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Prof.Shantha K. Hennayake
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Prof.Shantha K. Hennayake
The purpose of this short essay is to point out the fictitiousness of
the LTTE claim that they are the “sole representatives” of Tamils.
This “sole representative” cry was deliberately raised by the LTTE in
the aftermath of the MOU signed by former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
Ranil Wickremasinghe and LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran.
MOU treated both the legitimate government of Sri Lankan and the
terrorist group LTTE as equal partners! The MOU was brokered primarily
by Norway with the explicit approval of the “international community”.
Post MOU developments have amply proved that Norway is no “honest
broker of peace” but naked supporter of the LTTE appeasing the latter.
In the name of keeping the MOU alive both Norway and former government
have overlooked the continuation of terror by the LTTE even in the
areas under the government control including the city of Colombo where
the Norwegian embassy is located. It is ironic that the LTTE’s hold on
the Tamil society reached its highest under MOU era.
Some speculate that Norway itself may have advised the LTTE to
redefine itself as the “sole representative of the Tamils as Norway
was a party to the discussions that lead to the preparation of ISGA
which for the first time publicly declared this claim. The primary
reason for the invention of the claim “sole representative” of course
is to ensure that LTTE and LTTE alone will be recognized and thus
their demands or rather aspirations will have to be addressed and that
LTTE will not be made accountable and held responsible for all
terrorist activities i.e. torture and intimidation, murder and
assassinations, child conscriptions, fratricide, illegal taxing,
confiscating property against Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka. The claim
is nothing but hijacking a democratic concept and making mockery of it
by a terrorist group unfortunately with the help of Norway and other
members of the “international community”.
(Note that this article doe not deal with any of the terrorist acts
against the Sri Lankan state, the Sinhalese and other ethnic groups)
Unrealistic Demands
Tamil ethnonationalist politics during both its democratic phase
(1930s- 1980s) and terrorist phase (1980- to present) is crowded with
unrealistic demands which contributed to the problem over the years
culminating in the destruction of the Tamil society culturally,
politically and materially by the LTTE terrorism. The “50/50” demand
which were designed to artificially inflate the political
representation the Tamil minority in the legislature was rejected by
the British constitutional experts in the mid 20 the century. The
“monolithic Tamil homeland” demand which limit the representation in
the Northern and Eastern Provinces exclusively to the Tamils has been
rejected by the Tamils in the Eastern Provinces as became evident from
the most recent challenge by Karuna. The “separatist state demand”
which make Tamils the sovereign representatives of an imaginary Tamil
state of Eelam has been rejected by the Sri Lankan state, US, India
and the international community but also by the Tamils living outside
the LTTE’s grip. Had the Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka been more
realistic and less extremist and certainly respected democracy and
human rights Sri Lanka would have resolved this crisis earlier and
peacefully sparing the agony created by the LTTE terrorism in the
country. The latest in this series of unrealistic demands is the claim
by the LTTE that it is the “sole representative of the Tamils”. This
is perhaps the most unrealistic claim made by the LTTE so far.
It is important to understand the sole representative claim is made by
the present LTTE which is an internationally declared terrorist
organization and not by a reformed LTTE which has practically
renounced terrorism and embraced democracy. Many a times during the
last two years LTTE has threatened to revert to war –“LTTE’s own term
for terrorism”. The latest public threat on the resumption of
terrorism was made by its London based theoretician (England too have
declared LTTE as a terrorist organization!) in May 2004 in laying out
conditions for the resumption of “peace talks”.
Implications of the claim “Sole Representatives”
Let us first examine the meaning and broad implications of this claim
to Sri Lanka and the world? It first and foremost legitimizes
terrorism of the LTTE as it has not yet renounced terrorism. Then,
threats and intimidation, murder, assassinations, child conscriptions
and violation of human rights will not only be institutionalized but
also be accepted as legitimate means of governance of the Tamil
society in Sri Lanka. Second, resulting from the first, violence will
continue to engulf the Tamil society as those Tamils opposing LTTE
will have no other means but to resort to violence to express their
own concerns as already happening in Batticaloa (Over 300 Batticaloa
Tamils have been reported killed by the LTTE). Third, it sends a very
positive signal to world terrorists that terrorism pays when the rest
of the world (except perhaps Norway as revealed by Svik organization
based in Norway) is actively trying to de legitimize terrorism and
eliminate it from the face of the world. It is ironic that when
countries like Afghanistan which helped nurture intentional terrorists
now actively collaborate with the international community to establish
democracy and human rights, countries like Norway allow their own soil
to nurture and support terrorism! Fourth, it simply denies to the
Tamil people democratic freedom and freedom of expression both of
which are projected as the hallmark of modern democratic societies.
