Sri Lankan victory hard to replicate - Maj. Gen. Mehta

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

Sri Lanka militarily defeating a ruthless terrorist organisation is something that will be hard to replicate in the future, said Major General (Rtd) Ashok K. Mehta in an interview with the Sunday Observer. “Because this was a very rare case where the international Forces, the regional Forces and the domestic Forces in another words Sri Lanka itself, were all on the same page,” Maj. Gen. Mehta said. According to him, this concurrence of environment, capacities to defeat terrorism is very difficult to replicate. Maj. Gen. Mehta was visiting Sri Lanka recently to attend the Sri Lanka Army's Defence Seminar 2013.

Ashok K. Mehta, retired Major General of the Indian Army is a former General Officer Commanding (South) of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka. He is also the founder member of Defence Planning Staff of the Indian Government. Today he is a radio and television commentator, and a columnist on defence and security issues.

Following are excerpts of the interview:

Question: You have a historical link with Sri Lanka. The IPKF assignment is the last one in your military carrier. How was your experience in Sri Lanka?

Answer: Well, the experience was as a military I have been on a peace keeping force in Congo but I was a young officer at that time. Here I was assigned for a very responsible job. Divisional Commander of IPKF South and basically I think other than combat operations dealing with the LTTE, our most notable achievement was conducting elections. Three elections – presidential, provincial and parliamentary. These were held in a matter of couple of months.

Some of those elections were held after a very long time in the Eastern Province. I would think that was a complete restoration of democracy in the Eastern Province at that point of time. And other experience I would like to recount is the winning the hearts and minds of people. At the conference (Sri Lanka Army’s Defence Seminar 2013) people talked about protecting hearts and minds of people. You protect hearts and minds of your own people but since we were invited by the SL president as a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord we had to win over the hearts and minds of not just the Tamils but in the Eastern Province there are Muslims and Sinhalese.

So, winning hearts and minds of them was a challenge which, in my view, was accomplished successfully. And then, I would say, the most notable thing accomplishment of the IPKF in this area was CIVIC action programs. We restored temples, churches, we created play fields, we even repaired bunts and dams of damaged irrigation systems. Then the interactions with the civilian people was an accomplishment other than the counter insurgency operations against the LTTE was to a larger extent due the interaction that existed between us and the civil society. I would like to name name my dear friends Kala and Sam Tambimuttu, whose son Arun is now in politics. Sam Tambimuttu was an eminent lawyer and he was a mentor and guide to us when we were there. So this interaction with local people was very helpful not just for winning over hearts and minds but seeking their cooperation in functioning and gaining the kind of experience we gained. So I would categorise IPKF performance as one where we were able to restore democracy, we were able to restore economity? and I do not believe that our task was the defeat of the LTTE – our task was to carry out the operations against the LTTE so that they would be persuaded to come to the negotiation table. And that is precisely what the Government of Sri Lanka had been trying all along till the 2005 change of Government.

Q: During that time what was your evaluation of the LTTE? How was the situation?

A: Well you know we, the Indian Army at that time, had limited experience in counter insurgency in the jungles of North East. But we were not dealing with a group as professionally adapt at the crafts of insurgency and jungle war fare of the LTTE. LTTE was certainly at that time in the late 80s and the early 90s, a very formidable and adversary enemy to deal with. Because they had mastered the crafts of insurgency.

Q: Did you get a chance to travel to other parts of the country?

A: Oh yes I did. All of us were not compartmentalized. While I was in charge of the operations in the Batticaloa and Trincomalee sector it did not mean that I was not aware of what was happening in Vanni, Kilinochchi or Jaffna. We were all connected.

Q: Twenty three years have passed. How do you see the difference?

A: Well I think quite truly we are witnessing a transformation of old Lanka in to new Sri Lanka. And the transformation is clearly the result of defeating the LTTE. And the transformation of Sri Lankan military from a ceremonial force to a battle hardened force that was able to defeat the world’s most deadly terrorist organisation. And the other thing I would say Sri Lanka have been able to achieve a military victory, a political solution has not been found. And that political solution is the ultimate test of reconciliation. Reconciliation without a political solution would be incomplete. And would leave the doors open for an insurgency. And we have learnt such lessons from the experience exchanged in the Defence Seminar 2013.

