Fooling the people with unwanted devolution

By Kumbakarana

The government with help from the UNP, plans to introduce the much discussed 'new constitution' and perhaps get it passed in parliament within the next three months. Talks with the LTTE are planned thereafter with Norway acting as a facilitator. These moves perhaps indicate that Chandrika is not one to take an eye for an eye. But by doing this she is drawing away from those who voted for her- those who clearly did not advocate such moves.

This course of action must be to the satisfaction of Ranil Wickremesinghe who reportedly came out with a clear message of a deal with the LTTE. Perhaps he can now claim that although he had 'lost the battle' he may still win the war, as his policies are to be implemented de-facto by CBK & Co. 

We had earlier pointed out that whatever transpires as a electoral pledge, is soon abandoned by a leadership which can be bought over, and their allegiance is not to the people but to the requirements of foreign power blocks and their designs on Sri Lanka. It is a reality in the modern context of Globalization and the Nation state, which is being deconstructed. 

The UNP and the PA will provide the people with explanations as to the reasons for these moves. The PA government would present the constitution highlighting the non-devolution aspects such as electoral reform and human rights clauses which they will claim if corrected will lead to stability in parliament and fairness. 

This parliamentary stability will be ensured by introducing a combination of proportional and first past the 'post' electoral system. The Govt. would also attempt to show that this would lead to a greater prospect of ' economic aid' from consortiums such as the Paris aid group. By drawing Norwegian assistance in the mediation process, the Govt. hopes to appease sections of the NGO Mafia and some sections of the 'Free Media'. It can also claim: "we have resolved the aspirations of the Tamil people." 

The UNP on the other hand can justifiably claim that with the electoral reform and the doing away of the Executive Presidency it has nullified its earlier defeat. This would prevent the fragmentation of the UNP due to its defeat and weak leadership. 

The important question at this juncture is what Prabhakaran's response would be to such a move?

A parallel situation can be seen in the Indian accord of 1987. In 1987 Prabhakaran initially accepted the Accord only to abandon it at a later date. He was able to transcend and survive the mild opposition to his abrogation of the accord without difficulty. In fact Prabhakaran understands the simple ABC of international politics, that it is not polices that matter, but the raw exercise of power.

There was an opportunity in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on President Kumaratunga to have gone ahead with the war against Prabhakaran. However, this was missed. 

The setbacks at Elephant Pass and the foiled assassination attempts have weakened the LTTE considerably, and a breathing space was what they desired. Whatever arguments are presented by the Govt. the people are well aware that a frightened and helpless state is attempting appeasement rather than a genuine long- term solution to the civil conflict.

Some political analysts believe that a small clique centered around the leadership is running both parties. The question is whether these are personal failings or a defect in modern day politics. I believe it is the latter. This is because the power of the state is already fragmented in several directions-international funders, NGO's, and the media- who have a holding on the State. 

Whatever power is concentrated around an authoritarian presidency. The party machinery in the PA and UNP also reflect this authoritarian state of affairs. The need of the day is to reconstruct the Sri Lankan Nation within a strong democratic framework, rather than formulating a hurried piecemeal devolution. 

Probe: From scene to suspect

Police Problems

by Tassie Seneviratne

Police investigations into any crime, be it murder, robbery or wanton destruction, must commence at the scene of crime and then proceed along clues determined by relevant evidence leading to the culprits. The investigator should not be guided by speculation and rumour that is not relevant evidence. This may sound rather obvious and needless to mention. But unfortunately this procedure gets topsy-turvy when enthusiasm gets the better of people at the top, due to political interests or the standing of the parties involved..Premature conclusions block the possibility that the truth could lie elsewhere, so much so that honest officers who follow leads from proper evidence methodically, are often subjected to all kinds of allegations. Cases of political significance including political assassinations, have not been without the interference I speak of. The most important in recent times was the Town Hall bomb-blast that was an attempt on the life of the President. Immature pronouncements to the press by senior police officers handling the investigations, and the President taking an interest to clear those whom she believes are loyal to her, and level counter allegations against the investigating officers who were earlier specially selected by her, are all signs that the lines of investigation are going haywire. 

Another case in point was the Lalith Athulathmudali assassination. What was of foremost importance, to the government and the police was not to trace the culprits but to clear the government and the police of any involvement in the incident. This was clearly manifest even in the Scotland Yard report: which stated inter alia that:- "There was an immediate backlash to Mr. Athulathmudali's death by anti-government supporters including DUNF. They accused the government and the police alike of being involved in the incident. No sooner had the police investigation commenced it was being labelled as a cover up.

