The island nation has made significant strides after the LTTE’s reign of terror ended in 2009. And for that, the country is obliged to former Lieutenant Colonel in Sri Lankan Army, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, also the younger brother of former President Mahinda. He tells KUMAR CHELLAPPAN how the US and other Western nations played a key role in the 2015 regime change, and how Sri Lanka will never allow its soil to be used by foreign elements to work against India
Once known as the Pearl of Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka has suffered a series of setbacks due to power play and ethnic crisis, which prompted Pope Francis to describe it as the “tear drop in the Indian Ocean”. Life in Sri Lanka has undergone a major change from the crisis-ridden period of 1975 to 2009, and the ‘tear drop’ is slowly but steadily on its way to regain the sobriquet of ‘the pearl’. The number of people who lost their lives and property during the period of strife runs into lakhs. Several eminent people, both Sinhala and Tamil, were the victims of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the dreaded terrorist organisation led by Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The remnants of the LTTE days are still visible in the island nation, as people are yet to recover fully from the reign of kidnappings, murders, and mayhem. When there were no healthy men to fight as suicide bombers and terrorists, the LTTE forcefully took away children above the age of six and groomed them as young warriors. Even girls were not spared in this coercive recruitment drive. Adele, wife of the then LTTE strategist Anton Balasingham, played a key role in this ghastly drive. After the end of the conflict in May 2009, human rights organisations have been on the warpath with the Sri Lankan Government with demands to declare the army commanders and political chiefs, who led the country during the civil war, as criminals and prosecute them. Although, they never mention Adele or other LTTE leaders, who wreaked havoc all over South Asia.
If Sri Lanka is breathing easy and on its way to recovery, it’s majorly because of one man. No, it’s not Mahinda Rajapaksa, the then President, who led the nation in obliterating the Tamil Tigers who were fighting for secession from the country and demanding a separate Tamil Eelam. The country is obliged to a low-profile former Lieutenant Colonel in Sri Lankan Army, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the younger brother of Mahinda.
Till Mahinda became the President in 2005, nobody had heard of Gotabhaya, who had retired from the Army. It was in November 2005 that Mahinda appointed Gotabhaya as the Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka with the mandate to obliterate the LTTE. When he assumed office, the LTTE had emerged as heroes among a section of the global community, who saw in Prabhakaran a combination of Che Guevara (the Argentine Marxist revolutionary), Ho Chi Minh (the Vietnamese revolutionary), and Yasser Arafat (the Palestine Liberation Organization chief). But Prabhakaran was the embodiment of all that represented evil. The LTTE fought on land, water, and air; its activists died to kill. Any voice different from that of Prabhakaran was silenced.
The media blitzkrieg unleashed by the LTTE across the world portrayed the Sinhalese as a cruel, unethical, dictatorial, and racist regime. The LTTE media had stakes in the media (especially in Tamil Nadu), which portrayed the Tigers as heroes. Pictures of Sinhalese and Tamil children butchered by the LTTE, the Muslims slaughtered by them in Batticaloa, and thousands of Buddhist monks, who were massacred by suicide assassins were conveniently buried by the pro-LTTE media, as well as human rights organisations across the globe.
Gotabhaya entered the Defence Ministry headquarters at a time when the morale of the forces was at its lowest. The LTTE had outnumbered and outmaneuvered the Sri Lanka Army and taken possession of the Elephant Pass, the wild and narrow link connecting the mainland with Jaffna in the north. “The moment he was appointed as the Defence Secretary with the mandate to finish off the LTTE challenge, we knew that Prabhakaran’s fate was sealed. The question I asked myself was how long it would take for Gota to give us the results,” said Siri Fernando, former corporate honcho and a long- time friend of the Rajapaksas.
Siri recounted the day when he and his journalist wife, Hiranthi, called on Gota to extend Christmas greetings. “Gota spent considerable time with us that day and spoke to us about his challenges and strategies to lift the morale of the forces. By the time we came out of the meeting, we were sure that Mahinda had appointed the right person for the job, and the mission would be accomplished,” said Siri, who is leading a retired life in Colombo. The 78-year-old also recollected how Gotabhaya entrusted officers with the responsibility of speaking to each soldier and find out the problems they faced in the fight against the Tigers. “When Gota took charge, he had to deal with some Commanders who he never saw eye to eye with. But Gota was made of different mettle and the LTTE thoroughly underestimated his abilities,” added Siri.
