'Normality in northern Sri Lanka is still a very long way away'
By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo |
Yet the army chief says he wants the army, already 200,000, to increase in size by 50%.
To see what the military means to many Sri Lankans, I visited the peaceful bungalow home of Leelawathi Mahagamaralalage, set among banana trees in a village.
Taking pride of place in her front room are shelves with pictures of her family, but mostly of her second son, Nandana.
Plastic surgery
When we get out the album, she weeps. It shows his funeral. A Sri Lankan army soldier, he was killed in battle 12 years ago, aged just 20.
 |   This expansion of the Sri Lankan army in such large numbers gives us wrong signals  Tamil MP Mano Ganesan |
She still mourns him and treasures every memento including his final letter.
She has two other sons.
Nandana's elder brother, Chandana, was 14 years in the navy. But a year ago, in a Tamil Tiger grenade attack, he lost much of his hearing, and needed plastic surgery.
With her third son in the police, Leelawathi, despite her pain cherishes all her sons' achievements - and cherishes the armed forces.
"I feel so sad - but proud, too," she says. "I have only the memory of one son. But I am happy because I have two more sons. Even if a family has 10 people, very often, every one of them will join the military, the same as in my family."
The wounded brother Chandana, now retired, lives next door with his family. He fully supports the government's plan to expand the armed forces even now the war is over.
'Searching for heroes'
"The LTTE have no leader now. So the small number of LTTE cadres who are left will try to form another organisation and will try to become leaders, as a matter of pride, and will tell the world that they are the LTTE," he believes.
"So the army must be on alert and observe everything these people are doing, and take any action needed to prevent them forming again."
|  Camps will be established to see that no terrorist activities take place Brig Udaya Nanayakkara |
Boosted by that pride, which is strongest in Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority population, the forces are recruiting.
The capital, Colombo, has many posters praising the military. Sinhala-language television stations still carry advertisements to entice applicants, telling them their nation is "searching for heroes". And many are joining up.
The military says the ambitious plan for the massive 50%increase in size is grounded in the need to quash possible militancy and also to help with development work.
It will also step up its presence in Sri Lanka's north, where hundreds of thousands of Tamil refugees are currently interned in camps by the government with no freedom of movement. The authorities say they are concerned about their possible LTTE links and are therefore screening them.
They say that many of the refugees are still "with the LTTE… at least mentally". But they add that 10,000 "LTTE cadres" have been separated, under tight security, within the camps.
When the people eventually return home - which the government says most will do by the end of this year - they will be accompanied by the military for an uncertain period of time.
 Many Sri Lankans are fiercely proud of the military |
The military spokesman, Brig Udaya Nanayakkara, told the BBC there are plans to build more military bases in the north.
"Presently two security force headquarters are established in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi," he said.
"Under these headquarters camps will be established to see that no terrorist activities take place in those areas in the near future.
"That doesn't mean people can't go and settle down. People will be able to settle down. But we will have to see that the whole area activities are being monitored by some organised establishment."
That means normality in northern Sri Lanka is still a very long way away.
For many Sri Lankans, the stepping-up of military activity is too much.
'Progressive forces'
A Colombo Tamil MP and leader of a small non-ethnic party, Mano Ganesan, worries that the military is becoming too influential in everything the government does. He fears this will mean less attention is given to political measures to secure the ethnic reconciliation which President Mahinda Rajapaksa says he wants.
 Chandana lost much of his hearing in a rebel grenade attack |
"If we're going to expand the army more and more, what does it mean?" he says.
"It'll not only be bad for Tamils but also bad for the democratic, peace-loving Sinhalese progressive forces who want a united Sri Lanka where all the people can live equally with each other, who are against a Sinhala Buddhist hegemonic state.
"This expansion of the Sri Lankan army in such large numbers gives us wrong signals."
The root cause for Tamil extremism - he says - is "the national ethnic question. Which needs, will demand, a political solution."
The government, however, says it is necessary to bolster the military, even now.
Much of Colombo, especially the downtown business area, is still guarded by checkpoints - what some would call a ring of steel. Filming or photographing them is strictly banned.
To date, the end of the war has seen no change in this. The Sri Lankan state is attached to its military.
Slogans on the wall of the defence media centre say "It's the Soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press; It's the Soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech."
After decades of war, demilitarisation and a relaxation of security measures are not going to happen soon. [courtesy: bbc.co.uk]
9 Comments
There is a deeper dimension to this phenomenon of militaristic obsession: it is that consecutive Governments have failed to invest in quality education for the masses. Lack of education means limited economic opportunities and, consequently, a sustained level of poverty that sees little alleviation over time. It is a well-understood historical paradigm that those who are on the bottom of the socio-economic ladder will take most easily take to nationalism. The politicians will find a scapegoat to explain away all the woes and misery of these people. In Sri Lanka this scapegoat has been so-called Tamil separatism. Of course, it is pertinent to note that this so-called separatism did not always utilize aggressive means. At that time, it was not even separatism; it was more or less a call for a separate but peaceful mutual co-existence based on federalism.
