Sovereignty of states and international terrorism

Last week's missile attacks by the United States on an alleged chemical weapons manufacturing plant in Sudan and an alleged terrorist camp in Afghanistan have resulted in widespread condemnation of the United States, particularly by Third World countries. It is claimed that these attacks were meant to be a diversion of public interest to the Clinton- Lewinski affair.

Criticism against US attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan is based on the premise that such attacks, if at all, should have received the sanctions of the Security Council of the United Nations and preferably by the General Assembly as well. While such UN sanctions would have cleared the US attacks, it is very unlikely that the UN would have approved of such sanctions. In such circumstances what could the sole superpower have done ?

Waited for terrorists to bomb the hell out of its outposts abroad ?

The dilemma of the sole superpower is that while they are committed to observance of international law, where terrorism is concerned, international law has proved to be extremely ineffective. Sri Lankans who have been affected by internationalism terrorism know it better.

Sovereignty of nation states have to be respected and observed. But what happens when sovereign states sponsor terrorist movements that attack other sovereign states ?. Should international terrorism be permitted to flourish in the name of sovereignty of states ?

It is not only international law that comes into play. It is the acceptance or passive attitude of the international order on international terrorism. No people know it better than the Sri Lankans.

In 1977 after J.R. Jayewardene scored a sweeping victory, rightly or wrongly he chartered a new economic and foreign policy. He established a market economy which was anathema to the then Empress of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, and chartered a pro western foreign policy. It is now a part of history that to teach the uppity Sri Lankans a lesson, India financed, armed and sponsored Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka. Funds were readily given by the Central Indian government, the Tamil Nadu government and were also freely flowing from western nations and Australia where Tamils had migrated. Human carnage of an unprecedented order was taking place in Sri Lanka while western nations were more concerned about violation of human rights by the untrained armed forces. Apart from Pakistan, Israel and China to a certain extent no other country was willing, as President Jayewardene said: To lift a finger for Sri Lanka.

That was the plight of a small nation that is subject to international terrorism and for which international law had and has no answer . The international order turned a Nelsonian Eye because the regional power was of greater national interest to them than this small country.

The basic question to which no answer is forthcoming is: How can international terrorism be combated by international law ? Even the United States has no answer and they have used their military might to attack , even before, what they consider to be centers of international terrorism.

The knee jerk reaction of Third World countries to missile attacks last week was to verbally bash Uncle Sam. Perhaps the ' defensive action', is not he answer to terrorism in the long run. But what other answer is there ?

The only solution is that sovereign states which do not want to see sovereignty of their countries violated, should prevent terrorists from operating from their countries. We Sri Lankans know that if LTTE terrorism is not being spawned out from remote outposts such as in Afghanistan or Sudan but from western capitals where the terrorist fronts are permitted to operate freely. The stock answer given by these civilised nations committed to eliminate international terrorism is that terrorists there do not violate the laws of their countries . This is simply ducking of their commitment to combating international terrorism. If there are lacunae in the law, then they have to be filled up.

That is what the United States did when it proscribed the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. All Sri Lankans should be thankful to the honest and unhypocritical stance of the United States.

Let not Sri Lankans view international terrorism blithely as some other nations do, if their interests are not threatened. The final solution to international terrorism is that no sovereign state should permit terrorism, in whatever form ,to be based in their countries.