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Chagie picks holes in controversial US resolution

Published

5 years ago

2021/06/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

Flabbergasted by LTTE being rechristened as ‘independence group’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Retired infantry Maj. Gen. Chagie Gallage says the recent US declaration that some sections of traditional Tamil homeland remains so militarized 12 years after the war with ‘up to one soldier for every two civilians in the most war affected regions,’ underscored Sri Lanka’s daunting challenge in countering the high profile propaganda.

The Gajaba veteran insists even during the height of the war there had never been such intense deployment. Over the years, the scale of deployment has been reduced and forces deployed only to meet present-day requirements, he said.

Having served the Army for over three decades in frontline combat roles, military strategist Gallage retired in late August 2018-two years after Australia declined to issue him a visa over unsubstantiated war crimes accusations.

Referring to a resolution dated May 18, 2021 (H.Res.413) moved in the US House of Representatives, Gen. Gallage said that the LTTE had been recognized as a Tamil independence organization in spite of it still being on a list of organizations proscribed by the US, accepted traditional Tamil homeland claim and also acknowledged a merged northeastern region. Gen. Gallage pointed out that the US showed its bias against Sri Lanka by calling predominantly Tamil speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces as ‘historically oppressed northeastern region.’

Obviously, the submission of the House of Representatives resolution that has been subsequently referred to the House Foreign Relations Committee coincided with the 12th anniversary of the end of war was meant to cause further rifts, Gen. Gallage said.

Asked whether the government was taking steps to set the record straight, Foreign Secretary Admiral (retd) Jayanath Colombage said that the Foreign Ministry was in the process of addressing the issue at hand.

Gen. Gallage dismissed much repeated public assertion the US policy had been influenced by the Tamil Diaspora. The outspoken retired officer said that the latest US resolution should be carefully examined against the backdrop of Sri Lanka-China partnership culminating with the Colombo Port City Economic Commission as well as collapsing of talks on MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) Compact and SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) though ACSA (Access and Cross-Servicing Agreement) finalized in Aug 2017 remains intact.

The combat veteran questioned the rationale in the US grouping the LTTE among what the House of Representatives called ‘various armed Tamil independence organizations.’ An irate much decorated infantry officer emphasized that those terrorist groups formed by India in the 80s had been devilishly called independence groups. The US obviously disregarded the well-known fact that except the LTTE, all other groups gave up arms in terms of the Indo-Lanka Accord of July 1987 and entered parliament in 1989 during the tenure of President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Gen. Gallage said that the LTTE couldn’t be under any circumstances promoted as an organization that fought for Tamil independence.

When The Island pointed out that the US resolution strongly criticized Sri Lanka for not repealing the longstanding Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) having recently adopted a bipartisan Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (DTPA) of 2021 to investigate acts of domestic terrorism, Gen. Gallage said the US acted swiftly after the US Department of Justice underscored the need for domestic anti-terrorism law in the wake of the January 6 Capitol attack. There couldn’t be a better example than that to highlight the absurdity of the US stand on the PTA introduced by President JRJ to fight those who have now been rechristened by the US as Tamil independence groups.

Gen. Gallage found fault with the US resolution for not making reference to the origins of terrorism in Sri Lanka. He said that the US needlessly faults Sri Lanka for the deployment of the armed forces to control rampaging Covid-19 epidemic. Did they at least bother to check the actual ground situation here? General asked, pointing out that the armed forces rendered a yeoman service in support of the health sector.

The bottom line is that the civilian establishment and the police couldn’t have coped up with Covid-19 challenge without the combined security forces backing, Gen. Gallage said.

Responding to another query, Gen. Gallage alleged that the US seemed to have quite conveniently forgotten how its wartime Defence Attache Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith cleared Sri Lanka of bogus war crimes accusations at the first Colombo Defence Seminar held in May-June 2011, two years after the successful conclusion of the war. Gen. Gallage, who had been present on that occasion recalled how an embarrassed US State Department claimed that their man hadn’t been there in an official capacity. Thanks to Lord Naseby’s disclosure in the House of Lords in Oct 2017, now the entire world knows Lt. Col. Smith’s British counterpart, Lt. Col. Anthony Gash, who had been in Colombo during the war, too, denied unsubstantiated war crimes accusations.

Gen. Gallage said that having backed war winning Army Chief the then Gen. Sarath Fonseka at the 2010 presidential election, the US now expressed concern over elevation of persons alleged to have implicated in war crimes to senior government positions.

Appreciating the US backing for eradication of the LTTE, Gen. Gallage said that the Super Power accelerated the demise of their conventional military capacity by providing specific intelligence that led to the sinking of four ships carrying millions of dollars’ worth of armaments in the high seas.

Gen. Gallage said that the US should take note of the 2011 UN recommendation (Panel of Experts report) that prevented proper investigation for a 20-year period. The undeniable truth was the accusation of 40,000 civilian deaths (Panel of Experts report/paragraph 137) hadn’t been investigated yet, Gen. Gallage said. But that didn’t prevent UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issuing a report in 2015 (the

OISL Report) that outlined the occurrence of war crimes and crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law during the war in Sri Lanka.

Gen. Gallage urged the political leadership to take tangible measures to counter the continuing politically motivated anti-Sri Lanka campaign. The Gen. said that it was the responsibility of the parties represented in parliament to address the latest attack also taking into consideration Canada recognizing the genocide of Tamils and the display of LTTE flag in the UK Parliament Square. The retired soldier pointed out that in spite of the eradication of the LTTE’s conventional military power, the separatist agenda was alive in foreign parliaments as well as our own. Gallage said so referring to a group of lawmakers in current parliament seeking UN intervention to set up an international war crime probe. Those who wrote that letter had ignored the fact that the TNA recognized the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people in 2001. That status remained until the Army shot and killed Prabhakaran on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon, Gen. Gallage said.

