Q: How difficult has it been in taking the message of the Sri Lankan government to the US government and the diaspora living in the US including the Tamil diaspora?

When I started one and a half years ago it was very difficult. Because over the last 25 years that this [war] was going on, I believe the right message had not got across. On and off there has been a lot of progressive good work but I realized that the last year was the most difficult year. We were doing something good last year and the pressure was really on. I had a couple of tasks educating the State Department and briefing them on the day to day happenings in the country. Also, we had neglected the Senate and the Congress; I don’t say everybody. But the pro-LTTE diaspora was leading and was briefing the Congress and the Senate with the wrong information. Therefore in addition to briefing the Senate and the Congress I had to brief the State Department and the Sri Lankan diaspora.

We have about 250,000 Sri Lankans in the USA the majority of who are Sinhalese. Out of the 250,000 we have only about 50,000 Tamils. Out of these Tamils, 90 percent was supportive of what was happening in Sri Lanka. So there was only a very small percent that was making noises over the past 25 years. I felt that it was a difficult task, but now I feel my task is easy.

Q:You mentioned about ‘getting through to the Congress and the Senate.’ We in Sri Lanka don’t really consider this aspect

[ keeping Congress and the Senate briefed] as important. Our concern is more about the US State Department. It could be said that the pro-LTTE diaspora has been affective in lobbying support through this angle. Could you elaborate about the task of getting through to the State Department?

In the US, the Congress and the Senate have a big part to play and are really powerful. For example, President Obama wanted to introduce the Health Bill. But without the support of the Congress and Senate he cannot do that. Therefore right now he is doing a lot of lobbying to get through to them. Winning the support of the Congress and the Senate is important to push this bill through. Anything else is also is like that; even when it comes to the Sri Lankan issue. 

 So I concentrated on the foreign relations committees and many others who are directly involved in the foreign relations of the US. I targeted these groups and briefed them on the proper situation in the country. They have been briefed by the pro-LTTE diaspora not just this year but over the past 25 years. Therefore it was a very difficult task to convince them overnight. I had to use facts and figures that clearly depicted the situation on the ground.

It is a difficult task because I am telling them the government side of the story, but they mostly believe their voters and the Sri Lankan Americans living there. Therefore I have to encourage the Sri Lankans living in the US to go and talk to them [members of the Senate and Congress]. The pro-LTTE diaspora did that very well because they wanted to give a wrong picture, so they had organized groups meeting the Congress and the Senate.

One example I can give is that in the past six-months or so I met over 40 Congressman and Senators. I went to Congress, from room to room meeting them. During this time there were so many pro LTTE groups also meeting with them. I did not meet any non-pro-LTTE groups meeting them. It is at this time that I thought we need to push our diaspora and give them the correct picture. But once they go to these countries they don’t like to get involved since they have so many things to do. They go to educate their children or to earn money as business people, doctors, or lawyers; they don’t get involved in politics. But these organized groups that are pro-LTTE, are organized specifically for this matter. I needed to explain this to the Congress and Senate and tell them this is why only one side was coming to meet with them but that in the future others will come. Right now the ordinary Sri Lankans are going and giving them the right story. So I managed to convince more and more people to go.

Q: President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called for Sri Lankan expatriates living aboard to support the rebuilding and rehabilitation process. How are the Sri Lankan-Americans responding to that?

They have taken up the call really well. I’m sure that people will get involved because this has never happened in the past. This is the first time that a President has called the diaspora to come and meet him.

Related to that, I have started a programme in meeting the community in different states,specially focusing the Tamil community. When Minister Bogollagama was in New York he came to Boston to meet the expatriates and it was a good meeting. We met many Sri Lankan professors there working for the MIT, and Harvard and Boston Universities. We explained to them and invited them to come to Sri Lanka. I am also visiting the communities from state to state and inviting them to come to Sri Lanka, again focusing especially on the Tamil diaspora. They were happy with the invitation and they were willing to come since they haven’t been in the country for a long time.

Q: The US has been clear on their policies in eradicating the LTTE. How much would you attribute their support to the removal of the LTTE on a global scale?

Honestly, we have to be thankful to the US government for what they did. The US is the first country in the Western world to ban the LTTE. They didn’t stop there; the FBI during the time of President Bill Clinton cracked down on the LTTE front organization the TRO, because they were collecting money and using it to purchase weapons.  At the same time they had this organization called Tamil Foundation. They always use this “Tamil” name in front to do various things. But it is not all Tamils. Ninety percent Tamils are good; this is just one percent that is the pro-LTTE diaspora that is doing all this. So the US government banned that organization as well.

In addition the US has supported us in so many different ways which I can’t divulge even during the past year. If not for US support it is going to be very difficult. We are working with the US Defense Department, the Treasury Department and the US Trade Department. So they are all supportive of Sri Lanka– especially the FBI, Secret Service, intelligence they can help us a lot towards fighting the LTTE.

Q: You mentioned that there is a very small LTTE diaspora that is very pro-active in the US. But that the majority–ninety percent–of Tamils are anti-LTTE. So have you found instances where the smaller group has intimidated the larger group? Have Tamils there come and informed you of them being coerced by those supportive to the LTTE?

No actually. Even during last year I had a lot of meetings with the anti-LTTE group. They didn’t want to come forward because of fear of the LTTE, but they provided us with information on these matters on LTTE activities such as the collection of money.  But these people, although we tell them to, talk to the State Department. But slowly they are meeting with me and coming to my place, so slowly I have built up a relationship with the Tamil community.

Now there is no talk of money being collected for the LTTE, they use other front organizations, like humanitarian assistance groups, to collect money and these are effectively tracked by the FBI and brought down.

What I see however is that in the USA they the pro-LTTE groups are not as strong as in Canada. Even when they come for a protest they are not really pro-LTTE. Just when a pro-LTTE guy calls and asks you to come for a protest they will be there, otherwise they will be in a difficult situation. During the last protest in New York there were only about 16 people. Whereas there was a protest launched by the Sri Lankan community and there were about 300 people. It was the other way around some time back.

Q: You are in the country as ambassador to attend a business forum. Therefore what are the business prospects between Sri Lanka and the US in post war Sri Lanka?

This is good news right now. We have TIFA, Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, talks and this was signed in 2002 and every year we have these talks. These were organized last February even before the conflict was over. We thought that even if the conflict was going on we need to get economic development going. The main problem in the country is that if a person has enough money and can educate his children then we won’t have any issues. No one will be causing conflict in the country if these needs are fulfilled. Therefore we thought we should take this team to Sri Lanka to help with the Development of the country.

(This interview was conducted prior to the controversy with the Chief of Defense Staff General Sarath Fonseka in the United States.)