No victor has ever been tried before a War Crimes Tribunal
Foreign Secretary and newly appointed Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Palitha Kohona speaks to Hard Talk about the new challenges facing the country following the defeat of the LTTE.
There’s now evidence that KP not only procured arms for the LTTE but for other illegal and terrorist organizations in the world.
Q: The Sri Lankan government very successfully carried out the capture of the man called ‘Asia’s biggest human right’s violator’, this is seen largely as a positive direction in weakening the LTTE global network. How useful has the information received from him turning out to be in this process?
The capture of KP was certainly a major boost for the government. Now we have in our custody the man who succeeded Prabhakaran to the leadership of the LTTE and the one who had access to the LTTE’s criminal network. The LTTE had a major illicit trading empire which included drug running, gun running and people smuggling. KP was both in the centre of this as well as the major procurer of arms for the LTTE. There’s now evidence that he, not only procured arms for the LTTE but for other illegal and terrorist organizations in the world. So capturing KP was a major blow to the LTTE, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that its overseas structure has been crippled. There are many other elements who work for the LTTE and are still roaming around especially in the western countries. We have information on them and we hope to work with friendly governments in order to bring those persons within the law. As long as these persons remain free the LTTE’s criminal network will continue to function where intimidation, illegal fund raising and extortion will continue to flourish. So it is important to bring these other criminals also to book as soon as possible.
Q:As the Chief Arms dealer KP under Prabhakaran was also in charge of setting up and coordinating the LTTE overseas branches. And as the man behind the raising of funds, buying arms and shipping them so successfully, for a large part of the group’s military his contribution for the growth of the LTTE is not small. In your opinion how serious a crime are these and what form of legal action would you ideally see taking place against him?
Some of these things he’s alleged to have done are criminal activities, and therefore the full force of the law will have to bear on him. But I will leave the details to the more competent, to deal with the legal aspects.
Q:Would you say there was a change in the attitude of the global intelligence agencies following the defeat of the LTTE in Sri Lanka?
At certain times we ourselves were a little confused about the attitude of certain countries, especially certain friendly countries, because we couldn’t understand the vehemence with which they appeared to want to rescue the remnants of the LTTE, forgetting that this country had suffered for 27 years from terrorism. There wasn’t a single day in those years when a child could go to school without the parents fearing for their safety or people to work without worrying if they will return alive. Terrorism was pervasive in this society and the LTTE was at the root of it. Here we were on the verge of eliminating this group and certain countries were calling for a cessation of hostilities ostensibly to save the civilians. But the government itself succeeded in saving the vast majority of the civilians without much harm coming to them, despite the fact that it was the LTTE that had herded those civilians as a human shield. So this did cause some consternation in our ranks and we still do not understand the motive behind this. I find it very difficult to believe that it was only the humanitarian angle for the simple reason that the government’s clearly stated goal was to save the people who were held hostage by the LTTE. In any other situation I’m sure the world would have supported without any hesitation what the government was doing. But in this case there was all this ambivalence which caused us much confusion. But thankfully that episode is over and the great majority of the people held hostage are rescued and they are in government care and the LTTE is no more. Our goal now is to re-establish our relations with all the countries with whom we had enjoyed good relations in the past. We will work at it and will try to explain the reasons for what we did and when we did it. Again I must underline the fact that this country suffered from terrorism for a long time and our goal was to end that suffering. You can already see the results; just beyond here there are children playing on the Galle Face Green once again. When was the last time we saw that. I think the transformation brought about by the proactive policy adopted by the government in dealing with the LTTE has borne fruit already within a short period and I’m sure all the other issues that people are criticising us for will be resolved in the same manner.
Q:Are you saying that the pressure brought about by some of these countries have lessened now?
I think the pressure by and large is much less now, but I get the impression that some elements are trying to scratch that old wound and continue to seek to rectify whatever they failed to do, in the days leading up to the end of the conflict. We have seen the latest report by the Amnesty International which is so replete with inaccuracies. It is almost unbelievable. The way that they have compiled that report, and the manner in which an alien cultural framework has been imposed to pass judgment, have got their facts wrong, and also concocted certain facts and situations, make me wonder where this Amnesty International has gone. It used to be a respected organization.
