Pro-LTTE Lobbying and Peace Talks in Geneva

By Darmitha-Kotte

There are many pundits who profess to know everything from guerilla warfare, terrorist strategies, economic remedies, social remedies- you name it and they have prescriptions for everything. Some of those pundits are Dr.Kumar Rupasinghe and Jehan Perera who for years have been championing the cause of terrorists and their activities in this country. Their prescriptions all help to justify what the terrorists are doing but not what the democratically elected government of Sri Lanka is doing to safeguard the sovereignty and independence of this country. These pro-terrorists lobbyists get adequate media coverage in the print media while those who speak for Sri Lanka as a Unitary State, often find it hard to get even a single article inserted in the print media. The "pro-terrorist mafia" is throwing in lots of money to bury the media with their prescriptions while sitting on NGO funds!

For nearly twenty five years these pro-terrorist lobbyists have been selling the Irish, Sierra Leone, Philippines, Indonesia and Israel examples which they know for sure, will be the panacea for our Sri Lankan ills. If we look at these countries closely and honestly, we know that none of their problems have been solved upto date! Each country has it's own root to their problem just like Sri Lanka has hers. How they manage to equalize all countries including the Sri Lankan situation and think that what is good for "A" will be good for "B" as well is anyone's guess. No two situations are identical just as much as there will be no identical solution possible for two separate issues.

Having failed other attempts, Mr. Kumar Rupasinghe has finally thought that southerners must be coerced into the Gandhian theory of "Ahimsa." He has published two articles one in the Sinhala Sunday Lankadeepa of 1st October 2006 and one in the.English language Daily Mirror of 2nd October 2006. In the Daily Mirror article titled " An Opportune time to continue what Buddha and Gandhi practiced? " the learned writer goes into a lengthy explanation of why we Sri Lankans need to practice "Ahimsa" or non-violence. At the beginning of his article, he states: "As we commemorate the 137th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2,it is indeed another occasion to reflect on violence and peace in Sri Lanka. Turning back the pages of our history marks the arrival of this great sage, with an enlightened vision, to the island (then Ceylon in 1927). He captured the hearts of the Sri Lankans belonging to all strata of the social Fabric. He practiced "Ahimsa" to all communities of this country with the prime motive of guiding them to leading a life of peace and non-violence. He was inspired by the beauty of the country and the place of Buddhism and its preservation in Sri Lanka and was impressed by the religious co-existence which was part and parcel of this country."(end quote)

The writer quite rightly admits that as far back as 1927, Sri Lanka was a peaceful country with religious harmony when he states"….He was inspired by the beauty of the country and the place of Buddhism and its preservation in Sri Lanka and was impressed by the religious co-existence which was part and parcel of this country." Now we may ask " who destroyed that "religious co-existence" and why? It is true that Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence won independence for India but the prize question to ask is "did it leave India as one unitary state? " No- it divided the land mass of India into three as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India! To this day, there are conflicts among these three countries. It is true that India has a strong sense of national identity but that is because every Indian (unlike Mr. Kumar Rupasinghe and Jehan Perera) consider him/herself "Indians" because they were born in that country and they are proud to say it. India has a very strong central government, which dictates and has the final word on national policies and has veto power over the different regions.

We have sons and daughters of our soil, born and bred in this country, educated by The State and who are now sitting on foreign soil or earning out of INGO/NGO funding and trying to dictate "Ahimsa" to us in the hope that we will help them to fragment this country like what happened to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

May we humbly ask Mr. Rupasinghe whether he ever tried talking "Ahimsa" to the blood-thirsty Prabhakaran when he massacred his own Tamil community(let alone Sinhalese and Muslims) in cold blood? Does he dare to go and ask the terrorists to lay down their weapons to talk "Ahimsa" or non-violence and peaceful co-existence? The religious harmony that Mahatma Gandhi witnessed in Sri Lanka when he visited Sri Lanka in 1927 as Mr.Rupasinghe states thus "….He was inspired by the beauty of the country and the place of Buddhism and its preservation in Sri Lanka and was impressed by the religious co-existence which was part and parcel of this country."- that harmony was also destroyed by the Catholic as well as other Christian Churches which have been supporting the LTTE terrorists who attacked many places of Buddhist worship in their near thirty years of bloody guerilla war. This "Ahimsa" doctrine of Mr. Rupasinghe must be published in the Tamil newspapers that the terrorists read, for them to understand what peaceful co-existence is. Mahatma Gandhi or his "Ahimsa" movement must not be insulted in this manner. Mahatma Gandhi was truly and genuinely interested in the welfare of "Mother India"- Mr. Rupasinghe, how genuine are you for "Mother Lanka" and her welfare?

