THE MIXED MESSAGE OF THE MILITARY SOLUTION.............JEHAN PERERA,N.P.C.
The government's message of military success in the war against the LTTE is getting worldwide attention. Journalists from around the world have recently been finding Sri Lanka to be an interesting story to cover. The prestigious Wall Street Journal published in the United States has offered Sri Lanka as evidence that a military solution to conflicts is possible. In an editorial, it has said that "For those who argue that there is no military solution for terrorism, we have two words: Sri Lanka." Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has disclosed that international leaders have praised Sri Lanka's army commander as the best in the world and that foreign military powers are looking to Sri Lanka for lessons in military success.
Although relatively small and distant from the power centres of the world, Sri Lanka has frequently been an object of international scrutiny for the best of reasons. In the 1960s and 70s, the country was studied on account of its social welfare system that enabled the people to enjoy a quality of life that exceeded its relatively low per capita income. However, after 1980 international attention, turned less favourable with the rise of the ethnic conflict. The flow of refugees abroad and reports of human rights abuses involving the ethnic minority made Sri Lanka's reputation fall in the estimation of the international community.
The peace process of 2002 once again propelled Sri Lanka into the favourable attention of the world. It seemed for a while that Sri Lanka provided a model of conflict resolution with international third party mediation playing a key role. Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is one of the few leaders in the world at the present time who has risked his political future on a peaceful resolution of a long standing conflict. If this brave experiment had succeeded, the world might today be a better place, with more emphasis given to non-violent means of conflict resolution. Those who speak and write in praise of the military solution often ignore the terrible costs it imposes on the people, both in the short and longer terms, and by suppressing the need for a just and equitable political solution.
HIGH COSTS
Today, one of the stories doing the rounds in conservative circles in the world, epitomized by the Wall Street Journal, is that of the effectiveness of military solutions. Military solutions are popular with those who are powerful, because it means that they do not need to change. The other, who challenges, is destroyed, so there is no more need to change. The stakes are high. A new US president is about to deliver on his pledge to give a new direction to his country in both its domestic and foreign policy. There is anticipation that the Obama Administration will be more inclined to peaceful ways of conflict resolution than its predecessor. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has said that not all terrorists are the same, and some have legitimate causes on which basis they fight.
Sri Lanka has become thrust on the international scene as an ideological support to those who believe in military solutions to terrorism. It is used to justify the Israeli military incursion into Gaza and the continuing US battle to subdue the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, many of those who praise the Sri Lankan government for its military success seem to be glossing over its high economic and human costs. The economy is in the doldrums, affecting all sections of the population, even though the majority appears to be acquiescing in these costs for the sake of a final victory over terrorism. Most government spokespersons claim, both to the domestic and international media, that the military operations have been clean with relatively few civilian casualties. But those on the ground contend that the reality is otherwise.
The Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundaranayagam has recently made an appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross and to other humanitarian organisations to open a safe corridor for the civilian population to flee the battle zones of the north. He has written, "The security forces have captured and taken over Dharmapuram on the A35 road, and they are pressing towards Puthukuduyirippu from the west. And the security forces are also advancing from south of Oddusudan. Hundreds of people are trapped between Visvamadu and Puthukuduyirippu. Many people are dying or seriously getting wounded during this confrontation from aerial bombings and firing from artillery shells." The Bishop's words contradict the government claim of a clean war and need to be taken notice of and acted upon.
GOVERNMENT ACTION
For its part, the government has invited the trapped civilians of the north to come over to government controlled areas and has prepared places for them, even if their suitability is in question. But, the LTTE has been preventing the people from leaving, even at gunpoint it is reported. If the people remain in those areas, they can be used as human shields and as a pool for forcible recruitment by the LTTE. While offering his services and those of his priests for the task of evacuating the people, Bishop Savundaranayagam has said that "our inactivity at this time will merit the blame of the world, that the UN agencies just watched when innocent internally displaced persons were being killed in the Wanni."
When fighting in the north commenced several months ago, the government issued a directive to all international humanitarian organisations to leave those areas. The only international organization that was permitted to remain was the ICRC, which has a mandate that calls for strict confidentiality of their findings. As a result, there are no independent international witnesses in the northern battle zones who could give credible information to the international media. It also leaves the ICRC to undertake by themselves a humanitarian task of enormous proportions that they are not equipped to handle alone.
As the war comes to its possibly final and most costly stage, it is incumbent on the government to demonstrate genuine concern for the trapped people of the northern battle zones. Such evidence of concern will do much to facilitate reconciliation and a political solution in the future. Every effort needs to be taken to persuade the LTTE to permit the people to leave for safer places through the establishment of a humanitarian corridor. The government has recently banned the LTTE for the very reason of its refusal to let the people leave. But, the government needs to consider permitting international humanitarian organisations to open up lines of communication with the LTTE for the purpose of safeguarding the lives of the trapped people of the Wanni. Even a government that has given priority to a military solution, and won international recognition for it, ought to give deference to humanitarian requirements. If the truth is known, the people of the world will agree.
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