'Any country which faces terrorism should follow the Sri Lankan model'

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka

New Delhi

3 September 2010

Q: Recently you visited India for talks on infrastructure development in the northern province of Sri Lanka, rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and also defence cooperation. Now India and Sri Lanka have had defence cooperation even before and during the conflict. So what are both sides talking today?

A: India could not do certain things, meet certain needs of the armed forces, because of the sensitivities during the conflict period. Now that thing is over; now we can think of going beyond that. There is no restriction. There were certain sensitive areas like supply of weapons [but] we understood those concerns. Now that issue is no longer there, so India can increase defence cooperation with Sri Lanka. The whole idea is to improve the relationship; to strengthen regional security, to improve maritime security in the Indian Ocean.

Q: India has voiced concerns about China looking to beef up its presence in Sri Lanka, particularly its role in the Hambantota port project.

A: It is purely a business arrangement, nothing beyond that. I don't think there is any issue in that sense. Wherever possible, when India has faced any security concern, we have always bent backwards to accommodate them. We have always done that. Even in certain areas such as a railway to the north, when we decided on it, we have always accommodated their concerns. India is investing in other infrastructure projects such as roads, railway, port development, and metro. We welcome private [Indian] investors as well. With India, we are not looking at government-to-government relations alone, we are interested in people-to-people ties and business-to-business links. We expect more Indian tourists, too. I know that there are a lot of interest in Indian investors to come here and invest in infrastructure projects in Lanka. We are studying the successful PPP (public-private partnership) model in India. We met Indian officials to get know-how.

Q: There has been criticism of the delay in the rehabilitation of the displaced Tamil population.
A: I don't think any other place in the world has so quickly resettled these people in their original habitats in such a short period. We have about three lakh IDPs. In one year we have resettled a majority of them. Very few numbers are remaining and that is because of the delay in clearing [land]mines. We have set the target of 2010-end for completing the resettlement of the rest of the people as well. We have started infrastructure development of roads, railway, electricity, water, irrigation canals. India is assisting in some of these projects. Private sector is investing in garment factories and employing labour. We are encouraging people to go there and establish industries. We cannot solve problems overnight but the government is aggressively participating [in rehabilitation and development] and it has invested a lot of money in the north and in the east, more than what it has invested in the other provinces.

Q: What would you like to tell the Sri Lankan-Tamil diaspora?
A: Some of them left long ago; others, more recently. This is the time they can help develop these areas [in the north.] Government of Sri Lanka is genuinely interested in development and complete normalcy in these areas.

Q: What will be your message to the Sri Lankan-Tamil refugees in India?
A: Some left long ago and settled there. The second and third generations have concerns about their children's education. To give all that up and come ... I know how difficult it is to locate from one place to another. But if they come, they are most welcome and I think they must bring their know-how, knowledge and at the same time, wealth, and invest here and start work because development is the main requirement.

Q: How did you bring Shanmugam Kumaran Tharmalingam alias Kumaran Pathmanathan or KP to your side?
A: We thought that we could convince him. We could have arrested him and put him in jail but we thought that strategically, it's more important because of the connections he had. He's different from the others, the reason being that after Prabhakaran's death, everybody knows that he took over the leadership [of the LTTE]. He is a person who was outside Lanka and involved with work internationally, with propaganda, fund-raising and procurement. He has lot of international connections. Now, with the military defeat of LTTE, we all know that the important aspect is its international network. So we thought that we can get his assistance by convincing him to work with the government rather than confronting, and that way they can bring more fruitful help to the Tamil community and stabilise the peace that we have achieved. I feel that he genuinely wants to work with the government to help the people. Also, he genuinely wants to get the assistance of the Tamil diaspora and also convince the diaspora that the only way we can move forward is by coopera

ting and working with the government, that is why he is helping. The government also genuinely wants the diaspora to get involved. We know the difficulties; there is a strong LTTE bias among some supporters in the diaspora, and they are still maintaining their propaganda network. But the only way we can counter that is to bring these elements, who are willing to give up the separatist ideas, and that is what we are doing. We brought a few groups, we invited them to come to Lanka and to see the ground reality for themselves. We allowed them to visit Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi, we allowed them to move freely and to speak to the people. The feedback I got from them was very encouraging. All of them had come with a different understanding of the situation but once they came here, they were completely changed and they are willing to work with us for the betterment of their community. We are continuing to bring leaders of the diaspora from various countries. We want anybody to come and see for themselves. We have encouraged them to form a new non-government organisation (NGO) to collect money and channel it to the people. Earlier, you know, the LTTE had a vast fund-raising network but the money was not utilised for the poor people in the area; it was used only for purchasing arms and ammunition, not a cent went to the poor people. If the diaspora doesn't want to give money through government channel, they can give through the NGO. So there is another way they can help. I have spoken to KP to show what we are doing and I'm sure he genuinely is convinced that the only way we can move forward is by working with the government. He realises that he could've been in jail. LTTE had spread the propaganda that we killed people who wanted to surrender but here is a good example. If that is the case, we could have killed him or put him in jail but we didn't do that. You can ask him did anybody harass him? No, not even a simple harassment because he's willing to understand the mistakes they did and therefore I think it's another good example that the propaganda that was going around was not true.

Q: So is KP a free man today? Will he be given amnesty?
A: Yes, of course, it (amnesty) is possible. He is not a person who has lived in these areas, so there is a security risk. Now it is my responsibility to look after him, otherwise it will become a huge issue. I don't want to take that risk. But he's working with the diaspora successfully as he has mentioned in most of his interviews.

