Interview with
Paul Harris
Q1: New York Society of United
Sri Lankans believe that any government should look
in to the grievances of a minority and Singhalese as a majority should treat
all minorities with dignity and protect them, and on the other hand all
minorities should look up to Singhalese as the majority. However if Tamils ask for National
aspirations they should ask them in Tamil Nadu and
not in
A: I think there is a slightly different dimension to this,
which is not taken to account of in the question. That is that of course, that Prabahkaran and his cronies look to a Tamil state that
embraces Tamils wherever they are in the world. It was made clear to me in Baticallore as long ago as March, 2002, when I heard LTTE
speakers making it a plain before the crowds at the very first congregation of
Tamils “Pongu Tamil” that wherever there were Tamils
there would be a Tamil state and
Q2: If the Tamil minority in SL is allowed to carve out land
exclusively
for Tamils: will it not set precedence for Tamils settled in every
other country including Britain and USA, away from Tamil Nadu
to grant the right
to set up additional countries within the host countries, as well as
for all other minorities?
A: What will happen is that Prabahkaran
has picked off
Q3: When SL Navy blew 2 ships belonging to LTTE
with numerous violations of International Maritime Law, loaded with arms, they
themselves claimed that the ships were in international waters. What is the
best way for the SL Government and Organizations like
A: Well, there are two quite separate issues there. How do
you deal with the ships and the smuggling of arms. And how does one communicate
what’s going on to the outside world. I think those are two distinct issues.
The smuggling of arms should be treated with as an international problem and
has to be dealt with using the coordinated activities of navies on an
international basis. Particularly with the context of
Q4: LTTE is claiming their ‘homeland'
for Tamils in North & East which consists 8/25districts and 1/3 of the
land. This land has a profusion of almost thousands of ancient Buddhist ruins
and few Hindu historical sites and most of the land area is
not populated. Is there a place
for Buddhists in these historical Buddhist places ?
A: I do think that it is for Buddhists to take an interest in these relics. I’m afraid that even in areas that were accessible with the partial control and intended control, I’m afraid that the Buddhists haven’t taken an interest in them. I remember them going to the temple site in Trincomalee, which was very impressive and it was largely uncared for and abandoned. And so I think anything that could raise awareness of these relics should be welcomed.
Q5: Are you aware that LTTE is
systematically destroying artifacts and other ancient evidence that Sinhale Buddhist culture was predominant in the North and
East?
A: It’s been apparent for some time that there has been a campaign of destruction. Equally, the LTTE would say that the sites of their martyrs have been desecrated as well. There has been a casual attitude on the part of both sides in the conflict to thus far to hold the other party accountable. I think this is a reflection of the elicits of war. I don’t think this is so much of a concerted effort, but in war this sort of thing happens.
Q6: How do we trust LTTE leadership
for democratic elections, when they have eliminated rival Tamil leaders( Amirthalingam, Yogeswaran, Neelan Thiruchelvam) of TULF,
TELO, PLOT and EPDP through bullet, suicide bombing and ballot, most recently
TULF president Mr. Anandasangaree.
A: I think this is a very central issue, because the issue this all relates to is the implementation of a democratic system. Whether this is a colony or whatever, the constitutional arrangement that’s reached must be done in the context of a fully democratic transparent system. But, there is no evidence whatsoever that the LTTE would embrace such a system and it remains a one-man, one-organization state with no tolerance for democratic rights or indeed, for human rights. I think it would be quite unjust and unsupportable. The North and East have been turned over while it’s committed to these modus operandi. Yes, again this is a very central issue.
Q7: New
York Society of United Sri Lankans and many world
wide organizations send petitions
requesting to De-merge North and East. What would you think LTTE will do
whenever this is done?
A: Of course, they have been in the process since January/February 2002 of taking over control of all the political and economic space within the North and the East. And of course, in the event of any fissure they would be in a position to take control of areas very quickly indeed, within days or hours instead of months or weeks. They would seek total control and they would completely exclude the Sri Lankan government authority from the North and East area.
Q8: What do you think the strategy of
Sri Lanka should be? Get the army to destroy LTTE or to bring them into
mainstream politics with other democratic parties.
A: I think it would be very difficult to bring the LTTE into mainstream politics. I just don’t think they have any intention of doing that. I’ve learned from my experiences around the world with terrorist groups that the only way to deal with terrorists is to kill them. Of course, the unit that was achieving the only major success of the Sri Lankan war was the Long Range Patrol Group. But, after the present government’s electoral victory in 2001 when the UNP came in that group was systematically betrayed and this has led to the deaths of members of that group, and dozens of people who in good faith supported the war against the LTTE by giving information to government intelligence services. What happened to the Long Range Patrol Group was a disgrace and would a blot on the record of any country.
Q9: What is in your opinion mistakes
done by Sri Lanka governments in dealing with LTTE?
A: Of course, the case of the Long Range Patrol Group is a case in point. When the LTTE first announced a ceasefire and the government followed with an agreement, which was adopted then in February of last year, the government has really sought to appease the LTTE in every way and has not stood against the LTTE, which has always pushed the envelope it has always pushed the bounds against the boundary of the agreement and has gained more and more and more. The government has failed at any point to make any significant demands against the LTTE and of course the LTTE has taken advantage of that. I think the whole stance of the government has been ill founded and that does not seem to me to be a reasonable way to handle LTTE’s, proven ruthlessness.
Q10: What do you think about ISGA proposals?
