Sri Lanka needs definite political process and vigorous international public diplomacy to defeat Tamil Tigers – Prof. Hangawat
Daya Gamage – US Bureau Asian Tribune
Devoid of any fresh proposals to lead the way to break the impasse in the serious national dialogue that could help to address the National Question, the one year old Rajapaksa administration has simultaneously failed to undertake an international public diplomacy campaign to match and defeat Tamil Tiger misinformation and propaganda that have found direct links to the policy makers of leading western nations.
Except the defense establishment which is able to justify its existence in undertaking the recent pugnacious task, under the leadership of his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, to militarily fracture the structure of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Theatre, President Rajapaksa has nothing to his credit in terms of White Paper that would contain fresh proposals, or diplomatic efforts to sell its story to the international community who is behind the administration on many issues that are connected to minority Tamil grievances once championed by the separatist Liberation Tigers.
Barring the defense establishment, the rest of the machinery of the Rajapaksa administration vis a vis the peace process and a political solution seem to have halted.
Apart from the above sentiments expressed to Asian Tribune in a dialogue at his residence in Las Vegas, Nevada, the criminal justice professor Karunaratne Hangawatte opined “in the last three to four months the Rajapaksa administration seems to have fallen in to a slumber.”
Karunaratne Hangawatte, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Sri Lankan origin, has a long history of maintaining close links and an ongoing dialogue with principal players in successive Sri Lankan administrations including the present. Currently, he is a professor of criminal justice at the University of Las Vegas in Nevada who has earned a reputation in the academic circles as a serious student of terrorism and its impact.
In the early 80s when even the United Nations was searching for a reasonable interpretation to ‘terrorism’, Professor Hangawatte, in an academic paper to the annual session of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Chicago took the initial attempt to define what ‘terrorism’ was. In 1994, he presented a paper to the same academic session on ‘Defining Terrorism: A Jurisprudential Perspective’. Since then he has been a keen student of terrorism which made him the most sought out person of law enforcement agencies and academics to tap his knowledge.
Hangawatte earned his Doctorate from the School of Criminal Justice of the State University of New York in 1984 with distinction. The previous year he earned his Masters from the same college. When he left Sri Lanka in 1981 he held the position Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Justice after completing his law studies. After earning his PhD, he was a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts that drafted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power.
Having earned an impressive academic record and wide knowledge of the criminal justice system which includes the study of terrorism, Asian Tribune U.S. Bureau turned to Professor Karunaratne Hangawatte for interpretation of current situation in Sri Lanka vis a vis the National Question, ethnic relationship, terrorism, the interests of international community and obstacles to a lasting solution.
The session with Prof. Hangawatte turned out to be a dialogue between Asian Tribune and him, the leaned professor giving erudite interpretations to Sri Lanka’s National Question using his close observations, research and conversations with principal players in the current Rajapaksa administration.
Asian Tribune: The Mahinda Rajapaksa administration has been in office for little over one year and since then has been engaged in military confrontations with the separatist Tamil Tigers. During this period, there have been international deliberations, discussions and counseling on the one hand, and dialogue between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers on the other to find a political solution to the National Question. No political program to facilitate a solution has seen the light of the day. If that signal, that the Rajapaksa administration is serious about a political solution, is not given to the Tamil Tigers how would anyone expect them to silence their guns and adjust. The impression the international community has got is that Sri Lanka is not serious about a solution to the National Question for the Tigers to exhibit a positive response.
Prof Hangawatte : The LTTE is a ruthless armed group with the objective of gaining a separate state in Sri Lanka’s north and east combined. This armed group has become more violent and is using terror tactics. It has come to a situation in which it is not representing any ethnic group in Sri Lanka. Having said that, a legitimate government’s responsibility is to provide security to its people and uphold the rule of law.
So, when an armed group commits breach of peace a responsible government has to intervene to prevent that.
I have always been wondering why even after having two discussions (between the two warring factions) under the scrutiny and guidance of the international community there has not been a positive outcome of these meetings, and there has not been even an agenda to guide these discussions. Even after one year of Rajapaksa administration’s rule there is not even a White Paper, forget about a Blue Print. At least a White Paper with some basic proposals should have emerged by now as a catalyst for discussion by the broader masses of the people in the country. That would have led to the shaping of a Blue Print with specific and definite proposals that could form a basis to a constitutional arrangement.
