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13 J. Pol. & L. 236 (2020)
Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Armed Groups in Post-War Sri Lanka: A Study Based on Koralaipattu South Divisional Secretariat Divison in Eastern Sri Lanka

handle is hein.journals/jpola13 and id is 699 raw text is: Journal of Politics and Law; Vol. 13, No. 3; 2020 ISSN 1913-9047 E-ISSN 1913-9055 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Armed Groups in Post-war Sri Lanka: A Study based on Koralaipattu South Divisional Secretariat Division in Eastern Sri Lanka V. Kamalasiri, M. A. M. Fowsar' & M. M. Fazil Department of Political Science, South Eastern Lniversity of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Correspondence: V. Kamalasiri, Department of Political Science, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka. E-mail: kamalsv08@seu.ac.lk Received: July 18, 2020 Accepted: August 29, 2020 Online Published: August 30, 2020 doi:10.55391jpl.v1i3n3p236 URL.: https ://doi .org/ 10 .5539/jpl[.v l3n3p236 Abstract This article generally focuses on the process of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) which are essential to restore sustainable peace in the post-war scenario. The DDR is one of the significant aspects of the process of post-war peacebuilding. In most of the cases, this process has implemented with the assistance of foreign governments and international or regional institutions. However, the circumstances under which the Government of Sri Lanka happened to take over the sole responsibility for implementing the D)R process have raised serious concerns both at the local and international level. Hence, this article attempts to conduct a detailed inquiry of the DDR31 process implemnented in Sri Lanka after the end of the civil war. This article followed a descriptive method of investigation. The findings of the study show that the DDR process was not fully implemented in a broad manner in the Sri Lankan context, but only served as a continuation of the msiitary victory over the LTTE. In particular, not much attention was paid to disarming and demobilizing the armed groups, and only the so-called DDR process took place without international assistance and supervision. Keywords: disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, peacebuilding. civil war 1. Introduction Peacebuilding is a continuous process that is generally undertaken by the support of the international coininnunity, and it is an essential long-term process after the end of a war. Following a protracted civil war, it is crucial to rebuilding the peace and harmony among war-torn communities (Department of Peacekeeping Operations [DPKO], 1999). In Sri Lanka, the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was brought to an end in May 2009 after defeating it militarily, and there were talks of emphasizing development from then onward. However, the expected growth never took off satisfactorily due to the lack of sustained interest by the successive governments. It had terrible consequences and led to many difficulties that the people had to face. After the independence of Sri Lanka, ethnic relations among communities were characterized by the ruling Sinhala elites and their political agenda that mainly focused on excluding the Tamil speaking minorities from the mainstream political arena. On many occasions, ethnic minorities were subject to ethnic discrimination and subject to other strictures, which eventually led to the armed conflict. Even when proposals to address the Tamil minorities' grievances were put forward by some Sinhala leaders, they were obstructed by chauvinists among the majority community. Peaceful protests by the Tamils eventually transformed into a violent uprising of Tamil youth, and it took on a new dimension after the July 1983 pogrom against the Tamils, which drew international attention and criticism (Fazil, 2019). The war between the LTTE and the government raged for nearly three decades. In 2007, the LTTE was defeated in the Eastern province, and subsequently, the government initiated post-war development and peacebuilding activities in the region. In keeping with that, the government commenced disarming, demobilizing and reintegration process as a prelude to establishing peace in the area. When the LTTE were defeated militarily, they were immediately disarmed and demobilized. The government took the measures to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into society, and it was considered an essential step to rebuilding peace in the region. Unfortunately, in 2004, the LTTE's Eastern province commander Karuna's faction did the exact opposite and mobilized itself into an armed group. After the war ended in the East, Karuna's and Pillaiyan's armed groups began operating as