Fifth, it creates a dual society in Sri Lanka where Tamils will have
to live under authoritarianism and gun culture while others enjoy
democracy and a civilized life. Sixth, it will send wrong and
dangerous signal to the rest of the world where minority
ethnonationalist politics is intensifying in general and to India in
particular proving that legitimacy can be derived from the barrel of a
gun and terror if it invokes ethnicity/religion. Seventh, it simply
make the international community which preaches high morals and
democracy to the rest of the world a bunch of jokers and hypocrites
who have willingly reduced the Tamils to second rate human beings as
if they don’t deserve democracy and human rights. Eighth, it will
ensure the establishment of a permanent armed group within the Sri
Lankan state creating a potentially dangerous and explosive situation
in the country. Ninth, it will create and internal “hate boundary”
manned, womened, chldrened by the armed LTTE carders. Tenth, it will
also create an LTTE will resort to ethnic cleansing as they have done
in the past in the areas under their control. Tenth, and lastly, it
could instigate a mass exodus of people – to and from Tamil areas –
similar to the post partition experience in the sub-continent. Those
who are blindly supporting the LTTE’s claim for sole
representativeness should thus be held responsible and accountable for
all these potential negative implications.
LTTE is not a Representative Body
The general meaning of a representative is “a person or thing enough
like the other in its class or kind to serve as an example or type”.
(Webster’s Dictionary). Going by this it will be an insult to the
Tamil people to consider LTTE as their sole representatives. There are
definitely enough differences between a gun wielding terrorist and an
ordinary Tamil citizen of Sri Lanka and it is highly unlikely that
given the opportunity the peace loving ordinary Tamils would parade an
armed LTTE terrorist or a suicide bomber as an example of a typical
Tamil person in Sri Lanka.
The political meaning of a representative is “a person duly authorized
to act or speak or another or others; specify, a) member of a
legislative assembly b) a salesman or agent for a business firm”
(Webster’s Dictionary). The concept of representativeness is thus
rooted in democracy and it should not and cannot be associated with
terrorist leaders or organizations: Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaida are
not representatives let alone sole representatives of Islamic world.
Representatives are duly elected and free and fair election is the
only means of electing representatives and if the world has forgotten,
the Tamil people did not elect LTTE to its current dominance in Tamil
society. LTTE established its dominance by decimating the rival groups
(a conservative estimate put the number over 8000 -9000) and
assassinating democratic political leaders such as the founder of TULF,
Mr. A. Amirthalingam and the world renowned constitutional expert and
TULF parliamentarian Dr. Neelan Tiruchelavam. Terror, intimidation are
the only means by which LTTE maintains its power and hold in the Sri
Lanka Tamil society. In this context, LTTE has no moral right to claim
any Tamil representativeness let alone sole representativeness of Sri
Lanka Tamils.
As a rule of thumb a party should receive the consent of at least 50%
of the voting population to claim the representativeness in a
democracy. Needless to say “sole representativeness” is a practical
contradiction in terms in a democracy as 100% consent for a single
party is simply unattainable in any democracy. Even if we accept the
result of the election of 2004 which was blatantly rigged by the LTTE,
the LTTE cannot claim sole representativeness for a number of reasons.
First the LTTE proxy party ITAK received only 36% of the total
registered voters in the two provinces which they claim as the “Tamil
homeland”. Only in Batticaloa ITAK was able to barely surpassed the
50% mark of the total registered voters and in all others including
Jaffna where LTTE launched a massive election rigging campaign.
Second, a large percentage of people (registered voters) have not
voted at the election at all. The figure is 31% for the entire region
while it reached the highest in Jaffna. This can be explained in two
ways.
First that a significant number of people have clearly stated by
deliberately refraining from voting for ITAK that LTTE is not their
sole representative.
