Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,

I am pleased to be here today at this premier Strategic Studies Forum to share with you our perspectives in dealing with terrorism in its national and international dimensions. My late predecessor Hon. Lakshman Kadiragamar, held your research work in high esteem and was very keen that a similar institution be established in Sri Lanka. I do share his vision and plan to accomplish that mission.

During a visit to the United Kingdom in 2004, Minister Kadirgamar held discussions with the Director of Studies and Research Fellow for South Asia of the IISS with a view to working together in building and shaping a new Institute of Strategic Studies in Sri Lanka. There has been a long-felt need for such an institution in Sri Lanka, a country that has suffered the scourge of terrorism for nearly three decades. Minister Kadirgamar’s efforts resulted in a four-member delegation, including Mr. Alex Nicoll, IISS Director of Defense Analysis who is presiding this lecture today, visiting Sri Lanka to study and advise on the setting up of a Strategic Studies Institute. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet have already given approval to this project and work is well in progress to set up the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of Strategic Studies, through an act of Parliament.

Before speaking about the challenges in dealing with terrorism, one must ask, what is terrorism? The British Government defines terrorism as, “the use or threat of force, for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause, which involves serious violence against any person or property”. The US Defense Department defines it as, “the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or intimidate government or society as to the pursuit of goals”. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan describes terrorism principally in line with the legal norms enshrined in the UN Conventions on this subject. The devastating effects of terrorism and the complexity of its causes that manifest in different situations around the world seem to have given rise to this repertoire of nuances. Jessica Stern’s description in her book, “One Ultimate Terrorist” appears to capture most, if not all of these elements:

'Hundreds of definitions of terrorism are offered in literature. Some focus on the perpetrators, others on their purposes, and still others on their techniques… only two characteristics are critical for distinguishing terrorism from other forms of violence. First, terrorism is aimed at noncombatants. This is what makes it different from fighting a war. Second, terrorists use violence for a dramatic purpose: usually to instill fear in the targeted population. This deliberate evocation of dread is what sets terrorism apart from simple murder or assault.'

No matter how we define it, the three decade long violent activities of the LTTE in Sri Lanka fit within every definition of terrorism as understood by the civilized world. This armed group has the dubious distinction of pioneering the lethal art of suicide attacks against civilian and other targets and instilling a suicide culture in child soldiers.

In the innocent days of pre-nine-eleven, the world tended to view certain terrorist organizations with a somewhat tolerant eye. Dispensers of terror were viewed at times as rebels or even “freedom fighters” and as long as their operatives did not wreak havoc on their own doorsteps, some countries were at times not too concerned about allowing terror organizations to open up offices, front organizations and lobbying groups inside their borders.

Liberal asylum regimes, as well as covert safe havens, genuine human rights problems as well as orchestrated human rights propaganda, Diaspora dynamics as well as illicit fund raising and arms trafficking, have all enabled ruthless but efficient terror groups to develop powerful and lucrative external linkages not only to sustain themselves but also to blur the line between the so-called ‘armed struggles’ and brazen terrorism. These terror organizations have very carefully but consistently developed super efficient illegal infrastructures in a large number of international activities that drive the forces of globalization. These terrorist infrastructures now work quite seamlessly in sectors such as merchant shipping, aviation, international money transfers, illegal banking, illicit trafficking of arms and people, satellite communication, ICT activities and a host of other areas. This complex web of non-state infrastructure has enabled terror groups to talk peace and conflict resolution abroad while waging war and suppressing democracy at home. We are now witnessing and experiencing the globalization of terrorism. This kind of terrorism infrastructure anywhere can be a threat to peace making and democracy everywhere. The current peace making models, whether home grown or externally assisted or facilitated, do not effectively or even adequately address this international dimension of the peace making challenge. The Sri Lanka peace process is no exception. The current models of peace making and facilitation tend to have intense focus on domestic root causes and domestic behaviors of parties while the facilitation has only a loose focus or no focus at all on the international root causes.

