The National Peace Council (NPC)

It was 7 pm on a Saturday evening.  I was ready top take my children home after their tennis practice at the courts of the national association in one of Colombo’s most residential areas.  But when we got to the parking lot, we found the gates closed and vehicles stalled near the gates. The road was closed.  There were armed soldiers visible on the road moving here and there and periodically shouting instructions, including orders that the lights on the cars within the parking lot should be switched off.   As this had been a common occurrence during the past three years we knew we had to settle down to a short or long wait until the VIP entourage passed by.

Then it came, a large convoy of vehicles rushed by at top speed, led by about ten motorcycles, about five cars and jeeps surrounded by more motor cycles, and last of all an ambulance.  Relieved that we had to wait only about ten minutes we prepared to resume out delayed journey home.  But the road did not open.  A further ten minutes passed before a second convoy sped by, similar to the first, motor cycles, cars and jeeps including the ambulance.  Another ten minutes passed and the road opened.  As we had no reason to believe the road would close again we took our time to set off.

Much to our dismay within about five minutes of the road opening, it was closed again.  Again we had to wait for about ten minutes.  Suddenly a third convoy, seemingly identical to the first two, with motorcycles, cars, jeeps and ambulance, swept by.  It took a further ten minutes for the road to be opened to traffic.  This time we were ready to leave immediately.  We did not ask who was supposed to be inside those three convoys, whether it was all done for one VIP or for two or three.  But it did not require much thought to realize that whoever was inside one or more of those vehicles was living in very great fear of their lives. It could be a fear psychosis that is once again making its presence felt or a realistic assessment of the risk at hand.

The final face to face war with the LTTE may have ended more than four months ago in the north of the country.  This has led to expectations, especially amongst members of the international community, of a rapid return to normalcy and to the upholding of international standards in democratic governance.  But the reality is otherwise as experienced by government leaders.  There continues to be fear of terror attacks by remnants of the LTTE.  This apprehension has been repeatedly stated by defence spokespersons and accounts for the frequent road closures and manner of travel by government leaders.  There is even a return to the cordon and search operations of the past for terrorist suspects.

GENUINE FEAR

The end of the war and the decimation of the LTTE leadership on the banks of the lagoons of the north led to the expectation that a new era of freedom of movement and respect for human rights would dawn.  Instead virtually the entire population who had been held by the LTTE in its last desperate bid to maintain a human shield continues to be detained inside giant welfare camps.  Far from demobilizing excess army personnel who had been needed to fight the war, the army commander said that the Sri Lankan army needed to recruit a further 100,000 soldiers.  The security checkpoints in Colombo did not diminish, and most recently it is reported that new checkpoints have been set up on the roads in the east.

Critics of the government have argued that it is deliberately keeping a war mentality in place in order to gain political advantage by reminding the people of the war that it famously won.   This would help to keep electoral support for the government at a high level without it getting dissipated in the mundane concerns over the cost of living and the economy.   It would also justify the government’s use of security measures to intimidate its opponents, even those who are unarmed, as being connected to protecting national security and not permitting terror strikes in the future.  Indeed some of the government’s ministers have belittled the economic concerns of the people, and placed as priority matters the much greater concerns of national security and independence from foreign interference.

The fact is that the LTTE was not an organization that fought on a single track.  It had conventional, guerilla, terrorist and international capacities.  It was the LTTE’s conventional capacity that was completely destroyed on the shores of the north.  But its guerilla, terrorist and international capacities, although significantly reduced, can be believed to remain to some extent at least.  The war did not completely end with the decimation of the LTTE leadership in the north. The government leaders would therefore be correct in their belief that the remaining vestiges of this LTTE capacity could be targeted against them.

The real concerns of the government leadership about the possibility of terrorist attack and the threat to their life cannot be doubted.  The elaborate security measures taken on that Saturday evening was a clear indication of the seriousness with which the government leadership perceives the threat to themselves.  There was no propaganda value or political advantage to be gained by closing the roads on a Saturday evening when most people were at home anyway.  This was an indication of the seriousness of the threat that is perceived. 

PROTRACTED CONFLICT

What Sri Lankans are getting to realize now after four months of victory and its associated celebrations is that there is no quick and clean end to a protracted civil conflict.  The government is today facing great pressures on it, both locally from its unhappy ethnic Tamil minority and internationally from human rights organizations and foreign governments.  There is an internal threat of terrorism that continues and now a new threat of international sanctions and punishment.  There is a pressing need for a new approach to conflict resolution.  It is no longer enough to tighten security measures and to deny that there are problems that require improvements in governance.

The government has repeatedly shown itself to be backed by the majority of the electorate.  It has won successive provincial and local elections.  Now it needs to convert its credibility and popularity with the majority of people into political reform.  The war lasted nearly three decades for a reason.  Larger size and concepts of sovereignty alone are not enough to suppress the resistance of smaller ethnic nationalities who feel that they are excluded from full and equal participation in the polity.  Military means of ensuring security need to be supplemented and eventually replaced by mutual agreement that comes about through political dialogue and negotiations with the Tamil political parties.

The government also has to deal with the unprecedented challenge that is coming from the international community.  The threat of the withdrawal of the multi billion dollar GSP Plus tariff concession that the European Union has granted to Sri Lanka could, if actually withdrawn, lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, and even more, precipitating large scale economic dislocation and hardship.  On September 21 the day on which the world every year celebrates the International Day of Peace, the US Congress is expected to receive a preliminary report on violations of human rights that occurred in the course of the war in Sri Lanka. 

So far the government’s response to its international critics has been to publicly refute allegations against itself.  The government refused to cooperate with the European Union’s investigations into Sri Lanka’s compliance with the requirements of the GSP Plus concession.  It rejected the investigation as an affront to its sovereignty and dignity, and denied entry visas to the EU investigators.  The problem with this approach is that it led to one-sided findings by the EU investigators.  They did not have access to the government’s version but they had access to the versions of others, including opponents of the government.  Even as the shades of twilight fall upon the GSP Plus, the government is making a bid to present its case to the EU.  Hopefully the government will succeed, and the lesson learnt will be applied to other forthcoming investigations too.