Q:So who is really at fault in that aspect? Is it the failure of our own Missions in those countries that have failed to counter the propaganda that have so successfully come out of the LTTE funded members of the Tamil Diaspora?
I think there is a combination of factors. First and foremost there are those in the West who still feel that Asians and Africans can’t get anything right without their assistance. I have to be very blunt about it, I’ve lived in the West for 25 years and I do understand their thinking. So when we did not respond to their views I think there was a feeling of being let down, so that feeling of disenchantment continues. Secondly the LTTE and its apologists have continued to feed a certain line to the liberal minded Westerners. And they have very happily adopted this line because the liberal mindset is intrinsically inclined towards the ostensible underdog. They tend to champion the causes of the oppressed and the discriminated or even ostensibly discriminated. So this was a happy combination of circumstances for the LTTE. The LTTE’s stories were happily lapped up by certain elements of the liberal west.
Then thirdly, of course we have to work hard as a government and as a Foreign Ministry to convey our message to these elements in the West. And when we say we I should not limit this just to the Foreign Service. The LTTE has no Foreign Service but it does manage to get its message very successfully to the West. There are thousands of Sri Lankans in the West who appear to be happy to leave everything to the government. There are of course others who have worked tirelessly on behalf of the country despite living abroad. We need to get our message across to the world in a much more organized and consolidated manner so that the disinformation continuing to be propagated by the LTTE and its sympathizers can be nullified to some extent. As I said before the current mindset is a result of a combination of factors and not a result of one single element.
Q:Analysts believe that with the intelligence developed by debriefing K.P., the Sri Lankan government should be able to dismantle the entire international network of the LTTE. But would you say enough is being done by your representatives in these countries to nab the LTTE fund collectors and ensure that they are either prosecuted or extradited to Sri Lanka for trial?
It is never enough. We are working hard but we need to do more because there are times when your best is not enough. We have those working here very hard, doing late hours, and I do know that our missions diligently do as they are asked to do and work very hard but we still need to do more to ensure that the remnants of the LTTE are not allowed to gain life and rid the world of this scourge.
Q:How much harder is this task made with the refusal by certain countries to support your work? Would you say this has also been a contributing factor?
The vast majority of the countries supported our work solidly and we received absolutely and unqualified support from countries like India, Pakistan, China and Russia and the Asian region and some further afield, not just to support our task but also in the Human Rights Council. The Sri Lankan resolution won handsomely in the UN Council and those who championed the opposite view were disgraced literally. There was a clear message sent to the international community that Sri Lanka’s cause was not something to be sneered at but applauded. And that message went across very clearly from the Human Rights Council and I hope this message is heard ad taken seriously by those concerned.
Q:How much a concern would these calls of being tried for war crimes etc be today as opposed to the pressures the government felt during the UN resolution?
I think these are misguided messages for the simple reason that if you look at the history of war crimes there isn’t one instance where a winner of a war has been tried before a Tribunal. They have always been set up for losers. And if you were to take winners then the start would have to be taken elsewhere. Sri Lanka did not drop atom bombs or destroy entire cities during the war. I think these are just misguided and it is far better if we left these emotional comments aside and get back to rebuilding our society and reconciling our people and getting back to life.
Q:Similar arrests are expected of LTTE activists in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, India and even in Scandinavia and very likely also in Norway in the coming year. What special difficulties do you foresee especially in the Scandinavian countries given their continued support towards the LTTE? How can you ensure that these countries are no longer made safe havens for senior LTTErs?
We will continue to work with them. I would never say there was no support. I wouldn’t say that the LTTE was ever endorsed by Norway; they were the acknowledged facilitator of the peace talks and their argument was that as facilitator it was not in a position to take sides. Our goal it to get all our friends on board to get back to our old friendships before terrorism raised its head.
Q:A statement issued by US Assistant Secretary of State Bob Blake following a meeting with the Tamil Diaspora in the US, had gone on to recommend that the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil diaspora community in America should ‘engage one another on political reconciliation and reconstruction’. What in your opinion is the necessity to ‘engage’ the Tamil diaspora in the US when the more practical approach would have been to directly engage in talks with the Tamils living in Sri Lanka’s North and East? Is this a situation that the government is comfortable with?