The well-oiled propaganda machinery of the LTTE, has unsuccessfully attempted to portray themselves as a “liberation” movement fighting for the emancipation for the Tamil people. However, the reality is something completely different from the propaganda. The designation of the LTTE as a terrorist organization by countries like the US, the UK, India and the EU’s consideration of strictures are a recognition of this fact. This brings to the forefront one of the biggest challenges to the Norwegian facilitated peace making in Sri Lanka. The question is how do we prevent the instruments of peace making, such as the ceasefire agreement, from being exploited and misused to stifle democracy and human rights in areas dominated by the LTTE ?

The LTTE is an armed group that claims a self-assigned and utterly undemocratic designation as being the sole representative of the Tamil people. As such, they claim they are fighting for the rights of the Tamil people who do not wish to live in Sri Lankan government areas. What they do not mention is the fact that the majority of the Tamil people live in harmony in the Western and Central provinces of Sri Lanka amongst the Sinhalese and Muslims. Most of those who live in the LTTE dominated areas do so only because they have been prevented from opting for any other choices, just the same way they were prevented from voting in the recent election. Their children are abducted and forcibly trained as LTTE combatants, they are forced to pay heavy illegal taxes to the LTTE on all essential commodities and are tried and punished by kangaroo courts.

The LTTE harbors no dissent and have systematically killed every opponent to their brutal regime during the past thirty years. More than 70 prominent members of the Tamil community from Alfred Duraiappa, former mayor of Jaffna, to Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, who dared to voice their support for devolution of power and a non-separatist solution to the ethnic issues, were murdered.

The European Union Election Observation Mission’s final report on the Sri Lanka Presidential Election states, “the conditions that existed in the areas, which the LTTE either control or exercise considerable influence, were not consistent with what is expected in a genuinely democratic election. No normal political campaigning was able to take place and voters were also denied their fundamental right to vote. This was not a new development. It has been a constant feature in all the elections observed by successive EU EOM’s.” In fact, one of the few voters who dared to defy the LTTE boycott lost his right hand, which was chopped off by the LTTE as punishment.

Professor Paul Wilkinson, acclaimed terrorism expert from St. Andrew's University in Scotland argues that there is an explicit categorization of terrorist groups in the current terrorism discourse in the form of "incorrigible terrorists" and "corrigible terrorists". As the reference denotes, incorrigible terrorists are groups with an absolutist doctrine and unrealizable political ambitions, while corrigible terrorists are groups with practicable goals. Very often in the global fight against terrorism, there could be a tendency to categorize the so-called geo-politically sensitive groups within the incorrigible category while others are viewed as “corrigible terrorist groups” despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

It is within such a permissive environment outside the global dragnet of international terrorism that groups such as LTTE, who are considered as corrigible, tend to innovate and develop new tactical capabilities, which then tend to proliferate into international terrorism. Innovation is a vital component of staying ahead, and this selective categorizing of terror groups tends to overlook the skills development and acquisition by corrigible groups.

Terrorists tend to copy each other in operational tactics. It is very often the tactical innovation developed by corrigible groups that ultimately morph into international terrorism. Analysts refer to this as the three P process: “Pioneer”, “Perfect” and “Proliferate”.

The proliferation of tactical innovation can take place in three broad areas, Offensive Capability, Logistics Networks, and Fund Generation. Suicide attacks which provide smart-bombs with precision, accuracy and access were initiated by certain groups in the Middle East. The US Embassy and the US Marine Base in Beirut, were the first suicide attack targets in 1983. Suicide technology was further developed and perfected by the LTTE. In May 1991, an LTTE suicide bomber assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and in May 1993, yet another suicide bomber assassinated Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa. In January 1996, the LTTE conducted a suicide mission on the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and in January 1998 yet another suicide mission occurred on Sri Lanka’s holiest temple; the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy. These are a mere few examples of the suicide attacks carried out by the LTTE in which improved versions of the technology was used. Similar suicide attack technology was manifest in the attack on the London Underground in July 2005. The attacks in Bali and Jordan also have the hallmarks of suicide technology that have been used previously in Lebanon and Sri Lanka.

