Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
Now ex-Defence Secy slams CFA

(By Shamindra Ferdiando)

Former Defence Secretary Austin Fernando claims there had not been proper consultations with the military before the then Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government signed the CFA with the LTTE. Testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission headed by former Attorney General C. R. de Silva, Fernando said that he had had absolutely no authority to intervene though the CFA extensively dealt with national security issues. A mere Secretary could not interfere when government took decisions, he said. Responding to a query by the commission, former Defence Secretary Fernando said that he had not been involved in preparing the CFA.

Asked whether he as the Defence Secretary had been satisfied with the CFA, former Defence Secretary said that he got to know about the CFA through the then Army and Navy Commanders. Acknowledging that the service commanders had been troubled by the CFA and some its conditions relating to security, Fernando said he had discussed the issue with Ministers Tilak Marapone and Professor G. L. Peiris. Although the military had expressed serious concerns, those in power had turned a blind eye to them thus allowing the Norwegians to finalise the CFA.

Asked whether he as the Defence Secretary had been aware that the Norwegians drafted the CFA in consultation with the LTTE making it favourable to the LTTE, Fernando admitted that haphazard and hasty vacation of government buildings and private property occupied by the military particularly in the Jaffna peninsula had been detrimental to national security.

When Fernando said that he had not been involved in drafting the CFA, Chairman of the commission de Silva shot back saying no Sri Lankan was involved in the process. Fernando said that the LTTE would not have come for talks had the CFA favoured the government.

The former Defence Secretary Fernando said that he, too, had been perturbed by some of the provisions in the CFA.

Commenting on the sinking of two LTTE ships by the Navy off Mullaitivu in two separate incidents in early 2003, former Defence Secretary Fernando said that the LTTE had never challenged the government’s right to engage ships. Their contention had been that the Navy had attacked vessels in international waters carrying non-lethal cargo, he said adding that the LTTE had lost about 30 to 40 cadres in those incidents.

Asked whether Norwegian facilitators/Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) had refrained from taking action against violations by the LTTE, former Defence Secretary Fernando said they had been helpless.

Responding to another query whether the international community had brought pressure to bear on the LTTE to stop child recruitment, former Defence Secretary Fernando said that they had gone to the extent of involving a foreign expert to advise them on the issue. But, the LTTE had not been agreeable, Fernando said, while chairman of the commission de Silva recalled former Peace Secretariat chief Ambassador Bernard Goonetleke’s statement that the LTTE had called for the national human rights commission to investigate violations knowing well it had no power to operate in the LTE-held area.

Commenting on the collapse of the CFA, the former Defence Secretary launched a scathing attack on the Norwegian facilitators and the SLMM for their failure to ensure the proper implementation of the agreement. Acknowledging that they had to make certain compromises on critical issues to keep the peace process alive, former Defence Secretary Fernando said that he would not say that the entire text was faulty, though there were serious flaws.

He said that the Norwegians and the SLMM had lost respect owing to their weakness and appeasement of the LTTE. Referring to several incidents during the CFA, he said that that both facilitators and monitors had not been able to take any action and the entire peace process had been undermined as a result.