Second, if the absenteeism is due to the fact that people have left
LTTE controlled region, then their very action is a proof that they do
not want to live under LTTE rule. Either way, the Tamils in Sri Lanka
has rejected the LTTE claim that they are the “sole representative” of
the Sri Lanka Tamils.
Third, Eelam Peoples Democratic Party won a Parliamentary seat in
Jaffna securing 6.55% of the votes against all odds and violence
perpetrated by LTTE.
Fourth, a number of election monitoring missions as well as the
Election Commissioner have clearly stated the extensive nature of
election rigging and malpractices in Jaffna for which LTTE is
primarily responsible.
Two court cases have been filed by EPDP and the President of TULF Mr.
Anandasangari who contested Jaffna as an independent candidate to
nullify the election result in the North and East due to LTTE
atrocities. Mr. Anandasangari complained to the Supreme Court LTTE and
ITAK intimidated the supporters of his Independent Group during the
election campaign. The petition said that the electoral registers in
Jaffna were last revised in 1983 and thus the youngest voter in Jaffna
would be over thirty five years of age at present. However, LTTE has
been impersonating many voters with people as young as fifteen years
of age. The Returning Officer for the Jaffna District was unable to
prevent the election offences committed by the LTTE and the ITAK
supporters. He alleged that the LTTE made several death threats
against him, his candidates and his supporters even before the
nomination. He also stated that the LTTE had intimidated and blocked
the campaigns of the other parties especially the EPDP and alleged
that the LTTE illegally forced the people of the two districts to vote
for the ITAK. The simple question one need to ask here is why would
Sri Lankan Tamils political leaders go to court and some people are
willing to testify against the LTTE taking a grave chance to annul the
election results in Northern and Eastern province where LTTE’s proxy
party TNA apparently won, if LTTE are the sole representatives of the
Tamils?
LTTE does not and cannot represent Tamils
“Tamils”, “Tamils in Sri Lanka” and “Sri Lankan Tamils” are three
distinct and separate categories. Often these terms have been used
confusingly by most who are ignorant on ethnopolitics Sri Lanka.
Tamils are a distinctive ethnic group concentrated primarily in
Tamilnadu province in India. The area falling within present Tamilnadu
in India has been the historical homeland or cultural hearth of Tamils
from ancient times. Tamilnadu has developed its own ethno politics
since 1947 and today it is an integral part of larger Indian national
politics. Tamil politics in Tamilnadu has been essentially democratic
and the Tamils have not allowed it to deteriorate into terrorism. LTTE
has little to do with Tamil politics but India has always feared of
the possibility of LTTE potential to expand across the Palk Straight
into Tamilnadu.
In contrast to Tamils in India, Tamils in Sri Lanka is a general term
encompassing three distinctive socio-cultural groups (Sri Lanka
Tamils, Indian Tamils and Colombo Tamils) and two prominent regional
groups (Jaffna Tamils and Batticaloa Tamils). Sri Lankan Tamils are
the descendent of the Tamils who had migrated to the island from South
India throughout the history as meticulously argued by the famous Sri
Lankan Tamil historian, Prof. Indrapala. However their permanent
settlements in the northern littoral of the island date back only to
the 12th century. They are also called Jaffna Tamils. During the
immediate pre colonial and colonial periods, some Sri Lankans Tamils
migrated from Jaffna into the East and they came to be known as
eastern or Batticaloa Tamils with a strong regional sentiments in
opposition to Jaffna Tamils.
Tamil ethnonationalist politics in Sri Lanka has always been
sphereheaded by Jaffna Tamils as the so called grievances and the
aspirations of the Sri Lankan Tamils are in reality those of the
Jaffna Tamils. Tamils and the LTTE itself is very largely a Jaffna
Tamil phenomenon. Batticaloa Tamils have over the years developed a
contempt for the “Jaffna domination” and have always questioned the
efficacy of Tamil nationalism of Jaffna Tamils as most recently
manifested by the LTTE’s eastern commander Karuna’s challenge to the
Jaffna dominated LTTE leadership. At the last election which was
marred with rigging by the LTTE, the performance of the LTTE proxy TNA
in he Eastern Province was 41.4 per cent while those who opposed LTTE
obtained 58.6 per cent votes.