There has also been a transfer of knowledge and expertise in the field of maritime terrorism. The LTTE had carried out ten suicide attacks on Sri Lanka Navy vessels using explosive laden boats before the Al Qaeda attack in Yemen. Using the same tactical methods the Al Qaeda attacked USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000. The LTTE had by this time perfected the art of using explosives laden suicide boats after successful missions against ten Sri Lanka Naval vessels. In fact, the attack on the MV Uhana off the coast of Point Pedro in North Sri Lanka was carried out using an explosive laden boat just a few months before the attack on USS Cole. The precision and targeting of the hull by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen was almost identical to the mode of attack carried out by the LTTE Sea Tigers.

As revealed in your own publication, IISS 2000-2001 Military Balance, the LTTE has acquired aviation capability. We believe the LTTE’s access to third dimension technology is still in its infancy, yet it demonstrates the pioneering nature of these armed groups that exploit the prevailing business regimes nationally and internationally, to build their capacity to wage war. In Sri Lanka, despite an on-going ceasefire and peace process, the LTTE has continued to build an integrated illegal air offensive capability equipped with basic trainer aircraft, ground facilities and an air strip. This has not only placed the ceasefire and the peace process under tremendous strain, but has also created a destabilizing aviation capability affecting regional security. Neither the facilitation process nor the ceasefire monitoring mechanism was able to address, let alone rectify, the still on-going capacity building in LTTE aviation projects. Analysts do not rule out a suicide flying school taking shape. Your own institute’s latest Military Balance Publication’s comment on the ‘possible LTTE Al Qaeda links’ brings this issue into greater focus.

The tactical resource base of terrorism for the next generation will take the form of “network terrorism” in which actors across a spectrum of conflicts and crimes will modify the existing structures to take advantage of the inter-linked service arrangements. In this regard, the LTTE with its global reach through the Tamil Diaspora and its fleet of 11 Merchant vessels is ahead of the competition to provide alternate supply channels to other groups and crime syndicates. Furthermore, the LTTE has an established presence in the arms black-market. It is also reported that LTTE’s mercenary services have already been provided to many other suspected affiliations worldwide. A recent news report on Asian Times Online from Islamabad states that Al-Qaeda now works with the LTTE using their vessels and smuggling channels to move weapons from South East Asia. This is corroborated by your institute’s own findings.

The fundraising operations of the LTTE holds many insights as to how such terror groups use ethnic populations in host countries to generate and channel funding for terrorism. Fundraising activity at the initial stages was mainly driven by active Diaspora support and through humanitarian front organizations. This was in addition to coercion and extortion as methods of maintaining absolute control over the community. However, the LTTE has progressed to a more advanced stage of fundraising, that being the transition from ad-hoc collections to a fixed-income position. The Tamil Diaspora is now required to register with the LTTE, and as we speak, expatriate communities in Europe are being formally registered and their income levels recorded. The LTTE expects to generate a mandatory monthly extortion target based on income levels advancing towards stable and predictable income generation. These groups have also established legitimate commercial activities, especially from retailing overseas telecom services through preferred calling cards.

I understand that tomorrow the Human Rights Watch will release a groundbreaking study on the penetrating extortion regime developed by the LTTE . The study examines the LTTE’s extensive efforts to amass illegal funds in North America and Europe through the Diaspora in order to fund their operations in Sri Lanka and abroad including illicit military capacity building. This remains a major challenge for the Sri Lanka peace process. So long as the cash flow from the Diaspora continues, and in fact develops on a more predictable and structured basis, it will continue to prevent the LTTE from becoming a political and democratic organization. With increased funding, increased military capacity building will inevitably follow. It would be extremely useful if prestigious institutions like the IISS could analyze this report and make recommendations on international action to reverse this trend. We also expect the Governments of Western countries to pay heed to the valuable recommendations being made by the Human Rights Watch.