"The government to its credit had the foresight to act quickly and decisively before the ensuing problem became too deep-rooted and without delay requested this review"

The Scotland Yard report clearly speaks of a backlash on the government and the police alike. There can be no 'backlash' unless they were in fact involved!

Also strangely, Scotland Yard officers took briefings from the very officers accused of the cover up. The head of the NIB, Mr Z. Wijesuriya, had by this time cultivated close rapport with an MI 5 officer, Brian Watters, who was attached to the UK High Commission in Colombo in the capacity of a secretary, when the government was faced with the 'ensuing problem'. The 'decisive act' to get down the Scotland Yard officers was suggested to President Premadasa by Z. Wijesuriya and through Brian Watters intervention the Scotland Yard team was got down 'quickly' and tasked with clearing the government and the police of blame. When the Scotland Yard officers arrived here they were housed in Hotel Ramada which was in fact Brian Watters' rendezvous. In the evenings Scotland Yard officers, Brian Watters and DIG/CID M.D.A Rajapakse who was long retired from the police but serving on a contract given by President Premadasa, met frequently at the 'Library' at Hotel Ramada where the Scotland Yard officers were entertained. It is reliably learnt that M.D.A Rajapakse and Brian Watters had a hand in the preparation of the Scotland Yard report.

A Presidential Commission of Inquiry was appointed after the change of government, but it did no better as since revealed. This commission started the inquiry against predetermined suspects and adopted procedures not followed in any civilized society, with the result that the culprits whether they were the same suspects or others, have escaped scot-free.

There was also the murder of Fijian rugger player Joel Pera by shooting, near a casino. This was immediately followed by an accusation against the son of a prominent cabinet minister. The CID was very quick to go public and pronounce that the minister's son was not involved, even before preliminary investigations were completed, and there was no irrefutable alibi for him. In fact the evidence was that he was at or in close proximity to, the scene of the shooting. So why all this haste? And the murder is still unsolved. The police have pronounced who didn't do it, but have failed to find out who did it.

A draft convention to protect innocents in peril

Children of war: beyond UN protocol

Focus on Rights

by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene

Naturally, it is to be expected that Sri Lankan policy makers would hail the recent approval of the United Nations draft protocol prohibiting the use of child soldiers under the age of 18 years, with hosannas of joy. 

The protocol comes some two years after the UN Special Representative for children in armed conflict, Olara Otunnu visited the country and declared his visit to be "satisfactory". At that time, Mr. Otunnu's positivity stemmed from the premise that both the Government and the LTTE were said to have made definite humanitarian commitments. The LTTE had agreed to refrain from recruiting children below 17 years and from using children below 18 years in combat.. It had also agreed to the monitoring of these promises. 

Back at a headquarters briefing in New York shortly thereafter, when Mr. Otunnu was asked as to how precisely these commitments could be monitored, his answer was that the specific mechanisms remain to be decided.

"What is important, however, is that they have committed themselves to the principle of monitoring," he said. And therein, as the bishop said to the duchess sitting next to him at table, lies the crux of the matter. 

As editorialists have pointed out within the past week, Velupillai Prbahakaran's baby brigades will not stop functioning purely because of the UN draft protocol. As might be recalled, when Mr. Otunnu asked for a public declaration from the LTTE leader in 1998 (after a meeting with Anton Balasingham and Tamil Chelvam) to respect the principles and provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all that the LTTE leadership would agree to was a purely non-committal and needless to say cosmetic readiness to have its cadres receive information and instructions on the provisions of the Convention. 

Now, that the efforts of the United Nations in pushing through a draft protocol of this nature have actually borne fruit — regardless of the fact that the protocol does not go as far as it ought to have done in prohibiting the recruitment of children per se — the ambiguity of the LTTE before international guarantees that it has made will be all the more greater. 

In response, the United Nations monitoring mechanisms in respect of combat and recruitment of children should now swing fully into operation, with all the formidable lobbying power that they possess. Particularly, as UN Expert of the Secretary General, Graca Machel's widely quoted 1996 report on the impact of armed conflict on children recommends, humanitarian agencies and organisations should seek signed agreements with non-state entities, committing them to abide by humanitarian law. That these measures are necessary if the draft protocol is to surmount the paper it is signed on and justify the international consensus prompting it, is without doubt. 