I haven’t seen anything other than the proposals that came out of the (previous) Ranil Wickremasinghe administration in regard to the peace process.
In contrast, I give total credit to the defense establishment under the Rajapaksa administration for taking firm steps and a specific approach in an endeavor to bring security to the nation and its people.
So, as regards not engaging in the so called peace process one cannot blame the Tamil Tigers. The Rajapaksa administration often pronounces that they are prepared to engage in discussions with the LTTE. My question is discuss what. The government must provide a framework. That is, a process that would lead to an emergence of a White Paper that will finally end up in a political solution.
The public input and participation is vital to develop proposals that will transfer power to the people and devolve government authority, in most subjects, to the local level. Also among other things, these proposals should ensure the security of all ethnic, religious and other minority groups, and their right to protect their language, cultural practices and traditions that go back to centuries. The set of proposals should lead to an internal arrangement to promote economic security of the people, perpetuate economic prosperity, unity, social integration and territorial integrity of the nation.
Asian Tribune: But there is a process in place in the form of the All Party Conference. What’s wrong with that?
Prof Hangawatte : That never worked in the past and never will work in the future. The politicians who represent these political parties have vested interests. For them national interests are secondary.
This situation arose in South Africa during the drafting of the new constitution. The Constitution Assembly consisting of members of all political parties included provisions in the constitution to serve their interests. The Constitutional Court had to intervene to send the draft constitution back to the assembly asking them to remove those offending provisions and to incorporate provisions that reflected the wishes of the people. President Rajapaksa should take the leadership to create a process whereby specific proposals for the creation of a system that emerge through the masses and reflect the aspirations of the broad masses.
Asian Tribune: You are talking of political proposals and constitutional issues that the Rajapaksa administration needs to present to the Tamil Tigers for discussion. Why are you legitimizing the LTTE armed struggle?
Prof Hangawatte : I did not say that the proposals should be submitted to the LTTE for discussion. I said they should be subject to a broader discussion by all segments of the Sri Lanka population.
What Sri Lanka needs is a devolution of power to the periphery and to the people. Ethnicity does not arise here when devolving power to the periphery.
During the British colonial rule and since independence in 1948, political power has been concentrated in the hands of a small elitist and privileged group. Intelligentsia may not necessarily include in this elite power group. These ruling elites have been acting in their own benefit rather than the benefit of the broader masses. So the most discriminated segment of Sri Lanka’s population is the rural masses of all communities, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. And, they have no voice. Any proposals should include the interests of this segment of the population and should emerge from the bottom rather than being imposed on them from the top.
Asian Tribune: Arising out of a question I asked before, you are talking of a political solution to the National Question. This is what the LTTE has been talking about, a political solution. Through an armed struggle they said that they were going to achieve a political solution. Is there a political problem in Sri Lanka? If so, does that lead to an ethnic problem? If there is an ethnic problem in Sri Lanka, LTTE is absolutely right.
Prof Hangawatte : There is no large scale ethnic conflict, and there is no civil war situation in Sri Lanka. This is what the Tamil Tigers would like the international community to believe. But the armed conflict has created a severe political and economic problem for the country. It is therefore important to settle this armed conflict. I mentioned earlier that the most discriminated segment in Sri Lanka is its rural population and that population consists of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. These rural masses have been left out from higher positions in the government and corporate sectors.
We also cannot ignore that historically the Tamil ethnic minority has faced discrimination at certain times. In 1956 the Bandaranaike government expected to correct the historical injustice experienced by the rural Sinhalese masses by bringing Official Languages Act with good intentions. But it produced adverse results. The Tamil minority faced certain discrimination by this policy. Same with the university admissions replacing the merit with a quota system: Good intentions brought adverse results.
