Srilanka - News And Discussion

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[url="http://http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1096"]Kerry Report and the Fonseka debacle in Sri Lanka[/url]

J Jayasundera

Most major problems of the world are planned on Pentagon drawing boards. The guiding light for these plans is the western interest. Not humanity, not compassion nor morality. Only plans don’t work perfectly. It is said that if you wish to make God laugh, just tell Him your plans. From Congo to Afghanistan, the mayhem has been instigated by the dictum: Western Interests. They have the arrogance to believe they have the god-given right to interfere in the lives of what they consider inferior civilisations to achieve their ends. To this end, all western countries and the new recruit, Japan, play different roles, but the aim is the same.



It is in this light that we need to asses the present situation in Sri Lanka. Just as Oil has been the curse of the Gulf region, so its geographical location is the curse of Sri Lanka. The perception that the country that controls Sri Lanka will control navigation in the Indian Ocean is the basis of western interest. There are two major issues on which their plans have failed



LTTE invincibility: Tamils are king-makers in the present democracy in Sri Lanka



Stunned by the defeat of the LTTE and fearing a grave threat to US security, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent Senator Kerry and two others to report on the situation in Sri Lanka. His visit emphasised that the fortunes of the LTTE had a direct bearing on American policy on the Island and its geo strategic interests. This explains the part played by the West in the terrorist movement in Sri Lanka. His assessment and recommendations throw light on the intricacies of US interests in Sri Lanka. The following are its main observations:



1. Kerry emphasised the need to change US foreign policy pertaining to the Island in the light of the defeat of the LTTE. This gives credibility to the notion that had LTTE won, America would have enjoyed access to two-thirds of the coastal belt of Sri Lanka to dominate the Indian Ocean.



2. The ability of Sri Lanka to destabilise India by communal conflict be it Sinhala-Tamil or Muslim-Hindu.



3. The geo political interests of India and China in the Island.



4. Free flow of trade - half the world’s container ships and shipments of Oil to China and Japan pass through Sri Lanka.



The West and the LTTE-Tamil rebellion



Till 1977, Sri Lanka and India had an excellent relationship, each respecting each others’ sovereignty. But with the election of JR Jayawardena in 1977, the Americans laid the foundations of conflict between the two nations through the servility of JRJ. On the pretext of helping Sri Lanka achieve economic development, the seeds of instability were laid.



Initially, Washington got JRJ to allow a Voice of America station to be based on the Island. Then they attempted to influence JRJ to give them a long-term lease of Trincomalee Harbour. Then came the 1983 riots, instigated and carried out by the ruling UNP, against the Tamils. To this day, no one really knows if a foreign hand was involved in the riots. By this time Indira Gandhi had enough reasons to instigate a Bangladesh-style insurrection as Sri Lanka was a threat to Indian security. She ordered RAW to organise, arm and train Tamil militants. What she did not realise was that she has fallen into a trap of destabilising the whole sub-continent, nor could she realise her son would one day be killed by the LTTE.



At this time the Israelis were helping and training the Sri Lankan Army. In fact, the Israelis were training both the Army and Tamil rebels at the same time, as mentioned in the book by Mordechai Vananu, an Israeli dissident who was imprisoned for 18 years (11 in solitary confinement) for going public about Israel’s secret nuclear arsenal. Israel, as we know, works hand-in-glove with the CIA.



Large numbers of Tamils were accepted as refugees in the West, to give it more justification to interfere. Millions of dollars were collected by the Diaspora to arm the LTTE. Drug trafficking, Human Trafficking were ignored. Thus the financing of the LTTE was set in motion. Whilst arming the LTTE they were also arming the Sri Lankan army hoping to keep the conflict alive.



From the Kerry report we can now come to the conclusion that there was a risk of the destabilisation of India. This may be a credible aim of the West.



In this programme, every anti-national group within the country was used to support the LTTE and propagate the myth that the LTTE can be never defeated. NGOs, mainly Christian, and the Catholic churches in Sri Lanka and Chennai were used to propagate the myth of gross discrimination against Tamils. The Tamils still dominate the economy and the professions. At Independence, Tamils comprised more than 80% of the public services and the professions, a colonial legacy. Tamils are only 12% of the population and 60% live among the Sinhalese. Unfortunately it is the powerful that dominate the propaganda. Reality and myth have to be separated.



Ceasefire agreement and American interests



Sri Lanka is unfortunate in having another American lackey in Ranil Wickremesinghe, the present leader of the opposition. In 2001, during a brief period as PM, he signed an agreement with the LTTE, giving it power in the North and East within a unitary state, at the behest of the so-called International Community (a designation high-jacked by the West). Prabhakaran, a megalomaniac, would never accept anything short of a separate state.



This was a window of opportunity for the Norwegians (part of the Western front) to infiltrate and arm the LTTE to achieve her ends. Prabhakaran did not trust Ranil Wickremesinghe and so helped Rajapakse to win the election in 2005, hoping to instigate a war and defeat the Army with the sophisticated weapons he had acquired. Had the CFA worked, the West would have achieved influence in both the south and the north.



Final War



It was the final war and defeat of the LTTE that brought to light the hand of the West in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. On the verge of defeat, the West wanted to save Prabhakaran and the LTTE leadership to fight another day.



