By Anuradha Mitra Chenoy
23rd November 2012 12:00 AM
As a post-conflict society Sri Lanka has to engage in
peace building and state reconstruction after years of war with the Tamil
minority, who are now represented by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). For
years the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) engaged in a civil war for
Tamil rights creating parallel structures to those of the state and supporting
the cause of secession. In doing this, the LTTE also held its own people
hostage, assassinating even those within the community who wanted to opt for
peaceful means of struggle through non-violent and political ways. The Tamil
National Alliance (TNA) that has emerged as one of the main parties
representing the Tamil people after the 30 year war ended, is an organisation
that suffered on account of both the obduracy of the Sri Lankan state as well
as the LTTE. The Sri Lankan government should recognise this changed reality.
However, what has happened since the end of the war?
The Sri Lankan government appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation
Commission (LLRC) that met thousands of victims and came out with a report. The
TNA rejected this report’s findings and recommendations because this report did
not hold the government accountable and did not give justice or even a full
account of the war crimes that the international community, Press and United
Nations’ agencies showed had occurred. At the same time, while the LLRC has
strong shortcomings, it makes some recommendations that can initiate a process
with which the Tamil leaders can start work, and then move ahead negotiating
their demands systematically.
The Sri Lankan government held elections after the
war, including in the north and east areas that were earlier not under
Colombo’s control, to show that a period of normalcy had been initiated. In
this election the TNA won significantly. Their main demand is the creation of a
type of federal Sri Lanka where the Tamils can have autonomy. They want a
merger of the north and east areas where Tamils live. They talk of the
Thirteenth Amendment, which was backed by India years back that will make a
kind of federal arrangement possible. The Sri Lankan government, however, does
not appear to consider any of their demands seriously.
The Tamils also
want that the hundred thousand Tamils displaced by the war should be returned
to their homes and rehabilitated with their livelihood and dignity. This
process has been painfully slow and has only added to the grief of the minority
community. Women have been very seriously affected by the conflict. Gendered
crimes were rampant. They were symbols of Tamil honour and thus abused. Many
participated in the war as suicide bombers and guerilla outfits and became
victims and martyrs. They bore the burden of looking after their families and
community. They need special attention.
Things are far
from normal in Sri Lanka. This stems first from the triumphalism,
majoritarianism, militarisation and stereotyping in the mindset of the Sri
Lankan regime in power as well as in all structures and institutions. President
Mahinda Rajapakse’s regime is not willing to address the root cause of the
Tamil minority problem. They frequently refer to the TNA as holding on to the
LTTE positions. This is untrue. The Tamils have given up the demand for a
separate state and will settle for a federal arrangement.
At the same time, the TNA and other Tamils must also
recognise the Tamil Muslims, who were forced to migrate out of Tamil areas by
the LTTE during their hold on the area. They must not accede to the pressure of
the Tamil diaspora and their long distance and surrogate extra nationalism. If
the TNA wants a plural, secular and federal Sri Lanka they also must in turn
recognise minority rights and make adequate social, political and economic
space for their own minorities and dissenters.
Interestingly, President Rajapaksa has appealed to the
influential forces in India that can sway Tamil opinion, including the Indian
media. He knows India can play a major role. At the same time, in Tamil Nadu,
emotions remain high and sensitive on the Tamil ethnic cause in Sri Lanka. All
political parties and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa have been repeatedly asking
the Indian government to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government. Recently
Jayalalithaa wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh objecting to India
training Sri Lankan Army personnel. She continuously takes up this cause as it
is a major political issue.
India in its turn is walking on a razor’s edge. On the
one hand they need to make sure the Tamil sentiment is not hurt. They would
like to see a Sri Lanka that can only be stable if it accepts a multi-ethnic,
federal structure but also respects minority and human rights. On the other
hand India cannot intervene in local politics beyond a point because it can be
considered as hegemonic and the Sri Lankan regime will turn to China and could
even give them a military base. At the same time China can never replace India
in Sri Lankan geopolitics.
So in these circumstances India has to tread carefully
where its priority should be to keep putting sustained yet subtle pressure that
Sri Lanka deliver on the issue of ethnic rights. It also has to indicate to the
Sri Lankan Tamil parties, like the TNA, that they too must ensure the rights of
all communities. The only way for a just solution to Sri Lanka would be a
step-by-step federal, right-based restructuring within a time frame acceptable
by all parties. This would include de-militarisation and ensuring women’s
rights, rehabilitation and participation. Liberals and ethnic minorities of Sri
Lanka believe India has a positive role in this. India should try and fulfil
this.
Anuradha Mitra Chenoy is professor at the School of
International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
