I thank those Deputies and Senators who are able to remain for the second session. Our second guest today is Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran who is here to talk about Sri Lanka. For over 30 years the political situation in Sri Lanka has been plagued by the ongoing conflict between the majority Sinhalese community and the minority Tamil community. The core issue has been the demand by the Tamil community, as expressed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, LTTE, for the establishment of an autonomous homeland in those areas of Sri Lanka which have a Tamil majority. The government which is mostly Sinhalese has refused this request. The resulting conflict has cost over 60,000 lives. The repeated efforts of many intermediaries to negotiate a compromise have failed. It is tragic that so many human rights abuses have taken place throughout the years of struggle in Sri Lanka. Mr. Logeswaran has lived in Ireland for 22 years. As he has a Tamil background, he will express the point of view of the Tamil community.
Situation in Sri Lanka: Discussion.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
The map I have made available to the members of the joint committee shows that Sri Lanka is located off the coast of India. Some 65 million Tamil people live in India, mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu. Some 5 million Tamil people live in Sri Lanka. The map indicates that the Tamil nation within Sri Lanka is mainly found on the north and west coasts, with a small population on the east coast. The Sinhalese nation is based in the rest of Sri Lanka. There is a minority Tamil population in the Sinhalese area. There are over 1 million Indian Tamils in the hilly areas of Sri Lanka. The British brought the Indian Tamils to such areas 200 years ago to work in tea plantations. The red area on the map depicts the Tamil area that has been colonised by Sinhalese people. The Tamil population is decreasing in three of the five divided areas. Tamil people in such areas are being pushed towards the seashore, where they will have face any future tsunamis. The idea is to eliminate the Tamils as quickly as possible. In the last 60 years the Sinhalese community has colonised 40% of the land. The Sinhalese people are trying to achieve further colonisation by moving into certain areas in the name of development. Their aim is to divide the Tamil people further and to create more minority groups.
There are between 40,000 and 50,000 fighters in the Tamil area of Jaffna, which is where I come from. It is now an open prison, as it is fully controlled by the army. There is one soldier for every ten people living in the Jaffna area. Seven types of war crime have been committed by the Sri Lankan authorities. Tamil genocide, one of the policies of the Government of Sri Lanka, has been committed consistently and continuously. There has been a systematic pattern of co-ordinated acts of genocide over a long period. The aim of such actions is to destroy the existence of ethnic Tamils who share a common cultural tradition, language and heritage in Sri Lanka.
I wish to speak about the Tamil freedom struggle. Tamils are trying to protect their political status which was determined freely by them. They should be allowed to develop economically, socially and culturally in a free manner. They would like their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights to be honoured and respected. They are fighting against discrimination, ill-treatment, torture, genocide, structural violence and domination under state terrorism.
Five political solutions have been proposed by Tamils. When we asked for a separate state, the representatives of the Sri Lankan Government said "No." When we asked for a state within a state, like Hong Kong or Taiwan within China, they said "No." When we asked for joint rule with parity, they said "No." When we asked for a federal state, they said "No." When we asked for regional autonomy, they said "No." They have proposed three solutions - majority rule with limited human rights, military rule with diminishing human rights and gradual genocide. They have been implementing such policies for the last 60 years. It is not acceptable to us that they are talking about majority rule, with slightly improved human rights, rather than devolution or power-sharing.
The Tamil people have established their own de facto state. The cost of running such a state is high. The Tamils are running eight districts in the north east of Sri Lanka. The boundaries of the districts in question extend from the east coast to the west coast and from north to south. More than 2 million people live in the eight districts. Tamils are freely maintaining their political status in four districts. They have the power to make rules and laws and the authority to enforce them. The Tamil state has police, army, navy, air force and intelligence services to protect the people and defend the state. Tamils are pursuing basic economic, social and cultural development. They are trying to lead a state effectively and efficiently. The state receives support, in the form of abundant knowledge, materials, money and resources, from local Tamils and the Tamil diaspora. Thousands of Tamils are sacrificing their lives to defend the de facto state. Tamils want to live as free people and achieve a sustainable peace with justice and dignity. This is the only form of self-rule open to Tamils at this time.
Under the peace agreement signed in 2002, areas under the control of Tamils are accepted and defined. If we are to make Sri Lanka accept the de facto state, five goals will have to be achieved. According to Buddhist philosophy, if we want to end our suffering, we have to give up our desires. We are trying to suggest the Sri Lankan authorities should give up their desire to dominate the Tamils in the Tamil area. That would help to end the suffering of the Tamil people, Sinhalese people and all other citizens of Sri Lanka. Those who preach a certain philosophy can convince the people by practising it. That might be of some assistance.
