Democracy Continues, Sri Lanka Style...

'President faces new opposition'
fears Sinhala owned Sri Lanka Sunday Times

10 December 2006

On Wednesday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa armed himself with a tough Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities laws under the State of Emergency to crack down on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It was propelled by Tiger guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's declaration that he would have no option but an independent state. It was fuelled by the failed guerrilla assassination attempt on his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary. He vowed that the fight against terrorism and national development would go hand in hand. Besides other reasons, some State officers, particularly in guerrilla-held areas had also asked for new laws so they could tell the LTTE they cannot heed some of the demands they are making.

Events moved at the speed of greased lightning after that Friday's abortive attempt on the life of the President's brother. A scheduled meeting of the Cabinet Ministers saw Ministers demanding stern action against the LTTE. The re-imposition of the ban was argued by some of them. On the sidelines, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) were long demanding the ban.

But now a year in power and in place, President Rajapaksa knows that he cannot allow indiscretions and he must temper his feelings with prudence and what he is permitted to do under the circumstances. The banning of the LTTE would automatically jettison the peace process, or what is left of it.

That same day, the President summoned senior officials of the Attorney General's Department to draft new laws that would give further powers to the Security Forces to stamp out terrorism, especially to flush out terrorists who have infiltrated into the capital city.

Initially, the decision was to strengthen existing Emergency Regulations, and to give life to the de facto moratorium on the use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, that went into dis-use with the signing of the 2002 CFA (Ceasefire Agreement) between the then UNP Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

By Saturday, it was agreed that there would be no ban on the LTTE, but that in a roundabout kind of way, anyone having involvement "with any terrorist organisation" would be caught up in the sweeping new amendments to the Emergency Regulations. For the first time, terrorism was defined under Sri Lanka law and the Government was straining to ensure that these new laws conformed to UN standards on combating terrorism and protecting national sovereignty.

As the weekend passed, the Government took one step back; it decided it would not yet re-introduce the PTA, banking on the new Emergency Regulations to provide the handle for the Forces to deal adequately with the crisis.

These laws were then brought before Cabinet once again on Wednesday and approved. Concurrently President Rajapaksa met Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Colombo-based Ambassadors, first the Asian and West Asian envoys and then the Western Ambassadors, including the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission) representatives.

Wickremesinghe had advised Rajapaksa not to bring in media censorship by way of these regulations, something Rajapaksa assured he was not doing. He was also told to keep a tab on the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, and not permit these new laws to exacerbate the situation.

Solicitor General C.R. de Silva PC was designated the spokesman for the Government on these new regulations when the President met the foreign envoys, and he was called upon to defend them before some gentle questioning, particularly by the Western diplomats. The SLMM representative asked him about the implications of the new laws and whether they were obnoxious vis-a-vis the CFA. De Silva argued that the new regulations only related to the Public Security Ordinance and did not apply to the PTA which was linked to the CFA.

If Rajapaksa was resolved to give the LTTE a firm response, he seemed equally resolved to come up with a set of devolution proposals to settle the national question. That is what India and the rest of the IC (International Community) have been nagging him with. Last Saturday, the All Party Representative Committee earmarked to produce a set of devolution proposals was in session to hear what the experts had to say. It so turned out that the panel of experts Rajapaksa had named were divided on what form this devolution would take.

The major group had formulated a set of proposals that would, in some instances, go far beyond what then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had offered. This group compromises Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan, Dr. Shivaji Felix, R.K.W Gunesekera, Asoka Gunewardene, Faisz Mustapha PC, Dr. A. Rohan Perera PC, Therese R. Perera PC, N. Selvakkumaran, Dr. K. Vigneswaran, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC and. M. S. Wickramasinghe.

Highlights of these recommendations ranged from asking that Sinhala and Tamil be made compulsory subjects for all Sri Lankan students sitting the GCE O/Levels, to restrict the Cabinet to 24 members (1/8th of the number in Parliament) to forming Provincial 'Governments'

There were others who were piqued by the move. They broke away from this Committee and formulated their own set of proposals. That came to be dubbed as Committee B. This Committee B comprised senior lawyers H.L. de Silva PC, Gomin Dayasiri and Manohara de Silva and Prof. G.H. Peiris. Their report was a dissenting report which provided a critique of the original Committee which was dubbed Committee A.

The Committee A report was not entirely unanimous on all matters, and the report is studded with remarks that such and such a Committee member expressed his "concern" on such and such an issue. (Please see page 16 excerpts of the Committee A report).

