Ranil plays his games of dirty politics

When Ranil Wickremesinghe belittles the Thoppigala victory, achieved by the blood, sweat and lives of the disciplined security forces, he descends to the level of an ungrateful political pariah scoffing at the very forces that protect him and the nation. He survives because the forces he ridicules are risking their lives to protect him every minute of the day. The nation survives because the daring village lads and their officers are defending the nation by rolling back frontiers of the Tiger terrorists. So when Wickremesinghe laughs at the Security Forces saying that they had only "captured a jungle" he is making an ass of himself. In a sense nothing more can be expected from him because those who observe him closely would note that whenever he laughs his face takes on that asinine look of an inane pretender who has nothing to offer his party, the people or the nation needing strong leadership in this critical hour

Thoppigala is a landmark victory that promises future security by weakening the Tigers who were crowing that they are in command of the north and the east, particularly after Wickremesinghe handed over territory in his failed Ceasefire Agreement. After that, Velupillai Prabhkaran was flying on two wings: the north and the east. Now he is crippled and forced to fly on one wing. In an interview with the BBC even the Tiger military spokesman, Rasiah Ilantheriyan, conceded that they were defeated in the east. But Wickremesinghe sees no victory in it. He says that "there is nothing to crow about". He is laughing at the military victory at Thoppigala as if it is one of those all-male shows staged by 'Kollu', his favourite player in town. One of the reasons why the nation is in this current plight is because Wickremesinghe is more interested in playing 'Kollu' than assessing critically and seriously each new twist and turn of the unfolding events. In laughing at those who protect him and the nation he has forfeited the right to any leadership role in Sri Lanka. If he has even a smidgin of decency left in him he should apologize to the Security Forces that achieved what he and his "Queen of Thieves", Chandrika Kumaratunga, said could not be achieved.

Clearly, this victory is a defeat not only to Prabhakaran but also to Wickremesinghe. With the capture of Thoppigala the Security Forces have driven the last nail into the coffin of the Ceasefire Agreement. It has upset the military balance decisively and put the Security forces in a commanding position. It has also given the bargaining edge to the Sri Lankan government in any future negotiations.

Negotiations

Wickremesinghe went into negotiations without positioning himself in this vantage point. He went into negotiations pinning his faith on the treacherous international community without mobilising the strength of the people. The result was that the international community joined hands with Prabhakaran and forced Wickremesinghe to surrender, with Erik Solheim acting as the Viceroy of Vanni at peace talks.

What Wickremesinghe hailed as a victory to the nation when he signed the Ceasefire Agreement was in reality a humiliation to those who had sacrificed their lives to save the nation. At Thoppigala Rajapaksa & Co regained that lost dignity and prestige. Moreover, contrary to the doomsayers who say that terrorism cannot be defeated, Rajapaksa & Co have shown that with determination, sacrifices, leadership and willingness to stay the course terrorism can be defeated.

If Wickremesinghe was in command now he wouldn't have even dreamt of opening up the eastern front. He is totally incapable of daring, or thinking on innovative or strategic lines. Time and again he has proved to be a man who tucks his tail between his legs and runs away from confrontations. Who will fail to remember to their dying day how he, guided by his grinning factotum Bradman Weerakoon, pulled up the then Navy Commander for defending the territorial integrity of the nation violated by the Sea Tigers? Who can forget how he sold the nation by signing the Ceasefire Agreement in which he turned the north and the east into a de facto Terroristan and handed it over to the fascist, one-man rule of Velupillai Prabhakaran? Which history will erase his infantile jibe at the Security Forces who have proved with their courage that he is a gutless wonder playing dirty politics at their expense?

Sitting smugly in his transit lounge at Cambridge Terrace (he's now more out than in Sri Lanka) he can afford to commit these crimes against our people because the very forces he condemns are there, at his beck and call, to protect him. However, if even a single man is withdrawn, at any given time, he will run to the American and Indian diplomats saying that his life is in danger because the numbers guarding him have been reduced. In dismissing the victory of the Security forces he is saying that what is important is not to protect the nation but to protect him! What he is refusing to concede is that his safety is dependent on the safety of the nation. All our lives are tied to the victory of our forces. This is the meaning and the significance of the Thoppigala victory. This is why our forces have to be respected, honoured and saluted.

Wickremesinghe's cheap political scoring at the expense of our Security Forces raises one critical question: why should the Security Forces protect this bankrupt failure who is laughing at them and their victories? If Wickremesinghe has such scant regard for our Security Forces he should be asked to seek protection from his 'Kollus' instead of wasting public funds and the time of the Security Forces who have better things to do. It is surprising that the security forces guarding him have not gone on strike refusing to protect a man who denigrates their comrades-in-arms fighting against all odds in jungles. Both Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe abandoned confrontations with the Tigers in the east saying that the Forces can't win and, in any case, they would have to sacrifice at least 15,000 lives to regain the east.