I have my own views on that. The government has engaged expatriate Tamils in a very constructive manner. The government in February brought in a representative group of Tamils with whom we had a dialogue for 2 days. We continue to do that. Every time the Foreign Minister or I go overseas we make it a point to talk to Tamil representatives, especially in countries where there is a large concentration of Sri Lankan Tamils. We continue to do that in the hope that we may win back as many of our people. Our approach has succeeded to a great deal. Today we have many Tamils inquiring about investing in Sri Lanka about recovering their lost properties. I learnt from the BOI recently that there are 31 buildings coming up in Colombo all being built by expat Tamil people. Our efforts to engage them is certainly bearing fruit. Of course there is an element that will continue to harbour hatred towards Sri Lanka. They were the militants, who supported the LTTE and terrorized their own people to collect funds for the LTTE. Today there is no reason for their existence so they will continue to exert unnecessary pressure. So my response to Ambassador Blake is that we will continue to engage the Tamils and we hope that may will return. They may not all come here to live.
The other point s that there is this thinking that all our problems can be solved by applying a political solution. I fail to see the logic behind this. Every successive government tried such a political solution but each approach was rejected by the LTTE. When we know through experience that every effort failed not through a failure to try but despite all efforts it is a little superficial to suggest that a political solution will solve all our problems. So I’m not particularly convinced about this approach.
The suggestion appears to be that there is a problem with the Tamil people. Again I don’t subscribe to that. The problem was with the LTTE and not the Tamil speaking people. If there were a problem with them why have 54% of the entire Tamil speaking people of this country migrated to Sinhala speaking areas? They did it on their own. If they had a problem why did they voluntarily come to these areas? I think it is a wrong construction to assume that the problems in Sri Lanka were constructed of some political vacuum.
If we can treat all people with dignity and give everyone equal opportunity we don’t have to worry about the political solution. Anyway where are we going to apply this solution? Are we going to do that to the 54% of those living in and around Colombo or those in the North and East? In the North the entirety of the Tamil population is 750,000. There were 300,000 in the Wanni area who are now in the camps. There’s no one outside the Wanni area. The total number in the Jaffna peninsula is miniscule compared to the rest of the island. I think it is easy to suggest that a political problem will solve, when, even if we have problems, they are certainly not in an political form. Like in every other country people have problems with job opportunities or getting children to school etc. We need to address them but not through an ethnic approach but by giving everyone an equal opportunity.
Q:Then how should we treat the All Party Representative Committee process that is seeking such a solution?
The APRC process was begun to look at certain changes to the Constitution. These will be changes that will have the endorsement of the bulk of the political spectrum of the country. That was the objective behind setting up the APRC so that the government could carry the vast majority of the people with it with the changes envisaged. We made the mistake in the past of trying to impose the solution from the top. But on this occasion President decided that any changes would carry the majority support.
Q:The Indian High Commissioner’s message in Colombo on the occasion of the Independence Day conveyed that a "broad-based political settlement" of the ethnic conflict would enable the Rs.500-crore relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation package for the displaced. Does this mean the relief and reconstruction package would come only when a broad based political settlement is in place?
I don’t think. India has been very supportive of our issues. We are confident of this support. Their own suggestion is that we should implement the 13th amendment. And the President has said he will. I don’t think India has gone beyond that in their discussions.
Q: How do you see the continued ‘concern’ shown by the international community towards the situation of the IDP’s?
The cross party delegation from the House of Commons publicly said that these camps were better than they had seen elsewhere. I think its phenomenal that we have been able to provide housing, food and medical care within such a short period. This achievement can’t be compared with any other situation in the world. Outsiders are just finding new reasons for finding fault with us. The latest is the rains. Of course the conditions would deteriorate. When the government asked the international agencies in paving the paths and roads in the camps they refused on grounds that these would be converted to permanent camps. Today the same agencies are complaining that the roads are unusable. The same with the lavatories. They will continue to criticize us because they’re determined to continue that bitterness and hatred.
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