Q: How are you dealing with the former LTTE combatants?
A: Earlier, 10- or 14 year-olds were forcefully recruited and trained to kill [by the LTTE.] Now we want them to have the opportunity of getting an education like any other child in any other part of the country, to live peacefully like any other Sri Lankan. We have been successful in rehabilitating the child soldiers. We have rehabilitated close to 500 child soldiers and with the assistance of Tamil organisations, they have gone back to their parents and families. This is the truth and the other side does not know the true story. There were 11,000 surrendees, some of whom were hardcore. We started a rehabilitation programme which was very successful. Some of the surrendees have already completed this programme. We have trained them in carpentry, masonry, plumbing; they have joined the society. Spiritual training was also introduced for them. Then there were about 1,000 people who were involved in killings, etc. Of course, we have to take legal action [against them], due procedure will be followed.

Q: The Sri Lankan government has been criticised for not minimising the civilian casualties of the war.
A: India knows it but most of the outside world does not know what is LTTE. It was a most ruthless terrorist organisation. The attack on the USS Cole (the United States Navy destroyer, which was attacked in October 2000 in Yemen), they think that it was the first attack by a terrorist group but by that time the LTTE had done many attacks on ships. The suicide attacks in Afghanistan or Iraq [are talked about] but the LTTE had done more suicide attacks in one year in Sri Lanka than all the suicide attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq put together. As for LTTE's weaponry, most of them were equivalent to that of the Lankan armed forces ... heavy artillery guns, mortars, machine guns, missiles, Naval suicide boats, and ultimately ending up with even having small aircraft. That's the magnitude of military strength of the LTTE. So it was not a small insurrection or a civil disturbance. By defeating the LTTE, we have stopped the killings of innocent civilians. We have saved all those lives (civilians). Now you can see the benefit of defeating the LTTE. There are no more killings, no more deaths of innocent civilians.

Q: There were also concerns about the humanitarian assistance during the conflict.
A: Our military operations and humanitarian assistance ran parallely. We had a committee, the consultative committee on humanitarian assistance or CCHA which had been established by the President and which met regularly. It consisted of government officials, all heads of UN agencies such as World Food Programme (WFP), UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), Unicef (United Nations Children's Fund), the ambassadors of the co-chairs (the US, EU, Japan and Norway) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). I know the head of the UN mission has praised our actions. Of course, there were issues but in a situation there would be issues. The ICRC commended our efforts. We had no fire zones and restrictions on heavy weapons ... these are not normally done anywhere in the world in this type of situation but we did these things. One can say the actions were not effective, maybe there were weaknesses, but it was a success.

Q: Could you recap the reasons behind your successful military campaign against the LTTE?
A: Number One reason is political will and leadership. Without a strong political leadership nothing can be done. President Rajapaksa tripled the size of the army, he motivated the people to join the armed forces. He gave fertiliser subsidy to the farmers so that they are not put to hardship. He managed the economy very well. Also, he managed very well the issues which could have come up in India. He very wisely handled these issues with India. Then there was the question of attitude. Few believed we could defeat the LTTE, but the President was able to convince the country. On the military side, he gave flexibility to the army commander to raise more battalions and divisions. He gave them a clear direction, a mission, an aim; he was not ambiguous and he remained so from day one till the last day. And, I held meetings every week to coordinate our military operations and intelligence inputs.

Q: Is there anything that countries of the world can learn from Sri Lanka's experience with terrorism?
A: What we have done is to defeat the terrorists. It is a good example. I should say any country which faces terrorism should follow the Sri Lankan model. Our humanitarian assistance is also exemplary. It is also an example for other countries. The Sri Lankan model is a good model. I think in fighting terrorism as well as humanitarian assistance in a conflict like this, there are lots of lessons for others to learn rather than criticising.

Q: Looking back at the last days of the conflict, would you have done anything differently? There were reports that some LTTE leaders had wanted to surrender but they were shot. There was talk of ceasefire and negotiations ...
A: Even the night before they were defeated, they tried to launch a counter attack and escape. Prabhakaran did not want to surrender. We took the time [to defeat the LTTE] because of the civilians. If we had no such concerns, we could have bombarded the place, we could have bombed and used all artillery and walked through within a day but we took over two months. Inch by inch, why? Because of the civilians. So they must consider the risks that we took. We had learnt lessons from history, how the LTTE used ceasefire to their advantage. Ceasefires never worked for 30 years. We were not ready to give any ceasefire or any escape for these people. We came to that last minute after a lot of sacrifices, so we would have never given them any chance to escape. There would have been no problem if they had surrendered, but we were not ready for negotiation or ceasefire. And, why should we, after such a hard battle and sacrifices? Did they inform the United Nations? Nobody informed us about any surrender.

Q: Looking ahead, do you have a political solution of the ethnic problem, a devolution package?
A: We have created an environment for everybody, every Sri Lankan, to live peacefully and with equal opportunities, to live as Sri Lankans. The government is working to bring about development. Political process goes on but only political jargons will not bring about what is necessary and what is necessary is people-to-people understanding, that is important. For that, I think everybody has to participate, remove suspicions, bring people together, and live as one nation. All other issues are for politicians of all sides but the ground reality is we must give opportunity to live peacefully, give them jobs, education. That is what people want and the government will ensure that is there in Sri Lanka.