Political Column

Political Column

Sick and tired of embattled monitors
By Our Political Editor
Everyone is tired these days. The dry weather of August is most unhelpful. Acting Defence Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake is tired of the partisanship of the Norwegian monitors calling themselves the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The SLMM is tired of being blamed for everything.

The Army Commander says "enough is enough", attributing the LTTE's provocative acts against his men, but then JOC chief Gen. Cyril Ranatunga made the same quote to TIME magazine - almost 20 years ago. LTTE's S. P. Tamilselvan has also echoed the same sentiments from the jungles of the Wanni. He has echoed the sentiments of the guerrilla group to the prevarication on the part of the Colombo government to resume the peace process, however irrational their demands may sound to sections of the 'south'.

Not to be left out, Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera also says he's tired, and the government is tired with him, given the LTTE's internecine rivalry with its breakaway Karuna group which is resulting in killings in Colombo and the east.

All of them are so tired, that they all, without exception, en voce, say it - loud and clear - that there shall be no war, however. Soothing good news, one might say. It was probably Acting Defence Minister Wickramanayake who set the ball rolling with his stirring speech to frontline troops. The man who put several senior policemen to sleep when he addressed them in his first speech since becoming Law and Order Minister, his virtual call to arms at Wanni HQ Vavuniya, the Omanthai checkpoint at at Tallady in Mannar was in sharp contrast.

It also contrasted to recent attempts by sections of the government, especially the Peace Secretariat to placate the LTTE. Mr. Wickramanayake has long been a nationalist since his early days in politics with the MEP. He was most critical of the SLMM, a note that would have struck a cord with the JVP and the JHU, the latter, a group he is sentimentally attached to. "The LTTE is trying to provoke the government. The SLMM agrees that they are violating the Ceasefire agreement, but they (the SLMM) do not take action against them (the LTTE). They have the right to investigate any complaint, but they don't ...," the former Prime Minister said.

"The SLMM has shunned its responsibility of carrying out impartial investigations regarding violations of the CFA. Therefore, the government is working out alternative measures to get the SLMM to carry out its impartial investigations," he said.

No doubt, this fell short of the JHU demands to kick the Scandinavians out of the country, lock, stock and smorgasbord. Of course, the JVPers are now back-peddling on their attitude to them, their Fisheries Ministry even considering joint fishing expeditions in Sri Lankan waters. The adversaries no doubt are calling that fishy.

The SLMM did not take lightly to this Wickramanayake outburst. Its deputy, Hagrup Haukland was quoted as saying "we are fed up of being blamed, and we have been wrongly blamed and went on to blame the government for the lack of security - a direct blow to the Acting Defence Minister.

Two issues arise from such public remarks. One is that it shows that the Norwegian peace-brokers are also weary and "fed-up". The point is, that they have certainly not delivered, and in the process only given the 'south' a clear impression that they entertain - even if they argue its the only way to get the guerrillas to stop fighting - an element of bias.

Secondly, whether Mr. Haukland should be entitled to say such things, against a very senior member of the government, a former Prime Minister, the new leader of the UPFA coalition and the Acting Minister of Defence. Is that not haughty, if not naughty on the part of Mr. Haukland? Many years ago, President Junius Richard Jayewardene, nick-named 'Yankee Dickey' for his pro-US leanings, declared Kenneth Monro-Scott, a political officer of the US embassy persona-non-grata for talking out-of-turn at a cocktail party after the 1982 Referendum. President Ranasinghe Premadasa declared the British High Commissioner Sir David Gladstone persona-non-grata for walking into a polling booth in Dondra and interfering in a local government election.

Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar made it known that the government was not interested in extending the term of the then UNDP envoy in Sri Lanka for having exceeded his brief while serving here, and President Chandrika Kumaratunga wrote to the Norwegian Prime Minister asking him to withdraw the then SLMM head, another retired Norwegian General Tryggve Teleffsen.

In some of these instances, the parties affected tried to hit back. The US nearly did reciprocate, but relented when they realised that the diplomatic officer they would have to ask to leave was Ms. Ranjan Wijeratne. The Brits took a while to send a replacement, as a mark of protest, but eventually sent John Field who went beyond the call of duty in repairing the broken bridges between the two countries, so much so, he now heads the Friends of Sri Lanka Association in the UK.

And so be it. These are issues of sovereignty. However small a nation, we should still stand proud. Today, while Sri Lankans hold top positions in Scotland Yard's fingerprinting section, Sri Lankans are fingerprinted to get a visit-visa, and our leaders don't seem to care. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse met British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Kumaratunga and Kadirgamar met Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in the last two months, but are afraid to even broach this subject where their subjects have been singled out for humiliation.

So, on Wednesday, when the cabinet met, the local IGP Indra de Silva got roundly condemned for not allowing the Prime Minister's security vehicles to park within the precincts of Parliament, and the JVP hauled him over the coals for letting the cops loose on striking trade unionists. None of them had the guts to condemn Mr. Haukland for his audacious condemnation of the UPFA government and its Acting Defence Minister for his criticism of the SLMM for its duplicitous role in this country's peace process. Mr. Haukland is after all a retired Norwegian official working for pay. If indeed there was a complaint he had to make, he should have taken it up with his boss, retired Norwegian Maj. Gen. Trond Furuhovde. But the retired soldier who claims to have involved himself in peacekeeping operations for many years besides fighting wars has endorsed his deputy's views. So has the Oslo Government.