Indian Tamils were the descendents of the indentured laborers drawn
from the poorer and lower caste segments of Tamil society in South
India to work in the British plantations opened in the central
highlands after forcibly confiscating the land from the Sinhalese in
the 19th century. Still most of the Indian Tamils live in plantations
but a large number of them have migrated into the cities in the rest
of the country. Indian Tamils have over the years evolved their own
political parties and have well integrated into the mainstream
politics. They have held cabinet portfolios in all governments since
1970s. Indian Tamils have rejected the separatist politics of the LTTE.
Colombo Tamils are the descendent of the Tamils who came from Jaffna
to reside in Colombo after they were recruited by the British to work
for them in the colonial administration and related services in the
government. Some Tamils came to Colombo to take advantage of the
expanding economic opportunities. These professional and business
classes together comprise Colombo Tamils. Colombo Tamils have always
voted with the two major political parties and have openly rejected
separatism.
Then, LTTE simply cannot be the sole representatives of “Tamils”
simply because Tamils live in Tamilnadu India. The LTTE is cannot be
the sole representatives of the Sri Lanka Tamils as the Batticaloa
Tamils have openly defied the LTTE. LTTE cannot even claim to be the
sole representative of the Jaffna Tamils as a significant number of
Jaffna Tamils have voted against the LTTE. The mere sharing of the
same language by the LTTE and other Tamil groups in Sri Lanka does not
qualify the former to be a representative let along the sole
representative of Tamils. Thus, the claim that LTTE is the sole
representative of Tamils is simply in error and a total fantasy
without supportive empirical basis. The only argument in support of
their claim is the baseless claim itself maintained by sheer
intimidation and terror!
How LTTE (Mis) Treats Tamils in Sri Lanka
Many have argued that LTTE is a political reality in Sri Lanka today.
Yes LTTE is a political reality in many ways yet representing Sri
Lanka Tamils is the least of them. What are the facets of political
reality of LTTE? First they do control some territory of the Northern
and Eastern Provinces. Second, they do control the life of the Sri
LankaTamil people living under their territory. Third, the LTTE
largely control the politics of Sri Lanka Tamils in the Northern and
Eastern Provinces. LTTE continue to murder any Sri Lanka Tamil who
question or opposes its agenda. Fourth, LTTE continue to recruit Sri
Lanka Tamil children as young as 12 years to their terrorist cadre.
Fifth, LTTE has been taxing the Sri Lanka Tamils in their territory
and those who passes through their territory to fund the organization
and its war/terror machine. Sixth, LTTE does not allow or tolerate any
other independent Tamil political or social organization or
institution to emerge among the Sri Lanka Tamils. Seventh LTTE does
not allow any free expression political or otherwise among the Sri
Lanka Tamils. Eighth, LTTE have violently repressed and ideologically
subdued the Sri Lanka Tamils living within their territory to force
total and unconditional support for them. Ninth, LTTE does not allow
any potential political leadership to emerge from among the Sri Lankan
Tamils. LTTE has simply assassinated the potential independent leaders
among them. Tenth, LTTE in the name of “Tamil nationalism” has
determined that violation of human rights of Sri Lanka Tamils as both
necessary and essential and LTTE sympathizers both local and
international have simply endorsed it and even encouraged it.
Who can better testify who their representatives are other than those
who said to be represented?. In this case the Sri Lanka Tamils
themselves. Given below are a few statements made by political and
non-political organizations of Sri Lanka Tamils themselves which have
braved the LTTE threats and intimidation. It is important to note here
that not only the LTTE but also their local and international
supporters and legitimizers have conveniently overlooked these Tamil
voices as they do not subscribe to the LTTE as the “sole
representative of Tamils” thesis. Their very presence undermines the
LTTE’s claim.
Eelam Peoples Democratic Party
This is the only political party which had survived all threats,
intimidations, assassination attempts by the LTTE. Formerly a
guerrilla group, EPDP entered democratic politics renouncing terrorism
in early 1990s and have been represented in the Parliament ever since.
LTTE find this democratic political party and its democratically
elected Parliamentarians “traitors” of the Tamils cause! At the last
election EPDP won 24, 955 votes and secured a single seat in the
Parliament thus politically and democratically defeating the LTTE
claim to the ‘sole representativeness”. EPDP win become more revealing
and meaningful when viewed in the context of total voter intimidation
and threat by LTTE to vote for its proxy ITAK and election rigging by
the LTTE. EPDP has filed an election petition at the Court of Appeal
complaining of intimidation of EPDP electors by the LTTE, in the
Batticaloa district.