Asian Tribune:So, it is the Tamil Tigers, using their military adventurism, spotlighted these pressing issues. It is true that the Federal Party (FP), the once political vanguard of the Tamil people, spotlighted these issues in a peaceful manner. So do you agree that no one took any notice because the FP agitation campaign was peaceful and that those who governed from Colombo and the international community focused their attention on these grievances as a result of Tamil Tiger agitation which was militant and violent?
Prof Hangawatte: I would say so.
Asian Tribune: Then, it looked like Sri Lankan authorities and the international community allowed Tamil grievances to be put into the LTTE basket that also had the militant and violent armed campaign. My question is why were these two (1) Tamil grievances (2) LTTE terrorism allowed to be in the LTTE basket without separating the two as a catalyst for a national political solution depriving the Tamil Tigers of championing the historical grievances of the Tamil people?
Prof Hangawatte : Exactly, that is what should have been done. Yes, the Tamil Tigers successfully put in to focus the Tamil grievances, but instead of searching for a political solution, they have been engaged in an armed struggle. Armed struggle is good as long as if it is not aimed at innocent people and has a conscious political agenda that is addressed to the future and not just the past grievances.
Asian Tribune:My understanding is that ‘terrorism’ has not been defined even by the United Nations. You are one of the academics who is familiar with that issue.
Prof Hangawatte : No, that’s wrong. When I first presented an academic paper in early 80’s at the annual meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, terrorism was not defined. In this paper I presented how terrorism should be separated from ordinary crimes, other violent activities and guerrilla warfare. One segment of casualty of terrorism is innocent people who are by standers. Guerrilla warfare is different, and in my opinion, is legitimate and can be justified because its sole casualties are government agents and government installations and economic structure that the guerrilla movement sees as obstacles in their path to destabilize a regime to achieve its objectives.
Asian Tribune:In your definition the LTTE is neither a guerrilla nor a liberation movement.
Prof Hangawatte : LTTE started as a guerrilla movement, then transformed into a terrorist organization. They used terror tactics against innocent people and ethnic cleansing as weapons to achieve a separate state. Even the PLO started as a guerrilla organization but many elements within that organization moved toward using terror tactics. Within the IRA there were units that practiced terror tactics.
What stands out LTTE from other organizations in other parts of the world is that the LTTE and its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran advocate terrorism. Organization as a whole it not only advocate terrorism and also carries out terror tactics.
Asian Tribune: Since late, the Tamil Tigers say that they are combating state terrorism. Is defending territorial integrity and sovereignty state terrorism?
Prof Hangawatte : No, I wouldn’t call it terrorism – that is the LTTE interpretation. There is no state terrorism in Sri Lanka at present. But state terrorism occurred in Sri Lanka at certain times. If the state commits violence against innocent civilians to further its political objectives that is state terrorism. This is what the LTTE is endeavoring to convince the international community that state terrorism exists in Sri Lanka. When Tamil political activists and Tamil parliamentarians are killed the government steps forward to invite international groups to investigate.
Asian Tribune: Here is what I see as the obstacle. You might be able to give some reasonable explanations to this; Past 20 years the LTTE has unleashed this armed struggle, at the outset saying that it is on behalf of the Tamil people, but turned out to be a different one. But this 20 to 25-year period, the international community has been heavily influenced for them to form a ‘mind-set.’ Now, the Tamil Tigers are very well organized in their own ‘public diplomacy’ especially in western nations. They also have their professionals in the west which includes the United States. The ‘propaganda’ or the ‘public diplomacy’ of the Tigers are so cogent that policy makers in the western world, which include the U.S. State Department, have a mind-set that Sri Lanka is administered by a ‘Sinhalese dominated’ government. In its failure to combat this belief does the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration admits that it is so? Unless the Rajapaksa administration combat to erase this notion from the minds of those who head the international community that influence Sri Lanka to negotiate with the Tamil Tigers it is unable to go forward to even think of any proposal, leave alone a solution.
Prof Hangawatte : The problem is this: 74% of the population is majority ethnic community Sinhalese. And, in a popularly elected government naturally there is this 74% is reflected. This percentage is reflected in the parliament, cabinet of ministers and in the administrative structure. Unlike in other nations, Sri Lanka’s minorities are represented above their percentages vis a vis the population. What is the representation of the Blacks in the United States Congress? Or in higher positions in the nation.
