10/08/2003 - Sunday Leader
Tigers growl over Indian deminers





Two Indian non governmental organisations on the invitation of the Milinda Moragoda Institute for People's Empowerment (MMIPE) has begun demining work north of Vavuniya clearing 200,000 square kilometers of land in government held territory.


The project initiated by Economic Affairs Minister, Milinda Moragoda is funded by the Norwegian government. The two Indian NGOs called Horizon and Sarvatar Technical Consultants consist of retired soldiers from the Indian Army and have begun work in the areas of Salampaikulam and Kurukkalputhukulam.


Chairman, Horizon, Major General Shashikant Pitre (Red) said the organisation is dedicated to humanitarian demining. Speaking to The Sunday Leader in Vavuniya, Pitre said that he is assisted by two retired brigadiers and other officers of the Indian Army.


The core group for one demining task force comprises of one retired officer and 35 to 40 retired men. These men he said, "Are well trained, battle-experienced in handling of mines and are highly motivated." He added that a few of them have worked on demining per se as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) while in Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Cambodia.


Pitre himself has served one year and three months in Sri Lanka during the IPKF's tenure from 1987 to 1990. Asked to comment on his experiences he said, "I have both good and bad memories. However I strongly deny the allegations made against the IPKF and it hurts me to hear these things being said. "Pitre was responding to allegations of rape and pillage committed by members of the IPKF during their tenure in Jaffna.

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Maiden project in Sri Lanka
Pitre meanwhile said that he together with other retired soldiers of the Indian Army decided to form this NGO and that in an ironical twist of fate "this is their maiden project in Sri Lanka, to assist in humanitarian demining."


He said Horizon was established in January 2002 and has been registered as a trust. He further reiterated that despite a variety of expensive and modern equipment available for demining, "The manual method continues to remain the most reliable, dependable and indispensable method of demining."


"It is in this context we believe that the Indian soldier with his perseverance, patience and dedication will excel in the field of humanitarian demining," he said, adding that retired army officers from the Indian Army during their service developed vast expertise in the management of demining tasks.


Asked if he was not concerned that the LTTE may oppose this particular project because it is being managed and implemented by former members of the IPKF, Pitre responded that he is here on the invitation of Minister Milinda Moragoda and his institute and sees no justification for the LTTE opposing their work in Sri Lanka.


"After all, a soldier can go anywhere, and we are truly committed to this project, irrespective of even the money involved."

Pitre maintained that Norway has made an approximate allocation of Rs. 40 million for the first six months of this project to Horizon and has begun demining work at Salampaikulam.


Brigadier S. Brar is in charge of Sarvatar and has begun work at Kurukkalputhukulam. Some confusion was caused when Brar arrived as he was believed to have also served in Jaffna during the tenure of the IPKF.


Brar however maintained that he had not and that this was in fact his first visit to Sri Lanka. Brar's unit consists of a large number of Sikhs, some of whom served in Sri Lanka under the IPKF between 1987 to 1990.


Brar too however is relatively unconcerned about this aspect. He said, "We are here on a humanitarian mission to demine this area. I am not in the least bit worried that there could be any adverse repercussions from the LTTE."

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Minister Moragoda is of the same view. In his opinion the two NGOs are working in government controlled territory and not in the uncleared areas. "So the LTTE has no justification to voice concern," he said. Moragoda added that already Norway has informed the LTTE of this project and assured the Tigers "there is no secret agenda involved but merely a commitment to carry out a humanitarian demining operation."


The LTTE meanwhile has verbally lodged a formal protest with the government over the two new demining NGOs from India camped in Vavuniya which the LTTE state consist of former members of the IPKF.


Secretary General, LTTE Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan told The Sunday Leader that the LTTE has voiced strong objections to the government having permitted these two NGOs to work in Vavuniya north in the areas of Salampaikulam and Kurukkalputhukulam.


"The people in the north are very unhappy when they see the Sikhs as it brings back horrifying memories of the IPKF in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990," Puleedevan said. He asserted that the LTTE too does not want the Indian NGOs in the north "given that the IPKF have been our bitter adversaries."


