Last modified on: 6/25/2013 9:16:07 AM
Neighbour asks for a hand to tame Tiger
REMNANTS of the defeated Tamil terrorist organisation, the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, are involved in the people-smuggling business
bringing Sri Lankan boatpeople to Australia, according to Sri Lanka's Foreign
Minister.
Gamini Lakshman Peiris wants Australia to proscribe the LTTE as
a terrorist organisation, making any support to it from Australia illegal. The
LTTE is a proscribed terrorist organisation in Europe and North America but,
perversely, not in Australia.
Peiris says that although the war between the Sri Lankan
government and the LTTE is over, Tamil Tiger networks still intimidate Tamil
families in the diaspora and extort money from them, as well as engaging, he
believes, in a range of other criminal activities.
Peiris is a soft-spoken law professor and university
vice-chancellor turned chief diplomat for his small country, an island the size
of Tasmania with a population just smaller than Australia's.
In a long interview in Sydney this week, he tells me that
people-smuggling has long been a key revenue raiser for the Tamil Tigers.
"People-smuggling should not be seen in isolation," Peiris says. "It is
connected with other forms of criminal activity such as money laundering and
narcotics.
"The LTTE is still in possession of a large quantity of
resources that they accumulated from gun-running, people-smuggling, owning
ships. They may have less money now than before, but their expenses now are also
much less (now that the military conflict is over)."
Peiris is absolutely clear that the people leaving Sri Lanka are
not genuine refugees but economic migrants. He praises the intense co-operation
between Canberra and Colombo in suppressing this illegal immigration.
"Only this week, 88 people were apprehended in Sri Lankan waters
attempting to come to Australia," he says. "The Sri Lankan navy is playing a
substantial role, and this is acknowledged by both sides of Australian politics.
"Almost 3000 have been turned back, so that the scale now is
smaller than it was."
But he emphasises that Sri Lanka's actions would be entirely
ineffectual if they were not matched by tough action from Australia. By this he
means measures such as offshore processing, with a potential wait of years for
asylum-seekers, as well as a willingness to send people back to Sri Lanka.
"These people have now been shown that they have nothing to gain by endangering
their lives and using up their life savings, since they are not genuine
refugees. If they were genuine refugees, why would they not go to India? It's so
much closer.
"They are now disabused of the idea that they can secure the
good life in Australia of welfare and housing and bringing their relatives out
to join them. Some who are coming here are not even from the north (the Tamil
area).
"It's not exclusively Tamils coming here. Some Sinhalese (the
majority group) have been duped by people making unconscionable profits into
searching for greener pastures."
Like many figures involved in the issues of people-smuggling and
illegal immigration, Peiris believes the UN Refugee Convention itself is
outdated and becoming counter-productive.
"The refugee convention does set up bad incentives," he says.
"And it contains big loopholes. The convention was not set up to give people a
choice of which country to go to. But its loopholes effectively do this and
create an intolerable burden on receiving countries."
He also believes that groups affiliated with the LTTE blacken
Sri Lanka's name as part of a new campaign against the country.
"LTTE-friendly groups have not given up their goal of a separate
nation. But their methods have changed. Now they try to mount an economic
onslaught against the nation. They use their substantial financial resources to
ingratiate themselves with politicians and buy influence with the media."
This has been especially effective in Canada, Peiris believes.
"They want to isolate Sri Lanka economically, to discourage
investment and foreign tourists from going into Sri Lanka."
Blackening Sri Lanka's name is also helpful to illegal
immigrants who wish to claim refugee status, he believes.
The end of the long terrorist war the Tamil Tigers waged against
the Sri Lankan government, in May 2009, has given his nation a unique moment of
opportunity, in Peiris's view.
The economy is growing at 7 per cent a year, which makes it one
of the faster growing economies in the world. The growth rate is much higher in
the north, the old redoubt of the Tigers.
"We need to exploit this historic moment," Peiris says. "We are
conscious of the magnitude and urgency of the opportunity. For three decades we
were prevented from making the fullest use of our resources because of the scale
of violence unleashed on us by the Tamil Tigers. The mood now is one of
expectation and confidence that we can put the economy back on track."
No one should doubt the extreme violence the Tigers cultivated,
according to Peiris.
"Suicide bombing was their contribution. It originated with the
Tamil Tigers. It was copied by others. They were convinced that the more extreme
and intransigent they were, the greater would be their strength. Peace talks
always failed because the LTTE was convinced of its military invincibility. They
felt they could get it all by military means.
"Extreme violence was the instrument they used in order to
terrorise. The greater their atrocities, the better it served their purpose.
Terrorism was their whole raison d'etre. They would attack villages, slaughter
women and children, attack places of worship."
In accusing the Tamil Tigers of extravagant violence and human
rights atrocities, Peiris echoes virtually all credible scholarship and
commentary about the Tigers. But the Sri Lankan government itself is accused of
needless violence resulting in the deaths of civilians in the last days of the
Tigers war.
Peiris denies the charges and says most of the evidence has been
fabricated by people sympathetic to the Tigers. He further argues: "There is a
question of context. It seems very strange to focus on the last 14 or 15 days of
a conflict that spanned 30 years.
"Some 300,000 people were trapped in a narrow part of land. They
were being held by the LTTE as human shields. The government made it clear they
were welcome to come to a government-controlled area where they would be safe.
There is visual evidence that those who tried to do so were gunned down by the
LTTE.
"It was the largest hostage situation in history. Our forces
were told to keep civilian casualties to a minimum. The war could have been
ended earlier, and with less military loss of life, if that had not been a major
consideration."
Most outside observers believe there were atrocities committed
by both sides but that does not make both sides morally equal and there can be
little doubt that it is overwhelmingly to the benefit of the Sri Lankan people
that the terrorism of the LTTE is at an end.
In November, Sri Lanka will host the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting. Canada may not send its Prime Minister. But Australia and
Britain will send theirs, as will most countries.
Peiris is grateful to the support the Gillard government has
given to Sri Lanka for its hosting of CHOGM, including sending various
Australian officials to advise on the logistics of the operation. He is
particularly positive about the role of Foreign Minister Bob Carr, especially in
fostering co-operation on maritime security and combating people-smuggling.
More prosaically, he believes ties with Australia are strong and
getting stronger. He opened a Sri Lankan consulate in Melbourne during his
visit. He is encouraged by rising numbers of Australian tourists coming to Sri
Lanka.
And if Australians have any doubts about conditions now in the
north of Sri Lanka, he urges them: "Come and see for yourself."
by: Greg Sheridan
Courtesy : The Australia
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