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By Ranjit J. Perera Reports of forced conscription of children, extortion, kidnapping and the stockpiling of smuggled weapons by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have caused concern in several quarters. The group, which has been fighting for a separate state in the north and east of Sri Lanka, signed a permanent Ceasefire Agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka last month and agreed to allow international monitors led by Norway to supervise the ceasefire. The ceasefire raised hopes of an early start to talks between the parties to negotiate a political settlement to the conflict. But reports suggesting that the group may be making use of the ceasefire to regroup and rearm have triggered alarm bells all over. The United States Monday, urged the LTTE to honour the Ceasefire Agreement. “We have heard credible reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are engaged in activities that could jeopardize the recent indefinite ceasefire accord reached with the Sri Lankan government,” the US Embassy in Colombo said in a statement. “The U.S. understands that both sides, not just the LTTE, have responsibilities under the terms of the ceasefire accord. In the current international context, however, in which terrorism is being condemned in more and more countries, the LTTE should be especially vigilant about observing the terms of the ceasefire accord. If it does not, it will increase its international isolation and do harm to the group it claims to represent, Sri Lanka’s Tamils, who earnestly want an end to the war,” the statement continued, urging both the government and the LTTE to take advantage of the ceasefire accord. The LTTE was quick to allay the fears of the US. In a statement published on the pro-LTTE website, Tamilnet, LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham said that the LTTE leadership has issued strict instructions to all its cadres in the North East to strictly observe the terms, conditions, ground rules and other modalities enunciated in the ceasefire agreement. The Office of the President noted the reaction of the American Government with interest and the Presidential Spokesman issued a statement Thursday reiterating the President’s strong belief that only a process which safeguards human rights would endure and be sustainable. The President wrote to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe March 1st about specific concerns regarding the Ceasefire Agreement. Even as the letter was on its way to the Prime Minister’s Office, the LTTE staged a massive demonstration in Vavuniya. The large gathering which marched through the town 300 km from Colombo were reportedly shouting slogans in Tamil in praise of LTTE leader Prabhakaran and a separate state of Eelam: “Tamil Eelam is the homeland of the Tamils,” “Prabhakaran is the one and only national leader of the Tamil nation,” “Oh India, do not obstruct peace.” The Norwegian Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission who arrived the following day met Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and began the arduous task of supervising a ceasefire between two parties at war for nearly twenty years. The Premier briefed Parliament during a debate March 5, saying, the agreement “takes us half-way down the road to not only meeting the concerns of the LTTE but also towards addressing important issues raised by the Tamil population regarding discrimination.” This view seems to be shared by many, but the Agreement seems to have also raised many concerns among a larger section of the population. The US State Department Thursday this week, issued a further statement that the Norwegian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs had met with Deputy Secretary Armitage and that both had agreed that the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE needed to grasp this opportunity to end Sri Lanka’s tragic conflict and forge a durable peace. It was only the previous day the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Government Information had heard testimony that individual members of the LTTE and sympathisers worldwide traffic in heroin to raise money for their cause. Tamil Member of Parliament from northern Sri Lanka and former militant Douglas Devananda has written to the US Ambassador in Colombo, Ashley Wills welcoming the superpower’s call to the LTTE to give up its path of terrorism and to honour democratic and human rights norms. He has also said that the LTTE’s claim to represent the Tamil people of Sri Lanka would not go unchallenged. Devananda’s party, the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), which has been cooperating with the Sri Lankan Government for several years in fighting the LTTE, have been affected by the provision in the Ceasefire Agreement, which requires that the Government should disband paramilitary forces. Meanwhile Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe is in Jaffna shoring up troop morale and addressing the concerns of Tamil representatives. He was reported to have met a delegation of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday, and was due to have talks with Ms. Christina Rocca, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia who arrived in the island Friday. President Kumaratunga has reiterated her commitment to peace saying, “I stand firmly and unequivocally for a negotiated political solution of the ethnic problem from which the country has suffered for many decades.” In December 1999 she survived an LTTE suicide bomb attack, which claimed 23 lives and cost her an eye. The Premier has ventured out not only to the frontlines, but also with bold concessions, which could jeopardise even his political future. The commitment of the Sri Lanka Government is clear. It is now upto Mr. Prabhakaran and the LTTE to display their solidarity with the democratic values of the world and reciprocate with the right signals.
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