June, on the second anniversary of Sri Lanka's victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the defense establishment will host an international seminar in Colombo to teach the world a thing or two about terrorism. ‘Defeat of Terrorism: Sri Lanka Experience' will be the first time ever that the military divulges specifics of its strategy against the LTTE to a global audience. Till now, whatever discussion there was of the final pitched battle against the Tamil Tigers was local with a heavy patriotic slant designed to promote a president and his government. Political posturing often threatened to overtake the conversation; even frontline military commanders chipped in to help politicians gain mileage from an agonising war that left hundreds of thousands dead, injured or displaced. The government's exploitation of the victory to promote itself is understandable (although this tool is now decidedly wearing thin). When President Mahinda Rajapaksa decided to crush the LTTE, it was no longer a small bunch of young Tamils possessing more rage than they did weapons. The Tamil Tigers over 30 years had grown into a formidable terrorist organization that commanded ground, air and naval power; manufactured chemical bombs in the jungle and excelled in suicide attack. They had also amassed such a vast armory of weapons that troops are still digging up guns from the ground. A little politicking, therefore, was excusable. But the lack of an open and focused dialogue on strictly the military aspects of the war, with less sycophancy and more fact, has left questions unanswered about how Sri Lanka achieved success where more powerful nations continue to fail. If it isn't hijacked by narrow and partisan political objectives, this seminar would fill a vital gap in information. It could be a welcome opportunity for the military to showcase its “humanitarian operation” (as it was labelled at the time) to free hundreds and thousands of Tamil civilians from the LTTE's grip. Nevertheless, it could also open a can of worms. The war against the Tamil Tigers remains at the center of raging controversy about alleged war crimes by both sides. Several human rights organizations, notably Amnesty International, International Crisis Group (ICG) and Human Rights Watch, continue to hound the government over the innumerable loss of human lives. HAVING suffered a temporary setback, pro-LTTE diaspora groups have reorganized themselves to launch a fresh call for an international investigation into the conduct of the war. There is also a move to initiate legal proceedings in foreign courts against key figures including President Rajapaksa and his commanders. Sri Lanka has held off an international probe but the controversy just won't die down. One reason for the protracted campaign against this island nation – while bigger offenders of human rights violations like the US go free – could be that there is still money to be earned from targeting the small fry. With all sessions open to local and international media, it would be optimistic to assume that nobody would comment or raise questions about human rights concerns. There are plenty of witnesses among affected civilians to events during those final bloody months of 2009 when men, women and children quivered inside a narrow strip of coastal land – trapped along with the remaining Tamil Tigers as troops closed in. The military will no doubt use the seminar to reinforce its position that no heavy weapons were used in the standoff; that it exercised a careful, no-civilian-casualty policy and that civilian deaths were predominantly caused by the LTTE. Rights groups maintain otherwise and cite “evidence” to support this. For instance, the ICG said in a report in May that the government and security forces encouraged hundreds of thousands of civilians to move into ever smaller No Fire Zones and “then subjected them to repeated and increasingly intense artillery and mortar barrages and other fire”. The organization said this lasted from January 2009 through May “despite the government and security forces knowing the size and location of the civilian population and scale of civilian casualties.” TO vehement denials by the government, the ICG said too that state security forces shelled hospitals and makeshift medical centers and humanitarian operations. There are also claims and counter-claims that the military arbitrarily executed unarmed Tamils during the war. Curiously, the LTTE, which was ruthless to the bitter end, particularly to its own people, is routinely excused from criticism. Human rights violations and abject cruelty are evidently the prerogative of non-state actors. Anyhow, it would be interesting to see whether representatives of multilateral and international organizations present at the seminar – such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN – will respond to any attempts by the government to gloss over the ugly bits. At a press conference to announce the seminar, Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya told media that Sri Lanka was the first country in the 21st century to defeat terrorism. As a result, it had a wealth of knowledge and experience in countering global terrorism. “Since May 2009, almost all countries have acknowledged our achievement and are keen to share the expertise and knowledge of the Sri Lanka Army,” he said. Army spokesman Brigadier Ubaya Medawala maintains that “we have nothing to hide... this will be a factual discussion about how we defeated terrorism.” The army will organize the seminar on May 31 and June 1-2. Top Sri Lankan military officers will present papers on, among others, counter-measures against global terrorism, terrorist trends, the combination of both political and military efforts, rapid resettlement, reconciliatory moves, nation-building and threats to national and international security concerns. A notable absentee among speakers will be Sarath Fonseka, the former army commander who led the operation. He was arrested not long after he unsuccessfully challenged Mahinda Rajapaksa at a presidential election in 2010 and has since been cashiered by a military court, is serving a jail term for irregularities in procurements for the army and has lost the parliamentary seat he won at the general election in April last year. Fonseka's attempt to oust the president saw the wrath of the administration directly firmly against him and he has been indicted on several other charges for which hearings are in progress. – The writer is a senior journalist based in Colombo __