Mr. Jehan Perera and NPC are now turning slightly and talking about " A successful new approach requires committed support" in his article in the Daily Mirror of 17th October,2006. He states in his article thus " It is hoped that the humility that comes from tasting the fruits of both victory and defeat will imbue the peace talks that are expected to be held in Geneva at the end of October with a seriousness of purpose. Over confidence from repeated military victories could have doomed those peace talks from the outset. It is basic that peace talks have to be about accommodating each other's interests. But those who are over confident because of their imagined strength are likely to be less inclined to be accommodative to the concerns of others, which is necessary for the conflict resolution process to be successful. " Further down the article he states " So far it has seemed that both the government and LTTE were only agreeing to talks due to the pressure being put on them by the international community. There is evidence for this pressure in the form of three top international trouble shooters coming to Sri Lanka this week. They are Jon Handsen Baur, and Yasushi Akashi, the Norwegian and Japanese government's special envoys respectively to the peace process, and Richard Baucher of the US Department of State. However these international messengers of peace have been here in the past as well, without any noticeable impact on the peaceful intentions of the two parties."

What Mr. Jehan Perera fails to state in his article when he says " Among the different approaches that Sri Lankan governments have used in the past, it is the UNP's approach to conflict resolution that it started to implement at the end of 2001 that had the greatest degree of success" is the fact that after April 2003 with all the success of the UNP initiative, LTTE terrorists still backed out of the negotiations and there was a deadlock until 2006 April (three years). The reasons why they backed out are known to many people. During the UNP period, the so called "success" that Mr. Jehan Perera talks about is because the UNP practically gave into all the demands of the terrorists and allowed them to have a free hand in establishing their own court houses, police check points, taxing systems etc without central government interference! If one can call this success- what is failure? To us, it seems that the UNP as a democratically elected government at the time, failed miserably to live upto the expectations of the entire nation who voted them in, not to accede to terrorist wishes but to ensure peace and prosperity as they promised & which never materialized! The success could be that all international so called "trouble-shooters" (as Mr. Jehan Perera calls them), had the UNP doing and "dancing to their tunes" exactly as they wished. Naturally, the international interference was at its height and to the benefit of the INGOs and the NGOs who were "earning their living" out of the atrocities of the LTTE terrorists!

It is true that there needs be commitment from the parties involved in the conflict, to find a lasting solution. However, while terrorists are attacking, abducting, torturing, conscripting child soldiers, disturbing the peace of the majority Tamil community in the North where even their children were afraid to attend school for fear of being abducted, it definitely did not seem as if the terrorists were genuine in their peace efforts. We must accept that it was the terrorists who were harassing their own Tamil community. Under the circumstances, any democratically elected government or it's Armed Forces have a bounden duty by the citizens of this country to protect them from terrorist attacks. When water was deprived to the villagers in and around Mawil Aru, is the government expected to sit back and just watch with "Ahimsa" while people and crops burnt out? No one, whether foreign trouble shooter or otherwise, has the authority or right to request our government not to react. Similarly, the atrocities committed during these five months by the terrorists had to be countered whether we like it or not- that is duty of the Armed Forces. Outsiders should not try to dictate terms or conditions on how and when a government must take action to save her people.

In an article in the Sunday Leader of 15th October, 2006 "LTTE Chief Negotiator says Govt. Operating with Military Agenda- Bala Won't Attend Geneva Talks" it states that Mr. Anton Balasingham will not participate in the October peace talks in Geneva. It states " Balasingham told The Sunday Leader the situation in the north-east is gloomy and disturbing, and that the government seems to operate with a clandestine military agenda while pledging to pursue the peace process to placate the international community." He further states "The Tamil people are deeply skeptical over this deceptive "war and peace" strategy of the Rajapakse regime." What he fails to state clearly is that the majority Tamil community in the North and East have always been gloomy and disturbing for the past 30 years with the endless harassment meted out to them by the LTTE terrorists who have been harassing and torturing them for "kappan or taxes," abducting their children to form the Children's Brigades, confiscating their properties for terrorist activities and even hijacking the relief supplies that are being sent for them! The majority Tamil community is tired of the terrorist harassment and waiting for the day when they can breathe a sigh of relief- that is not because of the government but because of the LTTE!

Finally, it needs to be emphasized that all citizens of this country want peace and that the racial and religious harmony destroyed by the LTTE terrorists in their blood thirsty murderous war, must be restored to be what it was pre-1980s. However to do that, commitment is more needed from the terrorists rather than from the government. If they truly wished for peace and laid down their weapons, then the Armed Forces and The GOSL does not have to be on alert all the time to protect the nation from murderers. Show genuine efforts by laying down your arms, and peace will not be far away.