Puleedevan asserted that this situation "has created a degree of unpleasantness between the LTTE and the government and the LTTE has impressed upon the government the need to remove these teams of Indian soldiers from the north."


In contrast to normal procedure which other demining NGOs have had to follow, both these NGOs were permitted to begin work without having secured work permits, registered with any state authority or having signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government - necessary procedures which all other mine action NGOs working in the north have to follow.


Both Horizon and Sarvatar began work north of Vavuniya on June 24, assisting the Sri Lanka Army to remove mines from the area.


MoU with MMIPE
This was in contravention to a letter from Prime Minister's Secretary, Bradman Weerakoon to all government agents in the north and east, which states specifically that any demining NGOs must sign an MoU with the government before being allowed to begin work.

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The two NGOs initially began work after having secured only 30 day tourist visas which is both illegal and does not conform to procedure which other foreign demining NGOs have had to follow. Both Indian NGOs also had not registered with the Social Services Ministry or the Defence Ministry until both the LTTE and members in government voiced concern. Nor did they sign an MoU as required with the Sri Lankan government until late July, more than a month after they had commenced work in Vavuniya.


Deputy Chief, Demining Operations, MMIPE, Imthiaz Ismail said that the MMIPE signed an MoU with the two Indian demining NGOs in February this year, in India. He said the MMIPE signed another MoU with the Defence Ministry but Ismail refused to divulge the date when this MoU was signed.


Ismail reiterated that the MMIPE is completely committed to resettling displaced persons in the north and this is why it brought in the two Indian demining NGOs to help clear mine laden areas.


Defence Secretary Austin Fernando said an MoU was indeed signed with the MMIPE "on or around July 28 or 29" after the two NGOs had begun work in Vavuniya.


Fernando confirmed that no MoU has been signed directly with the two Indian demining NGOs. The Defence Secretary however reiterated that signing an MoU with the two Indian NGOs may not be necessary given that they had the sponsorship of the MMIPE.


Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has also lodged a protest in writing to Bradman Weerakoon. On July 2, Mine Action Technical Advisor to the government, UNDP, Tim Horner wrote that there is some concern to the National Steering Committee for Mine Action with regard to these two Indian NGOs.


Outdated
The National Steering Committee for Mine Action is chaired by Bradman Weerakoon and Horner serves as technical advisor under whom all mine action programmes must be coordinated and monitored. Horner has stated in his letter that the deminers do not appear to be professionally qualified to carry out this work.
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Horner maintains that the clearance methodology used by the two Indian NGOs is based on home made rakes with no internal quality assurance or guarantees that the clearance depth meets the standard set for Sri Lanka.


The point here is that globally to use rakes to detect mines is now uncommon and worldwide the method used is mine detectors, dogs, etc. When The Sunday Leader visited the two demining sites in Vavuniya we learnt however that the Sri Lanka Army also uses rakes to detect mines as do certain other NGOs.


Major General Pitre told us that Horizon had by last week detected 314 mines from an area of 100,000 sqm. allocated to Horizon in Salampaikulam. Pitre admitted to The Sunday Leader that the mines so discovered they had put into a pile and burnt.


Horner has reiterated to Bradman Weerakoon that whilst burning mines does indeed destroy them, it seems an unusual and potentially very dangerous method to be used by professionals. Normally professional deminers destroy the detected mines using explosives as burning only may not destroy the explosives contained within the mine.


Horner has impressed upon Weerakoon that these points contravene international mine action standards as well as the national standards being set for mine action in Sri Lanka. Horner meantime maintains that while both NGOs may have a wealth of experience in military engineering (mine laying and mine lifting) neither has ever conducted humanitarian mine clearance operations.


He states further that they have merely downloaded reading material from the internet on international mine action standards but have no real experience in humanitarian demining.


Pitre and Brar both confirmed to The Sunday Leader that this is indeed their first maiden project on demining outside projects conducted by the Indian Army. Pitre also said that Horizon had indeed downloaded reading material from the internet on International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) before embarking on this project in Sri Lanka.


