The Rajpal Abeynayake Column

The Rajpal Abeynayake Column By Rajpal Abeynayake

Who really cares about LTTE human rights violations?
Amnesty International's assertion over the week that the LTTE may be using the ceasefire to eliminate political opponents (they might have added government informants also) was underscored only by the fact that the LTTE killed another informant this week.

When this question was brought up when the President hosted newspaper Editors for dinner this week, Lakshman Kadirgamar, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs said "there is little the opposition can do about it.''

The problem with the non-governmental organizations that bring up the issue of human rights violations is that these NGOs do not sound sincere when they talk of LTTE human rights violations now, when there was no such concern about similar issues when the war was on.

The problem with the opposition bringing up human rights violations is precisely the fact that the opposition is doing hardly anything worthwhile in resistance to LTTE killings.

Though Mr Kadirgamar said that "there is little the opposition can do'' the fact is that the opposition has not done what little it can do, about such human rights violations and assassinations of political opponents.

Nimal Siripala Silva congratulated EPDP leader Douglas Devananda at a reception held at President's House recently, and said 'I forward reports of LTTE human rights violations that you e-mail to me, to Geneva''.

It is not likely that Nimal Siripala Silva would have to be posting human rights reports to Geneva via his private e-mail, if the opposition was collectively doing its job to bring these violations to the notice of the international community.

But the opposition's problem seems to be that its resistance to LTTE human rights violations is based on politics, and not based on the fact that these are human rights violations per se that involve human beings. The opposition is in a frenzy over the interim administration, the issue of the two different documents, and the politics of federalism and core issues. Where is the time for the opposition to concentrate on LTTE human rights violations when all there is in the typical opposition mind is how to stop the government's peace juggernaut?

On the other hand, its the LTTE's gunning for its opponents that's really galling the international community and those who want to support a new kind of peace in Sri Lanka. Marwan Marcan Markar, a Sri Lankan writer pointed out just about this time last year in an article that Prabhakaran does not have the international support that Zunano Guzman of East Timor enjoys for instance, because ''Guzman was a cultured man, whereas Prabhakaran has made a name for himself as a butcher.'' (….words to that effect.)

Prabhakaran was at least en route to regaining a human image -- but then, the assassinations started becoming almost routine, and army informants and political opponents were being gunned down in direct proportion to the LTTE's virtual putsch for peace.

Now, the US, Amnesty and the whole caboodle of international players are turning nasty to the LTTE once again, while the Sri Lankan opposition says it can 'hardly do anything about the LTTE human rights violations''.

Strangely, Prabhakaran's tack mirrors these sentiments. The LTTE has alleged that Sri Lankan forces were not bothered about human rights violations, and were " killing Tamil civilians with impunity'' before the ceasefire --- after which, the Sri Lankan authorities are evincing a sudden and unusual interest about the human rights of Tamils. Albeit a hollow argument, but one that says however that " the concern for human rights of Tamils on the part of the Sri Lankan polity is spurious and not based on a sincere concern for these people.''

If the opposition had a sincere concern for the human rights of Tamil political opponents of the LTTE, and of army informants, then it is not probable that the opposition would have excused itself by saying " there is hardly anything that we can do about LTTE human rights violations.''

When there were human rights violations in the South for instance, the opposition was not heard to say 'there is not much we can do, is there?''. On the contrary the opposition almost pounded on Geneva's door on a daily basis, and the opposition formed vigilante groups and galvanized bodies such as the Bar Association to fight against human rights violations, which is why several lawyers needed to pay with their lives for filing habeas corpus applications.

These days, according to the answers given by the opposition 'there is hardly anything the opposition can do'' to galvanize public opinion against human rights violations, or to galvanize public opinion to lather itself up to pound that door in Geneva.

That's what makes it a little queasy for anyone to really assert that there is a genuine empathy for human rights violations of Tamils back here in the South. The government's record is disgraceful - - leave alone the killings of political opponents of the LTTE, the totally lukewarm reaction by the government towards killings of the army's own informants has to be recorded as one of the most sickening episodes of Sinhala treachery. The government can make peace with the LTTE for good reasons - - but treachery it is, to sacrifice men who have been the government's most potent assets during the hostilities.

All of which goes to show that the southern polity, be it government or opposition acts in the almost usual selfish self destructive and morally untenable manner. The deduction doesn't seem to be that the LTTE's human rights violations should be something which has to be resisted at all times with the greatest vehemence. The deduction seems to be, on the other hand, that these violations are a convenient handle to be used for whittling away at the government's and the LTTE's politics of the peace process. As for the government, which should do its utmost to prevent these violations (especially those of informants) the violations are only an embarrassment, because some wretched human beings are getting in the way of their politics of peace. Who says Tamil human rights are important because Tamils are also human beings?

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