{"id":95338,"date":"2019-11-18T18:52:49","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T00:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95338"},"modified":"2019-11-18T09:21:47","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T16:21:47","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/11\/18\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-pt-1\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY PT 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Eelam wars came to an end on\nMay 2009 with a humiliating defeat for the LTTE and a triumphant win for the\ngovernment. The entire world was amazed and surprised. None of the other\ncountries had been able to end such a war, said observers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nalin de Silva observed that Eelam War IV was undoubtedly a great\nvictory. The government of a small country had defeated a terrorist outfit\nsupported and sponsored by the western powers. Col.\nC.R.Hariharan said LTTE has been outwitted, out-gunned and out-strategized by\nthe Sri Lanka army. This must be accepted\u201d, he said.,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Dayan Jayatilleke said that by\ndefeating the Tigers so completely and utterly, Sri Lanka and its armed forces\nmade a contribution to regional and global security. \u2018We have got precious\nlittle thanks for making the region a little safer\u2019 he added. Gotabhaya\nRajapakse said that other countries facing terrorism should follow Sri Lanka.\nSri Lanka had shown that terrorism could be defeated.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts also noted that\nthroughout the thirty years of war, the government unfailingly delivered all\nessential services to the LTTE controlled areas in north and east. The\ngovernment paid salaries and pensions, ran the state schools, paid salaries of\nteachers and kept the state hospitals going. They did so through the Government\nAgents in the north, including GAs of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinharaja Tammita Delgoda says\none of the most striking things about Eelam War IV was the chorus of derision\nand condemnation in which the operation was conducted. No other fighting force\nhad faced this kind of ridicule during a campaign. Bogollagama noted that the\nwar was fought in an unhelpful and hostile background.  The army was winning, but it was publicly\nridiculed by a section of the political elite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there was considerable gratitude among the  Sinhala public for this victory. Those who\nwere affected by the LTTE attacks were especially grateful. When I was in\nTrincomalee some time ago, the owner of a tourist stall told me Madam, people\nwho live in Colombo do not understand  \nhow we suffered during LTTE rule. We slept in the jungle at night. When\na husband or child went out during the day, we could not be sure that they\nwould return. We are grateful to Mahinda Rajapaksa for ending the war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But after\nwinning the war, Rajapaksa government failed to\nconsolidate the win. Rajapaksa did not declare at any time that this was\na secessionist war, which was legitimately won by the Sri Lanka army. The\ngovernment stupidly took the position that the war was a “terrorist\nwar”, not a secessionist war. Despite the fact that the said terrorists\ncalled themselves, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam\u201d, indicating clearly that\nit was a separatist war. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahinda Rajapaksa stated\nrepeatedly that this war was not against the Tamil people, it was against the\nterrorists. Critics did not agree with Mahinda Rajapaksa. It was not terrorism.\nIt was   civil war, they said.Sri Lanka\nfought a just war by just means, they said.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eelam Wars were outright\ncivil wars.  They were secessionist wars,\nwith the purpose of dividing the island and setting up a new littoral (coastal)\nsovereign state.  The land area of future\nstate of Eelam started at Kalpitiya went northwards up to Jaffna, then down\npast Trincomalee, Batticaloa and ended at Ampara.  A \u2018friendly country\u2019 was ready and waiting in\nNew York, to get the new state recognized at the UN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics pointed out that Separatism\nis prohibited by law in Sri Lanka. The Sixth Amendment to Constitution of Sri\nLanka, which is also Act no 6 of 1983,  \nsaid that it was the duty of the state to safeguard the territorial\nintegrity of Sri Lanka.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 157A of the Constitution\nsaid that no person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka,\nsupport, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of\na separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.  No political party or other association or\norganization shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a\nseparate State within the territory of Sri Lanka. Any political party\nsupporting such an aim shall be proscribed and any MP unseated from Parliament\nand deprived of civic rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first thing  Mahinda Rajapaksa did after winning the war,\nwas to  let the UN in. the Eelam wars\nwere outside the scope of the UN, They were an internal matter. But President Mahinda Rajapaksa permitted\nUN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to visit as soon as Eelam War IV ended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moon arrived on 23.May 2009.  