Canada urged not to list group as terror organization.
Negotiations `only way to go forward,' law professor says
OTTAWA—Canada should refrain from listing the Tamil Tigers — the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) — as a terrorist organization, the director of a Sri Lankan think-tank says.
"In the last several years, many of us in Sri Lanka have struggled with this issue of how to deal with the LTTE," Rohan Edrisinha, a law professor at the University of Colombo and director of the Centre of Policy Alternatives said.
"It's a very difficult issue," he said. "But ... the reality is that we have to engage with the LTTE."
Edrisinha is in Canada on a speaking tour, and addressed students at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University yesterday.
He pointed out that there has been a ceasefire for the last three years, and progress had been made.
"I think that's the only way to go forward — for the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to continue to talk to each other, and work out a political solution," he said. "But I do think that human rights and democracy and pluralism are very important."
The Tigers have come under increasing pressure recently. Human Rights Watch has strongly criticized the organization for continuing to enlist child soldiers in its cause.
And John Thompson, president of the Mackenzie Institute, told the Special Senate Committee on the Anti-Terrorism Act just this week that the Tamil Tigers, along with Sinn Fein and the Irish Republican Army, should be placed on the list of recognized terrorist organizations.
He said that Tamil fundraisers in Toronto are raising $2 million to $3 million a month, and that by listing the Tigers, this source of funding would be shut down.
Critics of the government of Paul Martin argue thatOttawa's refusal to do so has more to do with the large number of Tamils living in Liberal constituencies than it does with the Sri Lankan peace process.
However, the government maintains that the Tamil Tigers are necessary contacts if the peace process is to be successful.
`Nothing is going to happen on the peace front until after the presidential elections of 2006.'
- Rohan Edrisinha, law professor at the University of Colombo
Edrisinha said he was not optimistic about the peace process in the short term because of the precarious nature of the coalition government that took power in April 2004, consisting of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance, and the Marxist-nationalist People's Liberation Front, or JVP.
Edrisinha said the devastating effect of the Dec. 26 tsunami has reinforced the centralizing tendencies of the Sri Lankan government, and stopped progress towards devolution of powers and a move toward federalism.
"Nothing is going to happen on the peace front until after the presidential elections of 2006," he predicted.
Because of the inclusion of the strongly nationalist JVP, he said, it would be harder to achieve an agreement.
"It is unlikely the government will be able to accept any mechanism that is acceptable to the LTTE," he said.
"Things don't look very good for Sri Lanka at the present moment."
Bob Rae, president of the Forum of Federations, which sponsored Edrisinha's talks, said one of the barriers delaying a federal solution to the conflict was LTTE's difficulty in transforming itself from a guerrilla operation to a political party.
At the same time, he said, the government has had difficulty in developing a resolution that recognizes Sri Lanka's pluralism and diversity.
Sri Lanka has suffered a 20-year civil war between Tamils and Sinhalese, in which 60,000 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced.
According to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, the Tamil Tigers have used conventional, guerrilla and terror tactics — including targeted assassinations and some 200 suicide bombings.
Kumaratunga, the current president , was wounded in a suicide bombing in 1999. However, there have been few terrorist attacks since the ceasefire in December 2001.
This week, a Canadian parliamentary delegation is visiting Sri Lanka, led by Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Maria Minna.
With files from Andrew Mills
Courtesy: The Toronto Star, Mar. 17, 2005