Last Wednesday, the main report was discussed first. Senior lawyer RKW Goonesekera went over his proposals clause by clause. He called the country Republic of Sri Lanka with a merged north-east. There was no concurrent list - the report basically says that the Concurrent List (subjects and functions of Government that over-lap to the arena of Central Government and Provincial Administration authority) be deemed to be subjects and functions of the Provincial List. The President's power to declare a State of Emergency was restricted.

There was also a suggestion to give the Plantation areas to a separate Council under a separate administration etc.
Committee B has slammed this as a move by the Committee A members to create "ethnic enclaves" in the country, and was strongly arguing for the need to create a Sri Lankan identity with areas (Provincial Councils) based on grounds other than ethnicity. They said that all of Sri Lanka should belong to all communities living in Sri Lanka.

After the presentation was done last Wednesday, at the APC, JVP's Wasantha Bandara asked whether the main report was formulated after considering public representations. RKW Goonesekera said "yes, we took public representation into consideration", but Gomin Dayasiri rebutted that by saying that not a single letter that came from the public was opened except for one from the controversial INGO Berghoff Foundation which had been offering many solutions to Sri Lankan problems from military conflict to political solutions, with a heavy accent on federalism as the panacea for the country's problems.

LSSP's Scientific Affairs Minister Tissa Vitharana was to say these matters could be discussed further. Views were also expressed by former presidential (President R. Premadasa) Secretary K.H.J. Wijayadasa , who together with former Prime Minister (Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike) Secretary M.D.D. Peiris also sent in a rejoinder to the findings of Committee A - and Committee B.

They were quoted as saying that both Committee reports were prepared "hastily" and "are rather sketchy and not comprehensive". Then, they have proceeded to give their own analysis of some of the salient findings of the two Committee reports, which now makes it that Rajapaksa has three reports to content with for the present.

JVP's politburo met on Thursday and felt the Government was in a crisis. In anger JVP's own newspaper Lanka had described the RKW Goonesekera proposals as those of the Government's. The politburo said the proposals went far beyond what ex-President Kumaratunga had offered, and the party should oppose it tooth and nail. They said this was a move by the President to please the IC (International Community).

The JHU had also sensed much earlier that all was not well. They met Rajapaksa on December 4 to raise these issues. The President reached out to the telephone and asked the Temple Trees operator to get Minister Tissa Vitharana on the phone. He was not available. Then he had wanted Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. He was contacted in Matara, and Rajapaksa asked if he knew what was happening with the Committee of Experts. Samaraweera was at a post-tsunami reconstruction ceremony where aid had come from Norway and where Norwegian special envoy Hanssen Bauer was to participate but was unable due to other commitments. Unfortunately, the Foreign Minister was unable to be of much help to the Head of Government.

When Rajapaksa asked whether a Foreign Ministry representative did not take part in the APC talks, the Foreign Minister replied in the affirmative and promised to check and revert. But Rajapaksa was impatient to find out and checked from elsewhere what developments were taking place with the Committee of Experts.

The Patriotic National Movement (PNM) had also summoned all its affiliate organisations for a meeting. They were discussing how to launch a protest. They said the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government had got stuck with the proposals and was not able to find a way out of the impasse.

That's another headache for President Rajapaksa now. The JVP-PNM-JHU combine is gearing to oppose any moves at devolving more powers than they think are necessary to appease the separatist cry for power-sharing. Rajapaksa might well look at the main Opposition United National Party (UNP) for a life-line.

The UNP is making passive noices from the sidelines. They are thanking their stars, or more pointedly, thanking Rajapaksa for having bailed them out of a situation when party rats were preparing to desert a wobbly ship and join hands with the Rajapaksa Government. The MoU they signed with Rajapaksa also helped them stabilise their own rudderless ship from crashing into the rocks at a time when a group was trying to veritably oust the party leader.

As a quid pro quo, the UNP had to give 'side-support' as the common party worker would say, to the Rajapaksa Government during the just concluded Budget debate.It is a remarkable statistic for people to know. The country's main Opposition's front-line leaders made the following contributions during the entire Third Reading debate in Parliament, i.e. when the votes of the 40-odd Ministries were debated and their monies passed.

Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe (not a single speech); Milinda Moragoda (not a single); Karu Jayasuriya (once), G.L. Peiris (once), Mahinda Wijesekera (once), Rajitha Senaratne (twice) and Ravi Karunanayake did well speaking thrice, with one adjournment motion on Mihin Lanka. It would seem that President Rajapaksa will now have to content with a new Opposition - the JHU-JVP-PNM combine politically, and of course, the LTTE, militarily.
 

