Lead upto CHOGM Summit:

LTTE cohorts intensify campaign to discredit Lanka

by K.M.H.C.B. Kulatunga

LTTE cohorts and Tiger sympathisers in the Tamil Diaspora have intensified their campaign to discredit Sri Lanka in a desperate attempt to woo international support in the lead up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled to be held in Colombo.

Having miserably failed in their attempt to persuade the CHOGM to take the summit out of Colombo, they now plan to mislead the leaders of the Commonwealth with a series of concocted stories.

Sri Lanka has nothing to hide as the Government merely conducted a humanitarian operation in 2006 to 2008 to liberate over half a million people from the clutches of the LTTE terror. The people who had been rescued in the world's largest human rescue mission have now begun a new lease of life with vastly improved living conditions, sans fear or intimidation. These liberated people in the North and the East now make a tangible contribution to the national economy as the two provinces are progressing fast with an unprecedented growth rate of around 22 percent.

Human shield

The actions taken by the Security Forces were merely to liberate those people who had been forcibly held by the LTTE terrorists as a human shield. It was the LTTE which subjected those innocent civilians to untold privations and the Security Forces sacrificed their life and limb to rescue those civilians form jaws of death.

Nevertheless, the LTTE rump is making every effort to discredit such a disciplined force to woo international sympathy and get undue advantage. Sri Lanka has nothing to cover as its legitimate army had only confronted with a group of terrorists who had butchered thousands of innocent civilians. LTTE made a big hue and cry over alleged disappearances during the humanitarian operation and after the vanquishing of the Tiger leadership, the LTTE rump continued to make similar allegations.

Hence, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has made a timely move by ordering an inquiry on disappearances. Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga has been directed to appoint a commission to look into the incidents of disappearances that have taken place during three decades of terror.

The decision with regard to the terms of reference and members of the commission will be taken soon. The President's decision which will silence all allegations once and for all is a creditable step at a time the national has embarked on a reconciliation process. Moreover, such transparent step on the order of the President would not leave any room for the Tiger sympathisers to capitalise with the same old allegations during the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in November.

Disappearances

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by the President in May 2010 to investigate alleged human rights violations recommended to probe disappearances and alleged human rights violations during the conflict.

The Commission while stressing that Sri Lanka military has not deliberately targeted civilians recommended that the government should appoint a special commissioner to look into the alleged disappearances and provide material to the Attorney General's Department to initiate criminal proceedings as appropriate. Hence, the decision of the President would also meet the recommendations of the LLRC to iron out any misunderstandings or misconcepts instigated by the LTTE rump.

Ninety nine per cent of former LTTE cadres were rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. They were provided vocational training and the necessary tools along with monetary assistance to start their own projects. Over 9,000 persons whose family members were killed at the hands of the LTTE were provided compensation by the government.

However, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who is due to visit Sri Lanka next month, must conduct herself in an impartial and transparent manner.

Humanitarian operations

It is no secret that the LTTE synpathisers had made use of flexible immigration rule on refugees to engage in human smuggling. The people who had been smuggled to Australia are no more refugees by economic migrants. Navi Pillay and her team have been unable to differentiate these two for reasons better known to them.

It is no secret how Navi Pillay made plethora of statements that pampered LTTE terrorists during the humanitarian operations. Whatever he intentions are in making such irresponsible and biased statements, those had only given fresh hopes to the Tiger terrorists during Sri Lanka's relentless battle against terrorism.

At a time Australia has now taken the right decision against economic migrants, Navi Pillay has criticised Australia's decision to sign a pact with Papua New Guinea (PNG) to handle people who attempt to enter Australia by boat to seek asylum.

The UNHCR has said it reviewed the measures announced by the Australian Government on 19 July in relation to asylum-seekers arriving by boat in Australia.

With regard to the new measures, UNHCR said it is troubled by the current absence of adequate protection standards and safeguards for asylum seekers and refugees in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The UNHCR has said Australia's Regional Resettlement Arrangement (RRA) with the Government of PNG raises serious, and so far unanswered, protection questions.

Political asylum

What the UNHCR should bear in mind is that the Australian Government has every right to decide on their policy on asylum seekers and that Navi Pillai and her men could not tell Canberra how to handle the unprecedented volume of asylum seekers, most of whom are economic migrants. The UNHCR seem to be unable to differentiate genuine asylum seekers from economic migrants.

It is an open secret how hardcore LTTE terrorists and Tiger sympathiers migrated to the West after gaining political asylum. At least there had been a battle between the LTTE and the Security Forces then. But the current scenario is totally different and there is no reason for anyone to seek asylum as peace prevails in all parts of the country.

When Sri Lanka crushed terrorism four years ago, the situation in the North was a mess. The recovery and rebuilding process was no easy task, but, hard work has helped Sri Lanka to realise its goals. Today, life has returned to normal where devastation and hopelessness were the order of the day.

Not only has Sri Lanka achieved peace, but, has also given a new lease of life to people in the North and the East with the necessary infrastructure development. Roads, lakes, ports, airports, houses, schools, farms, health facilities have been built and reconstructed, advanced technology introduced to a province which had been bruised, battered and bloodied by three decades of terrorist conflict.

