and the practices adapted by the
true heroes of this country after facing similar situations we face now.
Sri Lanka should
win back the confidence of the West for one reason that it would be too
dangerous to lean too much towards China or for that matter towards the West or
India. Sri Lanka should not think in the type of attitude ‘Why can’t we if
Burma can do’. Burmese Generals who
ignored the international pressure for democracy are solely depending on China
and the country remains poor. We should
not forget that most of our markets are in the West and not in Asia. This would
be of paramount importance considering the post recession and post war
development.
The golden period of Sri Lanka in the field of foreign
relations was the time of Sirimao Bandaranaike. She knew how to balance the two
blocks of power prevailed at that time and Indian influence. In contrast to her
non- aligned foreign policy, her successor J.R.Jayawardene adopted a policy
which was lenient towards ‘friends’ and this was turned out to be
disastrous. Having very good examples in the past the
present regime should adapt the non-aligned foreign policy which is more
suitable for a small country like ours.
Sri Lanka had capable Generals to win the war but the
country did not have capable Diplomats to avoid the diplomatic war. Politicians
or defense personnel should not be allowed to step in to the shoes of the
diplomats. Having diplomats in the caliber of Generals or allowing Generals/
defense personnel to do the work of diplomats would be a
disaster.
(Unpublished article- written in September 2011)
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