EPDP now represented in the Cabinet has by rejecting the concept of
LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil people arguing that. "No
section has the right to claim to be the legitimate representatives of
the people of the North -East,". It further said that legitimizing
this concept is not only incorrect and undemocratic and but also it
could lead only to the setting up of a dictatorship under LTTE in the
Tamil areas(see the EPDP Website).
EPDP has published in its website the LTTE atrocities directed against
the ordinary Tamils as well as Tamil political organizations since the
commencement of the ceasefire in early 2002. EPDP argues that since
then “hostile acts by the LTTE against democratic Tamil parties have
systematically increased in intensity and form. What commenced with
intimidation, threats, assaults, and forced conscription have now
advanced to attacks, abductions and assassinations”. Under what
political system, can these acts be considered the activities of a
sole representative of a people? The executive summary of the EPDP
report is worth quoting extensively as it provides a comprehensive
summary of the activities directed against the Tamil people in general
and other Tamil political organizations in particular by the LTTE.
“This report covers 598 incidents of hostile acts by the LTTE against
civilians, including democratic Tamil parties. In respect of the EPDP,
members, activists and supporters of the party, and even their family
members have suffered 50 cases of attacks or assaults, and 20 cases of
abductions or attempted abductions. They have suffered 15 deaths. In
addition, there have been 33 cases of intimidation.
In respect of the EPRLF too, members, activists and supporters of the
party, and their family members have suffered 26 cases of attacks or
assaults, and 18 cases of abductions or attempted abductions. They
have suffered 12 deaths. In addition, there have been 2 cases of
intimidation.
In respect of the PLOTE also, members, activists and supporters of the
PLOTE, and their family members have suffered 14 cases of attacks or
assaults, and, 1 case of abduction. They have suffered 4 deaths.
The records in respect of civilians are in no way complete.
Nevertheless, the information provided in this report is quite
revealing, pointing to not less than 775 cases of child conscription,
199 cases of adult abductions, 197 cases of attacks or assaults, and,
91 cases of death.
The LTTE threat and intimidation and killing has not spared women and
children, young and old, educated and less educated, farmers and
government employees, and politically neutral and active. The common
denominator in directing violence, intimidation and terror is simply
the direct or indirect, real or assumed threat to the LTTE. These acts
hardly reflect those of a sole representative of the Sri Lanka Tamils.
If at all they reflect the acts of a sworn enemy of Sri Lanka Tamils!
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka led by a Sri Lanka Tamil
woman made the following observations regarding the LTTE. The relevant
sections are reproduced as they are self explanatory and revels that
LTTE behavior is anything but representative of the Sri Lanka Tamils.
“Since the ceasefire agreement and up to September 2003, there have
been 38 so called political killings which relatives of the victims
attribute to the LTTE. ..The victims of these political killings have
been identified as members of Tamil political groups opposed to the
LTTE and Tamils working with the Sri Lankan security forces”
With regard to continuing killing of Tamils by the LTTE the Commission
stated “ This situation led one of those who made representations to
the Commission to say “the killings of Sinhalese have stopped but
there is no ceasefire for the Tamils”…. The impunity for these crimes
following the ceasefire has serious human rights implications. The
right to life is the most fundamental of all human rights and if that
right is taken away arbitrarily and violently without due process of
law, the most basic of all rights is violated”
On the issue of child conscriptions the Commission report states the
following. “ Of the 600 cases (of ceasefire violations reported by
SLMM), 25% of the cases (around 150) related to chilled abductions.
The SLMM also pointed out that their investigation lead to the
conclusion that only 10% of the actual cases are reported to them.
This is confirmed by the UNICEF figures that around 709 children have
been known to be recruited by the LTTE in the past year.”
The Commission also highlighted the abduction of adult Sri Lanka
Tamils. “ The abduction of children is also augmented by the abduction
of adults, either for ransom or punitive treatment. The SLMM records
around 130 such complaints of adult abductions for 2003. The
Batticaloa office of HRC received complaints of 58 adult abductions
for the year 2003….. As a result there is a great deal of insecurity
and fear among the people living their daily lives, especially if they
are from the middle class”.
