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| Balasingham’s book launch in Geneva Emmanuel introduces Balasingham’s politics of duplicityDushy Ranetunge reporting from Geneva
Further down the road at 17 Rue de Varembe, Geneva is the prestigious “Centre International Conferences” where some UN conferences are held. The book launch started shortly after 5 p.m., with introductory speeches by Rev SJ Emmanuel former vicar general of Jaffna (Sri Lanka) and present pastor in Munster, Germany, Dr Charles Graves of Interfaith International, Geneva and Ms Verena Graf, Secretary General of International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples(LIDLIP) Route de Morillon 5, CH-1218 Genve. LIDLIP is a UN registered NGO. Although the invitation widely circulated by the LTTE mentions about “secret letters” and the introduction of the book to the Media, Permanent Missions to the UN, NGOâs and other International Human Rights Organisations based in Geneva, it turned out to be a great disappointment for the LTTE and a sign of its increased isolation internationally. The event was poorly attended with about 15 persons in total and included one NGO Malik Ozden of Centre Europe-Tiers Monde(CETIM) or Europe-Third World Centre and two members of the press, Michael Roy of “Le Courrier” and myself. Except for a young Swiss lady Ms Brigette Morgenthal who is married to a Tamil named Subramanium all the others in the audience were Sri Lankans, with an overwhelming majority from the LTTE including Anton Ponrajah, a senior LTTE leader in Switzerland, Prathibaharan (one of Anton Ponrajahâs assistants), Suriyakumar (another LTTE activist) and other members of the LTTE, some who tried to cover their faces to prevent being photographed by me. After a brief introduction by Rev Emmanuel, the first speaker Ms Verena Graf of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples gave a long speech in French covering each chapter of the book. The young Swiss lady, Ms Brigette Morgenthal later informed me that she has worked with Ms Verena Graf and Rev Emmanuel in the past and I assessed that Ms Grafâs French speech may have been somewhat kind to Mr Anton Balasinghams and the LTTEâs point of view. In contrast, Dr Charles Graves of Interfaith International, Geneva was very critical of the LTTE and Mr Balasingham and even went to the extent of commenting that it was very disturbing to find that the author, Anton Balasingham seems to have an agenda, and thus calling into question his motives and comments in the book. Dr Charles Graves stated that peace was very difficult to achieve and that a great deal of patience and understanding was needed and was impressed with President Chandrika Kumaratungaâs commitment to find a peaceful resolution of the conflict. “This young woman was elected to power and she clearly wanted to resolve the conflict, while the LTTE wanted to solve day to day problems faced by the Tamil people.” Later, outside the building Dr Charles Graves commented that the LTTE have a long way to go in learning the art of diplomacy. If Dr Charles Graves was invited by the LTTE to the book launch with the motive of cultivating him and hoping that he would be sympathetic, it clearly did not work as his comments were unbiased and objective. Fr Emmanuel realised that Dr Graves comments were damaging and spent the first few minutes of his speech attempting to carry out a damage limitation exercise. Fr Emmanuelâ s introduction of Balasinghamâs “Politics of Duplicity” began by criticising both the government and the LTTE. He said the government had attempted to discredit the book by falsely stating in the government owned press, the Observer, that the book did not include five letters and that the LTTE were concealing these letters because they were of embarrassment to the LTTE. This he said was inaccurate, because when he checked, all those letters were in the book and the Observer had irresponsibly commented, even before securing a copy of the book. He blamed the LTTE for not releasing all the letters previously and explained how Balasingham had brought them to the UK from the “back door” after the Sri Lankan government refused him safe passage out of Sri Lanka to gain medical attention. He also ridiculed President Kumaratungaâs statement that Norway had asked her permission, before offering medical treatment to Dr Balasingham. Although the LTTE have delayed the release of these letters, according to Fr Emmanuel they are of importance as the book exposes the truth of what happened. He also stated that the Sri Lankan government had rejected third party mediation and that such mediation was important for peace, when two parties had been engaged in conflict for such a long time. He blamed the government for the collapse of the peace talks and stated that although the government had said that no warning was given, the LTTE leader had given several ultimatums and even extended them. He said that although the people in the south did not realise that peace talks were going to collapse, everyone in the north knew and that he told a government official, “this may be the last time you are coming to Jaffna for talks”. Emmanuel stated that the main area