The lack of development in the South directly parallels the failure to find a constructive political solution to address legitimate minority grievances. As Tamil aspirations came to be embodied in armed struggle, more and more force was needed to suppress those aspirations. Naturally, the South provided the bulk of that force. At the same time, this seemingly endless provision of soldiers ensured that a climate of nationalism prevailed throughout the South. As mentioned earlier - this nationalistic outlook was - and still is - the chief obstacle to development. If we delve a little deeper, it is easy to see that this nationalism is really an empty vessel used by the politicians for their own gains. It provides a a lucrative election manifesto, a convenient excuse to crush civil liberties, to engage in nepotism - at the end of the day, though, it is not the politician's son, but the son of the semi-literate rural villager, who will man the front-line for a mere pittance. It is, essentially, a nationalism that is based very much on class warfare, but by using "Tamil separatism" as a scapegoat, the politicians have managed to convince the naive Sinhalese rural masses otherwise.
It is right and proper that the government base some 10 Divisions of Army in the North and the East of the country on a semi-permanent basis. This does not mean that normal civil functions have to be interfered with in anyway. The government writ must run over all of Sri Lanka without leaving any hope for a succesful insurgency in the future. The fact that some ex-LTTE cadre who left with Karuna have already been recruited to the army is a good start. The Tamils must learn to live enjoying equality but without demanding privileges at the expense of the majority.
Peace cannot be found by just saying "Hello" and shaking hands. It is much deeper. It emerges out of honest love for fellow human beings and involves the soul and spirit of man.
Peace is not the absence of war. It requires serious commitment and is achieved with justice. Peace without justice is "fake peace".
In any democracy, justice is an important ingredient. Identifying the persons responsible for violation of rule of law and punishing them arises from the principle of accountability. All religions advocate accountability of individuals for any crime committed.
Any confrontational society loses its civilisation and ability to be just. For the past 60 years, the Sinhalese were confrontational to the legitimate rights and freedoms of Tamils and are unable to enter into the deeper aspescts of peace with justice.
The Sinhalese behave like an undisciplined fatherless child; living with an orphan spirit. A culture of dishonour for democracy, equality, justice and freedom of Tamils has developed in their minds over a period of six decades.
The Sinhalese need to transform their hearts and minds and conform them to be able to honour and do justice for the rights and freedoms of Tamils. A changed mind set is required for peace making.
Justice is what is just, not what the Sinhalese think or are told what is just.
Thee Tamils on the other hand are gentle but giants for peace. They carried out a great non violent political freedom movement, like the one carried out by Dr Martin Luther King, from 1958 to 1977, in the North East, their homeland.
Violence by the government of Sri Lanka(GOSL) against peaceful political action of Tamils, caused armed freedom struggle to commence in 1979, with a view to resist the state terror of the GOSL on Tamil civilians.
Tamils have been ready to forgive the Sinhalese even "seventy times seven" for the past 50 years but the Sinhalese mistook this capacity to forgive as a Tamil weakness.
Sri Lanka(SL) requires an urgent injection of civilised behaviour from outside, Indian intervention in 1987 and the activity of the International Community(IC) and Norway in the Ceasefire agreement of 2002, brought civilised behaviour.
But, SL is cheating the UN and the IC to make them believe that the GOSL is capable of bringing peace and reconciliation without any intervention whatsoever by the UN and the IC. SL needs the help of others.
Unless there is outside intervention, the prospects of reconciliation, restitution and peace are bleak.
I'm glad they are adding 100,000 more to the army. The faster they add, the quicker the country will go bankrupt, and then may be the south will realise the mess they are in, and chase away the Rajapakse thugs. I will be good for Sri Lanka.
Gopalapillai speaks to us as if Nationalism is a Bad thing.
The Only way forward for Tamils in Sri Lanka is to EMBRACE NATIONALISM. It is their Long standing embrace of Separatism which has placed them in the Sorry State of affairs you find them in today. Criticize the Sinhalese and the nationalism Mentality all you want but its funny how Tamils who have been the MOST ULTRANATIONALIST for the past 6 Decades like to point fault in the Sinhalese for their Stance and Attitude on the Country.
While the Gopalapillais and Senguttavans of the Diaspora continue to have this mentality there will certainly be no change in the Mentality of the Majority Sinhalese who are brunt of their condemnation. Reconciliation is two way... Right Now I have yet to See any Tamil Nationalist come off their High Horse and embrace the fact that their 25 Year TERRORISM for PPOLITICAL POWER campaign has Failed Miserably and now they are willing to talk sense. Instead we continue to hear the Condemning Rhetoric and Reductio Ad Hitlerum arguments. LOL! Keep it up… like I said many times before… the Misery will always be disproportionately dished out onto your community and not the Sinhalese.
