LTTE made mistakes says Anti War expert

Dr. Kumar Rupasinghe an anti-war expert and a rights activist and Chairman of the Foundation for Co-Existence claimed that the LTTE made a big mistake when it tried to use civilians as a human shield to pressure the international community to intervene in Sri Lanka. However the government was able to defeat their objectives.
Speaking to media in Colombo Dr.Rupesinghe said at present the government has a vital responsibility to resettle the IDPs within its 180 days programme.
"I think it will take more time," said Dr.Rupesinghe.
Commenting on the present welfare facilities for IDPs he said the government has many challenges when it comes to providing food, water, sanitation and shelter. Much has to be done.
Dr.Rupesinghe said he always worked for the rights of the Tamils but he is not a LTTE supporter. "I abhor their terrorist methods and the use of violence to achieve their objectives. I doubt if these methods brought freedom to their people but misery". I did argue for a negotiated settlement and campaigned against the war but I realised that the LTTE was not seriously interested in negotiations.
Replying to media he said no liberation movement should use civilians an instrument of war. This act was horrendous for it was the biggest hostage crisis the world has ever witnessed. The LTTE tried to shield themselves behind the hapless civilians, placing weapons within their midst and to invite attacks on themselves using the civilians as a human shield. Inviting attacks on civilians was a stratagem adopted by the LTTE to prove that Sri Lanka was a state bent on genocide and that it was only through an armed intervention from outside either by India or the Western powers that a division of the country could be achieved. The Diaspora was single minded in its slogans that Sri Lanka was a state bent on genocide and called for international intervention.
It was only after the results of the Indian election and the victory of the Congress Party and the defeat of Vaiko and others in Tamil Nadu that the LTTE leadership realized that Indian or Western intervention was not possible. The younger generation of Tamils in the Diaspora do not realize that over a million Tamils live in the Western Province, and that another million live in the Hill country and another million live in the Eastern province. Many of the international observers who made numerous visits to Sri Lanka during this time were amazed to find that Tamils, over fifty percent of them live in amity with the Sinhalese and Muslims.
In earlier times many ex-Presidents used considerable restraint in their use of force for they felt that the human cost was too heavy. However President Mahinda Rajapaksha resolved to finally end the war and use force and it is unfortunate that there were considerable human casualties, this is to be regretted.
There were several appeals by the international community, visits by UN representatives, and the foreign ministers of France and the UK to obtain a ceasefire or a pause to enable civilians to leave the so called safe zone. The UN even requested to go into the safe zone and discuss the terms of surrender with the LTTE, with a promise of safe passage. However, these appeals did not come to much for the LTTE did not wish to surrender or allow the civilians to leave.
There was even a pause in the fighting but the pause did not succeed and I believe it was the intervention by the Sri Lankan army to drive a wedge in the safe zone that led to the mass exodus of over a hundred thousand people. There is no doubt in my mind that the LTTE committed a serious war crime in keeping the civilians hostage. I am afraid the international community did not address the issue of a massive hostage crisis in a proper manner. This kind of hostage crisis could be repeated elsewhere in the future.
Even Humanitarian Law does speak about hostage taking as a war crime but not even those who drafted the law would have conceived of such a massive and complex hostage issue. It was indeed horrendous to see the people fleeing the safe zone, emaciated and in absolute trauma from what they had gone through. The countless testimonies coming from them bear witness to the traumatic suffering they had to undergo wedged between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE.
During the last presidential election, the LTTE blocked Ranil Wickramasinghe from coming to power and later the LTTE attacked President Mahinda Rajapaksha from the day one with claymore mines and suicide attacks on civilians. President Rajapaksha invited the LTTE for a political settlement but they ignored it. The LTTE used Claymore attacks in the southern region and the people were scared that a bus or a train would explode at any moment. They used the deadly suicide bomb in the cities and all over the country .In the mean time the majority wanted to end this deadly war and eliminate terrorism from the country. The President and the government decided to use military force against the LTTE to end the bloodshed in the country. The President and his government received overwhelming support from the people in election after election.
Dr.Rupesinghe appreciated the fact that the President has stressed that the war was not against the Tamil people but against the terrorism of the LTTE. Thus now it should address the grievances of the Tamil people and build confidence among them.” We should reject the politics of humiliation and triumphalism “.This is not a war between countries but between peoples within a country. In wars within ourselves there can be no place for triumphalism. I would like to recall the story of the great King Asoka, who had vanquished his enemies in many battles but when he realized the carnage that was caused he was told by a Buddhist monk to atone for his deeds by doing good deeds as a form of penitence. King Asoka is now world famous for the good works that he performed and how he eschewed violence. Even in the chronicles and records of the famous battle between King Dutugemunu and King Elara, after the battle between the two kings, the armies of King Dutugemunu paid tribute to the vanquished and King Dutugemunu erected an edifice in honor of King Elara. These are the noble traditions of reconciliation which is so much a part of our culture.