He visited the internally displaced persons\n(IDP) sites at Vavuniya and flew over the area near Mullaitivu, that was the\nscene of the conflict. He spoke with the President and senior officials. He\nalso \u2018consulted other relevant stakeholders, members of international\nhumanitarian agencies and civil society\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rajapaksa thereafter issued a\njoint statement with Moon. This statement  \ndid not make any reference to the praiseworthy victory of the government\nof Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka  did nto\ncongratulate itself. Instead, the statement spoke of violations of\ninternational humanitarian and human rights law.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The statement said, inter alia, htat  the government would work towards a lasting\npolitical solution.  The aspirations and\ngrievances of all communities would be addressed.  And a national solution acceptable to all\nsections of people will be evolved.  \nTo do so, the government would begin a broader dialogue with all\nparties, including the Tamil parties. It was a sort of pro-Eelam statement\nwhich implied that the government was in the wrong. The statement implied that\nthe government was at fault for creating a situation where the Tamils had to\ntake to arms. That Tamil Separatism was justified and should be   taken into consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thereafter, in May 2010 Rajapaksa appointed a Commission of Inquiry on\nLessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LRRC). The members of the\nLLRC were C. R. De Silva<\/a>, PC<\/a>\n(chairman)  Attorney General<\/a>\n(2007\u201309), Solicitor General<\/a>\n(1999\u20132007).  A. Rohan\nPerera<\/a>, PC<\/a>  former legal advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs<\/a>\nand  Chairman of the United Nations Ad\nHoc Committee on Comprehensive\nConvention on International Terrorism<\/a> and member of the International Law Commission<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karunaratne Hangawatte, Professor of Criminal Justice at the Department\nof Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Las Vegas<\/a> and\nformer consultant to the United Nations[<\/a> Chandl\nChanmugam, Secretary to the Treasury<\/a> (1987\u201388).,Manohari\nRamanathan ,former Deputy Legal Draftsman and former member of the Monetary\nBoard of Sri Lanka Maxwell Paranagama, former High Court Judge M. T. M. Bafiq,\nSenior Attorney at law and member of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.\nand H. M. G. S. Palihakkara<\/a>, former\nSecretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs<\/a> and\nformer Permanent Representative to the United Nations 2008-2009. Palihakkara\nhad trained in international human rights and humanitarian law at the Raul\nWallenberg Institute, Lund\nUniversity<\/a>, Sweden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee was asked to study the\ncircumstances that led to the failure of the Ceasefire Agreement and report on\nthe lessons learnt from the war thatwouldprevent recurrence.  They were asked to recommend the best way to\nmake restitution, and ways to promote national unity and reconciliation among\nall communities. The time period for the survey would be 21. February 2002 to\n19 May 2009. The report was completed in November 2011, tabled in the\nParliament and published in December 2011. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LRRC report was a gift to\nthe Tamil Separatist Movement. The conclusions of the LLRC report are now used\nexclusively by the Tamil Separatist Movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LLRC accepted that the North\nand East had issues that required addressing and that reconciling was needed to\nheal wounded Sri Lanka. It advocated demilitarization, vacating of all private\nand public land occupied by the security forces, solving of land ownership\ndisputes through special land commissions. It wanted the establishment of a\npolitically independent civil administration. The long standing Tamil\ngrievances needed to be provided with a political solution which included\ndevolving power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LLRC report also called for a comprehensive investigation into the\ncrimes of the LTTE, hitherto not undertaken, also to look at the accountability\nof the UN and international organizations. \nThey should be subject to scrutiny. These two recommendations of the\nLLRC have been ignored by the government and the Tamil Separatist Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of following up on the\nvictory and crushing the Tamil Separatist Movement, Rajapakse government took a\ndefensive approach after the war ended.  This was an invitation to the  Tamil Separatist Movement to take steps to\nerase the Eelam victory. This series examines the attempts made by the Tamil\nseparatist movement to do so. (continued) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Eelam wars came to an end on May 2009 with a humiliating defeat for the LTTE and a triumphant win for the government. The entire world was amazed and surprised. None of the other countries had been able to end such a war, said observers. Nalin de Silva observed that Eelam War […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}