IT defies even the simplest logic why, having spectacularly vanquished a brutal terrorist organization in war, Sri Lanka must now make such a pickle of its hard-won peace. One of the root causes of ethnic conflicts anywhere is distrust. Suspicion breeds antagonism that corrodes the social fabric of entire nations. In Sri Lanka, this vicious cycle is starting again. The country ended thirty years of fighting with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam through a combination of military strategies that, in the eyes of some human rights groups, remain questionable. Regardless of whether or not war crimes were committed, the majority of people here welcome the elimination of the wretched LTTE that wreaked so much misery in the lives of so many. With victory under its belt, one would have expected this government - indeed, any government – to then move swiftly towards tackling the origins of the conflict because by no stretch of the imagination had the end of fighting resulted in an end to animosity. But except for a few faltering steps in that direction, the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has chosen not to tread down this path. Instead, it irritably brushes off suggestions that the minorities, particularly Tamils, are anything but blissful under its rule. The government touts economic development as the primary route to ethnic harmony. And yet, there is simmering resentment among Tamils, particularly in areas formerly controlled by the LTTE, that the fruits of such development are not adequately shared with them. They complain that lucrative contracts go to friends of the regime while companies from outside war-affected areas reap the benefits in all spheres of economic activity. In his first post-war address to the nation, delivered on 19 May 2009 at a ceremonial opening of parliament, President Rajapaksa spoke briefly in Tamil to the Tamil people. “Friends,” he said, “This is our country. This is our motherland. We should live in this country as children of one mother. No differences of race, caste and religion should prevail here.” He stressed, too, that, “Protecting the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka is my responsibility. That is my duty. All the people of this country should live in safety without fear and suspicion. All should live with equal rights. That is my aim.” However, other things point to growing estrangement between Tamils and the government. Take, for instance, an unpleasant incident that occurred in Jaffna just this week, at a meeting of the Noolaham Foundation. A registered charity, it has been collecting rare books and manuscripts from around the globe since 2005 and digitizing them with a view to making them available to all researchers. ON the evening of 29 May, the group met in Jaffna as they regularly did on the last Sunday of each month. A statement from a member of its advisory committee, Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole, said the topic under discussion was the preservation of sites of ancient cultural heritage through videos and photographs. The army arrived as they started with a person identifying himself as Colonel Jayawardene wanting to know who was in charge. When an emeritus professor identified himself, the colonel reportedly shouted at him for all to hear: “No LTTE commemorations. Ministry of Defense orders! Do you understand?” The meeting was allowed to proceed only after a Tamil speaking person from the army in civil attire was allowed to sit among them and under the condition that copies of the presentations were given to him. Soldiers moved around the hall, listening in on the meeting, the statement says. “As we left, our names, identity card numbers and addresses and telephone numbers were recorded. Our day was spoilt. The meeting was ruined because we were so worried by the military presence that we could not focus on the speakers. We could not freely express ideas since the military presence and weapons were intimidating. The public will keep off from our functions now and those who rent us halls will be fearful of doing so.” The statement refers to another incident whereby an official event at a Jaffna school was interrupted by the army barging in “on a false tipoff”. “For peace and prosperity and indeed normality in Jaffna, endeavors like Noolaham's are of essence,” it asserts. “But the gains made by the government are being squandered by the army without any discernment, treating all of us who are Tamil like suspects.” “The government, after winning the war, is losing the peace,” it notes, somberly, while appealing to President Rajapaksa to review how civilians are treated in Jaffna by the military. But it remains to be seen whether the government will ever chastise its military over anything. Elsewhere – at the 17th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 30 May – President Rajapksa's special envoy on human rights delivered an enthusiastic monologue on his government's progress after the war. Mahinda Samarasinghe told the council that 95 percent of internally displaced persons have today been resettled. He neglected to mention that, according to the latest Joint Humanitarian and Early Recovery Update compiled by the UN's Office of the Commissioner for Humanitarian Assistance, thousands of people are still camped with host families in Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna districts. Samarasinghe spoke of the rehabilitation and release of former LTTE combatants but did not admit that the government has still not divulged the names of a large number of detainees who remain in state custody. He said the government had started discussions with Tamil political parties examining constitutional, legal, and democratic reform but did not add that his regime has no real intention of devolving any more power to the minorities. If it did, a more genuine process of engagement would have followed soon after the war, when optimism was high. Samarasinghe spoke of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission established in May 2010 to focus on “identification of those responsible for past events related to the conflict”. He said the LLRC has been engaging in hearing the experience of affected persons, listening to their stories, examining them to elicit the truth and to draw possible investigative material to enable further follow-up action. He did not reveal that the majority of those that gave evidence before the LLRC during hearings in the North and East were Tamil civilians desperate to locate their missing loved ones. He did not say that the government still has no answers to give them. He told the council that, with the adoption of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution in September 2010, the president has moved to establish “independent” commissions including the Permanent Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption, the Public Service Commission, the Finance Commission and the Human Rights Commission. He did not mention that none of them, in fact, are independent. Their members are handpicked and appointed by the president! But never mind all this. The UN Human Rights Council in all probability can tell fact from fiction. It is not the council or the international community that matters. The government must listen to the voices of all communities and take action for the right reason – to end the cycle of distrust, suspicion and bubbling resentment that no amount of militarization can crush. – The writer is a senior journalist in Colombo. __
