Politics of Duplicity

The LTTE are masters of the politics of duplicity. Speaking to the LTTE front Tamilnet over the weekend, Tamilchelvam lamented that the LTTE never pulled out of the Geneva II talks.

But the fact remains that the advance party of the Sri Lankan government delegation comprising its support staff were in Geneva in April as scheduled, while the LTTE were playing delaying tactics, hoping that the suicide bomber would succeed in assassinating the Army Commander and provide the LTTE with a strategic advantage.

With the failure of the LTTE suicide bomber, one among many LTTE failures in the recent past, the LTTE began drifting further and further away from Geneva. It seems that the LTTE wants peace and ceasefire agreements to ride on the back of suicide attacks.

Tamilchelvam states that the government was obstructing its transfer of terrorist leaders between the North and the East. Yet, it boasted on this same TamilNet in May that it successfully carried out a sea movement between Trincomalee and the Vanni.

If the LTTE is able to carry out sea movements, then it cannot at the same time claim that its excuse for not going to Geneva was because the Government did not facilitate transfers of its cadres between the Vanni and the East.

The LTTE created the conditions that brought about an EU proscription and it is now smarting from the confirmation of the EU proscription expected this week.

The mine attack in Wilpattu last week is another mistake by the LTTE, which strengthens the position of the Sri Lankan state and weakens the LTTE. But the LTTE, with its Tamil diaspora gallery, regards it as a success. Tamil nationalist fascism is the Achilles Heel of the LTTE. On Monday, they exposed their true agenda in the capitals of Europe protesting in favour of a separate state.

With the excitement of the EU proscription of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, the Colombo press and intelligentsia has failed to recognise the most disturbing part of the EU proscription which debilitates the psyche of the LTTE and forces of Tamil nationalism/fascism.

It is item 2. of the resolution passed by the European Parliament earlier this month, which calls on the LTTE to resume peace negotiations with the Government of Sri Lanka without delay, to be prepared to decommission its weapons and to set the stage for a final political settlement of the conflict.

The magic word is "decommission" and its impact on the psyche of the LTTE and the forces of Tamil nationalism is far more debilitating than all the missiles the Sri Lankan armed forces could launch against the LTTE.

This word "decommission" in effect demolishes the very foundations of this Tamil nationalist, fascist movement and renders it impotent.

The Tamil nationalist ideals of a separate state, backed up with perceived military prowess of the 5% with Black Tigers, Sea Tigers, Air Tigers and Leopard Special Forces etc all vanished into cuckoo land with the "D" word.

The LTTE claims homelands in Sri Lanka. Yet, it fashions itself and glorifies the Cholas of South India who invaded and occupied Sri Lanka. The Tiger flag of the LTTE is a copy of the Chola flag of the pouncing Tiger. The Chola dynasty ruled South-East India and established an empire by invading other South Indian states, Sri Lanka, Java, Sumatra etc. in the 10th century.

The forces of Tamil nationalism/fascism identify themselves as the present day Chola warriors, to boost their moral in taking on the numerically superior Sri Lankan state. LTTE Tamil language propaganda frequently highlights the successes of the Cholas and their heroic deeds. It promotes the idea of a greater Tamil consciousness, which encompasses a unified North and East Sri Lanka and South India as one entity, separate from the Sinhalese and the Hindi speaking North India.

The LTTE uses Chola psychology to transform a less that 5% minority which makes up the forces of Tamil nationalism/fascism in Sri Lanka into something greater, a Chola psychology that enables it to think in terms of Tamil empires and conquests of India and Sri Lanka, placing it on a psychological plain superior to the Sinhalese and the Indians, so that it can take on the numerically superior Indian and the Sri Lankan armies.

It has not yet dawned on the LTTE that they maybe the only people on earth who claim a homeland and at the same time glorify a dynasty (Cholas) that invaded and ravaged this same homeland.

Professor Peter Schalk of the Uppsala University in Sweden, who is a premier propagandist of the LTTE, corresponding with me via e-mail a few years back, sent me some of his work, which explored the great martial attributes of the Ilavars. (Citizens of Tamil Eelam). This work, like other LTTE propaganda, glorified the Cholas and their military prowess and equated the present day Tamil Tigers as the new Chola warriors, whose onslaught the Indian and Sri Lankan armies cannot withstand.