The Sri Lankan Government should accept the true history of Tamils and Sinhalese. History has been rewritten to suit the needs of the government. If we tell the true history, there is a good chance that Sinhalese people might reconsider their positions. On balance, the country has not been run effectively and efficiently. The constitution is inadequate because it does not cater for the legitimate aspirations and rights of the Tamil people. We can help to solve our problems by electing the right leader to manage and lead the country correctly. We need to give equal rights to all. We need to assuage the fears of the Sinhalese people which are based on their ancient history which teaches them that Tamil people are invaders. They still think the Tamil people might eliminate them. That is wrong. We have to get rid of that fear. As there is still an opportunity to achieve the five lock-breaking goals, there is a good chance that the Sinhalese might consider recognising the de facto state.
The Tamil political leadership consists of 22 Tamil members of the Sri Lankan Parliament, the head of the political division of the Tamil freedom fighters and the identified Tamil diaspora. Some 6.5 billion people throughout the world support the Tamil case for self-rule. The Tamil community is being supported by the Tamil diaspora, including powerful individuals in Tamil Nadu, human rights organisations and the media. A few countries have been sympathetic. Indian support for Tamils varies from 25% to 100%, depending on the leaders and parties in power in the central Indian Government, the Tamil Nadu Government and the Sri Lankan Government. The roles of China, Pakistan and the United States are also important. We permanently have 25% support in India and have been working to increase this number. We are hoping to succeed by making the benefits of Tamil internal or external self-rule clear to India.
We would like the Irish support programme to create a management plan, with the aim of sharing knowledge about preventing conflict and building and maintaining peace in Sri Lanka. Financial support needs to be provided to cover the cost of the plan. The Irish support programme needs to be initiated, planned, executed, monitored, controlled, closed and improved, as needed, if it is to help to resolve the Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka in a positive and objective manner. The Irish authorities should keep an open mind as they develop a creative and innovative foreign policy. As Ireland has a good relationship with the United States, the European Union, India and other countries, it can use its influence to get them to encourage the Sri Lankan Government to stop the genocide and recognise the de facto Tamil state as soon as possible by means of dialogue and discussion. Some 75 million Tamils, living in over 50 countries, would like to have an independent country of their own. We would like the Irish support programme to show vision and set goals. Activities need to be defined, sequenced, resourced, developed and managed efficiently and effectively.
I have shared a great deal of information with the joint committee. I can send further information to members who can make up their own minds. Tamils will be happy if Ireland decides to help them at this time of need. I will be happy to answer any questions members may ask.
I thank Mr. Logeswaran.
I welcome Mr. Logeswaran who has been in this country for a long time. He lives in my home city of Limerick where he has a wife and children. He comes from a respected family and I accept absolutely anything he says at this forum.
The current conflict in Sri Lanka is not very well highlighted in Ireland. It is one of the forgotten conflicts. I would like the committee to support the case made by Mr. Logeswaran in any way it can. Can he develop the debate further by telling us what the actual situation on the ground is like? He said the police, army and navy of the Tamil people were protecting the de facto independent state. Is there conventional open warfare in the region?
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
Yes. It is all-out, full-scale war on a daily and hourly basis. The Government has opened five or six fronts, each of which extends over a long distance of several miles. There is continuous bombing, shelling and indiscriminate killing on an ongoing basis. Not only are fighters dying, but civilians are also being killed when certain locations are selected for the purposes of retaliation. There are three, five, ten, 20 or 50 funerals every day - it varies from time to time. It is a difficult situation. The idea is to eliminate the Tamil people.
The government is not prepared to offer any form of self-rule. It is trying to make the Tamil people a minority in their own area. It has imposed military rule in the eastern province where the elections were not free and fair. The parameters set during the election process were designed to ensure the government parties would win. They have initiated riots between Muslims and Tamils. They killed a Muslim and threw the body into a Muslim area. They then killed a Tamil and threw the body into a Tamil area to create tension. Many have been stabbed to death. Many bad things are happening in the east of the Tamil region where the situation is very difficult. There are human rights violations daily such as ill-treatment and torture. The United Nations recently expelled Sri Lanka from its human rights council. The whole world knows that Sri Lanka is not doing what it should be doing.
Mr. Logeswaran referred to the 2002 peace agreement which broke down. What were the principal terms of the agreement? What caused the breakdown?
