Defence Seminar 2013:

‘Military transformed from victor to reconciler’

By Dhaneshi Yatawara

Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Minister G.L. Peiris and Army Commander Lt. Gen. Daya Ratnayake at the sessions

A section of the delegates

The Defence Seminar 2013 concluded last week turned out to be a thought provoking session with effective and far reaching interactions between the participants. Over 100 delegates from all five continents participated at the event held at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo.

Having passed the knowledge sharing on the immediate experience of the humanitarian mission in 2011 and the progressive 5R concept in 2012, focus was on challenges and regional stability.

Before the start of the sessions were the speeches of guest speakers on the ‘LLRC, the way forward and the Role of the Armed Forces in Reconciliation' – a much discussed and debated story.

The common phenomena about Reconciliation is that no one agrees how to define it or do it., said Major General Channa Goonetilleke, Director General Staff at the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff starting his speech as guest speaker at the morning session on the first day. Maj. Gen. Goonetilleke spoke at length on the ‘Role of Armed Forces in Reconciliation’. “Paradoxically while the confusion remains the term gains steadily in usage and importance,” he said. Stating that there is no perfect reconciliation method or model applicable universally and highlighting that concerned parties must be creative in developing their own original model, he said it is a deep process which demands changes in aspirations, emotions, feelings and even beliefs.

Maj. Gen. Jagath Dias

Maj. Gen. Channa Goonetilleke

Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera

The Military transited from an institution of ceremonial paraphernalia to the defensive, the offensive and humanitarian well-being over a period of three decades. The military transformed from victor to reconciler instantly as the besieged walked across the lagoon, he said.

Commenting on the future role of the Security Forces, the possible re emergence of terrorism, emergence of other extremist groups, creation of ethnic divisions and communal violence, challenges to maritime security and border control, growing rate of organised crime, and non traditional threats through technology driven media are key to shaping the national security strategy and determining the orientation of the military. The military evolves to suit contemporary threats to national security.

The afternoon sessions were on nation building where Mohan Samaranayake, chairman of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooporation chaired the panel. Samaranayake opening the sessions said with the end of the 30 year war on terrorism the Sri Lankan Government started building the nation. “But actually nation building is self explanatory. Nation is needed to build if there is no nation, or if the nation which was existing disintegrated or faced massive destructions. But as a country, we didn’t experience such devastation’ he said.

The session was followed by an elaborate description of the Sri Lankan economy and its growth by the Central Bank Chairman Ajith Nivad Cabraal. Following this speech rise of Northern and Eastern provinces was elaborated by Economist and Politician Arun Thambimuttu. The second day sessions of the ‘Defence Seminar - 2013’ was on national security, political and foreign relations and session three of the day was for ‘Regional Perspective’.

Prof Joachim Krause

Senior Colonel Xu Hui

Focusing on national security Major General Jagath Dias, the Chairman of the panel said “ If a nation forgets its past it is certainly not focused to face the future.” In the holistic sense national security is the foundation of the freedom and prosperity of a state, Maj.Gen. Dias said.

He said creating a favourable environment for Sri Lanka internationally is of utmost importance in keeping adverse external influence at bay.

Following this, Kilinochchi Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera, who also served as the Director Operations of the Army Headquarters during the humanitarian mission said the government’s strategy in the post conflict scenario is based on the 5R concept. He said in the present context state intelligence services has a major role to play in identifying new threats and trends. He said in the 21st century, we recognise that climate change can impact national security - ranging from rising sea levels, to severe droughts, to the melting of the polar caps, to more frequent and devastating natural disasters that raise demand for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

“The most severe threat to NS derives from separatist ideology through the facilitation of pro LTTE international network,” Maj. Gen. Perera said. As he further stated threats from non violent non state actors comes from INGOs, and NGOs who work on a hidden agenda to destabilize the sovereign state of Sri Lanka.

International attitude

Focusing on ‘Regional Stability - Regional Perspective’ External Affairs Minister Prof G.L Peiris highlighting the role of armed forces in Sri Lanka as one of the singular strengths of the country’s institutionsn said certain interested parties with the ulterior motive of destabilizing these institutions set in motion a very strong misinformation campaign on our Army roles. “Such misinformation is reflected in the UNHRC report too and the deliberate use of the word ‘intrusive’ for presence of the Army in the north, is inaccurate, unjustified and wrong. This assertion contradicts the OCHA report that they (UN) themselves have prepared in which their own independent surveys, conducted on 197 northern civilians at random, said that they want the Army to be there, considering the extent of humanitarian roles, being performed by them. This transition in the north could have taken a great deal longer, had the Army not been there to kick off redevelopment. Tremendous efforts, invested by the armed forces for regeneration of their lives in the north or the east, have gone unnoticed. Why is the UN so selective and biased? Why are people crying out against Sri Lanka alone,” Prof Peiris queried.Senior Minister Dr Sarath Amunugama commenting on ‘The Development of Sri Lanka and its Impact on the Stability of the Region said , “Today Sri Lanka is one of the safest lands in the world and we have created that safety within three years.

