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Sri Lanka : Water row ends : LTTE lifts blockade |
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The LTTE has lifted the blockade on water supplies to government areas from a disputed reservoir. The 19-day blockade sparked the worst fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the rebels in four years. A Tamil Tiger spokesman said in Trincomalee (Aug. 6) that regional leader Elilan and People’s Representative went and opened the sluice gates. A Defence Ministry spokesman however said, no water has flowed into the affected villages. The political wing leader of the LTTE, S.P. Tamilselvan, told reporters after talks with Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer that their Chief, V. Prabhakaran, agreed to open the sluice gates on humanitarian grounds. Tamilselvan said he had given Hanssen Bauer three to four weeks to ensure that the Government complies with rebel demands that it guarantee water supply to rebel areas and remove all economic obstacles there. At the same time, he said, “if the military continues attacks and shelling and makes any more moves, we will consider it as a full scale war”. Tamilselvan rejected Bauer’s demand to extend the deadline for the withdrawal of truce monitors from EU nations which reduces the mission to just 20, not enough to do the job properly.
The LTTE had agreed to lift the blockade under a deal negotiated by Norway. However, Colombo rejected it on the ground that water was “non-negotiable” and it cannot allow a “bunch of terrorists” to blackmail it. Hours before the LTTE lifted the blockade, Sri Lanka informed the visiting Norwegian delegation led by Jon Hanssen Bauer that control of the waterway by the LTTE was unacceptable.
The LTTE’s move to block the waterway, source of irrigation for 30,000 acres, triggered violence in which several hundred persons are feared dead. At least 50,000 persons have been rendered homeless as it spread to Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts. Since the beginning of the water war on July 26 and the spread of conflict to Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts, there have been claims and counter claims of hundreds of people killed and large-scale destruction. The government forces carried out ground and air attacks on LTTE positions and the rebels retaliated. Rebels claimed that at least 100 civilians were killed and 500 injured in govt. military operation, a figure which the military spokesman refused to confirm. A Nordic ceasefire monitor warned that the situation was worsening.
In a gruesome tragedy, 15 Tamil civilians working for a French aid agency, Action For Hunger, were found slain in the Agency’s office at the seaside town of Muttur , the scene of heavy battle over the water issue. The Aid Agency was doing post-tsunami relief work. In other rebel attacks, Sri Lanka’s Chief of anti-terrorism commando training Upul Seneviratne was killed by a suspected rebel bomb at Kandy in Central Sri Lanka. Two more people were killed when a car bomb exploded in Colombo in a mini van carrying a minority Tamil politician opposed to the Tamil Tiger rebels.
The trouble commenced on July 20 when civilians living in the Government-controlled Kallar area complained that water had been cut off from the irrigation canal that flows through territory controlled by the Tigers. The Government accused the Tigers of deliberately closing down the sluice gates at Mawilaru denying water to 15,000 families and 30,000 acres of paddy land. The two sides exchanged at least two letters to sort out the water mess, but eight days after the closure, Government troops moved into the area to wrest control of the sluice. Before the operation was launched, hardliners in Colombo, including Buddhist monks, tried to march to the sluice gates. They were prevented by troops commanded by Major General Nanda Mallwarachchi who assured them that water would be provided soon, and then came the military operation. Military sources said that the Tigers put up stiff resistance and the open terrain made progress difficult. The advancing troops were provided with air cover and artillery support as well and the latest reports said that two tanks had been moved into the theatre. In fact the SLAF bombed Tiger areas in the north-eastern parts of the island, including a political office and a suspected airstrip to put pressure on the Tigers. The latter, on their part opened up several other fronts. On August 1, 18 soldiers were killed when the bus they were travelling in was caught in a Claymore mine attack on the access road to the Kallar canal. The same afternoon, a troop transporter with 800 soldiers on board, was attacked by a flotilla of Tiger suicide boats numbering in the 20s as it was approaching the Trincomalee harbour. The troop carrier Jet Liner however escaped the attack and reached the harbour safely. Naval craft providing security for the carrier sunk three Tiger boats and damaged another two. Thereafter, the Tigers shelled the naval base close by from their positions south of the Trincomalee bay. Several 122-mm shells fell on the camp and four naval ratings were killed when the bus they were in caught fire. In the early morning of August 2, 2006, the Army reported that its camps in Kattaparichchan, Selvanagar and Mahindapura had come under attack. The camps lie at the border of Army controlled areas south of the Trincomalee harbour. The Tigers claimed that they were in control of the camps. Later it transpired that the camps were intact, but that the Tigers had infiltrated the area to carry out attacks. Several hours after the assault on the camps, the coastal town of Muttur came under Tiger attack. Once again, both sides claimed that they were in command. The Tigers had been able to infiltrate into the town and occupied some Government buildings for some time. The Government launched a full blooded assault to reclaim total control and artillery opened up from the northern side of the harbour. While the two sides fought for the control of the town, civilians fled in hordes. At least 10,000 have been made refugees by the fighting and aid agencies like the International Committee of the Red Cross said that hundreds had been stranded on the roads leading from Muttur and were running low on food and water. By August 4, when the fighting was at its worst, all aid agencies, including the ICRC, pulled out due to security concerns. Even the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was unable to get in. Its head, Ulf Henricsson, had to turn back the next day as well, when he was warned that the road was full of explosives and there was still the threat of shells. By this time the Army was claiming that it was in control of the town and had killed more than 200 LTTE cadres. The Tigers also claimed that they had killed more than 100 Government troops. The Tiger leadership in Trincomalee announced that it had withdrawn from Muttur voluntarily by August 4 midnight after “achieving their objective” of destroying selected military targets in the town. The LTTE political head, S. Ellilan, asserted that they had also taken into consideration the humanitarian plight of the people. While the fight was raging, Henricsson had stated that the ceasefire had in effect been rendered null and void in the areas of immediate conflict.