One needs to ask whether the laws promulgated in Sri Lanka have been designed to perpetuate the rule of the majority ethnic community, the Sinhalese.
Asian Tribune: But have the successive governments in Sri Lanka made any attempt to tell the international community that Sri Lanka doesn’t have a Sinhalese-dominated government? Has the Rajapaksa administration so far in the past one year of its rule made any attempt to say that Sri Lanka does not and never had Sinhalese-dominated governments and that Sri Lanka endeavors to be fair to all ethnic communities?
Prof Hangawatte : I think as far as getting the message across the successive governments have failed. It is important to use the country’s Foreign Service to get the message out.
If there is a Sinhalese-dominated government or resemblance of such a government in existence that blatantly discriminate the minority ethnic Tamils a question arises: Since the LTTE started its armed struggle after 1983, they have succeeded militarily to control certain areas in the predominantly Tamil North and the ethnically-mixed East. So, if the minority Tamils are discriminated against or authoritarian rule is imposed upon them by the so called ‘Sinhalese-dominated’ government where would they be comfortable to domicile? They will be naturally at peace living in the predominantly Tamil areas in the North and East and most certainly the areas in which the Tamil Tigers control. That is not the true picture. If one notices the population movement changing the demographic pattern in Sri Lanka in the recent past and especially in the present time, many Tamils are moving especially from the LTTE-controlled areas and settling in either cleared areas or areas which are predominantly Sinhalese. These Tamils are coming out of the areas in the North and East that are under the control of the Tamil Tigers or adjacent areas. The LTTE propaganda to the international community is an utter fallacy.
Asian Tribune: That means, first and foremost, the international community has not taken note of this demographic changes in Sri Lanka. Secondly, how does Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry and its overseas posts get about to use their own public diplomacy to convince the international community that Tamil Tiger position of espousing the rights of the Tamil minority is unfounded when the minority Tamils whose cause they are championing are in fact escaping the wrath of the Tigers?
Prof Hangawatte : Apparently, the Sri Lanka foreign affairs authorities seem to have failed, and in my opinion they are not doing enough. They need to get the facts and figures out to the international community, and this is precisely what is not happening.
Asian Tribune: The data the Asian Tribune has is that out of the 12.5% of Tamils, excluding the Tamils of Indian Origin in plantation districts, approximately 54% are now domiciled outside the Tamil majority districts. Even according to the last (1981) official statistics, of the 2.7 million Tamils in Sri Lanka about 1.3 million lived outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces dispersed among 11 million Sinhalese.
Prof Hangawatte : It is important to disseminate this information to the international community, and the Foreign Ministry and its overseas diplomatic posts have not been very successful in getting this data out. What can be highlighted is that minority Tamil movement toward the Sinhalese majority districts in the South changing the demographic pattern as a clear example that they consider themselves more discriminated by the LTTE than the so called ‘Sinhalese-dominated’ rule.
There is no argument that the minority Tamils have grievances just as the non-English speaking rural Sinhalese population has grievances, and it is important that the government comes up with a set of proposals in a form of a White Paper for widespread discussion by a broader segment of the country’s population. And, from there to evolve a definite solution that will safeguard the rights of all ethnic communities.
Asian Tribune: If that is the answer you are giving Prof. Hangawatte, why should the Sri Lanka government and the international community emphasize time and again that a solution can only be possible if the Tamil Tigers enter in to a dialogue with the government. And, they are not even talking about getting other Tamil dissident groups and those who represent the Muslims in to this dialogue to make it a ‘national dialogue’.
Prof Hangawatte : Every opinion is valuable here. In the process I suggested, proposals from bottom-up is necessary to do this on the right footing. It is also imperative for the LTTE to lay down their weapons and engage in that political process because that is the political process that should be put in effect to develop a solution. If the Tamil Tigers fail to join that political process, a legitimate government has the right to suppress that armed cadre.
Asian Tribune: Isn’t it happening now with the government forces engaged in fresh military offensives against the LTTE?
Prof Hangawatte : The current military offensive is aimed at maintaining law and order and aimed at protecting or securing the safety of the people. This is more or less a security operation not a military operation.
