Sri Lanka on a Mission to crush Terrorism:

Where is the SAARC Convention on terrorism?

The policy of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is to eliminate terrorism from the region. All leaders of SAARC, during the past 15 Summits, have repeatedly stressed the need towards that purpose. Almost at all Summits, terrorism featured prominently with SAARC leaders, mainly from Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan projecting a deep commitment on the need to eliminate the menace.

Suffered badly

These three nations have suffered badly as a result of terrorism. All three nations have lost two Presidents and two Prime Ministers as a result of terrorism. As we have stated on several occasions, the SAARC Convention to suppress Terrorism looks to hang on a Life Support Machine. Only during the Summits, this Convention is given oxygen as a respiratory measure. Then again, it is put on the Life Support Machine.

In the SAARC region, Sri Lanka has been suffering at the hands of LTTE terrorism over the past three decades. Thousands have been killed, and many more thousands wounded or maimed, with extensive damage caused to property. LTTE terrorism has also cost India much, as India lost a Prime Minister from the Gandhi dynasty, over one thousand IPKF troops killed and over four thousand maimed for life.

India experiences many kinds of terrorism in that nation populated over a billion. In Pakistan, terrorism is rooted as in Sri Lanka and India. Therefore, these three nations should work towards one direction to fight terrorism in a united manner.

Their wonderful words of wisdom spelt out at Summits should be turned into reality, if all SAARC nations are genuinely keen to combat the menace of terrorism in the region.

The recently concluded Colombo SAARC Summit focused much on the need to combat terrorism. All SAARC leaders spoke in one voice towards that need. And, the majority of the Sri Lankan population are of the view that hosting of the Summit in Colombo was timely and beneficial to Sri Lanka, as a nation on a journey to crush LTTE terrorism.

The public opinion quite in favour of hosting that Summit in Colombo was reflected in a poll commissioned by the leading business magazine LMD. The survey stated, “ The Government was right to step in when the Maldivians pulled out, pointing out that the Summit helped focus international attention on Sri Lanka and improve its image abroad”. That was the opinion of over 70 per cent of respondents.

Well, the leaders of SAARC ritually meet in good faith. It was in such faith that they directed their Foreign Ministers in 1987 to draft the Convention on Suppression of Terrorism which was adopted in November 1987 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Thereafter, at all Summits, the need was stressed to implement it early. Two decades have passed, what is the fate of that Convention which has vibrant features to combat terrorism? After two decades it looks a patient on a Life Support Machine, occasionally given a little oxygen for respiratory survival.

While the threat of terrorism looms large in the region, the entity of SAARC looks to be sleepy after every Summit. On the contrary, terrorism seems to be alert and alive, striking at regular intervals in the terror stricken three nations, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.

Big brothers

Sri Lanka is an island nation in the component of SAARC. It has to rely for logistical support from the two big brothers, India and Pakistan to curb the menace of terrorism. If those wonderful words of wisdom stressing the need for unity to combat terrorism, that comes from all SAARC leaders at Summits are true in its form, when one big brother helps Sri Lanka , the other must not feel jealous.

Come what may, India is identified as the ‘Big Brother’ in the region, and India has a big responsibility on its shoulders to clear the region of the terrorist menace. Hence, when India’s smaller siblings are facing threat, the mighty big brother should extend support and cooperation all the time, if the sentiments of SAARC on Unity, Understanding, Respect and Cooperation are to be turned into a reality.

The SAARC forum is now enlarged to eight nations with Afghanistan brought into the fold. At the last Summit in Colombo, we witnessed a wide spectrum of Observers from around the globe. That meant SAARC has grown into adulthood in a respectable manner. The eyes of the international community are now focused on SAARC than ever before, when we reminiscence the humble beginnings of SAARC in 1985 as an infant.

Sadly, today South Asia stands the most affected region by terrorism. Therefore, it is incumbent upon all SAARC leaders to devote more time towards the need to wipe out terrorism from this region and, to speed up the implementation of the SAARC Convention to Suppress Terrorism.

Let us go back to six years with regard to the commitment of SAARC leaders towards measures to combat terrorism. In 2002, former Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee told the Summit”- India has been a victim of international terrorism for two decades. Other countries in the region have also been similarly affected. Terrorism used different religions, territorial, economic and ethnic justifications in different countries. We in South Asia have to recognise that our cooperative future will be significantly influenced by the way in which we can tackle terrorism together”.

If India knows best that regional terrorism could only be wiped out, if it was tackled together, the time is quite opportune for India to extend its support and cooperation to Colombo in the latter’s current effort to wipe out LTTE terrorism that has effects on India too.

Convention

Vajpayee added that updating and strengthening the SAARC Convention to suppress Terrorism would provide a contemporary framework for cooperation in the region and, would also be a powerful confidence building measure, that could create positive ripples in virtually every area of interaction within SAARC. India, being the biggest nation in the SAARC forum, is aware that the Convention to Suppress Terrorism would be helpful to work together to combat terrorism in the region. If so, New Delhi must push for the early implementation of that Convention that lay like a skeleton inside the cupboards at the Kathmandu Secretariat for over two decades.

Starting from the Colombo SAARC Summit in 1991, all Heads of State and Governments have been calling for the early implementation of the Convention.

