Sri Lankas Minority Outreach

Holds Risks Before Vote

Colombos contentious move to gain support among Tamil
diaspora stands to hurt governments support among Sinhalese

A recently resettled Tamil woman this week walked on land the government released back to its
owners in April in the remote Sri Lankan village of Thillipali. PHOTO: BUDDHIKA WEERASINGHE/GETTY
IMAGES

By UDITHA JAYASINGHE-Aug. 12, 2015

COLOMBO, Sri LankaSri Lankas government has been reaching out to the
countrys influential Tamil diaspora with the aim of building minority support
and boosting its international standing. But the contentious strategy holds
risks for the governments survival ahead of parliamentary elections next
week.
The ruling coalition led by President Maithripala Sirisenawhich took office
after his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was voted out of office in January
is in the difficult position of trying to promote reconciliation with the
countrys Tamils and other minorities without alienating so many Sinhalese
Buddhists that it loses the election.
If Colombo doesnt go far enough to show it is inclusive, it could lose
minority votes and support from Tamils abroad, whose support is crucial for
any government that wants to better integrate Tamils into Sri Lankan
politics.
But opponents of the outreachincluding Mr. Rajapaksa, who is trying to
stage a comeback at the pollshave accused the government of weakness
and said the country is at risk of sliding back into the violence and terrorism
that characterized its decadeslong civil war.
A recent public-opinion survey by the nonprofit Centre for Policy
Alternatives in Colombo found that Sinhalese Buddhists, the countrys main
religious group, were split on whether they favored Mr. Rajapaksa (36%) or
his rival, Ranil Wickremesinghe (31.9%)who is aligned with the president
as the next prime minister.
Minorities strongly favored Mr. Wickremesinghe. The survey of more nearly
2,000 people had a margin of sampling error of two percentage points.
Mr. Rajapaksas government defeated Tamil separatist insurgents in 2009. A
United Nations human-rights team has been investigating whether war
crimes and other abuses were committed in the waning days of the conflict
and its aftermath. Critics of Mr. Rajapaksa say he didnt do enough to

promote reconciliation after his victory.

The U.N. investigators are scheduled to release their report in September. A
U.N. report in 2012 estimated as many as 40,000 civilians could have died
in the last months of the conflict, most of them Tamils.
President Sirisena has pledged to embrace the Tamil community and hold
people accountable for wartime atrocities. In the last six months, he has
released political prisoners, engaged with political parties representing
Tamils and returned military-occupied land to its original owners in Tamilmajority areas.
He has also been trying to tighten ties with the more than 1 million Sri
Lankan Tamils who live abroad. Members of the community have long been
critical of Colombo and at times helped fund the Tamil side of the civil war.

An
internally displaced Tamil woman prepared food this week in her temporary shelter in
Jaffna. PHOTO:BUDDHIKA WEERASINGHE/GETTY IMAGES

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has met with leaders of the Global
Tamil Forum, the largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora group in Europe, which is
on a Rajapaksa-era terrorist blacklist barring members from visiting Sri
Lanka.

Mr. Samaraweera has also met other Tamil groups in the U.S., Norway, the
U.K. and Singapore. He has proposed starting a diaspora festival where
successful leaders of Sri Lankan origin can come home to foster community
links and investment.
The government is considering lifting a ban on Global Tamil Forum and
some of the other 16 Tamil diaspora and human-rights groups on the
governments banned list.
Mr. Rajapaksas campaign rails against what it portrays as foreign meddling
in Sri Lankan affairs. The ex-president has condemned the government for
making too many concessions to Tamils and for engaging the Tamil
diaspora. He has pledged to stop such overtures if he returned to power.
Tamil diaspora groups say they are glad the current government is reaching
out to them, but they express wariness about Colombos willingness and
ability to seek justice for any wrongs committed by security forces during
and after the war.
Sri Lanka currently does not have laws to deal with war crimes against
humanity which are alleged to have been committed by both sides, said
Suren Surendiran a spokesman for the Global Tamil Forum, or GTF. The GTF
believes only an international investigation supported by the U.N. and its
report will bring justice to victims.

Posted by Thavam