Nowhere in the past has a Government faced the mounting twin threats together - one from a lesser known but potentially dangerous enemy from within and the other from a known and increasingly violent one from outside. Both have begun to shake the very edifice on which it stands.

As the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID), Police Department's arm to investigate terrorist activity, continues its probe into the conduct of an Army major, chilling details are unfolding. The man, by his own admission, had been selling intelligence and information to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for money.

The latest find - he received some two million rupees for providing detailed information on the movements of former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Major General (and posthumously promoted Lieutenant General) Parami Kulatunga. The Major lived in the same residential complex where the late Lt. Gen. Kulatunga lived at Kendalanda near the Army cantonment in Panagoda. That is not all. He videoed all movements of the former number three in the Army, his security convoy and made the footage available to the LTTE. That helped them plan the attack. On the fateful day when he became a victim to a deadly suicide bomb explosion, it is this Major who had allegedly reported on his movements.

Last week, The Sunday Times (Situation Report) revealed how the Army Major, who once served in Vavuniya (with the Army's 521 Division) came under close watch. This was after a tip off that he had developed connections with the LTTE. This watch continued after he was transferred to the Overall Operations Command, Colombo (OOC). The officer had confessed to receiving large amounts of money from the LTTE. He had given his brother Rs 500,000 to purchase a lorry. It has now come to light that the brother was aware the money had come from the LTTE. He had told the Army officer it would be a great embarrassment if the matter became public.

The Major had now confessed that he received some Rs 800,000 for providing information on Major (posthumously promoted Lieutenant Colonel) Tuan Nizam Muthaliff. Until recently, detectives of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were puzzled over how Lt. Col. Muthaliff's assailants knew his movements on the day he was shot dead, May 31 2005. This is because he lived deep inside a housing complex at Narahenpita allotted to Army officers. Hence, it was not possible for anyone to have watched his house to learn he was leaving without any escorts.

The Major was attached to the OCC as a Staff Officer. Thus, he was privy to all military operations and other security measures in the greater Colombo area. He had tipped off the LTTE on search operations in different areas including the City and provided details on other security preparations. It has now come to light that the Major had provided details including regular movements of two high ranking Army officers, one now holding a key position in Colombo.

The Major has confessed that the LTTE sought his help to obtain more intelligence and information on Douglas Devananda, leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and V. Anandasangaree, the former Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) parliamentarian, both of whom are bitter critics of the LTTE. This is particularly in respect of their movements and the areas they regularly frequented so assassination plots against them could be planned. He has disclosed that he was regularly reporting to LTTE's Trincomalee district intelligence leader whose nom de guerre is Niroshan.

The account of the Major in a Colombo bank has now been frozen. At the time this was done, a balance of over four million rupees had remained in his account. His lifestyle has been lavish and he is known to have regularly visited night spots. TID detectives are now probing reports that the disgraced officer had been involved in extortion rackets together with Army deserters. The officer's confession has also led to widening of the investigation to probe or check involvement of other officers who had been similarly helping the LTTE.

The Sunday Times learns that the Major will first be arraigned before an Army Court Martial. This is whilst TID inquiries are completed and charges are filed against him under existing laws for different offences. If found guilty before a Court Martial, the punishment for the offences related to treason (under the Army Act) is the death penalty. Other penalties in descending order of severity include rigorous imprisonment; simple imprisonment; detention for a term not exceeding three years; discharge with ignominy from the Army and dismissal from the Army.

Another Major in the Army, also found helping the LTTE with intelligence and information, is now being tried for treason by a five member Court Martial. This Major from an infantry unit was arrested four months ago for allegedly receiving money from the LTTE to help them. This Court Martial has already begun. It is now in recess and will resume next month.

It is not only members of the Security Forces that the LTTE had paid vast amounts of money to obtain intelligence and information. Once again, the focus of a major investigation has turned the spotlight on the Department for the Registration of Persons where some corrupt officials were involved in issuing fraudulent National Identity Cards (NICs). The Tiger guerrilla, who was killed in the December 1 assassination attempt on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had used one such forged NIC to pose off as a Muslim civilian. Some of the records relating to the issue of these NICs, which have turned out to be fraudulent, are now said to be missing from the Department.

The Government proposes to apply the recently introduced tough new Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations to deal with those helping the LTTE.