This heroic martial mind frame, the cult of the martyrs etc, makes up the psyche of the Tamil nationalist/fascist movement, providing it with the adrenaline to take on the numerically superior Indian and Sri Lankan armies.

This is similar to the religious adrenaline used by fanatical Islamic militants to take on the worlds most powerful nation.

When the European Parliament used the word "decommission" it debilitated the psyche of the entire Tamil nationalist/fascist movement, as without weapons, the forces of Tamil nationalism and aspirations are rendered impotent.

The effect of the EU resolution is compounded, because it is the very first time that the international community has communicated to the forces of Tamil Nationalism that it expects them to disarm.

Imagine the great Chola warriors without their weapons?. Not even the combined proscriptions of the United States, India and the United Kingdom have demoralised the Tamil nationalists as the EU’s'A0call to’A0"decommission".

Here are those who equated its leader to Nelson Mandela, a leader who fashioned himself on Napoleon and Chandra Bose, a terrorist movement that considered itself as having parity status with the government of the Republic of Sri Lanka, with its perceived military balance of power with the Sri Lankan armed forces, boasting that it defeated the worlds fourth largest army (Indian Army), claiming sovereign rights to the sea and land, being asked to "decommission" its weapons by the EU.

This is not just Tamil nationalism being brought down to earth. It’s the mother of all come downs.

Fascist agenda

The LTTE’s present strategy of trying to instigate a communal backlash by the Sinhalese against the Tamils is perceived by the Sri Lankan establishment as an attempt by the LTTE to tarnish Sri Lanka’s image, internationally. Government Ministers have been communicating to the general population not to fall into the LTTE trap.

There are more pressing motives for the LTTE to pursue this strategy. The LTTE’s priority is to neutralise the Karuna group and the other anti-LTTE Tamil forces mobilised against it. The LTTE perceives these anti-LTTE Tamil forces as being the cutting edge of the Sri Lankan states counter-terrorism strategy.

By instigating a Sinhalese backlash against the Tamils, the LTTE intends manufacturing and highlighting human rights abuses against Tamils, in the hope to present itself as the savours of the Tamils, boost recruitment into its ranks, undermine the Tamil forces it perceives as being aligned with the Sri Lankan state, disrupt the cutting edge of the Sri Lankan states counter terrorism strategy, enhance its credentials and aspirations with the international community, as the defenders of the Tamil people from what it ‘A0manufactures as being "genocide".

Those who claimed to be the sole representatives of Tamils are now murdering their way to become the sole liberators of Tamils, despite the fact that they are the biggest murderers of Sri Lankan Tamils, in recorded history. -Island-By  Dushy Ranetunge

President Embarrasses judiciary with continuos arbitrary appointments

President Mahinda Rajapakse has recently filled the vacancies in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal without following the constitutional provisions and bypassing the Constitutional Council.

These appointments have added to the long list of unconstitutional appointments to several commissions under the 17th Amendment. The political decision taken by President Mahinda Rajapakse to ignore the 17th Amendment will have serious repercussions on the implementation of the rule of law. The present appointments to the judiciary would certainly affect the independence and integrity of the judiciary while having the effect of embarrassing and undermining the judiciary.

The President and the so called advisors of the political leadership should bear the responsibility for the long term adverse consequences of these ill advised appointments. We must remind ourselves that the politicians are trustees of the public and not the owners of the Republic. Politicians cannot and should not disregard the will of the public that is enshrined in the Constitution.

TISL warns the government that, as a result of this continuing process of unconstitutional appointments, the upper tier of the hierarchy of all organs of the State is on the verge of collapse resulting in the loss of independence, integrity and legitimacy of the government in the eyes of the public. TISL notes with regret that in effect, the country is pushed towards an extremely undemocratic governance structure.

For TRANSPARENCY INTERANATIONAL SRILANKA

J.C.Weliamuna
Executive Director

Tiger daughter shuns Tiger leaders

(Zoo-Paa hurt at not being invited; some Canadian Tamil Congress men may be attending the party. Anton Balasingam told not to give press interviews regarding the party for security reasons. Dirty Sethu may represent the father at the function but Irish immigration clearance for him is very much in doubt).