While the fact of LTTE child conscription is now widely known, the horrifying reality of Sri Lankan children trapped in a nightmare between terror groups and opposing forces, has been chillingly documented in a recent Amnesty International publication titled "Children in South Asia — securing their rights." In one such story, an unaccompanied teenager then seeking asylum in Britain told AI how members of the LTTE repeatedly tried to recruit him and his sister. They first came in 1993 when he was 14 years old and living with his family at a camp for internally displaced people at Urumpirai, Jaffna. The LTTE member who entered the family's hut was in civilian clothes but others waiting outside were in uniform and armed. When he and his sister refused, they allegedly said, "Think about it. If you don't join, we will come and take you." 

Later, after he and his family were further displaced to Chavaka-chcheri, the LTTE came again with the same request. His parents then sent him and his sister to Killinochchi to stay with relatives and then later to Colombo. When he and his uncle tried to cross into government held territory at Vavuniya round May, 1996, they were arrested by members of PLOTE, then fighting along with the army. The juvenile who was by that time, 17 years old, was allegedly taken to a room and beaten with sticks and kicked with boots. His uncle was released with the message to come back and hand over Rs 10,000 for his release. After three days, the money was paid, and the boy released. 

AI records other instances of children as young as 12 recruited against their will by the LTTE and others as young as nine, carrying arms. It is interesting to note meanwhile that PLOTE and other Tamil armed groups fighting alongside the security forces have also been accused of recruiting children. 

The implementation of supervising mechanisms in this context is accordingly crucial and should apply to armed groups across the board. Then again, the UN January consensus culminating in a draft protocol does not mean that Sri Lanka can merely lean back and rub its hands in glee at the thought of the LTTE being enmeshed in its demoniac strategies of using children in war. 

On the contrary, the consensus signals a clear duty on governments in countries where armed conflict prevails, to be mindful of its obligations to heed the rights of children caught in the crossfire. 

While conceding the difficulties of meeting urgent security threats in a climate where terror groups have no scruples about using children as soldiers or suicide bombers, much more needs to be done about ensuring that child rights are secured in the current conflict. Sri Lanka has had none too savoury a reputation in this field. Thus, as the AI publication reports, one account by an 11 year old Tamil boy about a month after he was allegedly tortured at a small army camp near his home in Jaffna is particularly saddening . 

"Two soldiers threw me in a tub which had no water in it. I got up and ran to my mother at the gate. I held my mother and asked her not to allow them to take me. They snatched me away again. I was put against the wall and one of the soldiers kicked me with his knee in the stomach. I screamed. Then they took me behind their compound. There was a coconut tree. They tied my legs with rope and pulled me upside down. While hanging, I was beaten with netted (twisted) wire about six times. Then they let me down and tied my hands. I was beaten with sticks from the tulip tree." 

He had been beaten because the soldiers suspected that his family had provided food to LTTE members.

When relating his experiences, he still had the marks of beatings on his buttocks. The soldiers eventually let him go, warning him not to tell anyone about his treatment. His mother did not dare to get medical care for his wounds. 

In another such documented instance, Kumar, a 12-year-old boy had arrived in Colombo with his ailing father from their village in the north of the country in November 1997. His father was admitted to hospital almost immediately for special medical treatment. On November 14, while at his father's bedside in the hospital, Kumar was arrested by the police and taken to the Maradana police station. The police accused him of having links with the LTTE, pointed a gun at him and "threatened to break his head on the ground" and "pour water through his eyes and nose." 

Over the next few days, he was stripped and beaten repeatedly with a broken wooden bat. They told him that his father had died. Five days later after his arrest, Kumar was admitted to hospital with stomach pains and discovered that his father was still alive. A subsequent medical examination showed that Kumar had injuries consequent to being assaulted with a blunt weapon while his hands had been tied below his knees. 

These are only some of the terror stories, said to be happening with a lazy arrogance in the heart of Colombo, among the day-to-day activities of decent ordinary civilians who would be shocked out of their wits if confronted with the reality.

It is in this context that the draft protocol will impose a renewed obligation on states as well as armed groups to abide by humanitarian rules of conduct in relation to children. 

In this respect, lobbying to prohibit the use of landmines in war will also be strengthened. At present, Sri Lanka remains one of the most mined countries in the world. In Jaffna, several children had been among about 30 civilians killed or injured when they stepped on uncleared mines according to a count taken in mid 1996, for example. 

For the time being, the focus is however on more immediate priorities. As the euphoria clears over the international consensus reached last week in Geneva on the draft protocol, and negotiators get down to the soberer task of implementation, it is only to be hoped that the mechanisms set in place will be in tune with the solemnity of its consensus. 

Return to News/Comment Contents