Gazetted on Wednesday (December 6), these Regulations under the Public Security Ordinance note that the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka continue to be threatened and endangered by acts of terrorism. However, it does not identify who is threatening and endangering it. It simply says it is "perpetrated by certain persons and organizations, particularly with the intent of seceding from the Republic and establishing a separate sovereign State in certain parts of the territory" of Sri Lanka. The Government action has sent shivers down the Karuna faction too.

Why did not the Regulations name the obvious, that the LTTE is threatening and endangering the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka? The Government, a high ranking source explained, "carefully avoided any reference to the LTTE" since that could be construed as a ban on the LTTE. "The Government officially remains committed to the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002. Hence, a reference to the LTTE would have created wrong impressions worldwide," the source, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, argued.

If that argument is correct, why then have the Regulations at all? This is by no means to say the Government's efforts to punish those helping the LTTE by providing intelligence and information and on various other matters is a wrong move. But leaving out the reference to the LTTE, for whatever reason, the Regulations appear to be a joke.

More so, after the events that followed the promulgation. In his widely televised address to the nation on Wednesday night, President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared, "These regulations will only defeat the fascist thinking of the LTTE." He repeated the reference again. Asserting that if, under whatever pressure the LTTE honestly comes for talks with us, he said, we have no need to shut the door. Then he added, "We believe that these new regulations will clear the path for the LTTE to legally enter into the democratic stream." Thus, President Rajapaksa has expressly declared what the Regulations avoided - naming the LTTE.

The Free Media Movement (FMM) warned in a statement on Thursday, the new Regulations may result in censorship, the violation of human rights, restrict the space and ability of civil society to engage in conflict transformation and the further erosion of media freedom.

The FMM acknowledged that prevention of terrorism is a legitimate aim of any democratic government, and legally defining terrorism and specified terrorist activities attracting a penal sanction in principle is justified and necessary. However, FMM expressed concern that the new Regulations, which are in addition to those already in operation, attempt to define terrorism in broad terms and in their enactment, potentially post a serious threat to democratic governance and fundamental rights. It noted that some of the provisions are couched in very wide language allowing for the "possible criminalisation of a range of democratically legitimate activities including the role of the media and civil society."

Some of the broad provisions in the Regulations tend to place constraints on reportage and comments. I am therefore compelled to be restrained on some issues which are otherwise of public interest and importance.

There is also an element of uncertainty over the continued enforcement of the new Emergency Regulations. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is disappointed that there was no ban on the LTTE and the re-enforcement of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). They had staged a public agitation campaign to force the Government to take these measures. The matter figured at Thursday's politburo meeting of the JVP.

Earlier, there were hopes of a re-enforcement of the PTA.

President Rajapaksa in his address to the nation on Wednesday night said, "The Cabinet of Ministers has decided to implement the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act as well as a large number of other regulations…" However, on Friday defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella declared that the powers of search and arrest under the PTA, on which there was a moratorium under the Ceasefire Agreement would remain. But, such powers and arrest by the Security Forces and the Police have now been brought under the new Emergency Regulations. The move is to obviate criticism that the Government had re-written the CFA.

The JVP has decided it would closely watch how the new Emergency Regulations were being enforced. If they are not happy, they are to vote against it when the State of Emergency comes up for approval before Parliament. The main opposition United National Party (UNP) will also watch how the Regulations will work but for different reasons. This week, UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe asked President Rajapaksa during a meeting whether the new Regulations included censorship. The President said there was no such censorship. However, legal experts in the UNP are of the view that the provisions are so far and wide that the media could easily be roped in if they do not "play ball" with the Government. If for some reason these two parties are not satisfied, it may see the two sides getting together to vote against.

There was such a rapport between the UNP and the JVP in Parliament this week that the two sides decided not to press for electoral reforms immediately. This is until such time the security and political situation in the country stabilizes. The move followed a request by UNP's Joseph Michael Perera to JVP Parliamentary Group leader, Wimal Weerawansa. The latter agreed to meet Mr. Wickremesinghe within minutes after the request was made in the lobby. He met in the company of Anura Dissanayake. Mr. Perera, a former Speaker was associated with the UNP leader.

The new Emergency Regulations seeks to explain that it originated primarily from the LTTE Leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran's Maveerar (Great Heroes) Day address on November 27. That was of course speeded by the assassination attempt on the Defence Secretary. Mr. Prabhakaran declared "the uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us (the LTTE) with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam." The preamble to the Regulations noted that persons and organizations involved in terrorist acts may "establish a separate State" and "unilaterally declare" their purported independence from Sri Lanka.

