US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO66

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000066 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, DRL 
 
NSC FOR E. MILLARD 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL; 
 
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  01-10-13 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PTER, SOCI, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Journey of a human rights activist:  From a 
focus on the government to deep concern about the LTTE 
 
Refs:  02 Colombo 2133, and previous 
 
(U) Classified by Lewis Amselem, DCM.  Reasons 1.5 (b, d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY:  Father Harry Miller (AMCIT -- strictly 
protect), a Catholic priest and resident of Sri Lanka 
for almost 55 years, is changing his tune on the human 
rights situation in Sri Lanka.  Prior to the start of 
the peace process in December 2001, Miller was for many 
years harshly critical of the GSL's human rights record. 
More recently, however, Miller has become worried about 
the Tamil Tigers and its nefarious activities, including 
the forcible recruitment of children.  Miller's shift in 
emphasis places a spotlight on a larger trend we are 
seeing among human rights activists -- and many Tamils, 
who are increasingly worried about the LTTE.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (SBU) ABOUT THE FATHER:  Father Harry Miller, 77, is 
a Catholic priest who has lived in Batticaloa in eastern 
Sri Lanka, since leaving his Jesuit seminary in New 
Orleans in 1948, the year of Sri Lanka's independence. 
For years, Miller served as a teacher and administrator 
at St. Michael's School in Batticaloa town, a 
prestigious local elementary-to-high school.  In 
addition, he managed a coconut farm located just outside 
Batticaloa town, which is part of the Jesuit Mission to 
Sri Lanka and helps support Roman Catholic academic 
programs. 
 
3.  (C) Through the years as ethnic tensions in Sri 
Lanka flared into confrontation and violence, Miller 
became increasingly involved in human rights issues.  In 
1983, he helped form the Batticaloa Peace Committee, a 
local human rights organization.  More recently, Miller 
became a local representative for the Norwegian-run Sri 
Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which is charged with 
monitoring adherence to the February 2001 ceasefire 
accord between the Sri Lankan government and the 
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  Due to his 
length of service in Batticaloa and the multiple 
organizations he remains involved in, Miller is a well- 
regarded local fixture in the east, and a consistently 
well-informed interlocutor for diplomats and the 
international press. (Note:  Aside from his comments re 
human rights and local politics, he will also tell you 
entertaining family stories about the "Yankee" troops 
entering Louisiana in the Civil War.) 
 
4.  (C) A LONG-TIME CRITIC OF THE GSL:  For years after 
Sri Lanka's conflict began in 1983, Miller was extremely 
critical of the government and its security forces. 
(Note:  Miller was also highly critical of the Indian 
Peace-keeping Force, "IPKF," which was deployed in Sri 
Lanka from 1987 to 1990.  His opinions on IPKF-LTTE 
fighting and the human rights fallout are widely quoted 
in a well-known book on Sri Lanka called "Only Man is 
Vile" by William McGowan.)  On countless occasions 
through the years, he accused the security forces of 
involvement in human rights violations in the war 
against the LTTE.  In doing this, he has often publicly 
contradicted the military's official statements about 
incidents in the east.  An example of this was his 
description of the May 17, 2000, "Vesak Day" (a Buddhist 
holiday) bombing in Batticaloa that killed 18 people, 
including 9 children.  The military investigation into 
the incident found that all of the deaths were due to 
the initial bomb blast, which was almost certainly set 
by the LTTE.  Miller maintained, however, that the 
children, and some of the adults, were killed when 
security forces arrived and indiscriminately opened 
fire. 
 
5.  (C) In criticizing the government, Miller often made 
clear his view that the way the GSL was fighting the 
war, which included overlooking human rights violations 
by its troops, was helping provoke Tamils to join the 
LTTE.  That said, he was never an apologist for the 
LTTE, and its use of violence and terrorism.  In myriad 
conversations with emboffs, once he had finished 
criticizing the security forces, Miller would lambaste 
the LTTE.  At the same time, the overall trend of 
Miller's comments -- and the lack of balance in the 
passion with which those views were delivered -- almost 
seemed to gloss over LTTE actions in favor of hitting 
out at the government. 
 
6.  (C) A SHIFT:  With the advent of the peace process in 
December 2001, Miller's steady diet of criticism for the 
government has dramatically morphed into a focus on the 
poor human rights record of the LTTE.  Per Reftels, in a 
recent meeting with emboffs, Miller slammed the LTTE for 
forcibly abducting children for its armed forces and for 
placing burdensome taxes on civilians.  (Note:  On the 
topic of forcible recruitment of children, Miller was 
recently quoted in The New York Times as stating that 
the LTTE "have thousands of children, and they're still 
taking them.  We haven't gotten any back.")  He went on 
to specifically complain about an incident in late 2002 
in which LTTE cadre forced St. Michaels' schoolchildren 
to work on one of the group's farms, noting that one of 
the children died in a fall from a tractor.  He also 
complained that the LTTE was seizing houses in the 
Batticaloa area for use by its cadre, and that members 
of the group were stealing coconuts from the farm he 
manages and using the tractor there without permission. 
He has also asserted that the Batticaloa Peace Committee 
cannot do its work because of a complete lack of 
cooperation from the LTTE. 
 
7.  (C) Although Miller has not said it explicitly, his 
deeper concern seems to be that the LTTE is now running 
amok in the east and little is being done to stop it. 
At times, he even expresses concerns that the security 
forces he once loathed seem to have thrown in the towel 
by retreating into their garrisons.  While he does not 
say it, perhaps because it is too sharp a departure from 
his previous years of hitting out at the GSL, Miller 
seems a man worried that the government in Colombo plans 
to give up the east, leaving the LTTE in unfettered 
charge. 
 
8.  (C) COMMENT:  Miller's dramatic shift in perspective 
places a spotlight on a larger trend we are seeing among 
human rights activists -- and many Tamils.  While Sri 
Lanka's security forces have a well-documented history 
of human rights violations, it is the case that this 
record gradually improved (largely thanks to 
international pressure) as the government and judiciary 
increased oversight, and the military provided better 
training. 
 
9.  (C) With the focus on the government diminishing, 
the LTTE is being recognized as the major human rights 
violator in the country.  More generally, human rights 
activists and many Tamils are newly aware that the north 
and the east may well have to live with the LTTE being 
the major political force in those areas for some time 
to come.  This recognition is not a positive one, 
creating a classic "be careful what you wish for because 
it might come true" situation.  In essence, Miller and 
those like him got what they want in that the government 
has improved its record but, in the process, they are 
now stuck with the LTTE, which is much, much less 
amenable to change.  END COMMENT. 
 
10.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
WILLS