Sri Lanka A Victor's Peace

2009 to 2019

Ana Pararajasingham

• Publisher: Monitor Publications
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780648672210
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Geopolitics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In Sri Lanka A Victor’s Peace, Ana Pararajasingham, provides a perspective on events as they unfolded following the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in May 2009.

This book is a collection of articles by the author published between September 2009 and August 2019 in various journals covering events in Asia and the Pacific.

Ana Pararajasingham was Director Programmes with the Switzerland based, Centre for Just Peace and Democracy (CJPD) between 2007 and 2009. He is the editor of Sri Lanka: 60 Years of “Independence” and Beyond published in 2009 and author of Sri Lanka’s Endangered Peace Process and the Way Forward published in 2007.

Events in post-war Sri Lanka have been underpinned by three distinct themes: Colombo’s pursuit of a ‘victor’s peace’; Beijing’s determination to strengthen the Beijing-Colombo axis and New Delhi’s and Washington’s attempts to re-assert their influence over Colombo.

Ana Pararajasingham has scrupulously followed the oft-quoted dictum “Comment is free, but facts are sacred ”.

Damien Kingsbury, Professor of International Politics at Deakin University, Australia has identified the raison d'être for these articles written over a ten year period in his powerful foreword pointing out that

“The author has documented these events and issues in his articles, retaining a clear eye for fact where so many have been persuaded by a regrettable, often confrontational, emotion. For anyone wanting to understand post-LTTE war Sri Lanka, these articles offer invaluable insight. For anyone wanting to understand Sri Lanka’s place in the wider geo-strategic field, and to get a glimpse of how global politics can play out in a corner of the world, these articles are enlightening.”

According to Associate Professor Jake Lynch of the University of Sydney, this astute and informative collection of articles by Ana Pararajasingham help explain how the Sri Lankan government and military were able avoid meaningful accountability for their copiously documented war crimes in the early months of 2009 through “Duplicity, delay and defiance” in its political positioning, together with exploiting rival geostrategic designs by global powers.

Others who have recommended the book include: Geoffrey Robertson QC, Human Rights activist, Antony Lowenstein, Writer and Winner of 2019 Jerusalem (Al Quds) Peace Prize, Bruce Haigh, Former Australian Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, B?shana Abeywardane, exiled Sri Lankan journalist and Lee Rhiannon Australian Greens’ former Senator for New South Wales.

Endnotes

The International Dimensions of the Conflict in Sri Lanka

1 This was based on a view expressed by Anita Pratap in an article titled “Lessons to be learnt from the rout of the LTTE” –The Week 31 May 2009. But since then, others such as Brahma Chelleney have argued that New Delhi was in the dark about Chinese involvement which Sri Lanka had engineered without New Delhi’s knowledge. Anita Pratap’s article acknowledges that New Delhi’s motive in assisting Colombo was also driven by India’s goal to be rid of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

2 Lunstead J in “ The United State’s role in Sri Lanka’s Peace Process 2002-2006” originally published by The Asia Foundation in 2007 and included in the CJPD’s Publication ‘International Dimensions of the Conflict in Sri Lanka”, 2008

3 Das R N. “China’s Foray into Sri Lanka and India’s Response” http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/ChinasForayintoSriLankaandIndiasResponse_rndas_050810

4 Reuters, “UN rights body backs Sri Lankan resolution on war”, 27 May 2009, http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LR170562.htm

5 Rajasingham AT , “Shocking revelation of what Fonseka did in U S”, Asian Tribune ,14 February 2010 “http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2010/02/14/shocking-revelation-what-fonseka-did-u-s-asian-tribune

6 Das R N. “China’s Foray into Sri Lanka and India’s Response” http://www.idsa.in/idsacomments/ChinasForayintoSriLankaandIndiasResponse_rndas_050810 (website of the Indian Institute for Defence studies and Analysis (IDSA).

7 Ramu Manivannan, “Historical Shift - India, Sri Lanka and the Tamils” 7 June 2010 http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/papers39/paper3847.html (website of the South Asia Analysis Group).

8 Saibal Das Gupta “China calls PoK ‘northern Pakistan’, J&K is ‘India-controlled Kashmir’” Times of India 2 September 2010

9 Wall Street Journal Asian Edition “The Chinese Military Challenge” 18 August 2010

10 Bill Gertz,“China removed as top priority for spies”, Washington Times 20 August 2010

11 Ibid

12 William R. Hawkins,” Why Did U.S. Kowtow to Chinese Naval Ambitions?”, Accuracy in Media, 27 July 2010 http://www.aim.org/guest-column/why-did-u-s-kowtow-to-chinese-naval-ambitions/

13 Jacques M, “When China Rules the World: The Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World “Allen Lane, UK 2009,p340

14 Wen Liao , “China Crosses the Rubicon”, Financial Review, 23 June 2009

15 ibid

Sri Lanka: In the Eye of the Storm

1 Wen Liao in “China Crosses the Rubicon”, Australian Financial Review,23rd Ju...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction
• The International Dimensions of the Conflict in Sri Lanka
• A Safer Place for Tamils
• Sri Lanka: In the Eye of the Storm
• Frances Harrisons’ Still Counting the Dead
• Required: A Sri Lanka Policy18
• Colombo’s Military Build-Up: A Strategy of Deterrence
• Sri Lanka’s Re-embrace of China Leaves India out in the Cold
• The Tamil Nadu Factor: Demanding Justice for Genocide in Sri Lanka
• Extension Given to Probe Sri Lanka’s War Crimes is No Surprise
• The Politics of Persuasion-An Evaluation
• Sri Lanka: Sovereignty Compromised
• Trincomalee Beckons: Is New Delhi Becoming Assertive?
• Realpolitik Not Humanitarian Concerns Will Decide Myanmar’s Future
• Sri Lankan Constitution: The Strategy of Doublespeak
• Sri Lanka’s Proposed Constitution Comes Under Attack
• India’s Regional Power Credentials under Threat by China
• Sri Lankan Regime Backing Away from Conflict Resolution Vows
• Hindutva takes on Tamil Nationalism.
• Why Is Sri Lanka Defying the United Nations?
• Why Colombo Remains a Challenge for New Delhi
• Can the Application of Universal Jurisdiction Foster Accountability in Sri Lanka?
• Sri Lanka’s Chinese Connection: Beyond Bribes and Debts
• Unsilenced: Male Rape by the Sri Lankan Security Forces
• Sri Lanka’s Tamil Cause, a Political Football ?
• Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Crisis: The Geopolitical Dimension
• An evaluation of Sri Lanka’s Democratic Credentials
• How Sri Lanka Wards off War Crimes Investigators
• The Geopolitics of Sri Lanka’s Transitional Justice
• Sri Lanka’s Muslims Bloodied by Buddhism
• US Push for New Military Agreement Runs into Fierce Opposition in Sri Lanka
• What Colombo-Beijing Axis Means to Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka’s ‘Victor’s Peace’ and the Way Forward
• Endnotes