Duwaraha is going to celebrate her 20th birthday in grand style in Ireland. A handpicked group of VIPS, whoever that may be and certainly not Eric Solheim, have been invited. Security factors are so demanding and tough, the poor old father, who is not even safe in the Wanni Bandit Zone, will not be attending it. There is also the question of transport from Wanni wilds to the Irish greens in far off lands; via Maldive Islands is considered too risky.

It is generally agreed that it will be a party Ireland has not seen since the Middle Ages. Duwaraha’s brother Charles Anthony, not named after Anton Balasingam, will also grace the occasion. The preparations are quite hush-hush and security is in full gear because Karuna Amman has indicated a desire to be present and bless the 20-year old whose nappies he changed when she was in Wanni.

What is disturbing most Tiger bigwigs, particularly Zoo-Paa is that Duwaraha’s mother Mathivathani has placed her two feet firmly on the ground and said quite categorically that no Tiger, two-footed or even four-footed, British, Canadian, Wannian, Australian or anywhere would be welcome to the party. Zoo-Paa was quite hurt. He wanted to collect some Irish terror material, literature and weapons, under the pretext of attending the birthday bash.

Of course the literature would be beyond him but Anton Balasingam has assured him of his services provided he keeps the razor away.
There will be no limitation on the spending for the party. Bags of gold are expected to be delivered to Mathivathani by the Irish leprechauns.

These tiny men seem so pleased with the presence of the First Lady of the Republic-to-be Wanni-Eelam State in their neighbourhood but as to where they got the gold is a great mystery.
Since some Canadian Tamil Congress men including Dr Poopalapillai, wanted in Batticaloa by his alien smuggler clients, are missing from Toronto, there are rumours they took an Irish Airways flight recently and perhaps a bit of loot too with them for the birthday function.

Catering for the party will be exclusively done by Toronto’s Babu Catering who are believed to have chartered a Ryan Airways B737 to carry the food and drinks across to Ireland. It is believed to be a gift from Babu Catering.

They will also be providing drinks in the traditional “Thanneer Pandal” (water tent) fashion for all demonstrations against the Government of Canada whatever the issue is taken up by the undercover LTTE in Toronto. They want to bring Harper down and get Karygyannis as the new Prime Minister of Canada.

It is believed a number of Liberal Party members were sounded about being invited for the birthday party with seats made available to them on Ryan Air but they have turned them down with the exception of a Scarborough member.

Two priests from Pungudutivu will conduct the ritual ceremonies, both Karate doctors now serving in Scarborough.

(Catapult Thangavelu will be covering the birthday party and for this purpose, he has hired a helicopter to take aerial photographs and make air to ground reconnaissance of the event.)

Stop flirting with the CFA; UNP take note

UNP talks about strengthening the CFA, a dead letter that has putrefied beyond resurrection. Tissa Attanayake, the Assistant Secretary of the UNP seems very pleased that this is a possibility. He goes further and says that Sri Lanka’s future depends only on safeguarding the CFA, which in effect was a highly treasonable act of his party when it was in government.

And it seems this was his reaction to inquiries made by Norway, evidently a country accepted in spirit as the new colonial masters of Sri Lanka – Sudha Adoration Symptom (SAS)! Making statements of this nature – irresponsible and utterly stupid – is akin to the aberrations of the barbershop apprentice Zoo-Paa whose educational level was virtually minimum to be able to read Tamil alphabets and his intellectual capacity even worse. He began with the razor and graduated to the pistol and his mindset is murder and mayhem.

It is these very people the CFA brought to the forefront. Tissa Attanayake seems unable to understand that the crisis involves the people of Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. The CFA is related to a terrorist outfit that has nothing to do with any of these communities. It is a Law and Order problem.

The only way the crisis in Sri Lanka can be sorted out is to proscribe the LTTE and as for the ethnic crisis, implement the Gandhi-Jayawardene Accord of 1987. The majority community seems unable to understand and appreciate basic human rights that should be enjoyed by every citizen without exception.