I am at a loss to understand why the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, which got a mandate from the people, is not unleashing this military offensive. What I feel is that the same elitist group has encircled President Rajapaksa preventing many things that the government ought to have done.
Asian Tribune: Arising out of the explanation you have given so far, the Rajapaksa administration doesn’t seem have to learned the bitter lessons the previous administrations experienced and are not conscious of the pit falls to which those administrations fell in terms of putting the political process in place with the correct perspective.
Secondly, so far the Rajapaksa administration has failed in its public diplomacy to convince the international community that the Tamil support to the LTTE has begun to erode, and that there are other Tamil groups which have to be taken into consideration if a solution to the National Question is to emerge. In these three fronts, Sri Lanka government has failed. The only achievement that has to its credit is the current successful military offensive to dislodge the Tamil Tigers in the Eastern Theatre of Sri Lanka.
Prof Hangawatte : I wouldn’t go that far to say they failed. After the advent of the Rajapaksa regime the European Union proscribed the LTTE, and the international community took a harder view on the Tigers to push them to the negotiating table. So some work has been done to the credit of the Rajapksa administration. All these positive trends were at the beginning of the regime. In the last three to four months the Rajapaksa administration seems to have fallen in to a slumber.
Asian Tribune: In June 2005 – into the sixth month of the Rajapaksa administration – Richard Boucher of the US State Department at a press briefing in Colombo espoused that the recognition of a ‘Tamil Homeland’ can be one of the solutions to Sri Lanka’s problems. Never before such a controversial statement had come out from a State Department official. It was interpreted as a set back for Sri Lanka.
It is based on misinformation, and one cannot blame the US State Department for that. It is the responsibility of Sri Lanka to put the issue in correct perspective and correct that misinformation. A government cannot go on saying that these are misinformation. Such need to be corrected.
A government cannot fight terrorism only militarily. It has to be fought on the foreign affairs diplomatic front too. This is one area that Sri Lanka is lagging behind; its overseas public diplomacy campaign. It is an urgent task that needs to be undertaken.
Asian Tribune: As a person who maintains contacts with principal players in Sri Lanka, you would have noted that June to November 2006 is five months and it is only in November that the Sri Lanka government suddenly realized that a senior US State Department official made this statement of ‘Tamil Homeland’. This has not been challenged, a statement that is undoubtedly unhelpful to commence any negotiation with any one. Now, where has it gone wrong?
Prof Hangawatte : I have no answer to that, in fact I give full credit to Asian Tribune for exposing and highlighting the ‘homeland’ statement of Boucher. I am at a loss to understand that.
Asian Tribune: What you insinuate is that the Rajapaksa administration lacks professionals who do not have a clear perspective of the National Question and that those who are advising him have little knowledge of the way the international community operates?
Prof Hangawatte : No, I won’t say that. I have no idea how advice is given to the President. But it seems that Mahinda Rajapaksa doesn’t seem to be getting sound advice. That much we can say observing and monitoring from here in the United States.
Asian Tribune: So, if he doesn’t seem to be getting sound advice the Rajapaksa administration has a disability in combating misinformation and misrepresentation of facts pertaining to the National Question and erasing the misconceptions that have gone into the minds of the international community which is the most important pillar the Mr. Rajapaksa is leaning to solve the National Question.
Prof Hangawatte : Mahinda Rajapaksa has his feet firm on the ground. After President Premadasa it is Rajapaksa who has an understanding of the sentiments of the general masses of the people.
But do those around him, excluding the defense establishment headed by his brother Gotabhaya, have sufficient knowledge and correct perspective to give sound advice to him is the question. I am not sure about it.
Asian Tribune: So with all these, it boils down to a situation where there are no proposals in sight, as you say not even a White Paper, that the Sri Lanka administration is under pressure from the international community to find a solution to the National Question, the government is far behind in combating Tamil Tiger propaganda that has influenced the stake holders in the international community which is the major supplier of much needed foreign economic assistance and the LTTE is using the excuse for the government’s failure to propose fresh set of proposals for them to continue with its military adventure and to project itself as the ‘sole representative of the Tamil people.’