Infrastructure facilities

No other country in the world could match the feats we have achieved in the North in such a short time by rebuilding, resettling, reconstructing, rehabilitating and working towards reconciliation.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had given clear instructions to his officials to make every effort to further develop infrastructure facilities. Four main areas which had to be given priority after vanquishing the LTTE were de-mining, resettlement, developing infrastructure facilities and the provision of basic needs for rural development.

Though the LTTE cohorts and some in the international community showed an undue hurry in resettlement, Sri Lanka could not afford to take chances. Once the Government was convinced about that the areas are completely clear, the resettlement was completed, affording all necessary facilities to the families liberated. However, Sri Lanka has completed resettlement of over half a million people much earlier than any other country, setting new world standards.

When it came to de-mining, there had been hundreds of thousands of mines buried by the LTTE. There were pressure mines, claymore and many other explosive devices. De-mining was of paramount important as it was the only thing between resettling the people displaced by the conflict.

Task force

It takes at least ten years for a country that had engaged in such a battle for nearly 35 years to accomplish what Sri Lanka has done. Those are accepted figures in the de-mining discipline. Sri Lanka was able to de-mine about 95 per cent of the entire area within four years. There are only two areas including Muahamalai and some pockets in Pudumathalan to be completely cleared.

The Presidential Task Force for Resettlement, Development and Security in the Northern Province under Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, expedited the process. The mission given to the Task Force was to formulate a strategic framework for revitalising the Northern Province and implementing a rapid resettlement programme.

However, urgent it was, the program they adopted were not ad hoc, but, well planned and focused. The policies behind resettling people were that it should be voluntary - no forced resettlement, and the persons displaced should be resettled in their native places. And, the process has to be within the norms of dignity and safety in concurrence with international humanitarian laws. These are the important points which some in the international community have conveniently forgotten.

Concocted stories

The government had invested an enormous sum of funds for infrastructure development in the North and the East, giving preferential treatment to these two provinces ahead of others. Those who come out with concocted stories on so-called discrimination to Tamils never utter a word about these stark facts.

LTTE terrorism had taken a heavy toll on the infrastructure of the Province. The Government pumped staggering amount of funds to make it a place habitable and help people to regain their livelihoods. No other country could boast of the records Sri Lanka has achieved in developing infrastructure facilities in the Northern and eastern Provinces, which was devastated by Tiger terrorism.

Critics of Sri Lanka must visit the area and see for themselves the work the Government has done to help revive life there. Massive investments had been channelled to develop roads, railway, supply electricity, drinking water and to put other economic and social infrastructure needs in place.

Roads of all types, rural, provincial and national, have been reconstructed. Many people who had visited the country immediately after the war witnessed the extent of damage caused by the terrorists to the two main highways - A9 and A32. Major highways linking the North and South have been rehabilitated.

The Security Forces made the ultimate sacrifice to liberate the North from terrorism and then help in the rebuilding process. The peace, the government ushered in, did not come on a platter. There had been many untold stories of sacrifices made by the true sons of our soil. They sacrificed their life and limb for the benefit of the country. The Presidential Task Force had been assisted by the Security Forces personnel to rebuild the North. The donor community had visited and witnessed the reconstruction process at grassroots level.

Rehabilitation

The troops did a commendable job in developing the infrastructure, de-mining, resettlement, providing basic needs and improving the livelihoods of the northerners. Despite what the TNA politicians project, the Tamil people in the North are highly impressed with the rehabilitation and development work carried out by the government. The Security Forces personnel have become part and parcel of the massive social and economic development drive in the North under the directives of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The TNA comes out with various things with cooked up stories. But people in the North and the East have not forgotten how S. Sampandan and his TNA politicians did when the LTTE terrorism as at its best as the world's most merciless terrorist outfit. The TNA was remote-controlled by Prabhakaran from his Wanni jungles and the TNA leaders did not utter a word on behalf the Tamil civilians who had been subjected to untold misery.

Bitter past

The TNA worked under the direct instructions of the LTTE during the conflict. They were LTTE proxies. They were only puppets in the hands of the LTTE leader. They are not recognised by the people today. People have not forgotten that bitter past and have implicit faith in the government. If the TNA thinks they could make a comeback by playing the racist card, they are sadly mistaken.

President Rajapaksa has kept his promise of holding the election to the Northern Provincial Council. He would always respect the wishes of the people in the North and the power of democracy. TNA should not try to democratically achieve what Prabhakaran failed to achieve through the bullet.

Sampanthan would never be allowed to rob Sri Lanka's hard-earned peace in the guise of democracy. Running provincial administration is far apart from what Prabhakaran dreamt. Sampanthan should not try his dirty tricks again. He should not use democracy to support goals of the LTTE cohorts.

We have not forgotten those dark days during which over 21 million Sri Lankans has been subjected to untold misery and to massive LTTE bomb explosions.

We could not let the country go back to that dark era again. Certain elements in the international community will never be allowed to try their dirty tricks again and disrupt the prevailing peaceful situation in the county.