It is true that the LTTE has not formally or publicly shifted from its position of expressing commitment to a separate State of "Tamil Eelam." Even in his address, Mr. Prabhakaran declared that the LTTE had postponed its "freedom struggle" to find a "peaceful resolution." As for a unilateral declaration, it is a far cry. In the past years, the LTTE has scrupulously avoided such a declaration though it became a pastime for some sections of the intelligence community to forecast it annually. The LTTE is aware, without the backing of a single country in the world; a formal declaration of independence would be a recipe for great disaster.

Such a formal declaration would give the strong licence to the Government to urge the civilians to move out of guerrilla held areas, place a blockade of all supplies and launch a massive military campaign. Such a move would receive even international endorsement since the Government would, in such a situation, be engaged militarily to deal with a formal declaration to divide the country. There is no country that has not pledged its support to Sri Lanka's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

But the Government's measures assume more significance in the light of recent developments. Even if some Government leaders wished to hide it, the hardening of the Government position came after the attempt on the life of the Defence Secretary. On hand in Colombo to witness the development was Norway's envoy to the peace process, Jon Hanssen-Bauer.

He was asked to put off his visit to Kilinochchi scheduled for Tuesday. The go-ahead signal came only on Thursday. Together with Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, he flew to Vavuniya on Friday morning.

Returning to Colombo in the evening, they first reported to Peace Secretariat Secretary General Palitha Kohona. Mr. Bauer said he had conveyed the three requests placed by Dr. Kohona to LTTE Political Wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan. They were (1) Allow some 4,000 private traders in the (Government-controlled) Jaffna peninsula to operate and sell whatever they wanted without intimidation; (2) To seek an immediate LTTE response to the Government proposal to send a convoy of urgent relief supplies through A-9 route and the Muhamalai checkpoint to Jaffna; (3) An immediate response to the Government proposal to create a safe haven for Internally Displaced Persons in Vakarai.

Mr. Bauer told Dr. Kohona that the first two requests were promptly rejected by Mr. Thamilselvan. Hence, he had not placed the third. He also explained the same matter to Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. Associated with him was advisor H.M.G.S. Palihakkara and acting Foreign Secretary Geetha de Silva.

The Norwegian team heard complaints from Mr. Thamilselvan that the Security Forces were planning a major military offensive in the East. He also responded to questions on LTTE “commitment” to the Ceasefire Agreement by accusing that the Government had made it defunct. He had said that the LTTE was ready to adhere to the CFA if the Government abided by it and unconditionally re-opened A-9 Kandy-Jaffna highway and the access road to Vakarai (via A-15). The Government, it was clear yesterday, will not heed both LTTE demands.

In fact President Rajapaksa said in his address to the nation that A-9 was closed after the LTTE sent a message "through its website asking that 50,000 coffins be readied for the Sri Lankan troops." He said "we did not close the A-9 completely but only at Muhamalai," the only land-based gateway to Jaffna.

A disappointed Mr. Bauer left Colombo yesterday morning. Norway's role as a facilitator in the peace process has shrunk so much there is little political space left for it to restore peace talks. Mr. Bauer is to consult Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim on the next step. This week Mr. Solheim spoke on the telephone with President Rajapaksa. But that was to express his concern over the assassination attempt on President's brother and Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

An LTTE statement after Bauer-Thamilselvan talks in Kilinochchi appeared an extension of Mr. Prabhakaran's address. It said, among other matters, that the "final straw that appears to have broken the back of the CFA is the introduction of new regulations under the Public Security Ordinance, which is the old PTA under a new cloak.

The statement also criticised Norway and the international communituy for "encouraging the Rajapaksa government on its genocidal programme" and warned that "a military solution will steadily push the island into monumental irrecoverable state of destruction." The LTTE statement appears to be once again seeking "justification" for what it may be planning.

But President Rajapaksa appears to have provided the answer even before the statement was issued. He said in his address to the nation that "the anti-terrorist struggle and the development of the country should be a parallel process." He declared that "I am not ready to carry on the lament that the North East crisis will weaken our development activities. Similarly, I am not ready to make excuses before you that this crisis is an obstacle in our pursuit of national development."

So, the LTTE has spoken of "irrecoverable state of destruction." President Rajapaksa has pledged to continue the anti terrorist struggle. It is only a matter of time for the transition now. That from an undeclared Eelam War IV to a declared one with greater ferocity.