"Secret Agreement to
Restrain Media in South Opposing Terrorism"
- Why Fear South if the Mission is Honest?
By Darmitha-Kotte
Free Media Magula (FMM) and a group of journalists from the south headed
by Sunanda Deshapriya had made a secret trip to Kilinochchi to meet
the terrorist leader Thamilselvam on 16th May 2006. So it was reported
in the Amarasara website on 23rd May 2006. Under normal circumstances
their purpose would have been to obtain as much information to splash
in the newspapers as breaking news. However, this meeting seems to have
turned out to be one where the journalists from the South had gone to
" kow-tow" in front of Thamilselvam and to pledge their allegiance
to the terrorists to say " we journalists in the South will support
you and suppress anti-LTTE media reports originating in the South!"
For nearly thirty years, the LTTE terrorists have systematically built
up a "credible sounding myth" about a "Traditional Homeland
for Tamils" in Sri Lanka; set up propaganda centers world-wide;
cheated westerners with false propaganda on how the Tamils in Sri Lanka
are being marginalized and discriminated; supplied false information
to world bodies like UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank; orchestrated
mass scale exodus of Tamils from Jaffna and the North to western countries
on the pretext that they were fleeing Sri Lanka due to political harassment
from the Sinhalese (whereas it was solely for economic purposes) ; "
sold " the idea to western governments, that LTTE terrorists were
the sole representatives of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka whereas,
the majority Tamils are peace-loving harmonious people who despise the
blood-thirsty terrorists; organized fund-raising drug smuggling rackets
worldwide; organized well-knit extortionist operations in western countries
through which these so called "sole representatives" have
been terrorizing their own Tamil community living and working abroad
into contributing monthly funds for the LTTE terrorist activities- (failure
to contribute would mean that their relatives living in Sri Lanka would
face brutal murder); made their quest an internationalized operation
to get material support & weaponry to fight a legitimate & democratically
elected government in this country.
While doing all the above, inside Sri Lanka the terrorists have been
torturing, murdering and annihilating civilians in the most gory brutal
fashion which can only be classified as "sadistic"- mothers,
infants, fathers, children, Sinhalese & Buddhist clergy, Muslim
clergy, Hindus in the North, pilgrims paying homage in their religious
places of worship. Others who have been at the receiving end of this
brutality are the service personnel, government officials, Tamils who
do not support terrorism of the LTTE, Tamil politicians who are on the
democratic path, and most recently children who have refused to become
child conscripts! There is absolutely no humaneness in the LTTE operations
except to pamper and protect the immediate families of the LTTE cadres-
can this be considered the true & honest championing of a Tamil
cause? For too long, the LTTE has had their own way & been pampered
by western powers with individual agendas.
None of the above mentioned atrocities have been committed by the Sinhalese
or Muslims against the Tamil community but by the LTTE against their
own Tamil community! When the armed forces retaliate to protect themselves
or the civilians, the LTTE is quick to "cry foul" and sob
in front of foreign sympathizers. True champions of a cause- will work
with love and sympathy towards their own people whereas, the LTTE has
done exactly the opposite.
After 30 years, the western world is finally waking upto the realities
of the LTTE atrocities and insincerity and realizing that brutal terrorism
of the LTTE is also promoting terrorism worldwide which is now endangering
the peaceful lives of westerners in their own countries. The LTTE has
violated all the terms of the CFA about which they emphasise all the
time and insulted even the western supporters like Eric Solheim. Now
they have begun to take necessary measures to protect their own countries
& naturally, the comforts enjoyed by the LTTE in those countries
will be severely restricted. Whom do they now blame- Media operations
in the South! Is this not truly ironic?
"Terrorism" must be despised by all whether people are in
the North, South, East or West and every sane thinking citizen of this
country has a right to expose acts of terrorism. In the name of a "Traditional
Homeland" no organization must be permitted to destroy human lives.
They do have a ready-made Homeland in Tamil Nadu -in India. No race
has 2 homelands but only one.
If it is good for LTTE terrorists to carry on distorted propaganda
campaigns against the Sinhalese & our National Government not only
in the North but world-wide, for how long do the terrorists expect citizens
in the South to keep "mum" and tolerate all the insults to
humanity? For 30 odd years the Southerners have kept silent thanks to
the political leaders who have not had a backbone to speak out for what
is decent and right. JR Jayawardane, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Chandrika
Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickramasinghe have all been helping terrorism
to flourish in this country & called the Southerners "EXTREMIST"
if and when they have protested against LTTE atrocities. This is by
no means a natural phenomenon in any country in the world except in
Sri Lanka because those governments survived by pampering the terrorists.
By getting rich through commissions!
In as much as terrorists engaged in brutal and bloody campaigns to
destroy decency in this country, other citizens who obey the law and
order of this country, have every right to express their opinions against
terrorism and no Thamilselvam or Prabhakaran or Sunanda Deshapriyas
who represent the media should be permitted to silence those voices.
It is amazing to note that Poddala Jayantha of the Sri Lanka Professional
Journalists Union had attempted to deify Thamilselvam by writing on
his behalf in the " Silumina" & that other journalists
had actually met a Minister in the government to (quote) " remove
Karunadasa Suriyarachchi, Editor of "Silumina" and Bandula
Jayasekera, Editor of "Daily News" from their posts. The group
had pointed out that Mr. Bandula Jayasekera was a strong opposer of
NGOs and he was an obstacle to their work" (end quote) These journalists
obviously are either out of their minds , acting as Cat's Paws of the
Catholic/Christian Church OR have been " very well looked after"
( or promised by LTTE) should they accomplish their mission! Or, the
Minister who had been approached was given the same promise- which ever
may be true? Our Cabinet of Ministers owe allegiance to the GOSL and
the people who elected them into power, not to brutal terrorists or
self-serving treacherous journalists. Is this not an act of treason
against The Nation of Sri Lanka? How can any sane peace loving human
being speak on behalf of the terrorism carried out by LTTE?
The media machines in the South must become stronger and stronger.
They must be able to speak out the truth and save our nation without
being afraid of terrorist intimidation or Anti-National conspiracies.
They will eventually be able to prove that " TRUTH WILL PREVAIL"
at any cost and that the saying " Better late than never"
(we are already 30 years too late) will eventually open the eyes of
the entire western world to the brutality & atrocities of a small
group of blood-thirsty terrorists who cannot lay down their arms. They
cannot lay their arms, because the majority Tamil community in this
country genuinely despise them for the sufferings brought on the people
of this country through 30 years of terror.
There is no justification in terrorism & it must be wiped out without
any reservations so that ordinary citizens irrespective of Tamil, Sinhala,
Muslim or any other race born and bred in this country also have a right
to live in peace and harmony.
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