Pitre asserted that almost all the 314 mines removed from the ground at Salampaikulam "were fossilised as they had been laid in 1994 and 1995."
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Lack of professionalism
Horner's observations with regard to Horizon and Sarvatar is further validated by the Government Agent, Vavuniya, Kandiah Ganesh, who has also in writing made the identical observations as Horner, asserting the two Indian NGOs lack professionalism in the expertise of removing landmines.


When we spoke to Ganesh he said that these two NGOs are in Sri Lanka having secured the blessings of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Moragoda so he cannot object to their working in Vavuniya.


Ganesh stressed both the Indian demining NGOs "have their own way of doing things - I have been told that in India this is how they have been working," but that now, "both these NGOs will be monitored by UNDP teams for mine action in Sri Lanka."


Ganesh asserted that since his letter of concern he has visited the two sites and seen a marked improvement in the project work. Ganesh pointed out that Sri Lanka "cannot afford to choose" and some 40 locations within the Vavuniya district are yet to be cleared of mines. Only eight so far, he said have received clearance for demining.


"We do not have sufficient funds to demine these areas," he said, adding that "we have to grab whatever resources come our way and in this context, an unofficial arrangement has already been made for these Indian teams to work under the guidance of the UNDP and its mine action office in Vavuniya," Ganesh asserted.


He reiterated that no families will be resettled in these areas until a clearance certificate is secured from either the UNDP or the Sri Lanka Army stating the villages where Horizon and Sarvatar have worked are completely free of any landmines or hidden explosives.


One million mines to be cleared
According to UNDP estimates there are approximately one million mines yet to be cleared from areas in the north. The government has receipts for a million mines though not all of them were laid, while the LTTE manufactured its own mines and another unknown quantity of mines was smuggled into the country during the time of war.
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According to Puleedevan and LTTE estimates there are still 1.5 million mines in the north that remain to be cleared. Chief of Staff, Sri Lanka Army, Major General Lohan Gunewardena who recently accompanied Moragoda on a site visit of the two areas being cleared by the Indian demining teams said, "Frankly, within government controlled areas the army would prefer to carry out all demining work. The NGOs should be sent to the uncleared areas to demine."


The Sri Lanka Army meanwhile has reiterated that it is not in favour of the two Indian NGOs recruiting locals from the area to train them in demining. This in fact is one of the objectives of both Horizon and Sarvatar.


Security Forces Commander, Vavuniya, Major General M. D. S. Chandrapala explained that if locals are thus trained it can pose a "security threat."


"Locals can always be subjected to pressure by the LTTE and even families can be threatened. In turn they can do a lot of damage in the field," he said, adding that even after the mines are cleared, locals could be used by the LTTE to either relay mines or cause other security hazards.


Chandrapala pointed out that recently some Tamil residents in Vavuniya were instigated by the LTTE to threaten the two Indian demining teams and scare them into leaving.


He said that the Sri Lanka Army had to speak with the locals and impress upon them that these two teams are here purely to achieve a humanitarian objective that will ultimately assist the government in its plans for resettlement of internally displaced persons.


"No sinister motive" - Moragoda
Minister Milinda Moragoda said the two Indian NGOs were invited by his institute solely to tackle some of the humanitarian issues in the north. He said he had not checked on the military background of the deminers. "I am certain there is no sinister motive involved here - we are merely committed to clearing some areas in government territory of landmines so displaced persons can be resettled," he said.


Moragoda reiterated the programme has so far been successful and that 60 members of the Indian demining team have pledged to train another 60 Sri Lankans in the art of demining. Moragoda asserted that it was more economical to bring in Indian deminers and that given their vast experience in one of the most competent militaries in the world they are professionally capable of handling the demining programme in the north. "I would assume they would know what they are doing," Moragoda said in response to the UNDP's charge that the two teams are unprofessional and lack expertise in the art of demining.
 
 
 
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