Sri
Lanka's military is now killing Tamil civilians with abandon. Emboldened
by the manifest reluctance of international ceasefire monitors, leading
members of the international community and southern liberals to condemn
their actions, Sri Lanka's armed forces are abducting and killing people
with impunity. In the past two weeks alone, dozens of civilians have been
murdered by army and navy personnel who, amongst numerous other attacks,
abducted youth from a temple, rocketed rickshaws carrying revellers to a
birthday party and, this weekend, rampaged through residential parts of an
islet off Jaffna. Meanwhile, people suspected of supporting the Liberation
Tigers are being abducted and murdered or shot out of hand in the street.
The matter of extra-judicial killings was raised with reporters by
frustrated junior ceasefire monitors. "They [military] don't even try to
make things up," one said in disgust.
But the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is officially silent on the wave
of bloodletting unleashed by the military amongst the Tamils of the
Northeast. Indeed, the SLMM's new head, Ulf Henricsson, has focussed his
attention primarily on censuring the LTTE. This newspaper warned recently
that the SLMM had set a dangerous precedent by
withdrawing, under Colombo's hostile pressure,
its accusation that that
"government security forces have, in the north and the east, been involved
in extrajudicial killings of civilians." Regrettably, we were proven right
within days. Killings of civilians by the armed forces have escalated
sharply, particularly in Jaffna, but also in every other district of the
Northeast.
We also queried earlier, that if the international monitors are prepared to
retract their statements or abandon their 'convictions' simply because the
Sri Lankan state expresses its displeasure, then what purpose is served by
the SLMM? To monitor the LTTE alone? The answer, it seems, is yes. Despite
the widely reported, unabashed violence unleashed by the armed forces
against Tamil civilians, the SLMM seems more preoccupied with Colombo's
accusations against the Tigers.
Matters have not been helped by the undisguised contempt Mr. Henricsson
demonstrated for the LTTE in his wide-ranging comments to the press in the
recent past. Mr. Henricsson's job is to monitor breaches of the Ceasefire
Agreement (CFA), not pontificate on the character of the LTTE and its
leadership. Nor is it his brief to theorize on sovereignty or to interpret
international law. Those are matters, surely, for the negotiators of both
sides, if and when the so-called 'core issues' are taken up for discussion.
It is Mr. Henricsson's brief, however, to investigate and condemn the
violence unleashed against our people by the armed forces, amongst other
breaches of the CFA. His failure, indeed refusal, to do so has arguably
contributed to accelerating the cycle of violence.
The SLMM, however, is following the conduct of leading international actors
involved in Sri Lanka's 'peace process'. Amid very real fears that Sri Lanka
is slipping back towards a major conflict, the international community,
resolutely refusing to look at the localized dynamics of the 'shadow war'
(now, according to the SLMM a 'low-intensity war') are focused primarily on
pressuring one side, the LTTE. The Tamils have repeatedly argued that the
violence is a cycle, whose continuation stems from the actions of both
sides. But rather than condemn and pressure the Sinhala nationalist
government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, the international community is
instead praising Colombo and condemning the LTTE.
The wider framework of peace and political accommodation are irrelevant to
the Tamils now. Physical security is the only concern. Thus it is the
international community's continuing reluctance to rein in the Sinhala
leadership that is going to precipitate a major confrontation.
Some Tamils suspect the international community is
allowing Colombo a space to terrorise the rebellious minority into
pressuring the Tigers to be more accommodative. Such logic ignores the
history of the conflict. Indeed, Tamil media report a sudden flood of
recruits to the Tigers, rather than a flurry of petitions.
In the meantime, the impassive, implacable attitude of the international
community is eroding Tamil faith in international commitment to their
wellbeing. The feeling that the callousness demonstrated during the 'war for
peace' of the late nineties still hold, has gained widespread credence. This
is also contributing to belligerence amidst the terror. The CFA has been
described as the bedrock of the Norwegian peace process. This is not only
because it promoted a sense of security between the protagonists and Sri
Lanka's peoples, but because it provided a secure space in which communal
harmony and amity could grow. Both are fast disintegrating.
