(DailyMirror) Dr. Rohan Gunaratne, I
nternational Terrorism Expert and Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Rajaratnam School of International Studies, speaks to Hard Talk about the threat of the LTTE raising its head once more.
Placing blame on the foreign ministry for what he terms it’s ‘miserable failure to counter the LTTE propaganda, Dr. Gunaratne maintains that the two factions of the LTTE’s global face; one led by Nediyawan in Norway portrays Prabhakaran’s image, flies the Tiger flag and advocates the armed struggle – meaning a return to violence, while the second faction led by V. Rudrakumaran out of New York ‘also wants to create a separate Tamil state but politically.
He stresses that Nediyawan should be extradited to Sri Lanka for his role in the LTTE. ‘Nediyawan’s rival Rudrakumaran, also seeking to divide Sri Lanka and polorize the Tamils and Sinhalese and Muslims presents a strategic threat to peace in Sri Lanka. Like Prabhakaran brought endless suffering, Rudrakumaran will bring another cycle of suffering’, he emphasizes.
He notes that President Rajapaksa should take a bold step and invite Rudrakumaran to abandon such action and join the rest of the country to develop the north and the east of the country. He believes that in the larger interest of peace, Sri Lanka must not fear to invite even the worst terrorist or terrorist idealogue to join the political mainstream.
Q: The pro-LTTE segments of the Tamil diaspora will mark Prabakaran’s birthday tomorrow where he usually delivered a Heroes Day speech. What in your opinion is the exact financial and political strength of the LTTE today and how much ground support do you see still remaining with the outfit today? How successful would you say its plans to come out with a democratic face to win Eelam been six months after its military defeat?
The LTTE has been dismantled in Sri Lanka but the LTTE remains a significant entity overseas. Both politically and financially, the LTTE international presents to challenge to Sri Lanka progress, ethnic harmony, and unity. Future peace in Sri Lanka can only be sustained, if the LTTE is dismantled comprehensively, both at home and overseas. As such, the current and successive Sri Lankan leadership should not tolerate any terrorist support activities against the Sri Lankan state from within or overseas.
LTTE international is led by two factions: Perinpanayagam Sivaparan alias Nediyawan in Norway portrays Prabhakaran’s image, the Tiger flag and advocates the armed struggle – meaning a return to violence! The second faction is led by V. Rudrakumaran out of New York also wants to create a separate Tamil state but politically.
For his role in the LTTE, Nediyawan should be extradited to Sri Lanka. Nediyawan’s rival Rudrakumaran, also seeking to divide Sri Lanka and polorize the Tamils and Sinhalese and Muslims presents a strategic threat to peace in Sri Lanka. Like Prabhakaran brought endless suffering, Rudrakumaran will bring another cycle of suffering unless he embarks on a journey of peace and engagement with Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa should take a bold step and invite Rudrakumaran to abandon the reckless enterprise and join the rest of the country to develop the north and the east of the country. In the larger interest of peace, Sri Lanka must not fear to invite even the worst terrorist or terrorist idealogue to join the political mainstream.
Q:You maintain that one of the men on board the ship that landed on the West Coast was a key player in a Tamil Tiger network that shipped weapons from North Korea to Sri Lanka and that many of the migrants are Tigers – not refugees – who are coming to Canada to regroup. How serious is this situation according to your information?
Kamalraj Kandasamy was the captain of several LTTE ships that transported arms, ammunition, explosives and other supplies from North Korea for the LTTE. When the LTTE knew that the fight was over, Kamalraj dumped the last consignment of weapons in the sea of Japan in March/April of 2009. This is how, when the Canadian investigators swabbed the ship for explosives, they detected C4 and PETN. Desperate to find a way out, the Canadian lawyers appearing for the LTTE front the Canadian Tamil Congress said that PETN is found in pacemakers to regulate the heartbeat.
Kamalraj was on board the LTTE ship detained in Canada. The LTTE ship MV Princess Easwary mascarading as MV Ocean Lady that reached Victoria, Canada in October was also captained by Kamalraj. In addition to Kamalraj, there several members of the LTTE who Prabhakaran dispatched to Canada to reconstitute the LTTE. They will be named when the Canadians lift the publication ban on the names.
Q: Canada especially seem to be increasingly becoming the grounds for greater strengthening of a post war LTTE outfit internationally. What in your opinion are the repercussions of such a reawakening of the LTTE and in what form do you see this happening?
Canadians are very trusting and very generous. Canadian hospitality has been abused by multiple terrorist groups and their supporters. The LTTE is not an exception. The LTTE has built state of the art front, cover and sympathetic organizations in Toronto and greater Toronto. Al Qaeda and al Qaeda organization of the Islamic Maghreb has build a vast support infrastructure in Quebec, notably in Montreal. Similarly, Babar Khalsa International has built a deep network in Vancouver.
For peace in Sri Lanka to sustain, the LTTE network overseas must be dismantled. At this point of time, there is no country more important for the LTTE than Canada. Canada must target and dismantle foreign terrorist groups disseminating propaganda, recruiting, raising funds, and procuring supplies on Canadian soil. Canada needs to act before it is too late.
Q: What are the continuing areas of funding for the LTTE and how many of its front liners having the capacity to resurrect the outfit are out there in your opinion?
The LTTE is operating outside Sri Lanka under the cover of human rights, humanitarian, social, cultural, political, educational, commercial, charity, community and other organizations. The Sri Lankan government working with its foreign counterparts should identify, target and dismantle this vast LTTE infrastructure.
Q: How would you rate the room left for such regrouping in other parts of the world in comparison?