On the issue of illegal taxation, the Commission observed the
following. “Until recently the government servants allegedly had to
pay 5% of their salaries as taxes to the LTTE. .. with regard to
agriculture they had to pay between 500-1000 Rs. Per acre per season,
Rs.10-15000 a month for tractor use during the harvest season.
Laborers have to pay Rs 25/= a month a part of their salary.
Businessmen and fishermen also have to pay taxes on the goods they
transform and on their earning and fisherman have to pay taxes on
their catch. The arbitrary and unreasonable deprivation of property is
a human right violation. (Taxes) They are also sometimes so
exorbitant, crippling the economic and social life of the community” .
Given these accounts of the LTTE, one is compelled to ask the question
how could a sole representative of a people engaged in a systematic
violation of all conceivable human rights of that people.
On the issue of political freedom and freedom of expression the
Commission report observed the following. “ Complaints to the
Commission from the eastern province, both written form and oral
communication, point to a ear of harassment for voicing independent
opinion as asserting one’s freedom of speech or association. And in
the Commission concluded with the following statement; “ The LTTE
displays a tendency to want to control all activity and programs in
the areas under its authority with a tenaciousness that is very
disturbing. This has major implications not only for the human rights
of individuals living in these areas.
University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)
The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) was formed in 1988
by a group of Tamil intellectuals at the University of Jaffna. Its
activities came to a standstill with the assassination of Dr. Mrs.
Rajani Thiranagama, a key founding member, in September 1989 by the
LTTE. Since then other UTHR(J) members were forced to leave Jaffna due
to threat from LTTE. The following statement of UTHR (J) is a telling
indictment against the LTTE’s claim to be the sole representatives of
the Sri Lanka Tamils.
“By combination of internal terror and narrow nationalist ideology the
LTTE succeeded in atomizing the community. It took away not only the
right to oppose but even the right to evaluate, as a community, the
course they were taking. This gives a semblance of illusion that the
whole society is behind the LTTE. (http://www.uthr.org/history.htm)
A 2001 UTHR (J) report titled clearly states how and why LTTE has
decided to make the sole representative claim. Given the behavior of
LTTE within the Sri Lanka Tami community, the human right activist
perceived LTTE as an ”oppressor” an appellation that directly
contradict the LTTE’s claim to the “sole representatives of Sri Lanka
Tamils”.
It has become clear that the LTTE will turn against any peace
negotiations that do not recognize it as the sole legitimate
representative of the Tamil people while giving unconstraint control
of the North East. The LTTE's politics is primarily defined by its
ideologically-driven military agenda and its ideology rather than by
any concern for the civilian well being.
The LTTE has eliminated all opposition and exercises total domination
in the regions it controls - i.e., it appropriates or directs the
efforts of all organized forms of civil society-through an organic
surveillance system. As a result, in their areas of control, sustained
independent protest and public dissent has become impossible.
It appears the trend has intensified over the years to the extent that
even the democratic political parties too have succumb to LTTE
domination as clearly revealed by the performance of ITAK now in
Parliament. UTHR (J) continued with a few questions to those who are
too willing to accept the LTTE claim of sole representative of Sri
Lanka Tamils
Accordingly, NGOs pursuing peace must recognize the consequences of
this climate of internal terror in the North and East, of the near
complete control the LTTE exercises over all civil society activities
within its domains of control. We need to face difficult questions:
What political space is available for local participants in peace
conferences who wish to continue to function in their respective
regions, to engage in a free exchange of views? If we want to hear the
views of the ordinary people of that region, how can we counter the
climate of internal terror that already manages the stage and writes
the script? What structures/mechanisms must be instituted in such
conferences to best produce a map of representative views? What is our
responsibility when those we proclaim to be our sole representatives
are denying this democratic space by engaging in activities ranging
from forced child recruitment to political killings?
UTHR (J) further explains how LTTE tries to maintain its dominance
among Sri Lanka Tamils both in Sri Lanka and abroad.
We recognize that the LTTE as a group is rooted in narrow nationalist
ideology bent on asserting its dominance through internal terror. It
is a group that has made a virtue of political and internecine
killings; It is a group that has successfully established a robust
international network that can provide resources for relatively long
periods; It is a group that has extended its terror among the
expatriate community to silence the dissidents and, most importantly,
it has perfected suicide politics to a point where, the resulting
ambience of fear, works subtly on decision-makers in the region.