of disagreement between the two parties was that the government wanted peace talks for resolution of the conflict, but that the LTTE first wanted the hardships of the Tamil peoples to be addressed by removing restrictions on the transfer of goods into LTTE held areas so as to ensure that Tamils in the Vanni enjoyed the same benefits as other Sri Lankan citizens. He said that the government was not agreeable to this and that by maintaining restrictions, the government was trying to ensure that the LTTE and the Tamils knelt before the government and not sat on a table on equal basis. He stated that the government had twisted the truth and that the army was not for peace and that although the government had removed certain items from the list of prohibited items, there were problems of implementation as the army was refusing to obey the executive and allow these items through. Fr Emmanuel was critical of Buddhist monks and stated that they are opposed to a settlement. I wondered if there was any difference between the activities of a minority of radical Buddhist monks, and the activities of Fr Emmanuel, Fr. Gasper Raj Jegath of Radio Veritas, and Fr Chandrakanthan. To some, they may seem two sides of the same coin of rabid tribalism. Fr Emmanuel concluded by stating that for peace to dawn, there must be truth and that this book helps in that endeavour and introduced the young Swiss lady using her maiden name Ms Brigette Morgenthal. For some reason he failed to mention that she is a Mrs Subramanium, married to a Tamil. The LTTE newspaper, The Tamil Guardian also published a photograph of Rev SJ Emmanuel and Ms Brigette Morgenthal of the Fachstelle Migration Reform Church, Bern – Jura, without disclosing that she is a Mrs Subramanium married to a Sri Lankan Tamil. This is an attempt to project her as an “independent” person, as she was going to be used for terrorist propaganda. We were now exposed to a dose of crude “liberation propaganda” as Ms Brigette Morgenthal told her story of meeting various Tamils and their harrowing tales including the words of Prof Chandrakanthan a seasoned LTTE propagandist who read the commentary in the LTTE propaganda video “War without Witness”. We were told of the “exodus” of 500,000 Tamils from Jaffna and how there are 800,000 Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka who have to move from place to place because of war. She was reading out from a prepared text and looking at Anton Ponrajah as she read it out, as if to gain his approval. This young Swiss lady was by no means a LTTE propagandist, but a non-politicised innocent, who was being used to read out LTTE propaganda. Her innocence was quite visible when she deviated from the prepared text several times and on one occasion informed the audience that she is married to a Tamil. After the event I spoke to her and she told me that her husband is a Mr Subramanium and that he is looking after their children at home, while she attended this event. The end of Mrs Subramaniumâs presentation gave way to questions from the audience. Island: “Rev Father, I am Dushy Ranetunge from the Island newspaper in Sri Lanka. If you donât mind, I have three questions:- 1) You didnât discuss the impact on the peace process of the assassination by the LTTE of Presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayaka who represented over 40% of Sri Lankaâs electorate? 2) You spoke of a third party mediator. There was a third party mediator, Rajiv Gandhi and the LTTE assassinated him. What is, in your opinion, the impact of this assassination on the future of third party mediation? 3) As you are aware the government has been putting forward peace proposals and attempting to change public opinion towards a devolved structure of government and recently they showed their commitment by placing it before parliament despite heavy opposition from radical groups within Sri Lankan society. My question is Rev Father, will it not be helpful if a similar process of discussion, debate, participation in the democratic process takes place on the LTTE side, including the setting up of IRA/Sinn Fein type political party result in the loosening up the LTTEâs current entrenched position and transform the theatre to one more conducive towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict? Rather than maintaining the present rigid military format, of entrenchment and justification of political assassinations, of justifying pulling out of peace talks, of continued terrorist activity? Thank you Rev. Fr.” After an initial silence, Rev Emmanuel went into defensive mode, failed to answer the questions I had asked and instead tried to justify the assassinations. Rev Emmanuel: ‘Its speculation when they say that the LTTE assassinated, they are speculating.. Island: Rev. Father, my question was what was the impact of such an assassination, at that stage of the peace talks, on the peace process? Rev Emmanuel: They continued with the talks, so I suppose there was no impact The Tamil parties, even the ones on the government side and Prabakaran agreed on a set of proposals at Thimpu, but this has not been challenged·different parties present their opinions and we also present our opinions