Now Gotabhaya, the soldier, has mellowed down. He doesn’t speak much because his actions, looks, expressions, and body language are sufficient to make his colleagues understand what is on his mind. Trained in some of the best military establishments in the world, including the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington, Nilgiri, and the Jungle Warfare School in Assam, Gotabhaya is still passionate about his alma mater.
The Sri Lankan forces crushed the LTTE by May 2009, of course, with active and dynamic help from India. The economy of the island nation had been hit severely because of three decades of terrorism. Mahinda, who led the country in its fight against the LTTE, gave a new direction to the economy and development once the civil war came to an end. Massive infrastructure development to make Sri Lanka an El Dorado began in right earnest. The economy gathered pace as the tourism industry flourished in an unprecedented manner. An annual conclave called the Defence Seminar was organised by the Sri Lankan Army to share with friendly nations its experiences in fighting terrorism and the vast knowledge gained by it in counter-insurgency operations. Colombo turned out to be a hub of disseminating skill and knowledge in national development, prosperity, and security in a regional and global context.
But in spite of the excellent leadership he provided to the country in its fight against secessionism, terrorism, and isolation by some of the international bodies, Mahinda lost the 2015 Presidential Elections. He decided to hold early elections to reap the benefits of his good reputation and the image he had gained fighting terrorists and making the country a haven of peace. But he lost, a la Winston Churchill, who was rejected by the people of the United Kingdom in the 1945 General Election. It was the leadership of Churchill which led the Allies to a great victory in World War II, defeating the then “evils” that included Hitler and Mussolini. (It is another thing that Churchill was called out of retirement in 1951 by the same British people and he served them as the Prime Minister till 1955).
“Don’t ask me anything about national politics. I am not in politics and won’t be able to tell you anything about the recent scenario,” were the words with which Gotabhaya welcomed this writer to his house. “Tell me about my friend Dr Subramanian Swamy. He is the best friend Sri Lanka has in India. How is he?” asked Gota as we settled into his beautifully arranged office-cum-library.
More than the present-day politics in Sri Lanka, what was haunting the mind was the reason behind Mahinda’s defeat in the 2015 polls. “It is something that has to be explained in detail. The result of that election is also an experience we gained in our strides to progress and prosperity,” said Gotabhaya before revealing the hitherto untold story. The reasons for Mahinda’s defeat are as important as the lessons gained by the outside world from the victories registered by the Sri Lankan Army in its war against the LTTE and holds good for all politicians, irrespective of the region, nation, continent, and the part of the world they belong to.
According to Gotabhaya, Mahinda declared the elections well in advance because he was confident of winning. “It was a winnable election because of a number of factors. Once the LTTE was wiped out, the country lost no time in ushering in an era of development. Economy was progressing and was in a good condition. The entire country was witnessing developmental activities on a fast rate. We were doing quite well in agriculture; farmers were getting good prices for their crops and were economically well off. All over the country, there was a feel good factor and the general impression was that it was a winnable time and thus the election,” explained Gotabhaya.
He pointed out that though there were various forces working against the Mahinda Government, they were a minuscule fraction of the total population. “They unleashed a campaign accusing Mahinda and his family of corruption. They alleged that the Government was authoritative and Mahinda’s family was calling the shots, which were false and blatant lies,” he said.
Mahinda’s other brothers — Chamal, Basil, and Namal — are active in politics and were holding important positions in the Government during his tenure as the President. Basil was in the Government not because he was the brother of the President, but because he was the main strategist and brain of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
The Rajapaksas could not be singled out for bringing family members into politics and the Government. The history of Sri Lanka politics is full of the roles played by family members of the leader, whether it is SWRD Bandaranaike, Sirimao Bandaranaike, Junius Richard Jayewardane or Premedasa. Mahinda ruled with an iron hand and had no pretensions about it. “Those who stay in glass houses should not throw stones at others,” said a retired Army commander, when asked about family members dabbling in politics.
But who were the forces behind the media onslaught and false campaign against the Rajapaksa Government? The answer was shocking as it synchronised well with what we see in India. “There were various civil rights groups, leaders of the Opposition, who had a fear psychosis about an impending defeat, and a section of Western countries and groups which worked actively against us,” explained Gotabhaya.
This group worked overtime and created a sense of hopelessness and helplessness among a section of the population. “Their theme was ‘good governance’. But they were sure that the Sinhala population would vote only for Mahinda. Hence, they focused on the minorities and Tamils. They conceived and executed a shrewd plan to keep the Muslims away from Mahinda. They even managed to get the help of some extreme Buddhist organisations, which turned the Muslims against the Government,” he added.
