Sri Lanka: The issue of High Security Zones: has the
potential to become a major contentious issue? : Update
No 42
by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
The controversy over the continuance of High Security
Zones ( HSZ) erupted into a major contentious issue in the last round of
talks between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. With a view to
avoid a breakdown in the talks, both sides were wise enough to side step
the issue and look for consensus on other issues. At the end of the
talks both sides claimed victory- the Sri Lankan side in having persuaded
the LTTE to agree to resettlement outside the HSZs first and the LTTE- in
pulling out of the sub committee on "de-escalation
normalisation."
It was hoped that some compromise will be reached before
the next round of talks taking place between 7th and 8th
February. It is learnt that the venue of the talks has been shifted
to Berlin and the talks will be only for two days. Balasingham’s poor
health and lack of time for him to consult Prabakaran have been given as
reasons for the change. The real reason however appears to be that
no progress could be made on the High Security Zones since the last round
and the visit for a preliminary study of the HSZs by an Indian General had
only further complicated the issue!
One of the points of agreement in the last round of
talks was to make an independent appraisal of the High Security Zones and
the retired Gen. Satish Nambiar of the Indian Army was invited to Sri
Lanka and study. A preliminary report has been submitted by Gen.
Nambiar and he has again been requested to make a more detailed study in
the coming weeks. The report must have been a confidential one and
yet has been deliberately leaked to embarrass the government. Though
the full text is not available the observations made by Gen. Nambiar, as
seen in the media appear to be authentic. These are -
1.Any review of the scope and content of the High
Security Zones will only come about if the LTTE deposits its weapons to
neutral supervision and initiates measures to withdraw from front line
positions into nominated areas. This would give a measure of
assurance to the Sri Lankan Army that surprise LTTE attacks could be
discounted.
2. There has to be some reassurance that there would
be no coercion of civilians and officials by LTTE cadres given access to
areas on dismantling the HSZs.
3. Reacting to the Press reports of the possibility of
LTTE being allowed a separate army he said " In my view, any such
rumour or misunderstanding should be scotched at this very stage by the
Prime minister and the Defence minister making it absolutely clear that
no matter what the constitutional system is finally agreed upon, there
can be only one army for the country, namely the Sri Lankan Army."
4. It is important to consider the humanitarian angle
and the need to resettle people in their own lands and dwellings.
But "the operational vulnerabilities perceived by the military
cannot be ignored. " He stressed " There is merit in both the
humanitarian and the military perception. Hence, till one aspect
takes overriding precedence over the other, both need to be factored
into any assessment of the current scenario that forms the basis of
dialogue and political understanding at the talks at various
levels."
5. A factor of serious concern to SLA in regard to the
security situation within the HSZs is the locals in the area do not see
any future in co-operating with the government of Sri Lanka or its army.
One unfortunate aspect as he sees is that the Sri Lankan Army has been
unable to secure the good will and cooperation of the locals in the
absence of effective social projects for improvement of living
conditions of the people in the area.
LTTE condemns Gen. Satish Nambiar’s report: As
expected LTTE’s reaction to the report of Gen. Nambiar has been quick
and harsh. Balasingham said ( as reported in Tamil Guardian)
"In our view any attempt to connect the return of
refugees and IDP’s ( Internally displaced persons) to their own homes
in the Jaffna Peninsula to the demobilisation of LTTE’s fighting
formations confined to barracks in Vanni jungles is illogical and
ridiculous. Re-modification of the security system of the so
called ‘high security zones’ to facilitate the return of the
refugees and displaced is a cardinal obligation of the state . . . LTTE
will fiercely oppose and reject any proposal that makes resettlement of
refugees conditional upon de-commissioning of LTTE weapons."
It is said that Gen. Nambiar’s selection to go into
all aspects of the High Security Zones had the approval of LTTE. Yet
this could have been avoided. This is highly divisive issue bound to be
rejected by one party or other and no outside General should have been
invited at all. Even if it had to be done, not withstanding the
excellent credentials of Gen. Nambiar of his capability, experience and
integrity, a General of some other country could have been chosen. Firstly
he is from India and secondly he was the Director General of Military
operations during the last phase of IPKF operations in Sri Lanka.
Thirdly, though it is termed as a private visit, any objective study is
bound to infuriate one party or other. It would have been better if
the brief given to Gen. Nambiar was restricted to the military aspects as
to how best to shrink the High Security Zones without compromising Sri
Lankan Army’s security, taking into consideration the humanitarian
aspects. Other political aspects need not have been included in the
study. Gen. Nambiar’s remarks, if true on one army for the country etc
appear to be beyond his brief and could have been avoided.
There is no doubt that the Sri Lankan Army has occupied
large tracts of territory in the Jaffna Peninsula and media reports
indicate that the "no go" areas constitute 190 sq .kms of the
total area of 880 sq.kms and there are in all 18 HSZs in the Jaffna
Peninsula alone. There are allegations ( LTTE broadcast of 28th
Jan) that new HSZs are also being established. There are also varying
figures given over number of dwellings and public places occupied by the
Security forces. While these figures can be verified by the
monitoring missions by physical verification, the larger issue of the
dismantling/reduction of HSZs will continue to be intractable.
Both sides have driven themselves to a corner with no
escape routes. The all powerful executive President or the people
friendly Prime minister cannot ignore the stand taken by the Jaffna Forces
commander Gen. Fonseka of linking dismantling of HSZs with decommissioning
of weapons by the LTTE and that too when this view has been reinforced
firstly by the SLMM Norwegian commander and now by Gen. Satish Nambiar.
For the LTTE, this is a prestige issue of utmost importance. The
LTTE representatives cannot ignore the call given by Prabakaran on the
Heroes’day when he said that Jaffna can never be peaceful with the
continued presence of High Security Zones and over 40,000 Sinhala troops.
An interesting suggestion has been made by an academic
of Perediniya University reported in Ceylon daily news of January 24 to
convert the High Security Zones in Peace Zones. The idea is to make
both the LTTE and the Security forces remove their arms from these zones
which can be expanded over a period of time. This is said to solve two
problems. One, the sensitive issue of decommissioning of arms can be
put off to a later phase in the negotiations and the resettlement and
normalisation of life in the Tamil home land demanded by the LTTE could
also be met.
This needs a total change of mind set of both
parties. The problem for Prime minister Wickremasinghe is that he
cannot be seen to be making any more concession to the LTTE with President
Chandrika breathing down his neck and threatening to sack him once a
while. On the other hand LTTE is keen to consolidate its hold in the
Jaffna Peninsula which it cannot do unless the High Security Zones are
dismantled. The saving feature is that both sides cannot walk away from
the talks and here there is hope.