in that perspective, Chandrika has another perspective.I do not say that it is the only way.I welcome other views.I read all that you have been writing also. Island: Thank you, Rev Fr. Rev Emmanuel: Yes, and although I donât agree at present with what you are writing but I read themyou know. But the thing is, the truth has to be found.If you read this book they say that Gamini Dissanayaka was assassinated for his part in the burning of the Jaffna library.Rajiv Gandhi cannot be called a third party negotiator. If we can put our house in order we do not need outsiders·either we are Sri Lankan citizens or we are not.If we are citizens we have equal rights.We are not asking for privileges. I do not wish anything for the Tamil people than Sinhalese people.How can you justify an economic blockade?.This is not a war between two nations, it is one country How can you justify this blockade?The suffering? He was very critical of the treatment of Tamils at check points in Colombo and stated that they are harassed. In response, the Swiss journalist Michael Roy of “Le Courrier” asked “The fact remains that Tamils can live in Colombo, while Sinhalese cannot live in the North, because of the LTTE. What have you got to say about that?” Rev Emmanuel again did not answer the question and I wondered if he was deliberately evading questions and giving some other explanation, sometimes avoiding the topic altogether. Anton Peiris who was in the audience with Horace Perera were Catholics who knew Fr Emmanuel and was critical of Fr Emmanuelâs presentation of facts. He stated that Fr Emmanuel was exaggerating when he mentioned about Tamils being harassed at Colombo check points, because, even Sinhalese are checked and searched and with so many suicide attacks in the city it was a necessity to protect the citizens of Colombo. Recently a Sinhalese woman was ordered to strip in public by the security forces outside the Presidents residence, because she was suspected of being a suicide bomber. Peiris also pointed out that the Sri Lankan government has been praised by the UN, WFP, ICRC and several other NGOâs as the only government which regularly sends food to areas held by rebels, during an ongoing conflict. Fr Emmanuel who had earlier presented a gloomy picture of starving Tamil civilians in the Vanni, now revised his position and stated that the food sent by the government was not adequate, and that it was an attempt by the government to fool the people in the south, by showing TV pictures of food convoys going to rebel held areas of the Vanni. Fr Emmanuel also criticised the recent elections in Sri Lanka, highlighted the levels of election violence and attempted to ridicule Sri Lankan democracy by stating that some Tamil parliamentarians had been elected in the past with only seven votes. I pointed out that the LTTE was firing artillery at Jaffna on election day in an attempt to disrupt elections and it is unfair for Fr. Emmanuel to then say that people are being elected with only seven votes. I also pointed out that the LTTE was responsible for most of the deaths during the present elections, with over 20 being killed from a single suicide attack in Mutur, Trincomalee where a parliamentary candidate was assassinated. The European Union(EU) sent a mission of observers, drawn from 14 of its 15 member states, to help monitor the October 10 general election in Sri Lanka. On October 31st, the European Union in a statement praised the Sri Lankan election commissioner and condemned election violence stating that it “deplores the violence stemming mainly from the bloody attacks perpetrated by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)”. Fr Emmanuel once again avoided the issue by stating that the LTTE fires artillery at Jaffna daily and that the allocation of blame to the LTTE, of suicide bombing was pure speculation. Brian Basnayake who is a resident of Zurich and a member of a Sri Lankan peace group used question time to deliver a very moving speech. He said that he was a Catholic, and the member of one of the oldest Catholic families in Sri Lanka and that the Catholics too suffered at the hands of Buddhists during the post independence back lash, but that he bears no grudges against Buddhists and today are very close to, and understanding of Buddhists and Buddhism and that everyone must live in peace, without trying to settle old scores. He pointed out that it was SWRD Bandaranayake, who had first put forward a Swiss style federal proposal to the British, when different types of constitutions were discussed before independence, and at that time the Tamils vehemently opposed a federal Sri Lanka. At that time, Tamil leaders who were mainly based in Colombo had preferred a centralised Westminster style government to that of a federal system which would have devolved power to Tamils in the provinces. He said that we should condemn all violence, both government and LTTE, and live in harmony and peace. If the motive of Fr Emmanuel was to try to present the LTTE as saviours and liberators in the face of oppression, Basnayakes speech had the opposite effect, of presenting Buddhists and Catholics united in solidarity and yearning for a just peace, with an