He also revealed the role played by urban elites, upper middle class, and a section of the youth in the mission to defeat Mahinda. “These are the sections of the population which go by the promise of good governance and spread bogus allegations against the rivals. This resulted in 95 per cent of the Tamils, Muslims, and the urban elites voting against Mahinda,” said Gotabhaya, quoting from the analytical report of the 2015 election results.
The day in and day out campaign was centred on allegations of corruption and accusing a democratic Government of being authoritarian. This campaign proved successful. “More than the capability of the Opposition parties in Sri Lanka, it was the Western powers which planned and executed it,” said Gotabhaya, who uses measured and calculated words and phrases, the stiff upper lip culture developed in the Military Academy, perhaps.
Though he was initially reluctant to name the forces which conspired against the then Sri Lankan Government, Gotabhaya finally put the blame on the Barack Obama administration. “The Western nations had a feeling that the Rajapaksa Government was anti-West. The State Department of the Obama administration was dominated by human rights activists. The United States and other Western powers viewed the China factor in Sri Lanka with a different perspective. Our ties with China bothered them,” Gotabhaya explained.
The ties between Sri Lanka and China date back to more than six decades. But the US and Western powers felt uncomfortable for reasons best known to them. “They have a lot of vested interests, ranging from commerce, trade, the Indian Ocean, strategic locations, and security. The involvement of China in the economic development of Sri Lanka also rattled them,” he said. Hence, they wanted the Mahinda Government to go. The Opposition parties — which had lost all hope — the urban elites, human rights and civil rights groups, and minorities joined hands with the Western forces, which resulted in Mahinda losing narrowly,” Gotabhaya disclosed. This is the first time that the role of the US and European powers in the 2015 elections has been accepted openly by a powerful person from that administration.
Gotabhaya was an eyesore for those who wanted the division of the island nation. “Let them say whatever they want. That’s their freedom and I do not care about it,” was his reply when asked about the propaganda against him by the Tamils as well as other Opposition parties.
There were allegations of India’s interference in the 2015 elections in Sri Lanka, and Gotabhaya did not hide his disappointment over them. “We had good relations with the Manmohan Singh-led UPA Government, which was in office till May 2014. The then Government of India helped and supported us in our war against the LTTE. Even the DMK in Tamil Nadu had understood the seriousness of the LTTE issue and stood by us during the war. But we did not get much time to establish good ties with the new Indian officials, like National Security Advisor Ajit Doval or the Foreign Secretary, after the change of Government in 2014,” said Gotabhaya.
He also referred to the “false” campaign by the Opposition on China’s role in boosting Sri Lankan economy and security. Mahinda had launched the Colombo Port City project, which would have played the role of a force multiplier. This was done with Chinese investment but strictly under the control of the Sri Lanka Port Authority. “The Opposition and the urban elite claimed that the Hambantota Port had been leased to the Chinese Navy for 99 years, which upset the new Indian Government. The truth was that even in our wildest imagination, we had never thought of such a possibility. But what happened is that the same Opposition, which came to power after the 2015 elections, handed over port to China on a platter,” he pointed out.
Mahinda did not make extra efforts to convince the new Government in India about the assurances guaranteed to the UPA administration on the role of China in the island nation. “It is well-chronicled by Shivshankar Menon, the then NSA, in his book Choices,” said Gotabhaya. In the chapter titled ‘Force Works’, Menon wrote: “Security was Gotabhaya’s sole preoccupation, which made him sensitive to India’s concerns, while his brother Mahinda was much more compliant with Chinese demands, having built a political machine on Chinese money. The basic assurances that Gotabhaya and more reluctantly, Mahinda, gave us were that India’s security interests would be respected and that there would be no surprises in Sri Lanka’s relations with China. I was assured that there would be no permanent Chinese military presence in Sri Lanka and that Sri Lanka would look to India for most of its military training and intelligence needs.”
Gotabhaya, a professional security expert, said his country was and is always conscious of the concerns of India, especially in security related issues. “We will never allow Sri Lankan soil to be used by any foreign elements to work against India. The Indian Ocean and especially the sea lines of communications must be free for all to use without hindrance. Both countries are united not only by the Indian Ocean, but by common historical and cultural ties,” said Gotabhaya.
The world learnt a lot from Sri Lanka in how it succeeded in tackling terrorism of the worst kind. It is the ideal time for India to take note of the fact that a Government, which wiped out the last vestiges of terrorism, lost the next elections. There are a lot of similarities between the game being played in New Delhi and the one staged in Colombo; only the language and characters differ.
