The world’s attention at the moment is fixed on about 192,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and another 50,000 – 100,000 civilians trapped within a five square-kilometer area in what used to be called the no-fire zone. BAN Ki Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, in a press release issued after a telephone conversation with the Sri Lankan president stated that this issue is among the highest of priorities internationally.
These persons are trapped in an internal conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. They are the ordinary folk who have lived in the north and the east from time immemorial and who were able to sustain themselves and help others in the past. They naturally deserve the full attention of the government as well as the international community in order to be able to escape this troubled situation and as soon as possible to be integrated back into their natural habitat.
Obviously, the LTTE will not cooperate in any way either for the release of those trapped in this small area of land or to contribute to their well-being. However, cannot be used as an excuse by the government, which has the obligation to protect its citizens. The fact of the limited resources available to the country to ensure the well-being of these persons is no excuse as the international community, expressing itself through the highest officer of the United Nations, has assured complete cooperation to the government to deal with this issue. The richer countries of the world have also assured the government and the United Nations of their support to see this through.
Obviously the problem that is faced by the government is that it will not be able to get the assured cooperation unless it is willing to grant access, as is required in these operations to those persons. Such access naturally cannot be subjected to censorship. All forms of cooperation generate information and revelations about what the actual situation is. To keep the situation undisclosed and to have international cooperation are objectives that cannot be realised at the same time. The two are simply incompatible. Practically the attempts to obstruct the actual exposure of the situation will prevent the flow of the necessary assistance. If the government really wants to save the lives of these people, and it is natural to presume that the government really wants to do so, there is no option but to agree to the internationally acceptable standards of cooperation that is required under these circumstances.
The pictures that appear in the press both locally and internationally and those shown over the television demonstrate that the president is perpetually busy accepting gifts from the local population in order to deal with this situation. This of course is laudable, if it is not a pure media ploy. The truth of the matter is however, that given the extremely hard conditions faced by the Sri Lankan people themselves with ever increasing prices, job losses, severe problems in big businesses and even worse consequences to come due to the global economic crisis, the government is in no position to extract enough ‘gifts’ to ensure the well-being of all the persons trapped in this crisis. The ever-devaluing Sri Lankan rupee is the mirror that demonstrates the nation’s economic problems.
Added to this is the great burden of dealing with the problems of ‘the liberated zones’ in the north and the east. Decades of civil war in these areas has destroyed the infrastructure. The development of civil administration, including the reconstruction of the basic institutions of the rule of law itself would demand huge allocations from the country’s budget. If these problems are not addressed these zones will come under the control of ‘warlord-like people’ and there will soon be revolts by the ordinary folk purely on the issue of security. Within one month two young girls between the ages of 6 and 8 were killed in the east when ransom demands made by way of abductions failed. The parents and the neighbours declared a boycott of schools for one week as a mark of protest and there was even the closure of shops and businesses for a full day. There is however, no reason to believe that things will get better as there is no authority capable of ensuring security in the area. Having such problems at hand the government is in no position to be fussy about accepting the assistance offered by the United Nations’ Secretary General.
In the past there was a nationalist fear that any access given to the United Nations may lead to the strengthening of the LTTE. Today the very claim of the government and the military is that such a situation is no longer possible. The Commander in Chief of the army has made that very clear in several statements. Therefore the fear that acceptance of assistance to deal with the present situation may lead to a rekindling of terrorism has no basis in fact. The UN Secretary General and others who have expressed willingness to help have also unequivocally rejected the LTTE as a terrorist organisation that they unreservedly condemn.
This is a moment of political choice and at these times, the extravagant claims made by governments in the past purely for political propaganda needs to be sacrificed in order to come to terms with the real politics and economics.
As the aim is to save lives the government must bow before reality and accept the assistance offered by the UN Secretary General in the same fashion that Sri Lanka accepted assistance in the past, for example at the time of the tsunami. It is an established principle of international law and practice that at moments of disaster nations have a right to seek help and it is the duty of the international community to provide such assistance.