entrenched and out of touch LTTE standing in the way of peace. The impact of Basnayakeâs speech was so profound that there was an awkward pause after he finished. Fr Emmanuel was too involved in the discussions to realise that the tide had turned against the LTTEâs position, leaving Fr Emmanuel badly exposed, but Ms Verena Graf noticed it and advised Fr Emmanuel to swiftly bring proceedings to an end. As question time came to an end, I walked up to Fr Emmanuel and chatted to him for about 15 minutes and he told me “I have not told this to anyone else, but I am telling this to your face, I donât like what you have been writing so far”. I told Fr. Emmanuel that I take great care to ensure the accuracy of my reports to the “Island” and inquired if he is suggesting that I am inaccurate in my reports. He then stated “You must be careful when you talk to our people as they also have their own agendas and perceptions and they may be exposing you to that point of view.” I agreed with the Rev Fr and stated that everyone has got some agenda. It was also confirmation that Fr. Emmanuel was aware that I had reliable sources inside the LTTE who may have internal disagreements, rivalries, jealousies, different perceptions and aspirations of their own. I requested Rev Emmanuel to give me his e-mail number so that I can be in touch with him and he obliged by giving me his card and even inviting me to visit him in Germany. He told me that he is doing what he can for peace and told me how he has carried letters from the south to the Vanni and given them to Sinhalese soldiers who are prisoners of war and how he has returned to the south with letters from them. I found Rev. Emmanuel to be one of the most sophisticated LTTE propagandists I have ever met. But then, he would disagree with me. A few months ago I had met another LTTE activist, Ivan Pedropillai at a TV studio in London and he had mentioned to me that Rev. Emmanuel was upset with me for writing that he was a LTTE activist. Ivan Pedropillai explained to me “we are the Tamil Liberation caravan and the caravan will continue until it reaches its destination of liberation and Rev. Emmanuel is the conscience of the Tamil liberation caravan.” Several times that evening I felt that the LTTE were deliberately giving less emphasis to Prabakaran and more to Balasingham. I wondered if this was because it was Balasinghams book launch, or if it was a realisation that on the international arena, Prabakaran has become a huge liability and as a result they are promoting Balasingham, a political theoretician whom they can promote as being respectable with no direct links to war crimes. The latter was confirmed the following day, when I visited the LTTE office in Geneva. During my long discussion with Fr. Emmanuel, others were huddled to the side of the room sharing some snacks (rolls and vadais) and a young LTTE member approached and provided us with a small plate with these snacks and two cups of water. Throughout the evening I had been observing Anton Ponrajah, a senior LTTE leader in Switzerland issuing various instructions to his younger activists, including an instruction to photograph me discreetly. After my discussion with Fr Emmanuel, I walked up to the LTTE chief in Switzerland and inquired as to who he was. He said he was Anton Ponrajah and I informed him that I would like to visit him the next day and asked for his address. He gave me his card. It read, International Federation of Tamils, Anton Ponrajah, Co-ordinating Secretary, 38 Rue de Zurich, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland. International Federation of Tamils is one of the names used by the LTTE as a front organisation. An organisation with the identical name exists in the United Kingdom as well and itâs address in London is the LTTE HQ in London, Eelam House, 202 Long Lane, London SE1. The United Tamil Organisation and the Tamil Eelam Economic Development Organisation (TEEDOR) also operate from this same London address. The following day I visited the LTTE office in Geneva. 38 Rue de Zurich was a white apartment block with four floors. The row of mail boxes indicated the International Federation of Tamils (IFT) being apartment number 304. I took the lift to the third floor and a knock on the door was greeted with a voice from the apartment, “enter”. The door was not locked and when I entered, I recognised the gentleman who was in the apartment, as he was at the book launch the previous day. He identified himself as Suriyakumar. Suriyakumar was not expecting me and he was visibly alarmed on seeing me. I inquired after Anton Ponrajah and I was told that he had gone back the previous night to Lausanne. I told him that I was disappointed on not meeting Anton Ponrajah and inquired as to what Suriyakumarâs role was in the organisation. He told me that he was from Oslo and that he was staying at this apartment as a guest and that he knew nothing else. I have over the years visited many LTTE offices in the West, but this is the first LTTE office I have visited which did not prominently display a picture of the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran. Instead there was a picture of Kumar Ponnambalam with a flower