"Well done Mr. Hauckland" was the mood yesterday. The episode drew one angry retort from a western diplomat who sarcastically told a journalist, "You must amend your Constitution and allow these sardine fishermen have a say in governance. Then they can continue to criticise all and sundry much more than they do now." Well, where Tryggve Teleffsen (some say trick me tell-lies-son) left, Mr. Furuhovde seems to have taken over.

This has been the complaint, and the predicament of so many senior military officers serving in Sri Lanka's Armed Forces. Retired Majors and Captains of the Scandinavian armies are breaking all military protocol and telling our Air Marshals, Admirals and Generals how to conduct business. Often arrogantly. The same guys you see bending in two when they meet the guerrillas in their Wanni headquarters.

One Admiral spoke about an instance where a Major, a man who was only conversant in logistics was waxing eloquent with him about naval matters. This was during a conference in a onetime theatre of conflict. When he did not see eye-to-eye with him, the monitor raised his voice and was trying to force his will. So much for humility and diplomacy, Mr. Furuhovde.

The danger in all this 'war-talk' aptly Srilankanised to the abbreviation NATO (No Action Talk Only) is that when you say you are ready for war, but at the same time say that you don't want war, there is a certain element of bluff that is patently clear to your opponent. How ready are we for war?

Our Defence Analyst deals with this aspect on the next page. There is a more important aspect to all this. If one observes the recent developments discerningly, it is clear the LTTE is playing their role both diplomatically and with precision. They repeat ad nauseum their commitment to uphold the Ceasefire Agreement. They say the killings in uncontrolled areas were the result of internecine clashes between paramilitary groups. The killings in controlled areas were the responsibility of the Government and the LTTE cannot take any responsibility. Those remarks in themselves are highly provocative, for a junior school student would realise this is LTTE bluff.

But in doing so, the LTTE is succeeding in one thing - provoking our heroic politicians and sawdust Montgomeries in uniform to direct verbal barrages at them. From those verbal barrages, the LTTE hopes it will gradually descend to action, i.e. attacks to trigger off a war. Then, the LTTE could easily say, "Look who started this, it is the UPFA Government of Chandrika Kumaratunga", and seek international condemnation of the government.

President Kumaratunga has held the Defence portfolio for a longer period than her UPFA Government has remained in power. It was with her for exactly five months until she swore in a Cabinet of her own choice. The Government has been in office for five months. Altogether the Defence portfolio has remained in her hands for ten long months. Desertions have continued, much more than it was during war times. Troops have had not received the basic needs like shoes and tee shirts. Uniforms are in short supply. Equipment needs are to be met. Enhanced training to meet a contingency had not been planned. In other words, the security forces are not in a state of military preparedness.

The only area where preparedness had gone on is to send more than 750 troops to keep the peace in Haiti. For this, Army Headquarters has called for tenders to purchase equipment from abroad. They include military hardware and even transport vehicles. How will they raise troops in the event of a contingency? One of the reasons attributed for the rise in crime a couple of years ago was the deployment of Police in military offensive. It came during Operation Jaya Sikurui. As security forces marched through the A-9 highway, the captured ground was handed over to the Police. It was the result of a shortage of strength. This led to police personnel from various areas being pulled out for deployment in the Wanni. Who will be answerable if a similar situation occurs in the near future?

Meanwhile, the internal structures of the UPFA have been buzzing again with the news of yet another propaganda blitz. The government has decided to launch a huge campaign on its achievements, to coincide with the decade old regime of Chandrika Kumaratunga as President of Sri Lanka.

The groundwork is already laid for this undertaking. The UPFA did a successful PR programme under the theme 'Rata perata' for the April elections, one hailed even by its opponents who made a mess of things with too many cooks headed by chief cook John Earl of the UK. But there were the critics, there always are, who say the expenses were too high for the "Rata Perata' campaign.

Thus this time, the organisers have decided to hand over the new PR campaign to 'Selacine' the independent production house which functions under the Ministry of Media. Founded by the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Selacine functioned as a media production house for most of the governments in the past. Recently, it was also awarded a Rs. 100 million contract from the Development Lotteries Board.

Though the dispute originated with the transfer of funds to the ailing production house, it runs deeper. Its chairman Dharmasena Pathiraja was removed from office last week, relocated to the Government Flm Unit which is defunct for many years. He has been replaced by Hudson Samarasinghe, the SLBC chairman.

While questions have been raised as to whether the Selacine operation is a front to channel government funds to private PR stations, an entirely new agency has been formed under the Media Ministry to probe allegations of corruption by former ministers Ravi Karunanayake, Rajitha Senaratne, and Mahinda Wijesekera. Named the Research Information Division (RID), the secret agency has, however, been crippled due to sleuths unable to come up with reports so far.

It was the RID that produced 'evidence' against Ravi Karunanayake that matured to him being produced in court. Whatever the fallout with the LTTE, for some in the UPFA, the real enemy remains, the UNP.

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