5. The Lankan Conflict-1

Today my post is on a forgotten war ... the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The Tamils in the North and East are long suffering due the war fought by the Liberation Tigers with the Sri Lankan Government for regional autonomy and power-sharing in these two tamil-dominated areas. The Sri Lankan Government has till today not offered a viable solution to the problem! The International Communities of United States, Britain, Norway and Japan who have promised aid have not been able to force the warring parties to a settlement.

By reading carefully this interview you would get an idea of the thinking of a President and the reasons for the failure to find a solution to the conflict.

The Conflict Very Briefly:

30 years of war; 70,000 killed on both sides; no solution in sight; the electoral parties elected by the Sinhalese and the Tamils to form governments successively, on the election promise of a solution, have cheated the people all the time.

>Ethnic tensions first surface after independence in 1948
>Tamil minority make up 12 per cent of island's 20m population
>They complain of discrimination from strengthening Sinhalese nationalism
>Decades of protest erupted into civil war in 1983
>Up to 70,000 have died in fighting, both sides accused of atrocities
>Ceasefire in 2002 led to period of relative peace
>Rebel attacks surged in late 2005, intensified fighting since and renewed calls for Tamil state

The following is a transcript of an interview between Al Jazeera’s 101 East presenter Teymoor Nabili and Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka:

Teymoor Nabili: Mr President, the Tamil Tigers launched their first attack against your government and against the Sri Lankan people only weeks after you came to power. Why do you think it was, that after so long of adhering to the peace plan, they suddenly decided to start attacking again?

President Mahinda Rajapaksa: They would have thought it was a weakness of mine, that I could be defeated. That was a good opportunity for them to establish a separate state. They would have believed that.

Is it possible that for Prabhakaran, war or continuing conflict is actually a preferred option because only by convincing the northern population that they were under attack can he convince them to support his movement. If there were no attacks from the government the population would lose the need for his command ?

Like I said before, he thought that we were weak, that the state is weak, that he is strong. But now, he has come to a point, where he has accepted that. He has lost the east. Prabhakaran does not represent the aspirations of the Tamil people. What he represents, is the interests of a small group, not the needs of the Tamil people. The Tamil people do not want a war, they want peace. The government does not need a war, the government wants peace.

Is there any level of dialogue at all between your government and the LTTE right now?

Actually, at present there are no talks at any level. As a government we cannot have talks. We say that we are ready for talks always.

You don’t see any value in dialogue?

We are always ready for talks. Always, even today. Even while the fighting goes on, I am ready for talks. Even being armed, the way they are behaving today, we are ready to go forward.

When you say you are prepared to talk, you are prepared to instigate, to initiate dialogue?

Definitely, if the LTTE is ready. [It takes] two hands to clap.

Have you made the offer?

I am ready if Prabhakaran is ready. We have said that very clearly. I am ready, but I am not prepared to kneel before the terrorism of the LTTE. I have said that many times. If I am attacked, I will counter attack. That is what we have done at every occasion.

We have then, a face-off. How does one get around what seems to be an intractable problem?

Actually in this instance, and at every other instance we have said, come and commence talks with us, we are ready. We have offered a political solution to the people. Along with the political solution, we are prepared to talk. But what the LTTE wants, to keep their arms and divide the country into two. That I cannot allow.

Do you think the Sri Lankan people would rather see a victory against the Tamil Tigers or a peace agreement with the Tamil Tigers?

The people have been battered by the LTTE for many years. It has come to a point where the LTTE cannot be trusted. If the people are asked, they will say, defeat the LTTE and talk. But I am ready to talk with the LTTE. From the other side, this question is a question not faced in any other country. Where a head of state asks Prabhakaran to talk.

So you are saying that you think the Sri Lankan people would prefer a defeat of the LTTE first?

First. Opinion polls seem to suggest that peace is much more important to the Sri Lankan people. For the people, LTTE, peace - the people want peace, that is the truth, without defeating the LTTE, without defeating the terrorism of the LTTE. There is no politics in this. There is a political side and terrorism here. This is a terrorist group. The people are aware that as long as a terrorist organisation exists, that negotiations will not be successful. They are making use of the negotiations to strengthen themselves, to bring in arms. This is a historical fact, historically because the people have been battered. Today we have to be very careful.

So let me be clear on this: what you’re saying is that there must first be military victory and then peace talks?

No. That is not what I hope for. Until the terrorists are weakened, they will not come for talks. As long as they think they are strong, they will try to break up the country. Today, what we hope is to fulfil the aspirations of the Tamil people.

What do you mean by weakened? At what point will you accept that the Tamil Tigers are weakened because it’s now been almost a year of …

Even under today’s circumstances. Clearly said, what the people expect. But what I expect is not that. I said that even today I am ready to negotiate, very clearly. My argument is that terrorism has to be got rid off. We cannot kneel down to that. I am not prepared to kneel down to their arms capability. But I am committed to ensuring the rights of the Tamil people. That I will achieve, somehow.

I apologise, I am not really following you. You say that terrorism must be defeated but you don’t want, you don’t think that a military victory is necessary?

Absolutely, a victory is essential against terrorism. That is a different story. But because we need to meet the aspirations of the Tamil people, I am prepared to go for talks, with the terrorists. I have come to that point. Has any other world leader said that?

Could you then describe a situation under which both those things can be achieved – defeat of the terrorists and representation of the Tamil people? What I am struggling to understand here is if the defeat of terrorism is a key element of your strategy and yet dialogue is also a key element of your strategy. How do you see those two working together? Which comes first and how do you proceed?

Now, we tried to talk at the beginning. While keeping their arms, we were prepared to talk. When we went to Geneva; they killed innocent people. Even while they were killing, I negotiated. I think, if you were to compare with other countries, you will see a difference. In other countries there will be no negotiations. But, we have been prepared, we have negotiated, we have shown that we are genuinely ready to do that. But they must give up terrorism. They must enter a democratic framework. Without that, that is what we expect to achieve through negotiations. It was clear during our negotiations with them, that they have no interest in negotiating because they believe they can win this war, that they can divide this country into two. That is their strong belief, Prabhakaran’s belief.

Second part of interview will be posted tomorrow.