Thoughts from London

Don’t be fooled by the EU statement
I know. There would have been great rejoicing in some circles. Not just in Sri Lanka but also in those parts of the globe from where the Sri Lankan diaspora intermittently issues statements denouncing the doings of the Tamil Tigers.

The European Union’s statement last Monday threatening to outlaw the LTTE in the 25-nation organisation and imposing an immediate travel ban on Tiger delegations to European capitals would have been seen by some as the obvious consequence to months of violence and killings, particularly in the East, attributed to the Tigers.

Yet nothing like what was announced was certain in the weeks preceding the statement. Almost every report coming out of European capitals indicated that Sri Lanka’s plea for the proscription of the Tigers and having its name added to the list of other terrorist organisations banned by the EU, appeared to be falling on deaf ears.

The major western nations that had become involved, if not embroiled, in the Sri Lanka crisis because of the Ranil Wickremesinghe government’s facile belief that an international safety net would protect the country from the LTTE’s aggressive political/military machinations, did not seem to be playing the role assigned to them by a bad script writer in the UNP.
What appeared to have changed the complexion of the situation against the LTTE, which seemed to many observers as winning the propaganda war, was the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar.

There are still some- fast dwindling in number surely if one was honest about it -- who doubt the LTTE’s involvement in it. But it would seem that most observers are agreed that it was an LTTE hit, meticulously planned after exhaustive study.If it was so, doubtless the LTTE spent many hours discussing and debating the repercussions of such a high-profile killing and considered the international ramifications of it.

Perhaps the LTTE thought that the international opprobrium would be temporary -- certainly much shorter than the public anger at the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi -- and it would be worth the price to get rid of somebody who had become a thorn in its side and likely to be so particularly during the current sessions of the United Nations.Moreover, it would also send a signal to the government and its leaders that the LTTE’s reach stretched right into the heart of Sri Lankan political power.

Perhaps it also thought, or had assurances, that Norway, which has been playing diplomatic nursemaid to the LTTE, would lobby sufficiently to make any potential international action as painless as possible.

In the last 15 years or so, the LTTE has made two strategic errors that it will come to regret. One was the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi for which LTTE leader Velupilla Prabhakaran and his Intelligence Chief “Pottu” Amman are still sought by the Indian authorities and are also on the Interpol’s wanted list.

The other is the killing of Kadirgamar.
The LTTE does not talk of the former; it denies the latter. Certainly the killing of Gandhi has, and will continue to resonate longer than Kadirgamar’s killing.

But his death in August was the kind of opening the Sri Lankan government needed to launch a diplomatic offensive against the LTTE which had gained some international sympathy in the post-tsunami months.

The government seized that opportunity with both hands and the foreign ministry and some of its diplomats abroad conducted a vigorous campaign to have the Tigers ostracised within the EU.

That campaign was helped by Kadirgamar’s own personality as a quiet, urbane diplomat whose forceful articulation of Sri Lanka’s position won him respect.

Despite great odds and after weeks of strenuous lobbying Sri Lanka did manage to extract a statement from the EU which the LTTE and its sympathisers abroad have denounced as “one sided.”

Certainly the EU position as set out in the statement goes a long way in endorsing the Sri Lanka Government’s position on the need for sanctions against the LTTE and international pressure generally to stop its killing spree.

But before the euphoria spills over into gushing congratulations and backslapping, it would be prudent to study the statement more carefully than has been done so far by the media.

Yes, the EU has said it is actively considering the formal listing of the LTTE as a terrorist group. Yes, the EU has slapped an immediate ban on LTTE delegations being received in European capitals. This certainly goes beyond what the EU’s External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner had hoped for when she said in an interview that it would be entirely up to individual member states to decide what action they take against the LTTE.The two positions mentioned above are collective decisions and not the individual decisions of member states that Ferrero-Waldner had hoped would let the LTTE off the hook.

There has been much rejoicing that the LTTE leaders have been banned from visiting European capitals. But this is not so. What the EU says is that LTTE delegations will “no longer be received in any of the EU member states until further notice”.It does not say that LTTE delegations cannot visit European capitals. Only that they will not be officially received by the governments or authorities of those countries.

So if Thamilselvan wants to go to Sweden tomorrow to study its highly liberal attitude to life so that he could transplant it in the Wanni, there is nothing in the EU statement to stop him.

Of course he has to obtain a visa and leave from the Bandaranaike International Airport unless the Norwegians oblige by providing him transport by seaplane to the Maldives.

Much would depend on whether EU diplomatic missions in Colombo grant them visas. That would be one way to judge the attitude of EU countries.
There is another point of concern. The EU has left it to each member state to take whatever additional measures it wishes to curb illegal and undesirable activities such as fund raising and propaganda of the LTTE, its related organisations and known individual supporters.

On several occasions the Norwegian media have mentioned LTTE fund raising in the country and how the money is transferred out through the Norwegian banking system.

In Britain, an LTTE high up, Anton Balasingham, known to the British Government and the security authorities, makes public appearances in support of the LTTE and has been doing so even after Britain banned the Tigers under the anti-terrorism law.

But he continues to reside here untouched. Is he an untouchable?
Ironically on Wednesday an 82-year old Labour supporter was thrown out of the party conference. Police stopped him from returning under Article 44 of the Terrorism Act. Why? Because he dared shout one word “nonsense” during foreign secretary Jack Straw’s speech.

Yet those who are accessories before and after the fact to violence and terrorism are free to preach their gospel of violence.

One key question remains. Why didn’t the EU ban the LTTE? Because Norway and its Nordic friends fought a diplomatic rear-guard action. Oslo hopes that Ranil Wickremesinghe will be returned at November’s presidential election. Then all this nonsense of bans and travel bans would end and the Tigers free to roam again.

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