The LTTE has developed a good idea about the laws in each country. The LTTE is known to harness the gaps and loopholes in the laws. In Western countries, there is a lot of space for the LTTE and other foreign terrorist groups to operate. The constitution guarantees freedom of movement, expression and protest. The LTTE is regrouping mostly in the West. After Canada, Australia is the most important venue, followed by Western Europe, especially Scandinavia.
Q: Would you say enough was being done by Sri Lanka’s own Foreign Ministry to counter such a build up?
Sri Lankan foreign ministry miserably failed to counter the LTTE propaganda. Even today, the foreign ministry has not understood the threat and developed the structures, recruited and trained the key staff to fight LTTE propaganda. Western countries are reacting to LTTE propaganda not to the ground reality of what happened in Sri Lanka.
Q: Shankar was found to be the owner of MV Ocean Lady alias Princess Eashwary, vessels extensively used in human smuggling activities- in the LTTE’s overseas network based in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Earlier, on October 2009, Canadian immigration authorities interdicted MV Princess Eashwary (MV Ocean Lady) while smuggling-in 76 bogus asylum seekers into Canadian waters from South Asia. The vessel “Princess Eashwary” is also said to be used extensively for gunrunning activities of the LTTE outfit, prior to its defeat according to reports. He had also claimed bogus asylum to evade Canadian immigration authorities and Defence authorities are asking that such authorities take him into custody and deport him to Sri Lanka. What aspects of international law or loopholes in international action against terrorism in your opinion keeps such persons and outfits alive?
Captain Ravishankar Kanagarajah, the head of the LTTE shipping network, guided Princess Easwary to Canada. He is not only a very dangerous arms smuggler but also a human smuggler. Currently, several governments are looking for him. Unless he abandons violence, he is likely to be arrested, charged, prosecuted and sentenced.
Q: How would you rate the threat facing the political administration of Sri Lanka facing allegations of war crimes at the end of military exercises in view of the recently released report on the case by the US department of States for instance?
Sri Lankan must have its own inquiry. Furthermore, Sri Lanka should respond to the false allegations. Although not in all cases, the reports produced by the US State Department, UN offices and many other human rights bodies are informed or influenced by LTTE propaganda.
Q: Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith who has expressed his plans to ‘sound out’ his Commonwealth counterparts on ways to help stem the flow of refugees from Sri Lanka had said the Sri Lankan government also needed to take reconciliatory action after a prolonged civil war to stop the flight of minority Tamils. How acute is this issue in your opinion?
The Australian Foreign Minister Smith is right. Now is a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka to reach out to the Tamil community. There is no better time. The President of Sri Lanka must take this challenge seriously. He should work with Australia and other countries willing to help Sri Lanka to create a Marshall Plan type strategy to rebuild Sri Lanka’s north and east. Although Basil Rajapaksa has made immense progress with the limited resources he has, six months after the war has ended this has not happened. With international assistance, Sri Lanka needs to establish a development funds to economically develop the north and east.
Q: Appreciating Sri Lanka’s decision to grant freedom of movement to IDPs living in camps in Vavuniya, International Development Minister Mike Foster said that Sri Lanka must now allow humanitarian agencies to give these people the help they need in all the places that they return to. How feasible is such a move at this point of time in your opinion?
There is a wrong perception about how the government treated the IDPs. It stemmed from LTTE propaganda not the ground reality. Sri Lanka has done a remarkable job in the last six months of looking after the displaced. Sri Lanka should give all agencies access to visit the IDPs and help the government to build homes, create jobs, reunite with their families and rebuild their lives.
Q: Amnesty International claims that an estimated 12,000 former LTTE fighters who are held incommunicado in ‘irregular detention camps’ are at risk of torture, and accuse the on-going screening process for such a situation. What are your concerns in this regard and do you see the government having handled the situation any differently, drawing experiences of such practices from elsewhere in the world’s in post war scenarios?
Sri Lanka is building a state of the art rehabilitation program for former LTTE members: I have visited the camps and I have reviewed the progress. The Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda and General Daya Ratnayake, the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation are working with IOM and other international bodies to rehabilitate these detainees. Furthermore, the Sri Lankan business community has promised each one of the detainees both training and job opportunities.
Q: Richard Colvin the former senior most Canadian intelligence officer in Afghanistan has come out with evidence on how the Canadian government ‘condoned’ the torture of many Afghan nationals who were initially detained by their troops and later handed over to Afghan authorities. Opinion varies on what many perceive as this duplicity of standard when dealing with such situations by these countries. How do you see this situation?
Human rights is the religion of the west. Nonetheless, there have been violations even by western nations. Almost all the counter insurgencies and counter terrorist campaigns have produced human rights violations. Although terrorists are the biggest violators, terrorist groups are using human rights violations as an effective tool. The LTTE, notorious for human rights violations has lobbied Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, UN human rights bodies, US State Department and other agencies on this issue! For instance, Rudrakumaran, the LTTE leader in the US is known as a human rights lawyer and not as a leader of a terrorist group in Western capitals!The West was angry not because Sri Lanka violated human rights. In the final phase of the campaign against the LTTE, Sri Lanka did not care about the interventions of the west. Western political leaders were susceptible to LTTE infiltrated diaspora electoral and constituency pressure!
Now Sri Lanka needs to rebuild its relationship with the West. Sri Lankan foreign ministry should take its task more seriously: it must conceptualize the problem, develop a strategy and a plan. It must go back to the basics. That is the very objective of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy is to advance its national security interests. Sri Lankan foreign ministry has a huge role to play to reflect and project to the international community what truly happened in the country. Unfortunately the West did not understand the ground realities in Sri Lanka and believed in LTTE propaganda. Unless, the foreign ministry gets it act together and integrate information specialists and journalists to work side by side with journalists, the west will continue to believe in LTTE propaganda. That is what happened. (DailyMirror)