Reconciliation between local ethnic groups is important and the Foundation for Co-Existence used reconciliation as a tool to win the Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese rights in the eastern province.
“We worked towards getting back the lands appropriated by the LTTE in the East which was under LTTE control. The LTTE grabbed Muslims and Sinhalese lands too, he said.
Dr. Kumar RupasingheHe also said the government must resettle and encourage the Muslims and Sinhalese in the Northern region who were forcibly expelled from the North within 24 hours. Over one hundred thousand Muslims and about 50000 Sinhalese fled their homes. The LTTE grabbed their land and other properties.
Replying to War crime charges on the Sri Lankan government he said there are different options that Sri Lanka must take in to consideration. If we take examples from history during the Second World War the allied forces bombed Dresden and many cities but it was the victorious allied forces who tried the Nazi leaders for war crimes. However, the civil war was within Sri Lanka, and no victorious army will ever succumb to war crimes. In any war humanitarian law is violated and this is not a good thing.
If we are to take the path of a war crimes tribunal then such a tribunal has to look at the violation of humanitarian law by the LTTE in the last 30 years. With assassination of presidents, prime ministers and political leaders, attack on religious sites such as the Dalada Maligawa, killing of Buddhist monks, ethnic cleansing of Muslims, and ethnic cleansing of 50,000 Sinhalese in Jaffna etc. In the same way the government actions too has to be examined. Today the LTTE is no more. Thus it is not a party to the conflict anymore. It is in this context that I think war crimes only deepen the wounds among the two communities. A Truth and Reconciliation commission could possibly give a chance to the people who have suffered to come forward to express their human suffering. South Africa and many other countries sought the way of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions. There are over 22 such Truth and Reconciliations commissions which have addressed the issue of war crimes and human rights violations. We should learn from these examples.
I would also like to dwell on a similar insurgency launched by the JVP in 1971 and 1988-89. During the 1988 insurgency the JVP launched a major insurrection against the government of President Premadasa. The JVP killed over 6000 people who supported the Indo Lanka Accord. The Government eventually retaliated and the numbers killed was it is believed to be over 60,000. The JVP did not have the kind of weapons that the LTTE possessed. At that time President Mahinda Rajapakse was a human rights fighter and took up these cases in the Human Rights Council. I was then at a member of the Board of International Alert and sent a fact finding mission to Sri Lanka. What I am trying to say is that the Sri Lankan armed forces faced a insurgency in the south and the human toll was huge compared to the human toll in the war with the LTTE. In no way am I condoning these acts of brutality but to give a comparative perspective.
Dr.Rupesinghe said the government should hear the voice of the Tamils. The Government must immediately implement the 13th Amendment and ensure the right of all people to live in freedom and dignity. There should be full implementation of the linguistic rights of the Tamil people. Minister Dew Gunasekara has made an attempt to ensure the implementation of the Tamil language and have issued a circular which compels those entering the public service to be proficient in both languages. Also those in the public service will be given incentives such as promotions if they learn both languages. At present most of the road signs are in Sinhala or English. The responsible parties must solve this problem and promote a tri lingual policy in Sri Lanka.
He said the ex-combatants and the youth in IDP camps must be rehabilitated so that they can play a vital role in rebuilding the country. This is the time to rebuild Sri Lanka after the ending of the thirty year deadly war, he said.
He further said the President Mahinda Rajapaksha has a clear choice before him. He can choose a path which can build a multi ethnic plural democracy in Sri Lanka and take the example from Nelson Mandela.
Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe has edited and written over 40 books and published over 200 articles in academic journals. Some of his writings include ‘Civil War Civil Peace’ - Zed Press, ‘Conflict Transformation’ by McMillan and ‘Early Warning, Early Response’. He has recently released his collected works under the titles of 'Waging Peace 2002-2008', 'Preventive Diplomacy', 'Early Warning', 'Conflict Resolution and Transformation Vols. I and II', 'Development and Conflict in Sri Lanka', 'Expressions of an Unequivocal Mind' and 'The Voice Vols. I and II' in form of 9 volumes.
- Asian Tribune –