Outsiders’ point of view

Eight eminent military and non military speakers exchanged their expertise at the Defence Seminar, being critical as well as complimenting. The observations of outsiders point of view brought in a new dimension to the seminar where diplomatic mission representatives and military officials from countries with opposing and different political perspectives were present.

“Comparing Sri Lanka’s efforts in the field of post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation with the international efforts in countries such as Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, or Haiti indicates that this country has been more successful than any other case handled by NATO, the EU or the United Nations,” said Prof Joachim Krause of the University of Kiel, Germany speaking at the Defence Seminar. “Sri Lanka has applied most lessons learned from earlier experiences in other states and its architects have studied the scholarly literature on experiences with Counterinsurgency and post-conflict reconstruction. This success would not have been possible without a strong involvement of the Sri Lanka Army,” Prof. Krause added.

“…..,when there is no civilian administration, the military has to fill in. For military personnel, this is a salutary thing, because it changes the whole nature of the mission. We have made the same experience in Afghanistan: when civilian efforts were too weak the military was the only institution that could jump in. As a consequence, also in Germany the engagement in Afghanistan was criticized as being overly “militarized”– mainly by NGOs and media,” he said.

Commenting on the support of the western powers Prof. Krause said that The EU did not only suspend the General Scheme of Preference plus (“GSP-+”) treatment for trade with Sri Lanka in June 2010, it also made no major pledges in the field of development assistance. Sri Lanka had to shoulder her post-conflict reconstruction efforts without major help from Europe, which is a pity, since otherwise the Union is ready to aid states very generously that try to recover from the consequences of earlier wars or civil wars. In fact, post-conflict rehabilitation in conflict ridden areas all around the world usually is a keen subject of European foreign affairs and development aid.

Influenced

“I tried to find out whether there was any document outlining the strategy of the EU towards Sri Lanka. There is only an EU-strategy paper on relations with Sri Lanka dating back to 2006; no update has been made so far which takes into account the developments since May 2009. Hence, there is no political strategy of the EU vis a vis the current Sri Lanka, i.e. the Sri Lanka after May 2009,” the Prof. said.

“What are the reasons for this? The answer is quite simple. Sri Lanka doesn't figure very high on the foreign policy agenda of the EU. This has to do with its size and its relative remote location - at least seen from the European perspective. China, Russia, India, Africa, the Middle East, and Brazil - they all figure very high on the political agenda. There is no state within the EU, which holds a certain stake in Sri Lanka, except for the United Kingdom. Sri Lanka is not a hotbed of Islamist fundamentalism; hence there is no major strategic interest involved.

In this regard, it is no surprise that political actions taken by the EU as well as by the respective national governments were shaped by opinions and activities coming from the UN and Nongovernmental Organisations, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group. Unfortunately, these institutions have taken aim at Sri Lanka.”

Further he added that, “There might be good reasons to criticize the conduct of the current Sri Lanka Government, which enjoys a two-thirds majority in Parliament, but the conclusions drawn by the said NGOs are totally out of proportion. Yet, many governments in Europe are still struggling with a fair assessment of the events from spring 2009, and they are listening to what is being said in the world of NGOs, the media and the UN.”

China

Stating that the Chinese rise in the new Asia bears no threat to the regional stability and stressing that it is a misconception Senior Colonel Xu Hui elaborated the historical relationship and the modern advantages from bilateral relations between China and Sri Lanka. “As one of the most successful conflict-affected country, Sri Lanka has made great achievement and set-up a outstanding model for other countries alike to learn in post-conflict reconstruction and nation building efforts” said Senior Colonel Xu Hui.

“As strategic and cooperative partners, Sri Lanka and China can do and achieve much more together in terms of development, diplomacy, and defense cooperation in the future according to the UN Charter. We could together take the opportunity of attending this seminar, further examine and analyze the experiences and lessons we can learn from here and share them with other conflict-affected countries in the world,” he added.

“Although Sri Lanka suffered greatly and missed a great chance of the first wave of Asia’s Rise in the past 3 decades, I wish and I believe, as long as the Sri Lanka government and people could keep the momentum of comprehensive approach of reconciliation, reconstruction and rebuilding of your Mather Lanka, as witnessed in the past 4 years, we will found another Singapore in this part of the world, Sri Lanka, as one of the most prosperous international hub of economic development in the foreseeable future,” Snr. Col. Hui said concluding his thought provoking presentation.

The sessions ended with the speech of a proud Sri Lankan Professor Rohan Gunarathna, who is also a expert on studies on terrorism. In his speech Prof. Gunarathna said that the disturbances occurred due to foreign interventions to Sri Lanka through out the history. And said that those overseas NGO’s who comment and criticize have surely not done their home work.