And the second thing I would say is that while the defeat of the LTTE is certainly the first of its kind in the twenty first century I don’t personally believe that this can be done again. That an insurgent group with capacity like the LTTE or even with lesser capacities can be defeated militarily as comprehensively as completely with the leadership annihilated, is something that can not be replicated. Because this was a very rare case where the international forces, the regional forces and the domestic forces in another words Sri Lanka itself, were all on the same page. For all these forces to be on the same page is the rarity and I don’t believe I will see this in my life time and I don’t believe even you will see it in your life time. This concurrence of environment, capacities to defeat terrorism is very difficult to replicate.

Q: Demilitarisation is a key word now used in a post war context. How urgently should this be done following the defeat of terrorism? Do you see a threat imposed by such hasty movements? You are a notable security analyst. What is your point of view?

A: This is one of the lessons derived from the Defence Seminar 2013 and the experiences outside. We have to remember that on this issue we are talking about the Sri Lankan forces and not about the IPKF or the NATO forces as in Afghanistan or Iraq. They had to move out. But there was no alternate force or an indigenous force to take there place.

And so the vacuum remain. And the terrorists groups re emerged. So to the extent that the the atmosphere had been sanitised completely or sufficiently sanitised that the threats and challenges that we perceive are remote when the military stays. But military staying back means that they should be in low profile and low visibility. So the military stays but in the back ground. And when the civilian capacities develop the military must move back. And in Sri Lanka, there going to be a Provincial elections now and the military must encourage and assist the civilian administrations to develop those capacities or governance and military gradually withdrawing to the back ground. That is the meaning of demilitarization.

Q: LTTE was a deep rooted organisation. Couldn't such organisations impose a threat to re-emerge? Couldn't this happen in Sri Lanka?

A: Well, I don't think that LTTE per se can come up. That seems impossible although one should not use the word impossible. But we can rule it out the preserve of the LTTE. But there are other fundamentalist forces that can come up in a multicultural and multi religious society like Sri Lanka. That is possible. And therefore the case of nation building, political power sharing with all the ethnic denominations in Sri Lanka is essential to ensure that those kinds of threats and challenges that you envisage that are possible do not happen. And the best insulation and protection against that is power sharing and socio-economic development – in the North and the East and the South. So south is happening as well as the North and the East.

Q: What is your point of view in the emerging threats of the region through transnational crimes? Drug smuggling, human trafficking etc. Do you think we have a strong enough regional network ?

A: Well, SAARC as a collective organisation is strong enough. But the geographical location of Sri Lanka as it is an island territory the threats are so much greater. So the maritime security has to be beefed up. Coastal security has to be strengthened. And already we see that India, Sri Lanka and Maldives have entered in to a tri lateral maritime agreement against piracy and other kinds of threats by transnational crimes. So that is a good beginning. And this can be extended beyond just these three countries to SAARC as a whole. And so the security of the Indian Ocean area is vital for Sri Lanka to be protected against these kind of threats. The other threats of course are across the Palk Strait. That needs to be addressed through a bilateral agreement – politically and administratively between the southern most state of India and the Government of Sri Lanka. Which must start and must expand.

Q: Moving on to a personal question. Why did you go on an early retirement from the military service?

A: Yes, I did. Well I had a problem with the Government and a problem that was manufactured. So I was retired early. I took the Government to court. And I'm happy to tell you since you are the first one asking me that I won my case in October 2011. And now the Government is going to pay back my pension and my salary arrears. Very soon I will be rich (laughing) but I lost some years that I could have served. But on the other hand I gained in pursuing a second profession of educating myself and indulging in some scholarly work on conflict resolution, peace keeping and peace building.

Q: How is your expertise disseminated to the concerned parties?

A: One of the most significant things that I've been involved in, is on peace keeping. And we will be able to elevate a track two initiative hopefully in to a track one in establishing a regional consultative work mechanism of troop contributing countries of SAARC. we are the largest contributors. SAARC countries provide almost 40 percent of the troops in worldwide peace keeping. And this initiative is actually being assisted by Sri Lanka, Bangladesh.

I just visited Bangladesh and I was in Sri Lanka in May this year discussing about this with the Defence Secretary and Director General SAARC to ensure that this initiative will be adopted in the SAARC agenda and this peace keeping consultative initiative become a institutionalised process within the region. And SAARC will add to regional cooperation.

And who knows, eventually we will have a regional peace keeping force!