Initially the Americans wanted the war stopped and to evacuate Prabhakaran and the LTTE leadership. When that failed, they sent the Foreign Ministers of UK and France. The arrogance with which the Foreign Minister of UK treated the President made him retaliate and remind the UK minister that Sri Lanka was no more a colony of the British. They then sent in the Puppets from the UN. Mahinda Rajapakse deserves full credit for withstanding the pressure from the West and bringing the war to a successful end.



With the end of the war and disappointed by the failure of the LTTE, human rights violations and war crimes allegations were brought against the Rajapakse regime to scare it with a view to achieving their objectives.



Help for winning the war materially and internationally came from China, Russia, Pakistan and India. Not from the West which wanted to isolate to Sri Lanka.



The West brought economic pressure to isolate the country and pushed it more and more into the arms of the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians.



Fonseka Factor



Gen. Sarath Fonseka was said to have been influenced by previous American ambassador Blake to apply for the Green Card lottery to help him to educate his daughters in America. Lo and behold, he won the lottery, and in fact when the fighting was going on in the East he was visiting the USA.



Rumour has it that Blake encouraged him to request for an enlargement of the army after winning the war. President Rajapakse vetoed the idea, fearing an enlarged army. Rumour also has it that the same source warned Rajapakse of an impending army coup. Thus the seeds of conflict were laid.



In November 2009, Fonseka visited the USA in spite of many allegations against the army of war crimes. There were rumours that the State Department was going to question him, but nothing happened. It may well be that this was the time Fonseka was counselled to contest the Presidential election.



Presidential Election



The greatest achievement of British colonialism is the servility of the middle classes. Sri Lanka is as blessed as the other sub-continental countries with such traitors. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is one such. Unelectable and lacking in charisma, he served only one purpose - to divide the vote of the majority so that the minorities control the government. This gives rise to the myth that Tamils are the king-makers. Give into the demands of Tamils to stay in power and you achieve division of the country. Division of the country on ethnic basis will be the start of instability as the 75% majority will never accept it. It is this instability that the West wants.



The only obstacle to the plan was Rajapakse. Therefore Regime Change was the answer. The Presidential election was the opportunity. Non-charismatic leaders were asked to keep out of the fray and support Gen. Fonseka’s candidature. An egoistic General who shoots from the hip was presented as the alternative candidate to fight the Presidential election.



A meeting of all the minority parties was arranged by the Americans and the British in Zurich to discuss the future of the minorities. As expected, they all decided to support Fonseka who, in return, agreed to their requests, i.e., to achieve what LTTE could not win by war. Fonseka in his first long interview stated that Gotabaya, the President’s brother, had given orders to kill the LTTE leadership, precipitating the UN to demand an investigation for war crimes.



This went down with the Sinhala electorate as treachery. The demand for investigation of corruption failed to gain ground as the General’s son-in-law was alleged to be an arms dealer whilst he was commander. It soon became apparent that this was a ruse to give in to the demands of the Tamils and divide the nation to achieve Western aims.



Sinhala perceptions of Tamil demands



Sinhalese do not accept the concept of a homeland based on acquiring Sinhala land. The British divided the country into 9 provinces based on a structure which reduced the Sinhala majority representation. The Eastern province was a part of the Kandyan Kingdom. The British also brought in Tamils from southern India and located them in such a manner as to reduce the percentage of Sinhalese people in those provinces. This was a mechanism to disenfranchise the Sinhalese people, the native majority. The Sinhalese feel it is unfair to base a solution on the British provinces and worse, to give one-third of the land and two-third of the coast to 12% (even less now) of the populace.



Election



The election on the 26th of January was in fact viewed by Sinhalese as a fight between the West against Sri Lanka. No patriotic Sinhalese could vote for Fonseka; hence the massive win for Rajapakse. That is not to say that they wholeheartedly approve of Rajapakse, but they had no option. This is another clear case of the West interfering in the rights of ordinary people. The theory that the Tamils are king-makers has been debunked.



Having made allegations of great consequence, Fonseka now languishes in jail. The question that needs to be answered is whether the Rajapakse regime can let Fonseka out and risk him giving out war secrets and carrying out his threat to give evidence in any war crimes investigation. The unity achieved eight months ago after the war is now over. Will Sri Lanka get embroiled in a protest movement instigated by the West as in Iran is the question.



Failure of Indian foreign policy



Sri Lanka’s predicament cannot be addressed without addressing India’s foreign policy failure. India has ignored the rights of the Sinhalese people and favoured a solution based on pandering to unfair Tamil demands, catering to narrow nationalistic demands from Chennai. In fact, India is aiding and abetting the geo-political interests of the West knowingly or unknowingly. To the West, instability in Sri Lanka is the first phase of destabilising India.



For India, alienating the Sinhalese is not an option. It will only create a situation whereby the Sinhalese will be naturally attracted to countries that are anti-Indian. This will not only destabilise Sri Lanka, but also India, and lead to a re-start of the geo-political war fought by Tamils and Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, instigated from outside.



India should not allow Sri Lanka to be the next Pakistan. Indian hegemony and imitating of the Western philosophy of might is right and divide and rule is not the answer. It needs a Vision, a Vision for a Greater Asia.



The author is a citizen of Sri Lanka