UTHR (J) also warns the consequences of the acceptance of LTTE as the
sole representative of the Sri Lanka Tamils in the peace negotiations.
However, if a peace process primarily aimed at negotiations for a
political settlement and opening up space, is not a feasible agenda
for peace groups, and civil society organizations in the Tamil
community remained totally subservient to the LTTE, then peace is
going to be a pipe dream. That would leave only the international
community, if they so desire, to make the State and, particularly, the
LTTE, accountable
In a more recent report titled “The Worm Turns and the Elections
Where the People will Not Count” UTHR (J) describes “both clear
cases of political violence aimed at silencing electoral challenges to
the LTTE’s claim to be the Tamil people’s “sole representative” as
well as details of its ongoing campaign to root other less obvious
challenges to LTTE authority”. Sri Lanka’s donors have encouraged the
LTTE expansion under the misguided premise that the group could be
eased into a democratic process; and they have failed to take
responsibility for the abuse that has occurred as a result”.
The LTTE has been able to push its theory of “sole representative “
purely by terror. UTHR (J) contextualized this very convincingly in
arguing that “Might is right has been the basis on which the Norwegian
brokered MoU was framed. Repeated appeals by other that it needed
revision because it in effect gave open sanction for the LTTE to
consolidate its terror in the government controlled areas went
unheard. Those who had to flee their homes into the abject misery
owing to the LTTE’s violence or to protect their children form its
abduction gangs, were simply ignored”.
It is sad indeed, if power hungry politicians within Sri Lanka and now
international community all accept LTTE as the sole representative of
the Tamils and continue with legitimizing and appeasing the LTTE
purely to keep the so called peace process and MOU totally
disregarding violence and terrorism perpetrated by LTTE on the Tamils.
This tantamounts to denying the Sri Lankan Tamils democratic freedoms
and even the basic human rights. The so called “sole representatives”
of the Tamils have stolen the soul of the Tamil society with the open
concurrence of the Sri Lankan political leaders and the international
community as represented by such countries as Norway which has openly
supported the LTTE. A future democratic Tamil political leadership
should hold not only the LTTE, the two Sri Lankan governments of the
UNP and SLFP but also Norway and other members of the so called
international community which flirted with the LTTE responsible for
the injustice done to the Tamil society by legitimizing a terrorist
rule and denying democracy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the claim by the LTTE to be the sole representatives of
the Tamils is flawed and untenable for a number of reasons. First, the
“sole representatives” is a far fetched concept that cannot hold true
even in the most repressive political systems in the world. Thus the
concept cannot exit but in theory and fantasy. Second, LTTE is not an
elected body and thus it cannot be representative let alone sole
representative. Third, LTTE cannot be respected with a title of a
representative given its long record of human right violations of Sri
Lanka Tamils. Fourth, the LTTE cannot be representatives as they
maintain their supremacy within the Tamil society only through sheer
threats, intimidation and terror. Fifth, a number of Tamil political
parties and human rights organizations have openly and successfully
challenged the LTTE claim to be the sole representatives of Tamils.
LTTE is better qualified to be identified as sole repressors than sole
representatives of the Sri Lanka Tamils. Given this reality if an
individual, organization, or a country continue to support the LTTE’s
claim to be the sole representative of the Sri Lanka Tamils, they are
doing the greatest injustice to the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
References Indrapala, K. (….)
Report of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka- Human Rights
situation in the Eastern Province: Civil and political rights: —
allegations against the LTTE http://www.island.lk/2004/05/12/featur02.html
Reports of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. Human Rights
Situation in the Eastern Province. Civil and Political Rights:-
Allegation Against the LTTE.
The Island http://www.island.lk/2004/05/13/opinio11.html
The Island http://www.island.lk/2004/05/12/featur03.html
The Island http://www.island.lk/2004/05/12/news11.html
http://www.epdpnews.com/A-Hostile%20Acts.html
The Daily Mirror
UTHR (J) Briefing No. 4: Date of Release : 4th December 2001:Peace
activism, suicidal politics and civil society (http://www.uthr.org/Briefings/Briefing4.htm)
- Asian Tribune -