Credibility of the Sri Lankan government may be at stake if LLRC Recommendations are not implemented

The establishment of the LLRC was a necessity for Sri Lankans, to come to terms with the war against the LTTE and recent events leading up to it and to learn lessons from mistakes made.

The LLRC was not the counter to the anti Sri Lankan propaganda carried out by sections of the international community, various international NGOs, and even the United Nations, as some would wish us to believe. The setting up of the LLRC was the right thing to do because Sri Lankans wished to know and learn from the mistakes it made in dealing with the LTTE.

The report has been in the public domain for more than 2 months now, and not responding in detail to the recommendations of the LLRC, and not announcing a time bound an action plan to implement its recommendations may erode the credibility of the Sri Lankan government, not in the eyes of anyone else, but in the eyes of the people of Sri Lanka.

Not just the government, but many Sri Lankans locally and overseas who stood firm against untruthful and unsubstantiated allegations made against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces felt vindicated when the LLRC concluded that no war crimes had been committed by the Armed Forces, and no deliberate killing of innocent civilians had occurred during the final phase of the war against the LTTE.

Besides this finding, the recommendations made in the comprehensive LLRC report were welcomed as measures for moving forward from years of conflict.

Now, those who stood by the government and the integrity of Sri Lanka, are concerned that the hard won victory over misinformation, untruths, shameful allegations against a brave Armed Force and Police, is beginning to erode as the Sri Lankan government appears lackadaisical in responding in detail to the report and its recommendations.

Inaction on the part of the government is providing opportunities for anti Sri Lankan snipers to bring out their heavy weaponry and recommence their campaign against Sri Lanka. It is also aiding the view that the LLRC was an instrument of the government and therefore responding to its report and its recommendations is superfluous.

It is also fuelling the view that the Sri Lankan government calls for independent investigations and reports on contentious issues only to deflect the heat generated on such issues, and they do not take such reports seriously after the heat has subsided.

The government should be cautioned to be wary of advice they may be receiving that the LLRC report and its recommendations could be soft peddled, and left alone and that it will be forgotten like other reports and recommendations that some claim have suffered a similar fate.

It is very unlikely that this is the view of the government in regard to the LLRC report as they are well aware of the international spotlight on it, and the intensity of that spotlight. The soon to be held UN Human Rights Council meeting is bound to bring up the status of the LLRC report, and unless the government takes positive action on the report, consistent supporters of Sri Lanka in the UN will be hard pressed to keep supporting the country.

This also goes for individual Sri Lankans within Sri Lanka, and outside Sri Lanka, who have argued and defended the integrity of Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces against these divisive forces. They are beginning to feel aggrieved that the stand taken by the Sri Lankan government that they supported, and which maintained that one must await the LLRC report, its findings and recommendations before arriving at any conclusions about allegations made against its Armed Forces, is now getting shakier, and the strength of that initially solid foundation is beginning to show some worrisome cracks.

One of the key planks of the LLRC recommendations was the need for all concerned to work together to find a political solution to the political problem that provided the germinating environment for the LTTE to take root and grow in Sri Lanka.
The government’s rightful response was the setting up of a Parliamentary Sub Committee to do exactly this, being mindful that all previous attempts to find a solution had never been through such a participative mechanism, but invariably through Pacts between political leaders or having been forced to introduce “a solution”, virtually at gun point.

The TNA, the proxy of the LTTE then and now, has refused to participate unless the government agrees to their demands on devolution of Police and land powers. The UNP has stated they will not participate unless the LTTE proxy participates in it. The TNA decision was expected, although one dared to hope they were more interested in Tamils living in Sri Lanka and their future rather than the dictates of the LTTE supporters amongst the Diaspora who are just not interested in a solution.

The simile of the beggar’s wound comes to mind. Where will the Diaspora activist’s objective be if not for the problem? The more it festers, and a solution not found, the longer their existence as globetrotting international saviors of the Tamil race, feted in some world capitals and attention not given even to some Heads of State, given to them.

Although the opportunism of the UNP of course is unpardonable as they have opted to derail the process to discredit the President and the government, and score political points, the formal response to the LLRC report by UNP leader Ranil Wickremasighe, is also understandable to a point as the report findings were not exactly kind to the ceasefire agreement (CFA) that Wickremasinghe, as Prime Minister, signed with the LTTE.

However, very sadly, the UNP has shown they have scant regard to all those brave Armed Forces personnel and thousands of innocent people who lost their lives because they allowed themselves to be taken for a ride by the LTTE. Rather than admitting their mistake, the UNP has tried to justify their failed CFA, and are now attempting to take refuge by criticizing the LLRC report.

Neither the TNA nor the UNP can and should take the stand that it’s all or nothing, meaning, firstly, the TNA should not refuse to take part in the PSC unless they and the government comes to an agreement on Land and police powers. However popular and powerful the President and his government might be, this is not an issue that the government can come to an agreement with the TNA.
This is an issue that is most sensitive to and opposed by a majority of Sri Lankans, and unless the government at least has the support of the UNP to devolution of land and police powers, it would be suicidal for the government to arrive at an agreement with the UPFA.

This is an issue that needs to be discussed at a wider forum like the PSC so that the TNA could argue their case there, and if they can convince and assure other political parties that a mutually agreeable modality for land and police powers devolution could be worked out, then it could become a reality as the President is on record saying he will implement the recommendations of the PSC.

Secondly, it is highly irresponsible for the UNP, assuming they care more for the country than themselves, not to realise and accept the above mentioned reality, and take the view that they will not participate unless the TNA does. Besides this, the UNP surely must know that the TNA is not the sole voice of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, and that they must give a hearing to other Tamil political parties and representation.

If the TNA and the UNP continue to be intransigent, and refuse to participate in the PSC, it will be clear beyond any doubt that they are not interested in finding a political solution, and that they are only interested in self perpetuation through political opportunism.

It is perhaps time that other Tamil political parties spoke and it is also time that more patriotic elements within the UNP took a different view to what their leader has said about the PSC and the LLRC.

On the part of the government, they need to do the right thing by Sri Lanka, and implement the recommendations of the LLRC, and also discuss a political solution with other Tamil political parties and whoever within the UNP who is patriotic and brave enough to break free from the opportunistic shackles their leader has trapped them in.

- Asian Tribune –

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