CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Banning the tail but not the animal

Courtesy The Island 24-11-2007

Minister Anura Bandaranaike, having left the Rajapaksa Cabinet in a huff several moons ago, chose to call the government a ‘Carnival of Clowns’. He rejoined the same Carnival later on. However, one cannot but agree with him on his considered view of the government.

Someone made a film called ‘Parliament Jokes’ which became quite popular. If a film is made on gaffes of the present government, the producer thereof could rest assured that it would be an instant hit. It may be called ‘Government Jokes’ or a better title will be ‘Present-day Kekilles’, Kekille being the name of a legendary bovine king. Here is a Kekille story:

The government has banned the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), which is a notorious front of the LTTE, after years of vacillation. What prompted the government to do so was the US government’s recent decision to designate the TRO and freeze its assets. But, the Rajapaksa government is dilly-dallying on the question of reimposing the LTTE ban. How strange! It can fight the outfit but cannot ban it! On Thursday, Media Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, when asked at the weekly Cabinet press briefing whether the government would ban the LTTE, said it was closely watching the LTTE’s behavioiur. That is the biggest joke of the century, to say the least.

King Kekille would spin in his grave, if he knew he was getting overtaken posthumously! Now let’s examine the ministerial skewed logic. The reason why the government has banned the TRO is its links with the LTTE. But, the government says it is still ‘watching the behaviour of the LTTE’ to ban it. If so, why on earth did it ban the TRO because of its links with the LTTE? One’s brain ceases to function, they say, when one sits on it!

What is more preposterous is the Minister’s claim that the government is ‘watching the LTTE’s behaviour’. Is there any need for the government to watch the LTTE? It has been in existence for well over twenty five years and it is known the world over for its terrorism. It has also been banned in several countries. It had been proscribed in this country until 2002, when the UNF government lifted the ban under international pressure to start peace negotiations, which collapsed in the end. The LTTE has killed a President (Premadasa), an Opposition Leader (Gamini), Ministers (Ranjan, Kadir, CV et al), Service Commander (Clancy); massacred civilians (Gonagala, Kokilai, Eravur, Kebitigollewa etc.); bombed civilian targets (Pettah, Central Bank, Maradana, Ratmalana, Dehiwala etc.,); killed over 600 policemen (those who surrendered to it on the orders of President Premadasa, who tried to salvage a crumbling peace process at their expense); attacked the international airport twice; made an attempt on an incumbent President (CBK), a Defence Secretary (Gotabhaya), an Army Commander (Sarath Fonseka) and a large number of Ministers (Nimal Siripala, Douglas Devananda et al), abducted and killed children, men and women; recruited thousands of child soldiers; destroyed public property worth billions of rupees and killed thousands of security forces personnel and policemen.

Should Minister Yapa be wasting his time watching the LTTE’s behaviour any longer?

The actual reason why President Rajapaksa is doing a Prince of Denmark on the question of banning the LTTE is international pressure. The deproscription has become a fait accompli like the CFA, which he has had to live with. The chances of any government being able to negotiate a political solution with the LTTE are as remote as those of a cat’s survival in hell, but banning the LTTE at this juncture will be construed as an attempt to foreclose ‘peace talks’. So, the government is fighting the LTTE without banning it and the LTTE is waging war without withdrawing from the CFA.

The position of the US and other countries on the LTTE ban is equally absurd. Having proscribed the outfit and frozen the assets of its front organisation, TRO, the US wants the Sri Lankan government to resume negotiations. Thus, we have a situation where the US and its allies are advocating negotiations with the LTTE which they have banned as a terrorist organisation and the Sri Lankan government is all out to defeat the outfit militarily without banning it. Who is fooling whom?

There are two things that the government ought to do on the question of banning the LTTE. First of all, it should stop trying to hoodwink the discerning public by trotting out lame excuses and own up to the fact that it lacks the courage to re-ban the outfit. The people will appreciate its position, given the international pressure it has come under. Second, it must refer the issue of the ban to Parliament. After a debate, a vote should be taken so that the people will know who the real sympathizers of the LTTE are and the ban will be very democratic.

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