Challenge from foreign soil for separatism is real - High Commissioner Admiral Samarasinghe

By Ranil Wijayapala

Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, who commanded the Sri Lanka Navy soon after the end of the war against terrorism after contributing immensely as an Area Commander in the Navy and at Navy Headquarters is now serving as the Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Australia, and overseeing the duties New Zealand other Pacific Ocean countries Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu since July 2011. As a person who directly dealt with the Humanitarian Operation and as a diplomat, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe in an interview says that the challenge from foreign soil for separatism is real and Sri Lankan citizen should think wisely about it when selecting the next leader of the country. He also says that if the international players have an ounce of common sense they will not interfere in the matters of a country which have a strong leader with people's support. Following are excerpts of the interview he had with the Sunday Observer.

Q: After the victory Sri Lanka gained against terrorism there were a lot of pressure on Sri Lanka from the international community and organisations with vested interests. With the declaration of the Presidential election a different scenario has created in this country. How do you view this situation in a diplomatic eye?

A: The eradication of terrorism did give a huge opportunity to Sri Lanka for consolidating the peace and based on that foundation to embark on development. When the influential groups saw that they were militarily defeated they activated their external forces that existed during the conflict time to, illegally and by criminal activities against Sri Lanka. During the conflict they were able to purchase military hardware from the funds they raised from foreign soil.

So we could see a military campaign and there were external forces supporting the LTTE directly and indirectly. During that time government brought in an international dimension to this in a different form. While the LTTE was getting money internationally, the government brought in Peace Keeping Monitoring Mission and entered into a Ceasefire brokered by a foreign country. With that, the conflict was internationalised. What these facilitators or negotiators or brokers did was to promote that our country stays divided. Our President did not succumb to that pressure.

This is where the whole conflict was internationalised. Then came the final stages of the conflict where the western nations asked the President to stop the conflict on the pretext of humanitarian disaster that was likely to happen. But it didn’t happen that way. We still didn’t succumb to pressure coming from the western world. Our Army was so great, so courageous so disciplined and professional and they were able to rescue 300,000 people after sacrificing about 6,000 soldiers. After the victory the foreign campaign to destabilise our country started outside falling back on Human Rights campaign.

This situation was continued but in-spite-of-that that country progressed in nation building. There were a lot of challenges but we faced all those challenges effectively. The Presidential election perhaps is being used by bankrupt groups to team up and act on their agenda to destabilise.

Q: The government stance is that the current National Democratic Front is backed by the international players and it is a part of the international conspiracy. How do you justify this statement?

A: International challenge or conspiracy can be considered real when you observe what is happening around us. When I say international, it is not the international governments but there are groups, power bases and influencing groups.

For instance on the November 26 there was a minor party parliamentarian in the Federal Parliament of Australia took the day as particular celebrating day or commemorating day and made a statement in parliament saying that Sri Lankan Tamils are being harassed. However, a federal parliamentarian from the Australian government made a factual statement on the Sri Lankan situation and that was fascinating.

Apart from that there are books being published by a university without knowing the substance to discredit the Sri Lankan government. They also give evidence and they publish very biased and untrue in television programs. They have established organizations called Transnational Government of Tamil Ealam, GTF etc in foreign soil and they have elections in various parts of the world.

They have appointed members with one or two votes. So this is a mechanism and this is a conspiracy by a group with separatist agenda to destabilise our motherland. But for people of such a conspiracy agenda to be successful you must have internal support.

There should be players when the ball comes to play it. That is a challenge to our national security. This is a hard earned honourable peace. So it is a challenge to national security.

This fact has to be conceived in everybody’s mind whether it is Sinhala Burgher or Muslims. We must conceive in our mind that the aim of this conspiracy is to divide this country and we should protect the hard earned peace in the country after fighting brutal terrorism. What I want to emphasise is that the threat from abroad is real. Otherwise these things cannot happen. We should not take it lightly because our national security is at stake. Imagine the situation had LTTE or any organisation with separatist’s agenda got to any position of strength in Sri Lanka how dangerous and destabilising it would be.

Q: As the High Commissioner to Australia and envoy to New Zealand and Pacific nations, what kind of support do you could get from those governments in support of Sri Lanka in the face of this international conspiracy?

A: When I was appointed the High Commissioner to Australia in 2011 my photograph was paraded along in Sydney and Canberra in a back of a vehicle calling me a war criminal. There were groups writing to the government to investigate me. Some statements from a Sri Lankan Minister were distorted in the parliament.

