It is not only dead bodies
that must be respected …
Editorial, Courtesy The
Island 01-11-2007
The government has drawn flak from some quarters over an alleged parading
of the dead LTTE combatants after the recent attack on the Anuradhapura
airbase. The government has vehemently denied the allegation, claiming
that the spin doctors of the LTTE have doctored some pictures and disseminated
them the world over on Internet to bring the military into disrepute.
However, it is reported that the army used a tractor to transport the
LTTE dead bodies to hospital. So, if the government is to clear its
name, it should get the allegation probed thoroughly with a view to
finding whether some piqued and frustrated defence top guns attempted
to cover their nudity in the aftermath of the humiliating debacle by
stripping the corpses naked and parading them on the pretext of transporting
them to the morgue. The allegation cannot be dismissed totally as LTTE
propaganda.
Some critics of the government known for disputing Sri Lanka’s
history have said that it is unthinkable that such a thing happened
in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, the cradle of the country’s
civilisation, where once King Dutugemunu ordered that the fallen enemies
including his bête noire, King Elara be respected. True, according
to legend King Dutugemunu did so. But, the question is how they can
cite examples from the Mahavamsa, which they deride as a book of fiction.
It is like, a wag says, the devil quoting scriptures!
If it can be established that anyone in the armed forces derived some
sadistic pleasure or tried to distract the public from the ignominious
defeat at the expense of the dead LTTE cadres, he must be dealt with
according to the law and appropriate punishment meted out.
Now let’s turn to the paragons of virtue on a campaign to condemn
the Sir Lankan military to the stake over the alleged parading of dead
bodies. Where were those worthies when the LTTE surrounded villages
in the dead of night, dragged civilians including women and children
out and chopped them to death? In massacres like the one at Gonagala,
Ampara, the LTTE death squads cut open pregnant mothers while they were
still gasping, took out foetuses and crushed them under their boots.
The killers also dashed infants on walls and trees. There are hundreds
of photos of mutilated dead bodies of LTTE’s victims, if proof
is needed. But, we have yet to come across a single human rights activist
or a peacenik who has taken on the LTTE on this score.
In 1990, the LTTE laid siege to the police stations in the East and
demanded the surrender of the personnel serving there, promising their
safety. The late President Premadasa in a desperate bid to salvage a
crumbling peace process ordered their surrender. The LTTE took about
600 policemen into the jungle and massacred them. That is the way the
LTTE treats its captives! Why are the human rights activists silent
on this kind of bestiality?
TULF President V. Anandasangaree, one of the few Tamil leaders with
the courage to stand up to northern terrorism and southern extremism
alike, has rightly taken on Prabhakaran for making sacrificial lambs
of his men and women for an unattainable goal. Almost all suicide cadres,
it is believed, are orphans or children abducted at a tender age and
subjected to years of brainwashing and rigorous training. Driving people
to suicide for whatever reason is a crime, isn’t it? That exactly
is what Prabhakaran has been doing for so many years. While sacrificing
the progeny of others in the name of his macabre cause, he is keeping
his grown up son in the safety of Kilinochchi as the leader of the LTTE
air wing, having educated him abroad.
Therefore, those who are condemning the government for the alleged
parading of the dead LTTE suicide cadres must be asked why they are
mum on the inhuman manner in which they were turned into killing machines.
Hundreds of them have committed suicide in the past like lemmings and
many more will do so in the future under the delusion that they are
killing themselves to clear the last obstacle on the path to Eelam.
How different are they from Rev. Jim Jones’ cult members who allowed
their master’s fantasies to rule their lives and finally committed
suicide collectively by drinking a poisonous potion at his behest? Prabhakaran,
it may be recalled, posed for a pre-raid picture with the Black Tigers,
who, he knew, would never return. Shouldn’t that shameless vain
act aimed at propping up his crumbling image be condemned unreservedly?
It is not only dead bodies that must be respected. A person’s
right to lead a normal life without being forced to undergo brainwashing
and become zombies at the beck and call of a fanatical leader of the
ilk of Pol Pot, driven by a pipedream, must also be safeguarded. Those
who don’t recognise that right and hero-worship the megalomaniac
in the Wanni engaged in human sacrifices, have no moral right to tell
others how the war dead should be handled.
Those who have rightly made an issue of three female LTTE cadres stripped
naked following the Anuradhapura attack need to be reminded that all
female suicide bombers (or Prabhakaran’s ‘Children of Fire’)
are found naked in pieces after blasts. Shouldn’t Prabhakaran be
made to take the blame for that?
However, none of the aforesaid can be claimed in extenuation of the
dastardly act the military stands accused of. The government is duty
bound to conduct an impartial investigation and get to the bottom of
it.
Finally, as for the campaign that the LTTE sympathizers have embarked
on, we have only this to say: Right cause but the wrong champions!
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