Prof Hangawatte: Yes, it is a failure on the part of the Sri Lanka government. What is needed now is to summon an all party conference. In any country a group of elitists behind close doors in an endeavor to formulate a set of proposals do not hold well with the broad masses whose lives depend on the solutions those very elites try to impose. The masses generally get suspicious of any solution that is a product without their participation.
Transparency is very important to get credibility to such proposals. The masses should participate in this process. The proposals should evolve from the people and placed before the broad masses of the people at grass root level forums to get their inputs. When such a process takes place there will be a mass acceptance for the solution that is being proposed.
A classic example is South Africa. There are several ethnic groups, the main being Blacks, Whites, Colored and Asian/Indians with nine provinces and nine languages. The people there joined the process of constitution making and formulating a solution, and the process took two years. My emphasis is that, in South Africa, the peoples participation made it possible with a greater transparency. I am not suggesting that we copy a constitution of another country. That will never work. But we can learn a successful process and adapt it to suit our circumstances with a view to producing our own constitutional model.
Asian Tribune: Since 11 September 2001, the United States is engaged in a Global War on Terrorism. Its main enemy is al Qaeda which has a global network that works against western democracies. LTTE terrorism is not even regional; it is confined to the Island state of Sri Lanka. The Tigers are not a threat to the political, military and economic interests of the United States. Why should the United States have any interest in a terrorist movement that is confined to one nation?
Prof Hangawatte : It has affected the political/military interests of the U.S. A smooth operation of global trade is important to the U.S. Money laundering affects the U.S. interests. So, the U.S. has lot of interest in that part of the world, the Asian Region.
Asian Tribune: What are the grievances the minority Tamils have that the majority Sinhalese don’t?
Prof Hangawatte : The language issue and university admission issue have been the main grievances of the Tamils. Those are obstacles that prevented the Tamils getting coveted positions in the Sri Lankan system. That’s what they had, and it has declined, and they want to regain that privilege. On the whole, both the vast majority of Sinhalese and Tamils in rural areas face economic difficulties that need to be redressed. Then there are other cultural and ethnic issues as well as displacement from their homes caused by the LTTE conflict.
For readers benefit Asian Tribune would like to present following data regarding the change in university admission policy that Prof. Hangawatte mentioned in this interview which he said was one of the issues faced by the ethnic minority Tamils:
Until 1970 university admissions were determined solely by academic qualifications. Because of the generally higher education standards of the Tamils, their percentage of university enrollments substantially exceeded their percentage of general population.
Population statistics at any given times stand: Sinhalese 74%, Tamils 12.5%, Muslims 5% and Tamils of Indian Origin 5.5%. In 1969 for example, 50% of the students in Sri Lanka’s faculties of medicine and 48% of all engineering students were Tamil. During the 1970s, however, the government implemented a preferential admission system known as the “policy of standardization.” This was a geographically based criterion, but because the two ethnic communities (Sinhalese and Tamils) tended to be regionally segregated, such a policy increased Sinhalese enrollments. The scheme established quotas for 70% of university places on the basis of revenue districts (25); this included a special allotment of 15% of all openings reserved for educationally underprivileged districts, which were predominantly Sinhalese. Only 30% of openings were allotted nationwide on merit considerations alone. By the early 1980s, the result was only 22% of medical students and 28% of engineering students were Tamils. Nevertheless, the percentages were far above to their percentage of the population which is 12.5%.
During the interview, Prof. Hangawatte mentioned the decline of Tamils in the government service: Asian Tribune obtained data shows; the limiting of educational opportunities for Tamils was reflected in declining percentages of Tamils in the skilled and professional areas of the government service. State-employed Tamil physicians declined from 35% in the 1970 to 30% in 1980; engineers from a 38% in the 1971-77 period to 25% in 1978-79; and clerical workers from an 11 percent average in 1970-77 to a little more than 5% in 1978-79. By 1980 the percentage of Tamil employees in the public sector, excluding public corporations, was roughly equivalent to their percentage of the population, or 12.5%.
ASIAN TRIBUNE, 14.1.2007