News - We never anticipated a Rajapaksa victory

The LTTE is “seriously committed to peace and negotiated settlement” its chief peace negotiator Anton Balasingham has declared.

However, he said the ongoing low intensity conflict has a “dangerous potential for escalation” but held out the hope that “there is still a space in which meaningful steps could be taken.”

Following are edited excerpts of an interview he gave The Sunday Times from his residence in London.

The Sunday Times (TST): Mr Balasingham, the LTTE is fighting – they are fighting shy of peace? Are they not?

Balasingham: The LTTE is seriously committed to peace and a negotiated settlement. During the last four years, since Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed power, we have made every attempt to seek a negotiated arrangement to resolve the immediate and long standing problems of our people. Peace talks with Ranil’s administration could not progress due to the obstructionist and confrontationist policies of President Kumaratunga.
We participated in the peace talks with President Rajapaksa’s government in the earnest hope of stabilising peace and normalcy through effective implementation of the CFA. We strongly believed and continue to believe that the peace process should be undertaken on a strong foundation of peace, for which the stabilisation of the truce accord is extremely crucial. Unfortunately, contrary to our expectations, the Sri Lankan army-backed Tamil paramilitaries, soon after the Geneva talks launched offensive assaults on LTTE’s border positions in the east, seriously disrupting the peace environment. The government’s attitude to paramilitary violence against the LTTE was hypocritical and deceitful. In total contradiction to the pledge given at the Geneva talks, the government refused to rein in Tamil armed groups and denied the very existence of such groups in the military occupied areas. I should say in all honesty that the failure on the part of the Sri Lanka government to create a conducive atmosphere of peace and goodwill by containing paramilitary violence is the primary cause of the current turbulent situation and the stalemate in the peace process.

TST: The government refused theatre to theatre transport for the LTTE leaders, but agreed to peace process-related travel and escorted surface transport, navy ferry and the option of a civilian ferry. Was this not good enough for the LTTE? If so why was that?

Balasingham: It has been the agreed modality, ever since the CFA, to provide theatre to theatre air transport for senior regional commanders of the LTTE. We cannot understand why such an agreed practice was suddenly suspended. A Central committee meeting, with the participation of regional leaders prior to crucial sessions of peace talks, is vital to prepare issues for negotiations. The LTTE leadership was eager to discuss the volatile security situation in the east due to increasing paramilitary violence. Therefore, this is also a peace-related mission. If the government had adopted a congenial attitude and provided air force helicopter transport as a goodwill measure to enhance the peace process, the negotiating process would have continued, avoiding the current war-like situation.
The modalities proposed for surface and sea transport, in our opinion, were too risky for the safe passage of senior LTTE leaders. We could not take chances with paramilitaries on the ground and the hostile navy on the seas.

TST: Will the LTTE allow the Sri Lanka Airline engineers in to do depth checks for landing of float planes so that they can land safely in the Wanni?

Balasingham: The LTTE is prepared to allow them. But this is not the issue now. The government is refusing to grant permission for the LTTE commanders to carry personal weapons intended for their safety.

TST: The government is accusing the LTTE of a string of ceasefire violations. Minister Nimal Sripala de Silva gave a catalogue of LTTE violations in April to Parliament this week. The Minister said the LTTE is trying to create a communal riot once again. What do you say to this?

Balasingham: This is a typical mode of accusation levelled against the Tamil Tigers ever since the July 83 racial violence that followed the LTTE’s ambush assault on Sri Lankan soldiers at Thinnavelly, Jaffna. At that time, the LTTE, even in its wildest dreams, would not have anticipated a racial holocaust of that scale, emanating from a minor military incident.
Racial riots and mass killings of Tamils have occurred even before the birt h and growth of the LTTE. We deeply despise racial violence since it has always been the Tamil community who has faced enormous suffering in terms of mass scale destruction of life and property. The elements of political sympathy that may be generated in India or from the outside world cannot compensate for the monumental tragedy that could befall our people in the event of racial riots. Therefore, the government’s propaganda that the LTTE is bent on creating situations to provoke communal violence against its own community is malicious and preposterous.

TST: Your Peace Secretariat handed over a dossier of alleged violations by security forces to visiting Japanese Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi. He told a news conference that relations between the government and the LTTE had ‘never been worse’ since the February 2002 CFA. What do you say to this? Did the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran send a message to President Rajapaksa through Mr. Akashi?

Balasingham: I agree with Mr. Akashi’s characterisation of the current relations between the parties in conflict has not been worse since the CFA. The Tamil paramilitary violence has escalated ferociously since Rajapaksa assumed power. Karuna’s armed men in the east and the armed EPDP cadres in the Jaffna peninsula launched a series of violent attacks on LTTE cadres. Prominent Tamil politicians, civil society leaders, popular journalists and innocent civilians sympathetic to the LTTE have been brutally eliminated. Almost all these killings have taken place in the government-controlled areas with the active connivance of the security forces. We have ample evidence to substantiate our allegations.
At the Geneva peace talks during February this year we presented a comprehensive dossier to the government delegation providing details about the existence, functions, command structures, leadership and locations of camps of Tamil paramilitary organisations and secured a written assurance from Rajapaksa’s administration that these armed groups would be disarmed in accordance with the obligations of the CFA.
The LTTE also agreed to strictly maintain peace and take all necessary measures to cease all acts of violence against the security forces and police. In accordance with our commitment we strictly observed peace before and after the peace talks, putting an end to all hostile acts.
Please turn to p 16

To our deep disillusionment, the GoSL has not only failed to take any action to disarm or contain Tamil paramilitary groups, but also denied their very existence in the government-controlled areas. Following the Geneva agreement the paramilitary violence escalated manifold. During the first week of March, Karuna’s armed group, with the active backing of Sri Lankan troops, attacked LTTE forward positions in Batticaloa and Trincomalee inflicting serious casualties on our cadres. These incidents were followed by a series of civilian killings in Batticaloa and Jaffna.
The brutal murder of Mr. Vigneswaran, a prominent Tamil leader on April 7, by paramilitaries with the connivance of the security forces, became the critical tuning point in the escalation of violence and counter violence. The government’s calculated reluctance to contain the violence of paramilitaries against the LTTE and the Tamil civilian population, is the primary cause