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
The 2002 agreement was signed in the presence of representatives of Norway with the blessing of the global community. It was signed by the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and the leader of the LTTE. None of the agreements reached has been honoured. The LTTE did not attack any army camps, etc., in the following three or four years. When the current President came to power, his job was to opt for war, for which the Sinhalese people had asked. They will tell one that they do not want peace. One will be considered a traitor in talking about peace, which means one could be given the death sentence by the Sri Lankan Government. The LTTE has given up its demand for a separate state - it has stated it will settle for a federal state. That was the agreement we all made, but it was not honoured. The Sri Lankan Government has unilaterally abrogated the peace agreement and decided instead to pursue all-out war. That is the situation.
I note that a donors' conference was held in Tokyo in 2003, in the aftermath of the ceasefire agreement, to encourage progress in the Sri Lankan peace process. The EU, together with Norway, the US and Japan, co-chaired the conference. The Tokyo process has been undermined by the lack of respect of both sides for the ceasefire agreement and the effects of the tsunami of December 2004. This has made it impossible to maintain the conditions that were attached to the aid that was pledged at Tokyo. I understand that the co-chairs of the conference continue to meet periodically to monitor progress. Would Mr. Logeswaran like to comment on that situation?
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
What is the Chairman's exact question?
The EU, together with Norway, the US and Japan, co-chaired the donors conference. That process was undermined by the lack of respect of both sides for the ceasefire agreement and by the effects of the tsunami. That made it impossible to maintain the conditions which were attached to the aid that was pledged at Tokyo. Apparently, the co-chairs are continuing to meet to monitor the situation.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
The agreement to make aid available was stopped by the Sri Lankan courts, which decided that aid could not be shared with the Tamils. They did not want the money to go to the Tamils. They stopped the aid.
I welcome Mr. Logeswaran to this meeting and thank him for his presentation. I am concerned about the lack of media attention being given to the conflict in Sri Lanka. The Tamil Tigers and the other participants in the conflict are only mentioned in the context of a spectacular event such as an assassination or a massive bomb. I would like to pick up on Deputy Noonan's comments about the situation on the ground at present. There appears to be all-out war in Sri Lanka. Page 29 of Mr. Logeswaran's presentation contains horrendous pictures of two children who were hanged and a mother who was raped in front of her husband. I accept that there may be a process in the background, sponsored by the Scandinavian countries that are trying to bring something together. To what extent is the international community overseeing the conflict areas at present? Is there any effective UN involvement on the ground? I will ask a couple of other questions after Mr. Logeswaran has dealt with my first question.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
There is no effective UN involvement in the area in question. Various countries offered to participate in the functioning of the UN monitoring commission, but it seems that Sri Lanka is opposed to that. The Sri Lankan government does not want any foreigners in the region. It is sending all the foreigners, including aid workers and UN staff, out of the area. There are one or two offices in isolated places, but they are not functioning properly.
I am sure Mr. Logeswaran mentioned the incident in Vankalai on 9 June 2006, which I highlighted, as an example. Are such incidents widespread?
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
Yes, definitely. Rape is committed on a daily basis. Groups of men come in white vans. They take any girls they like in front of their mothers or fathers. They do not come back. That is a frequent occurrence.
Are the people in question members of the Sri Lankan Government forces, are they sponsored militia, or are they a combination of the two?
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
They are a combination of the two.
Have uniformed members of the Sri Lankan army carried out atrocities of this nature?
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
Definitely. This and many other forms of terrorism, which are sponsored and supported by the Government, are used to intimidate the people.
I am aware that during the peace process negotiations, the Tamil Tigers watered down their request for an independent state to a request for an autonomous state within the state.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
They now want a federal state, or a state within a state - something like that.
That seems to be reasonable. There has to be give and take in every peace deal. Is there any official contact between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil people in the context of the development of a peace agreement? Are the Sri Lankan authorities showing any desire to bring about a peace settlement?
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
They believe in a military solution. They have never believed in dialogue or negotiations. None of the deals that emerged from the negotiations held in the past was honoured. They are largely interested in a military solution. The Tamil Tigers have asked on many occasions for an agreement to end the violence, begin the negotiations and respect the 2002 ceasefire agreement. The Government simply will not do it.