garland. I was aware of the crack down on the LTTE by the Zurich police, which resulted in the arrest of 15 LTTE members plus their leader Muralidaran Nadarajah and wondered if that incident had such an impact on the LTTE that they no longer display the photo of Prabakaran in their offices and now operate covertly. Other than a few LTTE videoâs which were in the TV cabinet, there was no other evidence of the LTTE visible at this premises. I inquired from Suriyakumar if there is any LTTE material I could purchase and he told me that they had nothing for sale. Suriyakumar was obviously alone in the apartment and was increasingly nervous about my presence and my attempts to put him at ease by talking about the weather and the prices of property in Geneva was not having any positive effect. As I thanked Suriyakumar and got up to leave, I noticed a cork notice board behind the front door. Attached on the notice board were several LTTE faxes, with the LTTE insignia. It also had a colour A4 poster advertising the LTTE heroâs day celebrations on 27th November 2000, at Bea Expo. Halle 12, 3000 Bern, Switzerland. On the bottom left hand corner of this poster was the colour insignia of the LTTE. I asked Suriyakumar for the poster and he gave it to me. On my way out, I began to photograph the building and the post box in the ground floor lobby which had the details of the International Federation of Tamils. A few minutes later Suriyakumar also came down and saw me photographing and became even more nervous. I told him that the photoâs were for my article and once more tried to put him at ease by inviting him to join me for a coffee at a cafŽ across the street. But he seem too nervous and almost dropped the cigarette he was trying to light and waved his mobile phone at me and told me that he was very busy and moved away. I thanked him again and left. Anton Ponrajah first came to the notice of law enforcement authorities when he was seen carrying the briefcase of Lawrence Thilakar, a central committee member of the LTTE, and LTTE chief representative in Europe during the mid 1990âs. Thilakar was recalled to the Vanni by Prabakaran and with the arrest and imprisonment of the LTTE chief in Switzerland, Nadarajah Muralidaran in 1996, Anton Ponrajah was promoted to become a senior LTTE leader in Switzerland. A few years ago he was arrested and questioned by the Swiss law enforcement authorities on his return from a visit to Russia. Other than fund raising to finance the LTTE, one of Anton Ponrajahâs other main tasks is to organise massive LTTE rallies and protests outside the Palais des Nations. (United Nations in Geneva). The apartment at Rue de Zurich projected as the “International Federation of Tamils” plays its part, in hiding the true LTTE identity and presenting it as Tamil peoples support for the LTTE, especially in their various lobbying activity in the UN NGO circles in Geneva. This is another reason why Prabakarans picture is not displayed at the offices of the “International Federation of Tamils” in Geneva. With the recent identification of the TCHR (Tamil Centre for Human Rights) at the UN level as a LTTE front, it is getting increasingly difficult for LTTE organisations to function and infiltrate effectively in Geneva. The LTTE may not be fully appreciative of the British authorities displeasure of Balasinghamâs and the LTTEâs entrenched position and as a consequence facing increased isolation in the international arena. If the LTTE does not transform itself, and shift from its current position to one of negotiation and compromise, it will slowly but surely continue down its present path of isolation. In Sri Lanka, the LTTE remains the only Tamil militant group that refuses to come to the negotiating table. With progress being made in Northern Ireland and Palestine, the LTTE is now rapidly becoming the only major terrorist group internationally, that refuses to compromise and come to the negotiating table. Instead it believes in the fantasy that it could defeat the Sri Lankan state militarily and gain a separate “tribal” state of Tamil Eelam, an ethnically pure Tamil enclave. The LTTE which has less that 5% of the support and resources can never defeat the Sri Lankan state which has the democratic support and resources of over 95% of Sri Lankas population. Political commentators who have, after recent military reverses, drawn parallels between the Sri Lankan conflict and that of Vietnam have failed to realise, that Sri Lankaâs Vietcong do not have a North Vietnam. With increased global focus on combating international terrorism and the introduction of legal frameworks aimed at curbing terrorist activity, the LTTE will face severe disruption to its international fund raising operations which finances and sustains terrorism in South Asia. The LTTEâs continued intransigence and entrenchment both politically and militarily will only prolong the suffering of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, who recently demonstrated their abhorrence of the terrorists, by moving away from areas captured by the LTTE and crossing over into government-held areas against the wishes of the terrorists. ww.island.lk/2000/11/04/featur02.html |
