Counter Terrorist Trends And Analysis

There have been no incidents of terrorism in Sri Lanka since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were militarily defeated in May 2009. However, a small number of cells comprising LTTE members and their supporters remain in the country’s conflict-affected north, and there have been a few incidents of concern in 2013.

Outside Sri Lanka, the LTTE’s international network is still active and sheltered among supporters in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, but is split into various factions. Nevertheless, it continues to run a disinformation campaign against Sri Lanka, particularly in countries such as Canada and the UK with significant concentrations of diaspora Tamils.

Anti-Sri Lankan sentiment in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has also complicated Sri Lanka’s relations with its neighbour India. The Tamil Nadu state government exerted considerable pressure on the central government in New Delhi in 2013 to support international efforts to investigate war crimes during Eelam War IV (2006-2009, the final phase of Sri Lanka’s 26-year-long conflict with the LTTE), limit India’s military cooperation with Sri Lanka and resolve issues relating to the detention of Indian fishermen.

Nevertheless, reconciliation initiatives have made strides in 2013. Elections were held in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province for the first time since 1988, and the government pushed forward in its resettlement, demining and reconstruction programs as well.

The country’s progress on reconciliation will come under international scrutiny at the 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2014, where the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanetham Pillay will present findings from her visit to Sri Lanka in August 2013 as well as a report on progress with respect to the implementation of Resolution 22/1 passed at the 22nd session in March 2013.

Detainees with satellite phones

Sri Lankan prison authorities found 18 satellite phones in the Magazine Prison at Welikada (a suburb of Sri Lanka’s largest city, Colombo) and 12 satellite phones in the Jaffna Prison (Jaffna is the capital of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province) in June and August 2013 respectively. Investigations are still ongoing as to how these phones entered into the possession of detained LTTE cadres, who used them to communicate with pro-LTTE elements of the Tamil diaspora based outside Sri Lanka. The continued discovery of communications equipment among detained LTTE cadres is a concern given the incident which occurred at the Vavuniya Prison (Vavuniya is the largest city in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province) in June 2012 when LTTE detainees held three prison officials hostage until security forces brought the situation under control.
The Sri Lankan government accused LTTE elements outside Sri Lanka of remotely directing the incident via the satellite phones found in the detainees’ possession.

LTTE cadres escaping to India

Furthermore, in mid-2013, there were a number of attempts – both successful and unsuccessful – by LTTE members at large in the north of Sri Lanka to escape to the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu by boat. The fact that these remnants of the group are attempting to leave Sri Lanka to reorganize outside the country highlights that local conditions are unfavorable due to the counter terrorist initiatives of the security forces. However, it also underscores the importance of Sri Lanka working with countries known to have a LTTE presence – particularly India due to its proximity – in order to limit the ability of LTTE elements overseas to plan and execute attacks in Sri Lanka.

Anti-Sri Lanka protests and attacks in Tamil Nadu

There were a number of anti-Sri Lanka protests and attacks targeting Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu during March 2013. These incidents coincided with campaigns initiated by political parties in Tamil Nadu to pressurize New Delhi to take a strong stance against Sri Lanka at the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2013.

 On 7 March 2013, a group of Naam Thamizhar Katchi (a pro-LTTE political party based in Tamil Nadu) activists attacked the sales office of Mihin Lanka (a low-cost airline owned by the Sri Lankan government) in Madurai, the third largest city in Tamil Nadu. Furthermore, from 8 to 11 March 2013, students across several educational institutions in Chennai (the capital of Tamil Nadu) demonstrated in response to police taking into custody eight students on a hunger strike protesting against alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

 In the subsequent week on 16 and 18 March 2013, there were attacks on Sri Lankan Buddhist monks at Thanjavur (location of the Brihadeeswarar Temple) and Chennai, in which members of Naam Thamizhar Katchi were also implicated.

In June 2013, 100 members of Naam Thamizhar Katchi also protested against Sri Lankan military personnel receiving military training at the Madras Regimental Centre based at Wellington in Tamil Nadu. They entered the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington unannounced and carried LTTE flags with them. In fact, there were a series of protests involving 15 pro-LTTE political groups based in Tamil Nadu since the two Sri Lankan officers began training at Wellington in May 2013. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram also pressured the central government, which subsequently offered to transfer the two officers to the College of Defence Management located in Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. However, the Sri Lankan government declined this offer and withdrew the officers from the course.

Despite her opposition to Sri Lankan officers training in India, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has also taken some decisive measures against pro-LTTE elements in Tamil Nadu. On her orders, police arrested more than 300 Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) party activists on 12 November 2013. The MDMK activists were arrested for blocking railways protesting for the total boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) that was eventually held in Sri Lanka in November 2013.

Reconciliation

Several key recommendations from the 2011 report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (set up in May 2010 to investigate the failure of the 2002 Ceasefire and final phase of the conflict with the LTTE) were implemented in 2013.

First, the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police set up a centralized database containing information regarding detainees in June 2013. The aim of the database is to ensure the right to information of family members/next-of-kin of detained suspects. Second, in August 2013, a commission was established by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to investigate into cases of missing persons, including abductions and disappearances, in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.

The commission is to produce an interim report by February 2014. Approximately 15,000 complaints were received from across the country, including 7,500 from the north and east.

Third, a major development was the elections held for the Northern Provincial Council in September 2013 for the first time since 1988. The elections had a relatively high level of participation (68%) and were won by the Tamil National Alliance, with C. V. Wigneswaran, a former Supreme Court judge, sworn in as Chief Minister. Fourth, a nationwide census was initiated in in November 2013 to determine the number of lives lost and property damage from 1982 to 2009. The census concluded its collection of data on 20 December 2013 and is due to publish its report in March 2014.

 Fourth, 900 Tamil police officers and 1,500 Tamil-speaking Sinhalese police officers have been stationed in the Northern and Eastern Provinces as of December 2013. This has improved the ability of Tamil and Tamil-speaking Muslim residents to make statements to the police.

Looking ahead

The government of Sri Lanka has generally responded indignantly to the effects of the LTTE’s disinformation campaign, which include unbalanced reporting and a disproportionate amount of attention being paid to the country post-conflict. However, in order to dismantle false narratives that could harm reconciliation efforts and continue to radicalize youth, it needs to pursue a strategic public relations campaign targeting international audiences. Sri Lanka can also benefit from adopting pro-active and strategic diplomatic measures with regional and international powers so as to hasten the dismantling of the LTTE’s international network.

On the domestic front, the government will need to engage more earnestly with the population in the areas of the north and east affected by the war. This not only would include addressing issues such as livelihood relief and food insecurity, but also examine local participation in the implementation of development programmes, psychological counseling for victims of violence, and recruiting a sufficient number of Tamil-speaking government officials, especially hospital staff, to effectively serve the local population in the north and east.