Our country must first become Strong as a Nation Militarily. Now that we have achieved this and our men and women have cut their teeth under the command of our very Finest Warriors then we can settle in to growing internally as a Society. Only the Strong Survive, and after ANNIHILATING one of the most Dangerous TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS on our soil our people have grown Hardened to the Reality of the World we live in. Our people should now NEVER EVER Drop their guard. To do so will mean Death. We have been invaded too many times in the Past. And now even from within our own borders Ruthless Enemies have tried to sieze it from us.... but they have all FAILED.
IF we are labelled as "Militaristic", or as "Barbarians" by our Enemies and Rivals then so be it. We don't need them to write our History, we write our own.
Hello Devinda.... are you out of your mind?
"...the Misery will always be disproportionately dished out onto your community and not the Sinhalese....."
- Today, almost a million Eelam Tamils in western countries are making at least SLR 5,000 a day, thanks to the Sinhalese hooligans.
And, these Tamils have freedom of speech, they can protest, they can publish newspapers,......
But people like Lasantha ... I am sorry. Iqbal Athas and others .... mmmm, I wonder where they are now?
Soon you'll realise that VP is better than MR.
:-)
The "nationalism" of the LTTE did not embody any racist ideals. I have put the word nationalism in quotations because the LTTE did not glorify any one culture in particular, whereas it engaged in no end of self-veneration, painting a larger-than-life picture of itself. Not too long ago, I happened to see photographs on the website of the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry, showing pictures of towns and villages captured from the LTTE. In some of these pictures were buildings which had signs on them in Sinhala, Tamil, and English. The LTTE allowed signs in Sinhalese even though no Sinhalese lived there. I will let the reader draw his own conclusion. Neither did the LTTE take to any particular religion. What I find especially noteworthy is the manner in which the LTTE superseded the strongly entrenched Jaffna cast system. The manner in which they included women in their organization is no less of a miracle. I would say that the LTTE were not so much nationalists as they were revolutionaries. If they were "nationalists", it would only be in the sense that they believed in the concept of a traditional Tamil homeland. To equate this with nationalism is not entirely correct, however. Because in a very real sense, the LTTE was not embracing some mythological ideal, such as Sinhalese do with Mahavamsa - theirs was a struggle for the very self-preservation of the unique Northern and Eastern Tamil culture.
In stark contrast, the Sinhalese culture has never faced any threat of annihilation. Clearly we are dealing with a different kind of "nationalism" - it is a nationalism based on illegal conquest, of occupation and subjugation of a foreign people and foreign land. In short, it is fascism. Whether one looks at the Executive Presidency - really a recipe for dictatorship - or the fact that civil liberties exist only on paper, the conclusion is the same.
To summarize concisely, it was necessary for Tamils to embrace "nationalism" because there were no alternate democratic pathways. I do not think they banded together just because they were Tamils so much as because they were all victims of a common aggressor. I have reached this conclusion based on the fact that had not globalization allowed for the creation of a massive Sinhalese and Tamil diaspora, effectively draining Sri Lanka of a good % of its intellectuals, then one of two things would have happened: (1) a political solution would have been found to the minority question long before the situation turned aggressive or (2) many others besides the LTTE would have taken up arms against GOSL. Point number two is supported by the incidence of JVP rebellion, which despite its grass-roots appeal was founded by an intellectual. Finally, Sinhalese nationalism is based on mythology positing Sri Lanka as the homeland of the Sinhalese, and compounded by lack of economic development, as well as a certain apathy towards the West, e.g. "post-colonial hangover." The distinction between the two kinds of nationalism should now be clear.
*** Hello Devinda.... are you out of your mind? ***
Dear Aratai,
I am fine, thank you for your concern.
*** - And, these Tamils have freedom of speech, they can protest, they can publish newspapers,...... ***
That is fine with me. Tamils can WASTE their TIME and MONEY any which way they choose. That is their prerogative. All their so-called wealth and they can't even obtain a satisfactory political solution for themselves. They paid their wages to TERRORISM and had no result... now what? Pay it to this TRANSNATIONAL Government? LOL! Its still the LTTE they pay... As long as you have the SEPARATIST IDEOLOGY you will always Pay and GET NO RESULTS....
*** Today, almost a million Eelam Tamils in western countries are making at least SLR 5,000 a day, thanks to the Sinhalese hooligans. ***
And you say this like We Sinhalese actually CARE? We Don't. You Tamils Tout your Earnings in front of us as if somehow being STATELESS REFUGEES and the SILENT INSIGNIFICANT IMMIGRANT CLASSE of the White Countries is better than having your own country that recognizes your language, culture and Religion? LOL! We both know the answer to that even though you will not admit it publicly....
You can keep your money.