THE POLITICS OF THE NORTH-EAST Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Part of the Sri Lanka Strategic Conflict Assessment 2005 2000 – 2005 T H E P O L I T I C S O Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized F T H E N O R T H - E A S T 2000 – 2005 Award winning photographs by Annuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi, Dominic Sansoni and Gemunu Amarasinghe Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Liz Philipson and Yuvi Thangarajah VOLUME N.0 4 SERIES SIX - PART Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized THE POLITICS OF THE NORTH-EAST PART OF THE SRI LANKA STRATEGIC CONFLICT ASSESSMENT 2005 By Liz Philipson and Yuvi Thangarajah The governments of the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, in collaboration with The Asia Foundation and the World Bank funded this project. The contents of the studies should not be construed as reflecting the views of the five funding agencies. © Copyright 2005 Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency The Asia Foundation Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland World Bank For reproductions of this publication please contact: 3 1/A Rajakeeya Mawatha Colombo 7, Sri Lanka Phone: +94 11 2698356 Fax: +94 11 2698358 www.asiafoundation.org All rights reserved Printed in Sri Lanka 1 | Contents Contents Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................................................. | 3 About the Authors................................................................................................................................................. | 4 Acronyms............................................................................................................................................................... | 5 Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................................. | 7 1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................... | 13 2. From War to No-War................................................................................................................................... | 15 2000: The Decisive Year for Sri Lanka....................................................................................................... | 15 Peace Talks.................................................................................................................................................... | 16 The Process Stalls........................................................................................................................................ | 17 April 2004 Election........................................................................................................................................ | 18 Post-Tsunami................................................................................................................................................. | 18 3. Analytical Perspectives............................................................................................................................... | 19 The Process................................................................................................................................................... | 19 Geographical Locales.................................................................................................................................. | 20 4. New and Changing Issues.......................................................................................................................... | 21 Land, Livelihood, and Voice........................................................................................................................ | 21 Caste............................................................................................................................................................... | 22 Post-Tsunami Aid and New Contours of Conflict.................................................................................... | 22 5. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam................................................................................................................ | 23 Why Did They Go To The Table?................................................................................................................ | 23 Tensions Around the CFA............................................................................................................................ | 24 December 2004 - War Averted By Calamity?........................................................................................... | 26 People and Politics....................................................................................................................................... | 28 Other Tamil Parties....................................................................................................................................... | 29 State Structures............................................................................................................................................ | 29 Economic Interfaces: A Cult of Honesty?................................................................................................. | 30 The Role of Development............................................................................................................................ | 31 Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation, NGO linkages................................................................................... | 31 The Diaspora................................................................................................................................................. | 32 6. Non-Military Actors..................................................................................................................................... | 35 The Academic Community in the North-East.......................................................................................... | 35 Jaffna University........................................................................................................................................... | 35 Eastern University......................................................................................................................................... | 35 South Eastern University............................................................................................................................. | 36 The Politics of the North-East | 2 7. Eastern Dynamics......................................................................................................................................... | 39 The Complexities of Community Relations............................................................................................... | 39 Intra-Tamil Relations: The Karuna Defection from the LTTE.................................................................. | 39 Causes of the Defection............................................................................................................................... | 40 Fears, Dilemmas, and Impunity................................................................................................................... | 40 Dynamics of the Defection.......................................................................................................................... | 41 The Impact of the Karuna Defection.......................................................................................................... | 42 Tamil-Muslim Relations................................................................................................................................ | 43 Local Community Relations.......................................................................................................................... | 43 Politicization of Local Issues....................................................................................................................... | 44 Muslims Supported By the "Sinhala State"............................................................................................... | 44 Muslim Youth Consciousness...................................................................................................................... | 45 Tamil - Sinhala relations............................................................................................................................... | 45 Military and Police........................................................................................................................................ | 46 8. International Engagement in the North-East............................................................................................ | 47 Regional Perspectives: India....................................................................................................................... | 47 Peacemaking and Negotiation: Norway and the SLMM........................................................................ | 47 International Donor Coordination............................................................................................................... | 48 Timely Intervention........................................................................................................................................ | 48 A Stalled Negotiation and