India: Time for Multilateralism in Sri Lanka
‘From
the 1970s onwards, government policy has been characterised by tough
anti-terrorism laws and harsh police action against alleged militants, while
successive administrations have ignored underlying political
grievances. Government repression fuelled violent reaction and provided popular
support to what were initially small and marginal groups in Tamil society. The
cumulative effect has been disastrous. Attempting to defeat the LTTE through
exclusively military means has created a
strong sense among Tamils of group solidarity and of being under siege.’[1]
There
is little evidence of
any change in the Sri Lankan
Government approach described above as it ramps up the conflict
against the LTTE. Indeed government policy is
veering worryingly into open racism.
As
recently as September 2008, the Police
ordered all Tamils who had moved
to the Western Province over the last five years to register at police
stations. Many Tamils with an identity card that identified their home
address in rebel-held
areas were reportedly arrested. The Deputy Minister of Vocational and Technical
Training, P Radhakrishnan
has accused the police of putting five to ten Tamils every day in preventive detention in the capital Colombo. Sri Lanka's Chief Justice,
Sarath Nanda Silva has stated that nearly 1,400
Tamils are in preventative custody.[2]
On 5 September 2008, the Secretary to the Ministry
of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order[3] instructed the UN and other NGOs to withdraw from LTTE-controlled Vanni
region on
security grounds. No
food convoy has been allowed to cross the
Omanthai checkpoint into the Vanni since 5th September 2008.
According to the UN, at the end of September
2008, there
were between 200,000 and 230,000 internally displaced persons in the Vanni region. However the Government of
Sri Lanka has since allowed UN officials to
accompany food convoys to the LTTE held areas
about two weeks after asking the UN to pull out of the North.[4] The situation remains too
dangerous for humanitarian agencies.
I. Indian
concern for Tamil rights
On
18 October 2008, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa telephoned Indian Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
This followed an official communication from India underlining the need for a peacefully
negotiated political settlement. President Mahinda Rajapaksa
reportedly assured Prime Minister Singh that all necessary measures were being
taken to ensure the safety and welfare of Tamils.[5] On 16 October 2008, Indian External Affairs Minister
Pranab Mukherjee stated: “It
is essential that their [Tamil] rights be respected, that they be immune from attacks, and that food and other
essential supplies be allowed to reach them”[6].
India’s sudden concern for the welfare of Tamils is something of a turnaround. In August Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh was in Colombo to attend the SAARC summit. The assault had already
begun and hundreds of thousands of Tamils were already displaced. PM Singh issued no statement of concern.
A. India’s
domestic agenda
The policy shift is explained
by the threat from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
and Dravida Munnettra Kazhagan (DMK) Party Chief Mr. M. Karunanidhi to withdraw their support from the Congress led United Progressive Alliance Government.[7] On 6 October, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
M. Karunanidhi issued a statement exhorting people to send communications to PM Singh to “intervene
immediately and stop the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka”. On 17 October 2008, all
seven Members of Parliament of the DMK (except Mr. Dayanidhi Maran) submitted their
resignations to party Chief Mr. Karunanidhi.[8]
B. India
needs to seek more than assurances
India has been aware of the humanitarian and human rights situation
for a very long time and has done nothing. Rajapaksa has kept Delhi
fully appraised of its counter insurgency actions since it began. If its latest interventions are to mean anything more than
rhetoric, India needs to do something more than seeking empty assurances from a
government with
an appalling human rights record.
The international
community, including India, ought to be very concerned. This is compounded by the
repeated extraordinary statements by politicians and senior members of the
security forces exhorting the members of
the security forces to ignore the rule of law in carrying out their duties. For example, in April 2007,
the Police Chief Victor Perera stated that the Police have to go beyond
the law to combat ‘crime’.[9]
The security forces are
responsible for serious human rights violations including arbitrary killings,
torture, mass arrest and detention during 2007. Violations are not a matter of
contention. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak
visited Sri Lanka in October 2007. He concluded that the use of torture by
the security forces was
widespread.
He concluded that: “This
practice is prone to become
routine in the context of counter-terrorism operations,[10]”
Amnesty International also recorded their concern that
civilians have not just been “caught
in crossfire”, but have also been deliberately targeted by the
security forces, the LTTE and other armed groups.[11]
The
Sri Lankan Air Force continues to bomb the LTTE held areas. Bombing is
inherently indiscriminate and makes it difficult, if not
impossible, for the Sri Lankan security forces to respect the basic
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) principle of making a distinction between those
who are directly participating in hostilities and those who are not. This
amounts to indiscriminate use of lethal force.
II. India’s
missed opportunities for peace in Sri Lanka
India’s
latest intervention underlines existing concern
over its foreign policy with regard
to the peace process in Sri Lanka.
A. Indian Sabotage I: The Norwegian brokered peace process
India failed to effectively support the 2002 Norwegian brokered peace process. Throughout
the peace process, New Delhi’s role has been deplorable. India demanded to be informed
about each and every development from the Norwegians, but provided no active
support. New Delhi refused to accept the invitation to join the Co-chairs of the peace
process which included the US, EU, Japan and Norway.
In May 2006, Mr. Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Chief F