President rejects proposal to pay compensation to LTTE Tamil Terrorists and families?
President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday rejected outright a proposal by a United National Party (UNP) Cabinet Minister to pay “compensation” to Ex- LTTE Tamil terrorist and their “next of kin.”
“I am not going to allow this to be even discussed,” he told last Tuesday’s weekly ministerial meeting. He was alluding to the Cabinet Memorandum forwarded by Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Pro-LTTE and Anti-Sinhala Minister Deva Manoharan Swaminathan, who recommended this sinister move.
The four-page memorandum was titled “Payment of Enhanced Compensation and other Relief Measures for Deaths and Injuries and those whose properties were damaged due to civil conflict and Implementation of the Compensatory Relief recommended by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission regarding Payment of Compensation to the Ex-Combatants and their Next of Kin.”
Sirisena lamented that Tamil newspapers had blamed him falsely and claimed he (Sirisena) had rejected the recommendation. This was the previous week after the ministers took up the memorandum for discussion but put off the matter for last Tuesday. Such fake reports had wrongly blamed him claiming he was not in favour. This was when no decision had been made. He was strongly of the view that the matter did not merit discussion at last Tuesday’s cabinet meeting since more such fake reports could emanate. Now, any form of compensation to victims of the separatist war would only be determined by a body that is being set up to deal with reparations to those affected by the separatist war. It came on a suggestion by Finance Minister another pro-LTTE minister Mangala Samaraweera. the need for allocation of additional funds or approval of Parliament for them would not be required as claimed in some political quarters.
According to a high ranking government source, both during the previous week as well last Tuesday, two ministers whose fathers’ were assassinated by Tiger guerrilla suicide bombers — Housing and Construction Minister Sajith Premadasa and Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake — did not make any comments to gain Tamils vote during the next general election. Also refraining from comments for two successive weeks at the Cabinet was Sarath Fonseka, who as Commander of the Army, under the pressure from his boss Ranil.
It is not a decision or a rejection to pay Tamil terrorists as and their next of kin compensation for carrying out a near three decade long separatist war that is a highly worrisome factor. It is the unbelievable but confirmed fact that a UNP Cabinet Minister, with the approval of the leadership, chose it proper to place such a sinister proposal before the Cabinet of Ministers. It is as bizarre as the United States wanting to pay compensation for the ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban or the Pakistani Taliban. Of course the latter are for cross border activity.
Minister Swaminathan’s recommendation to the Cabinet disregards many realities, both local and foreign. It is made worse, when a UNP parliamentarian and not the Minister or his Deputy concerned, is called upon by the leadership to summon a news conference and exhort that there has been no proposal to pay compensation to ex-Tamil terrorists. The UNP is no doubt deeply embarrassed, but the explanation proffered only worsens what remains of a rapidly evaporating credibility. Like many previous occasions, a denial, the party seems to believe, would mean no such things exist or ever occurred. More on that aspect later.
Why is the payment of compensation so important an issue? Such payment, irrespective of whether the sum is large or small, constitutes an acknowledgement that the separatist campaign of the Tamil terrorist was a legitimate one. With such payment, is the Government not relenting that it was wrong? So would be the many assassinations, bomb explosions, killings of civilians, members of the clergy, and military personnel among others also not confer legitimacy on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Tamil terrorists have throughout declared “their thirst is for eelam,” or a separate homeland. Would such a payment only lead to a lifting of the ban on the LTTE terrorists in Sri Lanka? It also remains banned in several countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Australia. What would be their position?
In terms of Sri Lankan laws, no citizen is allowed to carry any weapon or ammunition without a valid licence. During different phases of the separatist war, Tamil terrorists brazenly moved around with not only weapons, but also with mortar launchers, artillery guns, light anti-tank weapons, large stocks of explosives and cannons mounted on Sea Tiger boats among others. The LTTE also had an extensive communications network linking its different bases in the north and east when such use is only authorised with a license to other Sri Lankans. Would rewarding them with “compensation” legitimise all what the LTTE Tamil terrorists did in this regard?
The other issue is rewarding the next of kin of ‘ex-combatants.’ It was the next of kin who received priority when distributing food and medicine in guerrilla-dominated areas. They were dubbed as “Maveerar” or “Great Heroes” families. If indeed there is express mention of the ‘next of kin,’ there is little said about the civilians in the north who resisted the Tamil terrorist and went through untold sufferings. Some are still in camps for internally displaced persons and others have ended up in South India as refugees. Yet others have lost their valuable belongings including family land. There is no gainsaying that they deserve high priority. However, such numbers are less as against the others and one is not sure why the shift in emphasis in Swaminathan’s memorandum.
The issue assumes even more significance after a Police find in Nedunkerni at pre-dawn Thursday. A team of Odusuddan traffic police officers were at a junction in what was once the heartland of slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Around 4.30 a.m. they stopped a three-wheeler scooter headed from Oddusuddan to Puthukudiyiruppu. They discovered a pressure bomb, a claymore mine, two Tiger guerrilla uniforms and two LTTE flags. The driver and one person in the three-wheeler were arrested whilst a third escaped. However, they later arrested him too. The findings have now become the subject of a Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) inquiry. This was whilst the Army and the Police conducted a cordon and search of the area. Police sources believe the pressure mine and the claymore may have been to target either a military official or a politician. TID detectives were questioning those in custody. Fuelling worries in the intelligence establishment in the north is whether an attempt is being made to unearth buried or hidden military and related items for new operational purposes.
There are a variety of questions they are raising. Among them: Whether there is any link to already identified and neutralised LTTE cadres; the need to identify present leadership; the cells operating not only in the north but other areas too; any political affiliations; sources; methods of funding for these groups; any overseas links for funding and logistics support; whether adequate intelligence coverage for these groups are in place. Ground security, they say, should not be compromised at any cost and a genuine approach should be adopted to neutralise these groups without cover-ups for political purposes. They emphasise that sharing of intelligence among the state players would be an essential pre-requisite to success.
It was only on Wednesday that Defence Secretary Kapila Waidyaratne issued an extraordinary Gazette notification listing the names of 14 wanted persons who are members of the LTTE. They include a Flying Instructor and two members of the now defunct LTTE air wing.
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