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| Sunday, 22 August 2004 |
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Tamil media indifferent to LTTE killings Peace Trail by Ranga Jayasuriya The murder of EPDP media spokesman Kandasamy Iyer Balanadaraja, the latest of a long list of victims gunned down during the ceasefire, is a pointer to the sorry situation of non-LTTE activists under the truce agreement. It also brings up the question which haunted many a mind for quite sometime: Is the LTTE incapable of reforming itself? A journalist, poet and creative writer, Balanadaraja was shot dead on August 16 in Wellawatte on his way to the Thinamurusu office, where he was an editorial board member. He was forty six. His assassination, among a few more killings of high profile EPDP activists, is also an indication that the Tigers, albeit their pledges to abide by the truce, have intensified their crackdown on the EPDP, which is perhaps the only Tamil party which stands against the Tigers. PLOTE and EPRLF (Perumal) and TELO are also critics of the Tigers, but their power base is gradually diminishing due to poor organisational capability and in the face of crackdowns by the LTTE, whereas the EPDP is a party which never caved in and holds a committed cadre base. One bitter but stubborn fact which became obvious with regard to the continuing political assassinations of non-LTTE activists is the indifference of the Tamil press towards such violations. This led EPRLF (Perumal) group senior leader, Sritharan to question the integrity of the Tamil media when he spoke at Balanadaraja's funeral held on Thursday. He lamented that this indifference has forced Tamil culture to accept killings and violence as a routine. The success of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) is dependent on the conduct of the two parties in good faith. While halting hostilities, the CFA was also expected to build trust and confidence between the two adversaries. Some clauses such as the disarmament of the non-LTTE politico-military factions were introduced with good faith that the Tigers will live up to their promises. Indeed, the disarmament of the non-LTTE activists, while they were under threat from the Tigers brought such groups under the mercy of the Tigers. Now it is obvious that the Tigers have taken up the opportunity to annihilate its opponents. The danger became apparent within months after the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement. The Tigers started killing Tamil informants and former paramilitary activists and then moved to gun down non-LTTE politicians. Equally important, it was the Wickremesinghe Administration's inaction against such violations that gave the Tigers free room to go on killing. The former Government feared that its reaction would hamper its confidence-building efforts and during its two years in office it refrained from condemning the Tigers for such killings. In the absence of Government action, whether it is on the political front or covert or overt anti-terrorism operations, the Tigers had a free run killing some 90 non-LTTE activists since the Ceasefire. If this trend is not abated, its impact on the peace process would be disastrous. What the Tigers need to realise is that peace, even the negative peace which we have now, cannot be confined to one party which is using it to hunt its opponents. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga speaking to Channel News Asia sounded a warning to the Tigers. She said if the ongoing killings are not stopped, she was even prepared to order troops to march into uncleared areas. Such a move would violate the truce agreement. But the President's message is clear and has the firmness which was absent in the Wickremesinghe Administration. What she hinted was that peace in Kilinochchi is dependent on peace in Colombo. The President also offered to meet Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran if it helps the peace negotiations. The President said the Government has sent seven or eight proposals to Kilinochchi, which are sort of counter-proposals to the ISGA proposals, but no response has been received from the LTTE. She also suggested that the Tigers are preoccupied with factional war in the East. Mannar Bishop Rayappu Josep last weekend led a delegation to meet Thamilchelvan. After the meeting with LTTE political chief, the Bishop was quoted as saying that the Government could discuss its counter-proposals at the negotiation table when talks begin on the Tigers' ISGA proposals. In other words, the Bishop is repeating what the Tigers have been telling all this time. |
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