Dilrook Kannangara

The war reached a ferocious end. It came as a surprise to many and at a huge cost. There was a time when naysayers ruled the day. They predicted that LTTE cannot be militarily defeated and other nonsense. However, a careful look at these quarters revealed that they were business partners in this 37 year old cycle of death and destruction. Their business was managing death and destruction. Sustaining this cycle of misery was essential for their survival and hence they opposed attempts to end this.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Governments were no better. The thing that they called war was used to rob taxpayers top dollars under the pretext of various bunkum. The military were given political objectives instead of strictly military objectives. Of course all military objectives eventually add up to a grand political objective, but, the further the scope of the task is, the more remote becomes the chances of achieving it.

LTTE was also in the business. Tigers managed to collect US$200-300 million every year, yet used barefooted malnourished and under aged fighters. They too had no intention of concluding this.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Then there are human rights activists, facilitators, intermediaries, go-betweens, NGOs and various other jokers attracted to the carnage like carrion birds. None of them sincerely wanted a resolution. They used terms like ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”peace’, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”ceasefire’, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”cessation of hostilities’, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”peace dividend’, etc. to sustain their business. It must be emphasised that NGOs are not necessarily non-profit-organisations. Profit comes in various shapes and can be termed virtually anything. However, none of their ideological dogma managed to create a country where law and order prevails.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Security forces did a marvellous job in eradicating the most vicious and ruthless terrorist organisation in the world. Had they used Dhamma instead of Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers, this would never have ended. Interestingly Prabakaran had said in an interview in the early 1980s that he had to take up a gun because JR Jayawardene was not a true Buddhist. A complete meaningless statement. Prabakaran started killing in 1975 when JR Jayawardena was just the Opposition Leader!

What people of Sri Lanka wanted was an end to this violence. Although we have a long way to go to achieve that, annihilating the LTTE is definitely a big step in the right direction. Controversies are being created by those who run the risk of going bankrupt due to the ending of the war about the manner in which some situations were handled. Raising the professional standards of armies around the world, especially of the rich and powerful countries, is one thing, achieving tangible results wherein matters can be peacefully discussed and sorted out is another. Following ideological hogwash is a sure way of putting off the resolution of problems.

At the same time conspiracy theorists are also at work. They thrive in chaos and this is a god-send opportunity to get down to work. There are interesting oddities as well.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

My industry does not depend upon war and misery in Sri Lanka. Hence I have no complains about ideological benchmarks that are only practiced in Utopia. The complete annihilation of the LTTE, especially its leaders, has created a political space within which a political solution can be discussed. LTTE not only rejected and ridiculed all attempted political solutions, but also meticulously bumped-off the engineers of political solutions like Dr Thiruchelvam, Kadirgamar, Pon Sivapalan and many others.

The fate of Prabakaran and his family is totally and unreservedly justified. They must be thankful that they were not treated the way the IPKF treated captured LTTE women.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

It is sad that certain sections pretending and trying hard to give the impression that they uphold high standards of ideological correctness, fails miserably when it comes to continued misery because that is their bread and butter. They better mourn the demise of Prabakaran; business would not be as good as they used to be for 37 years.