A: The ISGA proposals to me are a nonstarter. I think that the control must be by the central government in Colombo and the proposal by the LTTE on their part was overly optimistic. It did not address significant issues such as the disbandment of the armed forces and the leaving of central police authorities and these central issues are going to be at the heart of any arrangement. I don’t think that any interim arrangement could be viewed as fair unless the authority of the central government in Colombo is recognized. After all, there has to be a commitment in integrity and there has to be the recognition of that factor in the LTTE’s proposals.
Q11: What role should India play in this ISGA proposals.
A: What role India plays is up to India. It’s the Indian government that I can’t really speak for. I think the Indian government should bear clearly in mind, as I’m sure it does privately but not publicly, that if the North and East of Sri Lanka become a Tamil state, then Tamil Nadu will be next on Prebakaran’s chopping block. He will then set about carving off Tamil Nadu from the Indian state and that of course will give enormous encouragement to dissidents in Asam, Nian Mar and Uttar Pradesh, everywhere in India where there are dissidents and terror groups will take enormous encouragement in the separation of Tamil Nadu and then the whole Indian state over a period of 10 to 20 years will probably fall apart as an entity.
Q12: What role, if there is for Norway and other countries?
A: I haven’t really been quite sure what role Norway has been playing. That the Norwegians have been keen to follow the world effectively interfere in other people’s problems. Because in Sri Lanka, I’m really not sure what they’ve been up to. Obviously, certain aspects of Sri Lanka which are of extreme interest to the Norwegians. I think they must have an interest in the seas around Sri Lanka and the mineral and natural resources of the country. As you know, the Norwegians are among the world’s leaders of fishing and offshore oil exploration.
Q13: What role should President and
Prime Minister pursue at this present situation?
A: Personally, I welcome the President into session and especially in taking over the Defense Ministry. It seemed to me that the Defense Ministry has been appallingly run in the last 15 months and much had been given away to the LTTE in terms of the military advantage. Thus, effectively the armed forces in this country have been emasculated. So I welcome very much the President’s take over of the Defense Ministry and I trust that she will continue to run it and to encourage the armed forces to take a more proactive role. As for the Prime minister, well, I think it is very difficult to second-guess this Prime Minister. I’ve never really been sure what he’s been up to and I’m not even sure if he’s sure he knows what he’s up to. I just can’t second guess a man that I fail to understand in anyway.
Q14: Is their anyway possible that we
can get LTTE to realize that legitimacy should go hand in hand with
accountability, since thousands and thousands of innocent that died in the
suicide bombings and massacres done by them are not going to get their lives
back?
A: Well, of course, terrorism has always been an integral part of the strategy of the LTTE. Another way to get them to appraise what they had done in the past, they would regard it as completely justified and of course completely justified in terms of what they have managed to achieve in two years in Sri Lanka pushing the peace envelope in getting a greater and more effective control over vast swathes of the North and the East. This has been a very successful operation for the LTTE, operation in so-called peace has grown directly out of the success of their terrorist activities. Their terrorism has in fact from an LTTE perspective been mostly successful.
Q15: At what stage do you think that the SL government should tell LTTE that they cannot have an Army and a Navy within an integrated Sri Lanka?
A: They should, of course, have told them that 18 months ago when the negotiations started. As it is, this has been deferred and deferred and deferred. At some stage in the not too distant future, the government will either have to accept that the LTTE controls totally the North and East of Sri Lanka or it has to stand up to the LTTE and say no you don’t and by implication you disband your army. But there is no indication at all that the government will do that.
Q16: At what stage do you think that
the SL government should tell LTTE that they should surrender their weapons?
A: They should have told the LTTE to surrender their weapons at an early stage in the negotiations. The longer it is left, of course, the more difficult it is, because now, the LTTE through propaganda has gained a mantle as a freedom fighting organization and has managed to tarnish the reputation of the government, because it is adding legitimacy through the peace process. And it will be more and more difficult to take away those weapons. Really, they should start taking away the weapons tomorrow or next week.
Q17: Was it a wise decision to lift
the ban on LTTE in Sri Lanka ?
A: I don’t think that really matters. To me the lifting of the ban within Sri Lanka was neither here nor there because it had no effect whatsoever. The LTTE was operating quite successfully, thank you, despite the ban. And then when, of course, talks took place with the LTTE and to have talks was a good decision, although I’m not very keen on the way they have been conducted Anyway during the talks, it would have been very strange to maintain the ban on the LTTE and at the same time as talking to them. It would’ve been very inconsistent. As I said, I don’t think lifting the ban had any effect whatsoever, in any case.
Q18: What role should other political parties play to bring real democracy?
A: I think that comes later down the line. We are not at the stage yet where any sort of democracy is lost. In that is not the situation, there’s nothing really that other parties can do about it. The people who have been in control of the so-called peace process have been Prebhakaran, principally, and Ranil Wickremasinghe to a much lesser extent. But I don’t think either of those men are particularly keen on involving democratically minded political parties, certainly Prabhakaran is not as we have already discussed his time and effort in systematically wiping out his opponents. And I don’t think that Wickremasinghe has taken into account the interests of other parties. His very inconsistent and very dubious attitude toward Muslims for example, failed to take account of Muslims especially in the East region. So, I think until these two men, Prebakaran and Wickremasinghe, come board and embrace democracy, I don’t think anyone is going to make a significant contribution.
Q19: I am sure you believe that any solution should be within a framework of Integrated and Democratic Sri Lanka?
A: Obviously, any solution has to be in the framework of democracy, and human rights. Sri Lanka was established in 1948 as a democratic state and erected a democratic framework and erected a framework for the country. I don’t see that there is any thing appealing to replace democracy. To support democracy, any solution must be within the framework of democracy.
Paul, once again on behalf of New York Society of United Sri Lankans I thank you for sharing your independent views on the Sri Lankan issue. Hope to see you in USA in the near future.