Thursday, July 12, 2012

Notes on the Military Presence in Sri Lanka's Northern Province

28, July 14, 2012

The Sri Lankan government may have won the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the country, but another protracted struggle is looming on the horizon, that of winning democracy and development back from the clutches of militarisation. In the meantime, for those in the north (and the east) struggling to recover socially, economically and psychologically from the war, the message for the moment at least is clear: reconcile, by keeping your head down, give way to the army, be patient and hope for the best. In other words - "do pretty much what you did to survive the reign of the LTTE".

The bumpy road descended sharply onto a little bridge, which straddled a lazy stream under the welcoming shade ofpalu trees and the watchful eyes of a Sri Lanka Army post. They are ubiquitous in the Vanni; the palu trees and the army, wood and iron everywhere. Three years after the end of the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lanka Army is no longer digging in but building up. Makeshift camps have steadily transformed into signs of a more permanent nature, neatly landscaped areas, flashy new gates and imposing entrances, well-cut playgrounds, communications towers, barracks – the works. It appears that they are here to stay.

The Vanni, the area of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province south of the Jaffna peninsula, is believed to get its name from the Tamil Vanniar feudal chieftains of a distant past. Its present-day chieftains, however, are smart and articulate divisional and brigade commanders of the Sri Lanka Army who preside over inaugurations and interrogations alike.

The question of militarisation, in the Northern Province as well as more generally across Sri Lanka, and its impacts and implications for human rights, development and the economy are receiving increasing attention (Rajasingham-Senanayake 2011: 27-30, Venugopal 2011: 67-75). However, the full extent of the footprint of the security affect in the Northern Province remains to be traced in detail. Indeed, their size matters because, in addition to civil rights issues, it can also adversely affect both the process of reconciliation – as noted in the testimonies before and recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) – and the prospects of a political solution inasmuch as it undermines trust between the government, civil society and other key Tamil political actors. So, how many military personnel are there in the Northern Province? What is the nature of their presence, i e, has military presence translated into militarisation? What are its implications? This commentary attempts to address these questions.

Despite the lack of systematically supplied official information about the size and scale of the Sri Lankan military and its constituent units, information compiled from the statements of senior government and security officials, the websites of the armed forces themselves, media reports and other sources can enable us to draw some reasonable conclusions. In 2011, the defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, told an international defence seminar that the Sri Lanka Army alone had “over 2,00,000” personnel, having expanded by the end of 2009 from nine divisions to 20; 44 brigades to 71; and 149 battalions to 284.¹ Indeed, shortly after the end of the war in 2009 but before he fell out with the regime, the then army commander Sarath Fonseka told a television channel that the Sri Lanka Army “is going to be 3,00,000 strong very soon”.² However the clearest statement on the strength of the army comes, in fact, from the defence secretary himself. In 2010 he had this to say to the Indian Defence Review:

We tripled the strength of the Army from 1,00,000 to 3,00,000 in three years. In fact, in the 1980s the strength of the military (Army, Navy and Air Force) was 30,000. In 2005 when President Rajapaksa assumed charge the strength was 1,25,000. Between 2005 and 2009 the figure swelled to 4,50,000 out of which 3,00,000 is the strength of the Army.³