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Politics is not something separate from development. It shapes every choice we make in governance – PM

Published

12 hours ago

2026/05/20

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that politics is not something separate from development and it shapes every choice we make in governance, while addressing the 60th anniversary commemoration of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, Brighton. during her official visit to the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister and the accompanying delegation arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport at 8.00 p.m. Sri Lanka time on Monday [18 May], commencing the official visit to the United Kingdom.

The delegation was warmly received at Heathrow Airport by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Nimal Senadheera, together with the Special Representative to the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom and former British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Richard Wildash, along with other diplomatic officials.

On the following morning, the Prime Minister arrived at the University of Sussex in Brighton, where she was received by Professor Anu Joshi, Director of the Institute of Development Studies, Professor Mick Moore, and senior representatives of the University of Sussex.

Addressing the public event, the Prime Minister reflected on the relationship between politics, governance, and development, drawing from Sri Lanka’s recent political and economic experiences. She emphasized the challenges of balancing governance, economic recovery, social protection, and institutional reform while responding to public expectations and maintaining democratic accountability.

The Prime Minister also highlighted the government’s ongoing policy focus on recognizing paid and unpaid care work as a central component of the national economy, particularly the contribution and challenges faced by women within the care sector.

During the visit, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya is also expected to address a session at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies at the University of Oxford, followed by an interactive discussion with scholars and students.

During the visit, the Prime Minister is also expected to meet senior representatives of the United Kingdom government, including Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, and Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education of the United Kingdom. She is also expected to meet Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

News

Govt. committed to fulfilling aspirations of war heroes who liberated country: AKD

Published

20 hours ago

2026/05/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake paying floral tribute at the National War Memorial, Battaramulla, yesterday (19), to mark 17th anniversary of Sri Lanka's triumph over the LTTE. (pic courtesy PMD)

The government was committed to fulfilling the aspirations of war heroes who liberated the country, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday, addressing the 17th National War Heroes’ Commemoration Ceremony held in Battaramulla.

The members of the security forces had made a tremendous contribution towards bringing relief to the people and their sacrifices had to be honoured not only with remembrance but also through action to rebuild the nation, President Dissanayake said, stressing that everything possible had to be done to ensure that the people would not suffer due to conflicts again.

Praising the armed forces for the role they played in disaster response and national emergencies, the President said the government was working hard to strengthen the country’s international standing while ensuring the rule of law and judicial independence.

Sri Lanka belonged to all communities and there should be no division along ethnic lines.

President Dissanayake added that the government’s focus was to prevent the recurrence of conflict and to build a democratic society where equality before the law was guaranteed and all citizens had equal opportunity regardless of status.

News

H’tota elephant management reserve essential to halt ecological destruction and rising human-elephant conflict – Minister Patabendi

Published

21 hours ago

2026/05/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

Environment Minister Dhammika Patabendi yesterday sounded a strong warning over the rapid destruction of elephant habitats in the Hambantota region, declaring that the proposed Hambantota Elephant Management Reserve was no longer an option but an urgent national necessity to prevent a deepening environmental crisis.

Addressing a media briefing convened to create public awareness on the reserve, Dr. Patabendi said decades of political interference, illegal land grabs, deforestation and unplanned development had pushed Sri Lanka’s elephant population and rural communities into a dangerous confrontation.

“Sri Lanka is witnessing an environmental tragedy unfold before our eyes. Forests are shrinking, elephant corridors are being blocked, and wild elephants are being forced into villages and farmlands in search of food and water,” the Minister said.

He stressed that the Hambantota region had become one of the country’s most critical human-elephant conflict hotspots due to aggressive land conversion and irresponsible exploitation of natural ecosystems.

“The elephant is paying the price for human greed and shortsighted planning. If we continue to destroy forests in the name of development without ecological discipline, the consequences will be catastrophic not only for wildlife, but also for people,” he warned.

Dr. Patabendi said the proposed Elephant Management Reserve would serve as a scientifically managed buffer to protect vital elephant corridors, regulate land use, and reduce deadly encounters between elephants and humans.

He noted that Sri Lanka continued to record alarming numbers of elephant and human deaths annually, describing the situation as a “national environmental emergency.”

“Human-elephant conflict is no longer merely a wildlife issue. It is directly linked to food security, rural safety, water resources and ecological stability. The country cannot continue to address this crisis with temporary fences and political rhetoric,” he said.

The Minister also took aim at illegal encroachments and destructive activities within sensitive forest areas, warning that strict action would be taken against those responsible for environmental destruction.

“There are organised attempts to exploit forest lands for private interests while ignoring the irreversible damage caused to biodiversity and ecosystems. Such actions cannot be tolerated any longer,” he said.

Dr. Patabendi stressed that sustainable development could not be achieved at the expense of forests and wildlife, adding that environmental conservation must become a central pillar of national policy rather than an afterthought.

Environmentalists said Sri Lanka’s elephant population was increasingly under pressure due to shrinking habitats, fragmented migration routes and expanding human settlements.

The Minister called on politicians, state institutions and the public to support long-term conservation measures instead of promoting short-sighted solutions driven by vested interests.

“We have reached a decisive moment. Either we protect these ecosystems now or future generations will inherit a country stripped of its forests, wildlife and ecological security,” he warned.

The Environment Ministry is expected to initiate further scientific consultations and stakeholder discussions before moving ahead with the reserve’s implementation framework.

By Ifham Nizam