US Senate Hearing on Sri Lanka Issue on 2009-02-24- A Quick Summary

Senators were mainly curious to know what the Sri Lankan issue is all about.
Former Ambassador’s View (the person with most credible views in the eyes of the senators)

1. Had a positive view about Sri Lanka and seeing the end of the conflict.

2. Stated that US has no strategic interest in Sri Lanka (good news for Sri Lankans and bad news for Ranil Wickramasinghe who wanted to create an international safety net against LTTE).

3. Stated that LTTE has no interest in peace, withdrew from peace efforts, killed moderate Tamils, killed Tamils who wanted peace.

4. Stated that US has no leverage in Sri Lanka because there is no military aid or economic aid given to SL from US.

5. Stated that it is just a help we can lend to make SL peaceful and prosperous, nothing else.

HRW as expected talked very negatively about Sri Lanka. At the same time they stated that LTTE was shooting and killing civilians trying to leave the conflict zone. Anna Neistat said that LTTE was committing war crimes. Her other focus was the resettlement of civilians. She wanted to take the issues to UN. She also said that China and Russia are likely veto such moves. Also she said that China and Russia cannot block what UNHCR will be talking about and they have to get it going soon.

CPJ as expected talked lots about journalist and how scared they are in Sri Lanka. Bob Dietz talked a lot about Lasantha Wickramathunge’s demise. Bob Dietz suggested granting them refugee status in the west. The journalists who spoke to Bob were pessimistic about seeing an end to the conflict soon.

Dick Lugar was the only senator who had some idea and had a favorable view of Sri Lanka.

End of the day, if anything, LTTE yielded no positive image from the hearings. It only reinforced the negative side of LTTE. At minimum, all the writing we did may have nullified what the terrorist supporters wrote. The other important thing the committee heard was that President Rajapakse and his military campaign against LTTE is enormously popular among Sri Lankans. The committee heard it loud and clear that President Rajapakse is executing the peoples will of defeating terrorism in Sri Lanka. The committee also learned that the only leverage they have is in future money they are going to "lend" for rehabilitation of the conflict zone through World Bank and ADB. The also learned that they may have some leverage through Japan.

Perhaps, we should get somebody like Palitha Kohana to talk to HRW and CPJ next time. Furthermore, their activists should be highly scrutinized for any connections with LTTE. Most importantly we should find our friends who do not try to impose their will on us (this is something we should really work on). It was such a great feeling to learn through HRW and CPJ that the west has not got lot of leverage in Sri Lanka. My guess is that US senate will not do a thing since they have many other strategically important issues in hands to solve these days.