By Mario Perera, Kadawata Sri Lanka

Everyone, both here and abroad now knows that the LTTE has gone very much and irreparably ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”down under’. During thirty years this diabolical organization aided and abetted by foreign financing and arms fought for what was nationally and internationally called ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”the rights of the Tamils of Sri Lanka’. The LTTE also arrogated to themselves the label ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”sole representatives of the Tamil People of the Island’. The only question I wish to ask those Tamil MP’s, globe trotting mouth pieces of the LTTE is this; Tell us of one (just ONE, do not rack your brains to find several) development project launched by the LTTE during these thirty years to alleviate the poverty of the Tamil population whose cause you championed with lip service much the same way as wind blowing through hollow coconut shells.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Ealam war with a view to establishing a so-called Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka was never close to the end. Even the Ceasefire Agreement was very much temporary as ether party could easily have rescinded it without much ado (as it did eventually happen). Now for how long would the Ealam war have gone on? No one knows. But if our governments vacillated in indecision on tight ropes held out by those European nations the self titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”international community’ as the previous ones did, the Ealam war would have gone on and on indefinitely. What does that mean? Just that thirty would well have become sixty and ninety and so on. Just look at the weapons the LTTE left for public show, and consider the funds the Diaspora was willing to provide for a war without end with the pious message to Prabha; Thy kingdom come. We know that even heavenly kingdoms take an infinitely long time in coming, that is if they come at all… Was the Ealam dream achievable? Many said yes but many more said no. One thing is certain that neither the overpowering majority of Sri Lankans nor India wanted it, and Prabha did not want anything less either. So on weighing the pros and the cons it could very reasonably be assumed that the only purpose of the Ealam war was to make Sri Lanka uninhabitable, making the exodus of Tamils to overwhelmingly richer climes very much a reality. All this meant chaos for Sri Lanka in a purposeless war of attrition from which the suppliers of money and military hardware and dishonest politicians had all to gain. What all this meant to the Tamils was that they would have become poorer and poorer, even becoming the poorest of the poor in a country condemned to a lingering struggle for survival. Just watching the mass exodus of refugees from LTTE held land drove home this point without the least shade of ambiguity.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ An examination of this question is relevant because now the moralizers, the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”holiest of the holies’ who gleefully watched the sinking ship while taking bets and staking claims like ringside punters, now want ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”justice’ done to the Tamils. They even want it done soon! Even poor Ban Ky-Moon can ask for nothing better drawing as he does his fat check from these blood suckers. (By the way stopping in a wayside tea room recently I heard the Sinhalese version of old Ban’s name. A tea boutique political analyst was pronouncing his name ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”KIMUNG’; Kimung mahatthaya. Indeed that is what Ban has become; a big ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”YAWN’). So people who sat and watched or to adopt Milton’s phrase ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”stood and waited’ indefinitely and unendingly while their palms were being oiled and their pockets replenished, now want quick action for ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”justice to the Tamils’ whom they had sentenced through massive support for the war, to burning over the slow excruciating fire of despair and impoverishment.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As for the pro LTTE Tamil MP’s who watched so patiently while the Tamil population lived on an ever diminishing dole, they have lost all moral right to call for rapid development now. The point is, can people who made wallowing in a horizonless immoral war a way of life develop moral values overnight? The question might probably raise another big ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”yawn’ (ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Kimung’ now synonymous with Ky-Moon) in the guise of an answer.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mario Perera, Kadawata Sri Lanka