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Human Rights, War and Peace
NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY
"A respected senior citizen of Batticaloa observed: ‘It is like having the Taliban upon us. The administration of this place was soon bound to crack up. It cannot take much more.’ Another elder familiar with the rural areas roared with indignation: ‘The (Tamil) papers have become masters at lying without any stirrings of conscience. They pretend that the conscription is not taking place. They may be doing it to get some favours. But you must go to the villages to see the utter misery, terror and the helplessness.’….. The immense power of the local leaders in seeing all and sundry cringe before them has gone to their head…Enjoying immense power in a politically bankrupt organisation has led to an open manifestation of narrow prejudices, some of which are encouraged."
The above may sound like an assessment of the current situation in the East. But in fact it was from a report from the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) dated May 2002, written a few months after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the LTTE and the then Government of Sri Lanka. In their report, they have detailed violations of human rights - the abductions, killings, extortions and child conscriptions – by the LTTE and taken the state authorities to task for turning a blind eye by claiming that no complaints had been lodged. Six years after the report was written and with the actors having changed roles, we have a repeat of the 2002 scenario.
The LTTE’s strategy and dismal record
Take another quote from the UTHR report: ‘Rhetoric may be explained away. But taken along with the total picture, the direction is unambiguous. Some further aspects are revealing. It was only when the US delivered its warning to the LTTE on 11th March that it realised that the peace process was tying it down to an extent not anticipated. Taking alarm, the LTTE tried playing India against the US. The US was reprimanded at Pongu Thamil and in the media and the Uthayan (newspaper) appealed to India not to let go its legitimate influence to the US by keeping out...
For reasons well known, the Sri Lankan State has a problem of legitimacy among the Tamil people. However, secession was never the best possible answer. Today the Tamils seek escape from the politics of secession that began as a gimmick and turned fascist. The LTTE has demonstrated that a singular obsession with destructiveness can break up a country with ease. By comparison, keeping a country together means good governance and a readiness to solve problems promptly. This country has for some time suffered from non-governance.’
The UTHR Special Report No 13 titled ‘Towards a Totalitarian Peace – The Human Rights Dilemma’ is a devastating expose of the LTTE’s violation of human rights with impunity, despite having signed the MoU, in terms of which it was required to act in accordance with international law and to abstain from hostile acts against the civilian population. Critiquing the other parties to the MoU for condoning these systematic violations by the LTTE, the report warns that the final outcome would be determined by relative destructive power with little reference to justice. Such a peace would become a preamble to a larger tragedy.
Good Governance
‘It is perfectly legitimate to harness the war-weariness of the people to imbue them with a vision of peace with justice and generosity to all. That is how it often works. If that were the intention, the present peace process is inherently misdirected. Placing the Tamil community under an interim administration ruled by the LTTE’s iron fist would inevitably dissipate the potential towards that desirable end.’ Our political leaders never learn the lessons of past failures. To them, the LTTE supremo is now rightly persona non grata. But in a self-defeating manner, they instead put forward leaders of other similar fascist groups that also indulge in abductions, killings, extortions, etc (despite their public pronouncements of having transformed themselves into democrats) to rule the Tamil and Muslim communities. Ground realities are known to the people in the North and East and attempts to white-wash these fascists do not pay. Good governance requires an adherence to human rights and to the democratic rights of the people. If the Government is serious about liberating the people of the North and East from fascism, then they need to win the confidence of the civilian population. This cannot be done by rhetoric that denies the sufferings they face. The assistance of the civil society and the international NGOs is essential. Abusing them and intimidating them into silence may be self-satisfying but serves only to prolong the agony of the country and its people.
Adopting human rights in practice
In May 2003, a year after the UTHR report referred to earlier, a group of fifteen local NGO leaders (and who are still active in civil society) issued a statement calling for an affirmation by all parties to the MoU that they were committed to the protection of human rights. As in the case of the UTHR, we quote from this statement because we believe that in today’s context, the concerns expressed then, when the protagonists were somewhat different, are still very relevant and valid. The statement stated:
"We note that the statement issued at the conclusion of the (fourth session of the peace talks in Thailand) indicated the apparent lack of commitment by the two parties and their Norwegian facilitators to making meaningful human rights protection an integral part of the peace process in the interim period prior to a final constitutional settlement. We are perturbed that the two parties have still not made a clear and public commitment that they will be bound by these norms in verifiable and effective ways. We believe that no peace in Sri Lanka be either just or sustainable in the absence of strong and effective protection of the full set of fundamental civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as recognised in a broad range of internationally accepted covenants.’ The statement went on to call upon the two parties (LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka) to commit themselves to a comprehensive and binding human rights document, and for them to agree explicitly to an effective monitoring mechanism. The group were also concerned by an inadequate protection of the rights of children. The statement concluded by calling on all the parties involved, including the international donors, to ensure that meaningful human rights protection was adopted in practice as an integral part of Sri Lanka’s peace process.
Incidentally, this statement, the UTHR report and many other statements on these lines disprove the oft-repeated criticism that the local civil society and the international community were not concerned with human rights violations during the short-lived peace process following the signing of the 2002 MoU.
Expatriates and Peace
The Sinhala and Tamil diaspora appear to have no compunction in queering the pitch for civilians in Sri Lanka to live in peace and harmony. Demonstrations in foreign cities may serve the egos of individuals. But they are relatively harmless, even if they make a spectacle of themselves in the eyes of others in their adopted countries. But the greater harm is done by the diaspora who manage and operate news websites. Very often, they distort news, state blatant falsehoods and malign people who have no real right of reply. All this is done obviously with personal agendas, to curry favour with the "right" people who can repay them with favours and/or to destroy perceived enemies who do not fit into their agendas.
Suing these gutter journalists is beyond the means of local individuals or the local civil society. These operators know that and therefore continue their brand of disgraceful journalism with impunity. We can only treat them with the contempt they deserve.
