Have an objective policy on Tamil diaspora

The top officials of the Defence Ministry have been pushed to the level of politicians who voted for the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Amendments to the Constitution, in respect of handling the overseas Sri Lankan Tamil organizations. These officials have to justify the actions of the government of the day whenever it proscribes these organizations or undoes that proscription. 

After the end of the war against the LTTE in May, 2009, a number of these organizations have been alternately designated as terrorist organizations and de-listed again several times. On April 1, 2014, five years after the end of the war, the Mahinda Rajapaksa government designated 16 organizations and 424 individuals. Veteran journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj pointed out once that some of the organizations and individuals no longer existed then. The Yahapalana government on November 20, lifted the ban on eight organizations and 267 individuals who were part of them. Then again the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government designated seven organizations and 389 individuals on February 25 last year, and now, six organizations and 316 individuals of them have again been delisted.
Interestingly, some organizations and individuals came under all these decisions – they were proscribed, then de-proscribed, again proscribed and again de-proscribed. 

Both the times when the organizations were banned as organizations inimical to the national security, the decision was made by a Rajapaksa as the President and the Defence Minister, while the decisions to unban them was taken by Ranil Wickremesinghe, first time as the Prime Minister and now as the President. Therefore it is natural for anyone to conclude that the decisions were political rather than being based on intelligence assessments. Would the authorities have taken the latest decision, had Gotabaya Rajapaksa continued to be the President? 
However, every time the government’s decisions were attributed to such assessments and recommendations by the officials of the Defence Ministry. Yet, it is not clear if the leaders of the current government dominated by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Rajapaksas are agreeable to the latest decision, despite their deafening silence. They made a huge fuss when the Yahapalana government de-listed eight organizations and 267 individuals in 2015. 

However, this time no opposition came forth in a considerable way, except National Freedom Front (NFF) member Mohamed Muzammil questioning the rationale behind the government’s decision to de-proscribe these organizations. It was a valid question in spite of him seeming to be of the opinion that even those who call for investigations into human rights violations in Sri Lanka, including the Tamil political parties must be designated and banned. At the same time, several Tamil politicians who appeared before the Tamil media questioned the timing of the decision. They seem to be of the view that the government has taken the decision in view of the forthcoming 51st session of the UNHRC, against the backdrop of the world human rights body’s latest censure of the government following its crackdown on the peaceful protestors in Galle Face Green on July 22. The next session of the UNHRC is to begin in Geneva on September 12. 

Nevertheless, the issue concerning the Tamils living in other countries or the Tamil diaspora had been a key issue in respect of reconciliation in the country. Now it has gained importance economically as well, against the backdrop of the current economic crisis, as their organizations and some of them as individuals have the capacity to invest in Sri Lanka. Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year that he would engage with the Tamil diaspora, but once his delegation landed here, Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris told media that government is not prepared to talk to the proscribed organizations. This kind of blowing hot and cold would not auger well for the credibility of the government among the international community. 

There are Tamil diaspora organizations that still campaign for a separate Tamil State within the territory of Sri Lanka, but all organizations and individuals do not fall under this category. Hence, the government must have a clear, comprehensive and a policy towards the issue, without viewing it through the prism of the successive ruling parties.