These groups were in the game but not the federal government. There are people who canvassed just to destabilise us. Australia fortunately stood tall with Sri Lanka. Even Bob Car from the previous government has been supportive to us. What is important is Australia and New Zealand stood up to the world and said Sri Lanka fought against brutal terrorism and they have to accept that fact. They said that the most important Human Right is the right to live and Sri Lanka achieved that which has to be accepted.

This was mentioned by the Foreign Minister and that is why Prime Minister Tony Abott explained it at the CHOGM. They never spoke of 50,000 or 60,000 civilian deaths. This stance is not because we are friends of them or we are having good relations with them but they are convinced factually. They are not taking part in the Human Rights industrial campaigning and marketing. But other countries do. Now the rest of the world is also burning. They have realised the challenges from terrorism.

Q: Is there any justification for the international players engaged in such a conspiracy to destabilise our country?

A: There is absolutely no justification. That is why Australia is backing us. For instance, in the first part of my tenure I said these challenges would come to light in the future.

I will give an example. When Sri Lankan Cricket team came to Australia in 2012 I vehemently protested when LTTE was trying to show their flag and make a protest against the Sri Lankan team. Some of the officials said the flag was not a big thing. But I said we need to nip these acts at the bud. That had a lot of meaning. I was told that you don’t need a hammer to kill an ant. That is the reply I had got.

Today a flag of a particular group has been considered a very serious thing and they are acting on that. They are bringing in Federal laws to tighten up loop holes. So people tend to learn and feel only when it matters to them. Unfortunately when it matters to us they are not with us. If they are concerned about Human Rights, we need to tell them that we learn our human rights at our homes and from our religion. That was the humanitarian approach. When the terrorism was defeated they were rehabilitated and taken to our side. Otherwise they have to live the rest of the life behind bars. If we have capital punishment that is the punishment they could have got. They have killed our people and destroyed our systems. We are a compassionate nation. They have no basis to point a finger at us on Human Rights.

Q: Do you think that the Sri Lankan community living abroad is supportive of defeating such a conspiracy against their motherland?

A: The Sri Lankan community has been supportive to Sri Lanka. When the Human Rights Commission in Geneva had their investigations until October 30, 2014 there were large number of Sri Lankans living in Australia who made submissions to them complaining the biased nature of the investigations and giving evidence.

I am aware of that and this includes the Federal parliamentarians too who say that this investigation is not justified and you should have investigated the terrorists then. State parliamentarians have written and given evidence about the terrorists living in Australia with the affidavits of real evidence. Although Sri Lankan government is not taking part in this fraud procedure. I know for sure from Australia and New Zealand there were around 500 submissions that went to Geneva. They can’t go to the dustbin unless they purposely do it.

Q: The Tamil Diaspora also used to send Tamil people to Australia to give wrong impression to the world about Sri Lanka. What is the latest situation on the issue of boat people to Australia from Sri Lankan waters?

A: When the Tony About government came to power they said they will stop the boats. In 2012 thousands died at sea. The main thing was to stop people dying at sea. Second thing is to prevent criminals getting in to Australia for human smuggling activities. There was an unfortunate incident recently in Sydney relevant to these facts. These are eye openers to the rest of the world. With the leadership of Secretary Defence of Sri Lanka and Scott Morison the former Minister of Immigration Joint Working Group was established.

It coordinated and collaborated the stopping of the boats. So our Navy is doing a great job in stopping the boats and if unfortunately something slips through we coordinate with Australia. Australia is implementing a new operation called sovereign borders. They are guarding their borders. If they intercept any of the boats we have agreed to receive them and bring back to the country if they are Sri Lankans.

This has discouraged the people going by boats. They are being paid to come and to show that Sri Lanka is a bad place to live. That is how the Human Rights industry is working.

Q: What kind of relationship did Sri Lanka have with the Pacific island nations during your tenure?

A: We have a foreign policy of non-alignment and we have good relationships with all the countries including all the powerful countries and the not so powerful. You see the Pacific Island countries, all the leaders came to CHOGM in support of Sri Lanka. We are engaging them and helping them. The Fiji Prime Minister in his inaugural address mentioned only Sri Lanka. Some of our companies are investing in Fiji.

The Port is run by a Sri Lankan company and we have established a financial consultancy assistance firm and new bank in Soloman Islands. Maritime University in Fiji is collaborating with one of the Maritime Universities in Sri Lanka. New Zealand dairy industry, university collaborations are progressing. So this region is becoming very focused. Sri Lanka Tea is also very popular.

