Western Hypocrisy--Never Take it Seriously

Somapala Hewage

I was reading an interview of the US Ambassador in Colombo by an Indian electronic newspaper "www.indiaenews.com". It so happened that I read this interview just shortly after listening to CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio's Sunday edition, in which a group of Western experts on the Middle East insisted that even thinking of negotiating with Islamic terrorists is abhorring. By contrast, the US Ambassador in Colombo, interestingly enough, was entertaining the concept of negotiations between the Colombo government and the LTTE terrorists.

After listening to that CBC Sunday show and reading the interview, two things came to my mind:

First, the West has no genuine interest in helping Sri Lanka achieve a peaceful solution to this terrible problem because there is no tangible economic or security benefit to Western countries. In the absence of a clear security or political benefit to them, comparable to their interest in the Middle East, the West has been adopting an ideological position of "moral high-ground".

Contrary to their own global policy vis-a-vis terrorism, the West (US and its allies) is advocating the idea of a "negotiated settlement" for Sri Lanka. They have been encouraging Sri Lankan political leaders to negotiate with the LTTE terrorists, the very concept that they reject outright with regard to the Islamic terror groups.

The West opposes any negotiations with the Islamic terrorists because it might compromise their proclaimed military and ideological superiority. This last week, when speaking in the Australian capital, vice president Dick Cheney indicated his country's desire to attack Iran, and even someday to engage China militarily. These are all ideological and military ambitions that the West will never hide.

However, what political and economic gains can be made by helping a small island nation to maintain its territorial integrity and sovereignty? Nothing, as far as West is concerned. In this context, Sri Lankan leaders and the public should be aware of the fact that hypocritical Western political leaders and their diplomatic representatives should not be taken very seriously. If Sri Lankans are interested in preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country, they should do everything in their power to protect them. The West does not care about any of these things because there is nothing for them in it.

My second point is that negotiations with terrorists who are committed to break up a country is futile and must be dealt with militarily. At the same time, the Sri Lankan government must provide a political solution to Tamil people. Throughout the history of this conflict, we have not done that for a variety reasons. But, now for the first time, this dual approach is taking place. All peace loving Sri Lankans should help in this endeavor.