Why is it so troublesome for some people in the south to appreciate the reality, the Tamils too having the same rights to be equal citizens of the country? It is this adamant racial and chauvinistic attitude that enabled a terrorist outfit to plague the country. Today every nook and corner of Sri Lanka has been endangered by the activities of the LTTE. -Satchi Sithananthan

Ulf’s Sisyphean task and other matters

The Head of the Nordic monitoring mission Maj. General Ulf Henricsson is on record as saying that the Wanni Tigers and the Eastern Tigers are not agreeable to patching up differences through negotiations. He has, according to one of our front page reports yesterday, said the SLMM is willing to help the two warring factions resolve their differences.

Ulf doesn’t seem to know the Tiger from the wolf. Tigers, he should know, are a different kettle of fish altogether unlike other terror groups. They don’t believe in ironing out differences. They only wipe out dissidents. It looks as if Ulf had to do some homework urgently as regards the LTTE before trying his hands at resolving differences between the two outfits.

Now for Mr. Henricsson’s benefit, let’s have a brief look at the fate that awaited those whom Prabhakaran perceived as threats to his leadership. TULF Leader A. Amirthalingam was Prabhakaran’s mentor but he had the ageing and respected political veteran assassinated together with senior Tamil politician, Yogeswaran in Colombo. He killed the leader of the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) Padmanabha to clear his path to monopolising the armed struggle. Leader of the People’s Liberation Organisations of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) Uma Maheswaran was eliminated in the same manner for the same reason. Leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) T. Sabarantam was also removed from the Eelam struggle so that Prabhakaran could reign supreme. He didn’t spare the Leader of the Tamil Eelam Army (TEA) Devan either. Besides, Prabhakaran didn’t hesitate to get cadres of other Tamil groups butchered in their hundreds if not thousands to ensure that he would be unrivalled in his terror war. Ironically, having done so many to death in the most barbaric way, now he complains of his cadres being killed by the Eastern Tigers. He wants Karuna disarmed!

Inside the LTTE, many who fell out with Prabhakaran suffered cruel deaths. The killing of LTTE Deputy Leader Mahattaya is a case in point. He and two hundred others were branded traitors and gunned down after prolonged torture. More recently, LTTE Batticaloa leader Paduman was summoned to Kilinochchi, when the LTTE leadership suspected dissent in the Eastern sector. That was the last heard of him. Karuna, too, was asked to report to the LTTE headquarters but he was too smart to walk into the trap. He broke away and started championing the cause of the Eastern Province Tamils.

It is wishful thinking that the SLMM will be able to bring Karuna and Prabhakaran together to sort out their problems. Karuna may by anything but a fool. One time military commander of Prabhakaran, he knows his erstwhile leader for what he really is. The LTTE is Prabhakarn and Prabhakaran the LTTE. It is as simple as that. Each and every recruit must take an oath of allegiance to him and remain faithful to him right throughout without giving the slightest indication that he or she is a threat to his leadership. Physical elimination of anyone who defies his orders is Prabhakaran’s modus operandi in keeping his terror empire intact. Hence, his recent orders to destroy a fleet of Navy vessels with monitors on board, as they had not heeded his warning against accompanying the Navy. But for the fierce resistance by the Navy, the monitors on the Navy vessels would have visited the land of no return and Prabhakran wouldn’t have given two hoots. Now, we hear that the Sea Tiger Chief Soosai is in hot water, as he failed to sink the ship carrying over 700 soldiers. Mr. Henricsson need not be surprised if he hears in the course of time that Soosai, too, is no more.

Settling a dispute through negotiations is possible, Mr. Henricsson will agree, only with those who are capable of rational thinking and being flexible. Prabhakaran kills, therefore he is. He kills even innocents just to show he is the boss: There is no other way to explain the killings of Rajini, Neelan, Sarojni (Yogeswaran) et al. If he stops killing, he will cease to be. But unfortunately, even the world powers that unleashed hell on Afghanistan and Iraq to effect regime changes in a bid to facilitate democratisation of those countries have shut their eyes tight to the real obstacle to the resolution of the conflict in this land-the intransigence of the Tigers. As much as Mr. Henricsson, who believes the differences between the Wanni Tigers and the Eastern Tigers could be resolved through negotiations, those who urge the government to go on talking to the Tigers, without doing anything to rein them in, are hoping against hope and paying lip service to the peace efforts. -Island-Editorial