I have attempted to explain how groups that are outside the global dragnet tend to use the permissive environment to access technology and expertise in their efforts to pioneer and perfect tactical innovation in terrorism and to undermine peace making efforts. It has been the advancements that have been generated through these groups that have proliferated into international terrorism. We continue to face the challenges of this selective interest as we forge ahead with our fight against terrorism.

Having said that, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to state that despite the dilemma of having to negotiate with a group who has yet to renounce terrorism and violence, Sri Lanka is fully committed to a negotiated political solution to achieve durable peace in Sri Lanka. We still believe the LTTE are a part of the Sri Lankan polity. Even for a moment, we cannot forget that those underage combatants, with cyanide capsules hanging around their necks, are children of our land too. They have had their childhood and innocence snatched away at an impossibly young age, fighting for a cause they do not even comprehend. The innocent Tamils who are trapped in the North, who can neither afford an air ticket overseas nor have the freedom to move elsewhere in Sri Lanka, are our citizens too. They also must have the opportunity to live in peace and reap the benefits of democracy and freedom that the rest of the country enjoys.

We are prepared to accept the LTTE as a fully-fledged democratic political entity. If the LTTE is committed to fighting for the rights of the Tamil people, they must do so without trampling those people’s democratic rights to vote, speak, disagree and travel anywhere they like. No other alternative except a solution that would uphold democracy, pluralism and human rights would bring about a lasting peace to all the people of Sri Lanka, whether it be Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or other. The international community must make the LTTE realize that the only way for them to actually foster and safeguard the rights of the Tamil people is through a system that truly reflects the free will of all the communities.

After H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected last November, he took a new approach towards the peace process. He held an All Party Conference and obtained the consensus of all democratic, political parties with regard to the ongoing Talks with the LTTE. Such an inclusive, broad-based and transparent strategy is a clear indication of the seriousness of the government in finding a durable solution to the conflict.

H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government of Sri Lanka are thankful to the international community for the pressure put on the LTTE to return to the negotiating table. Several governments have taken measures under their domestic legislation to designate the LTTE as a terrorist organization. The EU decided to impose travel restrictions on LTTE members and inscribed on its agenda the question of listing, after the recent killing of the former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka. These initiatives of the members of the international community in conceding negative incentives to the LTTE have made the Geneva talks possible. The international community must persist with this persuasive approach through negative incentives until the LTTE agrees to commence talks on substantive issues. The Government of Sri Lanka is strongly supportive of the view that the LTTE should continue to negotiate with the government instead of using some flimsy excuse, as they have done in all past negotiations, to return to hostilities.

We are encouraged by recent actions, both direct and indirect, by several countries that have demonstrated in word and deed that the global efforts against terrorism have transcended each nation’s narrow interests to become a trans-national task. Whether or not an armed group is labeled “corrigible” or “incorrigible”, the bottom line is that an unelected armed group that engages in unprovoked violence against a democratically elected government and its own people, is in fact, a terrorist organization. There can not be, and should not be any room for terrorism to flourish in a civilized society in the twenty first century.

As Buddhists, we choose to believe the words of the Gautama Buddha, who over 2,500 years ago stated that, “Hatred is never appeased by hatred. Hatred is only appeased by non-enmity. This is an eternal law.” We will continue to work towards the day, when the LTTE too will realize the futility of violence and embrace democratic transformation where every citizen would have the freedom to choose their leaders and manner of governance. We face the challenge of twin transformations. The LTTE needs to transform from being a monolithic organization to a democratic one. The State needs to transform into a highly devolved one. The latter process has already begun. It is high time that the LTTE did so too. The LTTE cannot urge others to transform now and reserve for itself the right to transform only at the end of the peace process. I thank you.