Q: As a diplomat how can you explain the consequences the country has to face if this conspiracy is succeeded?

A: First thing I would say is that this conspiracy will not succeed. The Human Rights Commission put up a statement of their investigations. That investigation will say something positive or negative.

Then that should go to the next step. At the next step the Security Council will analyse it. I don’t think a country with a successful program having defeated the brutal terrorism can be considered for negative action with false evidence. We rescued people although the Human Rights people said that people were massacred. The humanitarian operation is the truth and this should prevail.

Q: According to your opinion what are the factors for the people to consider to re-elect the current President for the third term?

A: The current President is at the helm for nine years. Out of this nine, four years went for the conflict. So it is an unprecedented achievement. We don’t change the captain of a winning team. In cricketing parlance when he has no runs on the board there will be criticism, but he has runs on the board. So he has the option to navigate his team to greater heights. In any management results are paramount.

If I find a terrorist boat out at sea I have to fight that and have to destroy the boat. That is the measurement of success. If the terrorist boat escaped and I could not fight I have failed in that mission. Leadership came with a proper, well appreciated plan and a clear vision and ended the conflict. Evidence of a clear policy. So the policy was given by the political leadership and the strategy was prepared by the professional military and under- Secretary of Defence.

So the policy and strategy matched. Similarly development also had this equation.

Q: There is a perception that if the President is elected for his third term there will be more international pressures from the international community.

A: That is not correct. When he wins, the country will be further stabilised. The international community behind this conspiracy must have an ounce of common sense, my yardstick is common sense. Consider various countries, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan Iraq, Sudan situations are visible. I am not going to analyse them. When the country has a democratically elected leader a strong leader, with a vision, the country gets stabilised. Destabilising such a country is not tight and is not possible. At the same time, our regional cooperation is a strength that we have.

We are friendly with India and all other countries. Especially, with the new leadership of India we are comfortable now. Sri Lanka doesn’t have any country that we could call ‘not friendly'. We engage even with countries who supported the UNHRC's unfair resolutions. When politically you have a resistance you have other avenues to approach these countries. Even at the Human Rights resolution, votes were not given based on the value of the resolution.

There are other compulsions in manipulating these votes. With alliances they influence countries. One country voted against us but sent a special envoy to explain why.

I always think that justice will prevail and common sense will be used to find a rationale for this. All these pressures will fade away, not because of anything but due to the strong leadership the country is having and development on ground and improved living standards of the people. Above all, the people of this country are happy with the leader in spite of the political differences. That is the best yardstick any country has over any government.

Q: The Foreign Service is being criticised for deploying military people and the family members of the president and his close relations. Do you think that there is a base for these criticisms?

A: This is an unfair and untrue criticism. In the foreign service of other countries too there are diplomats who are from military officials. Sri Lanka had deployed ex-military and non foreign services personnel to Australia, Japan, India, Thailand and Pakistan.

They have performed very well and results of their efforts are obvious to the people now. The officials from the Foreign Service are also performing well. The military personnel too are joining this service with tremendous experience. Public service is a massive reservoir of knowledge and experience. They can criticise our country but other countries also follow us. My counterpart, Navy Commander of India Admiral Varma was sent to Canada as the High Commissioner. His predecessor Admiral Suresh Mehta was in New Zealand when I went there. In Australia military is being respected a lot and the new Governor General is the former Chief of Defence Force. These are common things in the world. There is a blend of experience,knowledge and abilities.

It is to select the best person for the right job. So these are absolutely false criticisms of those who are bankrupt. That is the prerogative of the President to select the right person to the right job. Every country does that. We are well directed and guided by the government and the ministry of external affairs.

Q: There is criticism over the issue of military personnel deployed for civil jobs such as building construction, canal cleaning and other activities. Why is this?

A: They are absolutely false criticisms. They are required to protect the country. Of course we are not building the military to invade a country. We build the military to defend the country.

They are being used for various other works of national importance which is normal. When the country is in a difficult situation the military has to come forward. Three months ago in Brisbane there was a massive cyclone. It was the military who was there first to assist them to bring normalcy.

In New Zealand Christ Church earthquake, the military played a major role in disaster management and reconstruction. Military is a ready force to act in the event of any disaster. Sometimes civilians cannot be trained for all the challenges but the military is.

They have various skills and they are a technical force that could be utilised for any aspect of the countries of development. I remember during a general strike in 1970 then Navy commander took part in unloading activities in the port of Colombo. When a job has to be done, rank and position does not matter.

It should be the pride of every citizen.