At all Summits the lyrics of the so called ‘SAARC Hymn on Terrorism’ are as follows in all Declarations - ‘Heads of State or Governments expressed serious concern on the spread of terrorism in the region affecting the security and stability of all Member States and unequivocally condemned all such acts, methods and practices of terrorism as criminal’. And, when it came to the Convention to Suppress Terrorism, the lyrics of that hymn say -’ They recognised that cooperation among SAARC nations was vital if terrorism was to be prevented and eliminated from the region.

Member States

In this regard, they urged Member States to take all necessary measures to give full effect to their obligations under the SAARC Regional Convention to Suppress Terrorism’. This has been the standard form of the wordings of many and all Declarations, issued from SAARC Capitals, at the conclusion of every Summit.

The SAARC is 23 years old. Terrorism is much older than SAARC. The SAARC has held 15 Summits. Terrorism has been discussed at every Summit. The Convention to Suppress Terrorism idle in the cupboards at Kathmandu. At every Summit, it was urged to implement that Convention early. The question before the SAARC leaders is to query, as to what follow up action had been taken, with regard to the implementation of the Convention.

Sri Lanka’s late President, Ranasinghe Premadasa who addressed the Seventh Summit, urged leaders to have it ready before the Eight Summit.

Even that request from Colombo fell on deaf ears. What we witness is that, the SAARC talks about that Convention only at Summit times. Let that not happen in the future, as SAARC nations gripped by terrorism, await an end to the menace.

The Convention to Suppress Terrorism is a fully fledged document designed for the protection of the South Asian Region. It has the most important Hague and Montreal Agreements included in it, to provide Member States to combat illegal aircraft movement, harmful to their interests. SAARC must adopt a practical system to address this urgent need to combat terrorism. Legislation should not be allowed to be confined to paper and lie dormant in cupboards.

The sovereignty of not only Sri Lanka, but also of India and Pakistan are threatened by terrorism. SAARC cannot go on vacation when terrorists threaten the region. Could Member States turn a blind eye, when the sovereignty of another is being threatened? If all SAARC nations stand united to fight terrorism in a practical manner, the region could be transformed into a Zone of Peace.

If SAARC was established to promote good neighbourliness, the need is a more viable and a practical approach towards urgent needs of the region by all Member States.

Crush terrorism

The immediate victims of terrorism are not only the tiny nation Sri Lanka, but also giants like India and Pakistan. Colombo, has already gone into action against terrorism. It had cleared the Eastern theatre of terrorism to restore democracy.

The troops are now engaged in clearing the Tiger stronghold of Kilinochchi in the North. SAARC nations that meet at Summits, repeat and repeat like a chorus the need to crush terrorism, must now support Colombo to wipe out LTTE terrorism that affects our neighbour India too. Terrorism and the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka are two different issues.

SAARC must concentrate on the interests of the region. As Atal Bihari Vajpayee correctly pointed out, terrorists use different issues claim legitimacy and justice to their acts of terror. They use issues like religion, ethnicity, economy and territory to justify terrorism.

The former Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee had seen terrorism in its true perspective. In Sri Lanka, the LTTE is trying to demonstrate to the world that, it is an ethnic conflict that persists here and not terrorism.

Truly, there is an ethnic problem that needs a resolution in Sri Lanka. The Government and the majority population concedes to that fact. But, the biggest conflict in the country today is LTTE terrorism, and that has no ethnicity involved, as the LTTE itself annihilates the Tamils. Therefore, our neighbours and the international community at large, must view the Sri Lankan crisis in the correct perspective, without being partisan and, carried away by propaganda of the LTTE or its sympathisers worldwide.

US and Britain

When we talk about global terrorism, the West too cannot be happy on the menace of terrorism. The powerful United States and Britain have experienced the ruthlessness of terrorism. With regard to the terrorism in the South Asian Region, the West must be conscious of the fact, that terrorism is terrorism, be it the North, South, West or East. There are LTTE organisations in the West operating under various human faces.

There is an organisation in Britain called, the British Tamil Forum.

The British must probe the activities of that Forum before it is too late. According to reliable sources, the LTTE’s so called Theoretician, the late Anton Balasingham, was an unofficial Patron of that Forum. The Members of that Forum are a set of ‘LTTE Sympathisers’, who shed crocodile tears, to help the LTTE posing off as genuine sympathisers of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.

The British Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, William Hague was quoted by this Tamil Forum in a statement that Hague said, Britain was very conscious of the strong feelings and concerns of the British Tamil Community with regard to the conflict in Sri Lanka. For the information of William Hague, Sri Lanka only faces a terrorist conflict with the LTTE threatening to divide the country. As for the ethnic problem, the Colombo Government is ready to find a just solution and, LTTE terrorism is the only obstacle standing in between the Government and a lasting solution of the Tamil people.

Hague, the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs must move away from the ‘shadow’ of the Tamil Forum that is misleading him. He is free to come to Sri Lanka to view the truth through the clear retina of his eyes.

To the SAARC, our urgent call is to speed up the implementation of the Convention to Suppress Terrorism. Sri Lanka has embarked on a mission most successful to crush LTTE terrorism in the region.

The beneficiaries of that victory will not only be Sri Lanka but, also our immediate neighbour India. Why? Both nations have lost Heads of State or Government, Troops, Men, Women and Children at the hands of brutal LTTE terrorism. And thousands have been maimed for life.