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| Sunday, 11 December 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Fun and games on the peace circus Light Refractions by Lucien Rajakarunanayake No wonder Thamilchelvan, leader of the LTTE's political wing, said the six rounds of peace talks between the UNP Government and the LTTE were all a big joke, and served no purpose. We now have it from Velupillai Prabhakaran speaking on the LTTE's Heroes Day earlier this month saying that the Ceasefire Agreement and the peace talks were strategic moves by the LTTE to strengthen itself, when conditions were not in its favour. Let's talk According to this, when Thamilchelvan said it was all a joke, it could have meant having taken the then Sri Lankan government for a good ride about the possibility of peace, and while pleasing the peace lobby in Sri Lanka, always ready to pick even a syllable about peace uttered by the LTTE as a leap forward for peace. They have also made a huge joke of the international community that attached so much importance to the peace talks. Japan's Special Peace Envoy Yasushi Akashi, and veteran diplomat, has been made to look, and possibly feel quite a fool, especially regarding his comments about not letting either side lose face, in the traditional Japanese art of negotiation. What's happening now in the North, with the LTTE blatantly violating the CFA that even the SLMM has had to be harsh on them so soon, shows it is not a case of either party losing face, but both the Sri Lankan Government and the international community having egg on all their faces for having believed the Tiger was changing its stripes. But, jokes apart, Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's theoretician of sorts, has been very naughty in his LTTE Heroes Day speech in London. He has explained what exactly the joke was. And Thamilchelvan is now fuming about what the London audience heard. It was not the political or strategic joke that we believed it was. Apart from the strategy of strengthening the LTTE at home, it was a case of great fun and games abroad. Balasingham was vivid in his details about how all others in his delegation enjoyed the abundance of delights available in the mixture of sex tourism that Thailand has to offer. It was not a case of taking some time off from tiring talks to relax and re-charge one's system with possibly a relaxing massage at Bangkok. What Balasingham says is that it was all fun and nothing else. The boys from the Vanni went out after long confinement in Tiger territory, saw for themselves how exciting and enjoyable the outside world could be, liked and lapped it all up. Fuming peace talks What has been revealed so far, much to the chagrin of other members of the LTTE delegation, is only about the sex process made possible by the peace process in Thailand. We are yet to know about the fun they must have had at Oslo, with Norwegian escorts to show the best of places and paying for them too, or how they enjoyed the red-light districts in Germany. There will be more fuming when this comes to light. Poor guy Balasingham having to admit he was kept indoors discussing peace with the verbose professor, only because his wife Adele who had a very careful eye on him. Despite the problems with his kidney he showed regret at having been chained indoors by an ever watchful wife, who possibly knew his desire for fun too. What is more important for us is not Balasingham's revelations about the fun and games that members of the Tiger delegation had when on the peace jaunts abroad, which we now learn were funded by Norway. What of the members of our own delegation too. If we take Balasingham's word that it was only him and the professor who stayed indoors to talk peace, it means that the rest of the Sri Lanka delegation, and the hangers on that went with them, would also have had a rollicking time at state expense, not taking the peace process forward, but giving full vent to their own delights in what Bangkok and the several other places they visited had to offer. If Balasingham was tethered by his wife, and as we must believe the good professor has no interest in such delights because there was no wife keeping tabs on him, what were all those others who represented the Sri Lankan Government doing? Could they have gone out in pairs with the LTTE members to create even better conditions conducive for peace in Sri Lanka in the hot houses of Thailand? It is difficult to believe that they were being the paragons of virtue, when the Tigers who one expected to be more disciplined, were having a hugely exciting sexual bash of it. Spree of fun When one recalls the other members of the Sri Lanka delegation, one cannot identify anyone who did not think it would be good diplomacy to join the Tigers in their spree of fun. We'll possibly have to wait for the professor to tell us who went out on their exciting strolls in Thailand or elsewhere. Of course he would not know as to what they did, as he did go out with them. Maybe this new sexy road to peace should also be explored in the all party talks the President has proposed to seek consensus on the peace process before the next round of talks with the LTTE. There is a wealth of experience to be gained, with Norway facilitating
the fun. |
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