This presentation has been very useful. This committee has received correspondence from the Sri Lankan consulate in Dublin. I agree with Deputy Noonan's comment that, following this presentation, the committee should make a strong statement about the ongoing atrocities in Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. Perhaps the committee can invite a representative of the Sri Lankan Government to address it at some point. We need to put these facts - I do not suggest they are mere claims - to such an individual in a non-confrontational manner. The committee has received correspondence from the Sri Lankan government over the past year, rebutting comments that were made at a previous committee meeting.
I suggest that the committee should consider the possibility of inviting a representative of the Sri Lankan government, such as an official from the consulate, to appear before it. Members would like to present the evidence that has been given to us by Mr. Logeswaran today to such an official. It is important that we do not allow a conflict, which has been described today as "all-out war" and which features daily atrocities such as the 9 June 2006 massacre that has been mentioned, to go unnoticed by any country. I condemn such atrocities in the strongest possible terms. It is obvious that there are two sides to every story. We will get a different point of view from the Sri Lankan Government.
I thank Mr. Logeswaran for taking the time to come to this meeting and make a presentation. I hope the committee will agree to make a strong statement by calling the Sri Lankan representatives in Ireland to come to this forum to respond to the points made today.
I am delighted Mr. Logeswaran has made a presentation to the joint committee. I know nothing about the history of Sri Lanka, but I have learned much from what Mr. Logeswaran has said. I was shocked when I read in Mr. Logeswaran's documentation that the election of President Rajapaksa in November 2005 was supported by extremist Buddhist monks. I would have thought that the monks would have stood back from these matters. I would have thought that they would be more interested in getting the two sides to engage in some sort of round-table discussion. That is the only comment I would like to make. I do not have enough knowledge to ask further questions. I am a listener. I would like to hear Mr. Logeswaran's views on the matter I have raised.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
The Buddhist monks are supposed to be peaceful people.
Yes.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
They should preach messages of peace. It is the other way around in Sri Lanka. The Buddhist monks there are extremely aggressive. They have openly said they are in favour of all-out war. They have asked the Government to do that. President Rajapaksa believes strongly in the military solution. There are others who believe in the military solution. The monks have been very aggressive from the beginning. The first prime minister of Sri Lanka was shot by a monk. He approached the prime minister as a friend and shot him in his office. Monks are a little different in Sri Lanka. To be fair, there are some good monks in Sri Lanka. They keep silent. It is too dangerous for them to open their mouths, particularly at this time. Even powerful Sinhalese people are too afraid to speak out.
It is hard to get a solution when that is happening.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
Five elected MPs have been shot dead by Government forces.
That is shocking.
I thank Mr. Logeswaran for his presentation. We will take up the suggestions made. We will invite the Sri Lankan consul to meet the committee. We will follow that up in any way we can. Mr. Logeswaran has given us some striking documents that outline the background to the development of this conflict. His shorter documents mention more recent developments. We recognise the work done by Norway in this regard. It helped to bring about the ceasefire and pursued the peace process.
Can the committee ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to——
That is the next thing I was going to say.
——contact the Norwegian Government, through the EU, to see if a meeting of the four co-chairs can be convened to ascertain whether progress can be made?
Yes. We can do that. We will do it.
That would be helpful.
We have learned a great deal this afternoon about the situation in Sri Lanka from the Tamil perspective. Mr. Logeswaran has told us some shocking things about human rights abuses, which deserve to be condemned by the joint committee in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable that abuses of that nature take place. I propose that the committee should convey its views on what it has heard to the Minister for Foreign Affairs so that Ireland can pursue this matter at EU and UN levels and at other appropriate forums. We will take up the suggestion made by Deputy Noonan.
Human rights violations on both sides in Sri Lanka need to be brought to an end. An immediate resolution to the conflict on the island has to be found. Urgent work should be done to bring about a peaceful solution to the conflict. Mr. Logeswaran mentioned in his presentation that Sri Lanka is like Ireland in so far as there are approximately 75 million people of Sri Lankan origin throughout the world. It is estimated that there are approximately 74 million people of Irish descent in the world. We understand Sri Lanka's circumstances in that respect. I assure Mr. Logeswaran that the committee will take what he has said seriously. We will follow up on it. I thank Mr. Logeswaran for attending this meeting and answering questions in a detailed manner.
Mr. Eliathamby Logeswaran
I thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to share the difficulties the Tamil people and the country face. The ideas and suggestions made are for the kind consideration of the committee. I have a great feeling that, having worked here for 22 years and having children who have studied here and are doing well, Ireland can play a wonderful role to resolve this issue by meeting President Bush and other influential leaders and using its experience. I hope it can do so and come out with something positive.
We shall keep in touch.