India’s concern conveyed
Indian officials remained concerned over the fighting in Eastern Sri Lanka. Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, who called on visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Samaraweera conveyed India’s position that there was no military solution to the problem and efforts should be made to resolve the ethnic issue through dialogue.
Many Tamil politicians in the UPA alliance conveyed their concern over the worsening situation in the island nation to the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister who had come to New Delhi to take part in the BIMSTEC Ministerial conference. Among those who called on him were Union Minister, Dayanidhi Maran of the DMK and Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK. They said they would not endorse violence from any quarter and the ethnic issue should be resolved through dialogue. They were concerned about the Tamils increasingly becoming the targets. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi told the State Assembly on August 7 that the killing and suffering of the Tamils cannot be tolerated.
Interestingly, India had recently been made an offer by the US to coordinate responses and strategy over Sri Lanka, on the lines of their joint effort over the Nepal issue. The proposal had cropped up about a month ago, when it seemed that a strong message needed to be sent to the Sri Lankan Government to kickstart the peace process. But, the recent upsurge in violence over the sluice gate blockage in Maalivaru has changed equations and led to the shelving of that initiative. Besides, India had not been too keen on the proposal.
New Delhi has made it clear that it will not directly intervene in the peace process in Sri Lanka though it will continue to use persuasion from behind the scenes. This was stated by National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan while on a visit to Chennai. He said, because of its past experience, India could not play a direct role in Sri Lanka, but pointed out that India was an important factor there. That is why Norwegian Peace interlocutors were keeping India informed of all developments while Sri Lanka was sensitive to India’s concerns. He ruled out any reconsideration to lift the ban on LTTE. He said the LTTE remains a dangerous organization and the ban is necessary. He was apparently referring to an observation made by Karunanidhi that the ban on LTTE was “debatable”. Narayanan flew to Chennai to brief Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi on the discussions between India and Sri Lanka during the visit of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister. During the discussions, India explained its position on ensuring safety and security of the island Tamils and taking steps for devolution of powers besides stressing the need for making a distinction between the LTTE and Tamils of that country.
Indian assistance on Centre-State relations issue
India has provided Sri Lanka with a lot of material on the thorny issue of Centre-State relations. This would help a multi-ethnic expert group on devolution of power set up by President Mahinda Rajapakse last month. The group is to aid Rajapakse in his efforts to forge a national consensus on power sharing. The group is to look at devolution experience across the world, including India and prepare a draft framework for a new constitution. The President has set only one limitation or constraint on the group – the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka are not negotiable.
Last week, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner met a senior official in the Ministry of Home affairs to get a list of reference material for the expert panel set up by the All Party Conference looking into devolution of power for north and east provinces as a final settlement to the ethnic issue. Soon after being elected, President Mahinda Rajapakse had visited India in December 2005, during which the Joint Secretary (Centre State), MHA, A.K. Srivastava, made a detailed power-point presentation on the constitutional underpinning of India’s federal structure. India had reiterated its offer to share its “constitutional experience” with Sri Lanka during Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran’s visit in July. Following up the request, High Commissioner Romesh Jayasinghe met Srivastava last week to get some material for the expert panel. He said India and Sri Lanka had “civilizational and developmental affinities” which make the island nation give special attention to the Indian genre of intrastate relations while it evolves its own “Sri Lankan model”. Senior MEA officials said a group of Indian legal experts had also been drawn up, who could interact with Sri Lankan legal experts, if required.
Dr. Karan Singh, President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, who earlier held many ministerial portfolios, has said the Indian experience was that power sharing was a necessity for the effective management of diversity and pluralism in a multi-ethnic society. Delivering the first Lakshman Kadirgamar commemorative lecture in Colombo on August 10, Dr,. Singh said, a model of plural democracy and devolution implemented in India which has stood the test of time and its principles and benefits were surely relevant to Sri Lanka.
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