The victory at Thoppigala has shown them up as negative, two-legged grass-munchers - one of whom has been put to pasture in London and the other is on his way there. Crushed by their failures to live up to the expectations of the people, and by their failure to redeem their promises they gave to the people their calculated response has been to belittle the achievements of the positive doers. Rajapaksa & Co, on the contrary, have established that they are the go-getters who have the capacity to deliver dividends to the nation.

Wickremesinghe reaction is predictable because he is stunned by the victories of Rajapaksa & Co - the best political enterprise in recent times. Whatever failures there are in other fronts, it is certainly superior to Ranil & Co when it was run by a clique of old Royalists whose greatest success was in driving the key UNPers out of the party. Now Wickremesinghe is shocked that Rajapaksa & Co has won not only his party members but also all what he sold to the Tigers.

Thoppigala reversed the trend set by Wickremesinghe.

When he was Prime Minister he cracked down ruthlessly on those who exposed what Paul Harris, the correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Jane's Weekly, said was 'the greatest sell out of the nation.' After his explorations of the east Paul Harris exposed the LTTE brutalities, child conscription and the slow but steady take over of the east with Wickremesinghe's connivance. Naturally this got under Wickremesinghe's skin. Paul Harris told me when I met him in Oslo that he was thrown out by Wickremesinghe government to appease the Tigers.

Further trouble

Paul Harris also ran into further trouble with his other move. After taking tea in the office of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the then Leader of the Opposition, he addressed about 50 opposition MPs in a public room in the Parliament. Anura Bandaranaike, Lakshman Kadirgamar, JVPers were among those present. He exposed how the LTTE was taking over the east in the greatest sell out of the nation. In his articles he had also taken the mickey out of the Tiger leaders. He wrote: "These LTTE people are oh, so charming. With their cheery smiles, mild manners, warm open features and welcoming handshakes they are straight from Saatchi & Saatchi public relations manual for Transformation of Terrorist Leaders in Genial Uncle Figures.....Who could possibly think that friendly, limping man Mr. Thamil Chelvam was such a rotter?"

Predictably, his writings did not go down well with the LTTE. Pressure also mounted on Wickremesinghe to get him out.

Bradman Weerakoon, his obedient servant, did the rest by putting pressure on the Foreign Ministry to throw Paul Harris out. When Nirj Deva, the Sri Lankan-born British MP, introduced him to Wickremesinghe at the Galadari Hotel the latter ignored his proffered hand and said curtly: "I know perfectly well who you are and I have only one thing to say to you, I am not the man who is going to give Sri Lanka away."

Paul Harris was beginning to feel the heat of offending two political allies doing a three-legged race, joined at the hip: the LTTE and Wickremesinghe.

Nirj Deva had invited Paul Harris to listen to Wickremesinghe addressing the UNP loyalists at the Galadari after signing the Ceasefire Agreement. Inside a room at Galadari, Wickremesinghe began to wax eloquent about his achievements and future political ambitions.

Harris wrote, describing the meeting at Galadari: "Ranil is soon blowing off about the UNP achievements and grand ambitions. Some of this stuff is quite entertaining albeit alternately drawn from Peter Pan and Hans Christian Andersen. When he announces that Trincomalee is to be the site of Sri Lanka's Formula One racetrack I fear I cannot keep silent any longer.

"Do you have permission of the LTTE for that?" I venture to ask," wrote Harris in his book, Delightfully Imperfect, A Year in Sri Lanka at the Galle Face Hotel. That didn't go down well either.

Paul decides that "discretion is the better part of valour, thanks Nirj and leaves the room". After that Paul was put under surveillance by Wickremesinghe who now poses as the great champion of the free media and liberal values. Eventually, Harris was forced to leave Sri Lanka with his Chinese girlfriend.This, in short, is an insightful narrative of Wickremesinghe's dealings with the LTTE and his approach to the east. Paul knew what he was talking about and he was proved correct in the end. Decisive events and the new ground realities project Wickremesinghe as a misguided missile which is a serious danger to the security and future of the nation. He will not hesitate to sell the nation ten times over if he can get away with it. The tragedy is that each time he sells the nation he sincerely believes that he is saving it. What hope is there for the nation with a deluded leader like Wickremesinghe? He is best at running a Batalanda-type of guided democracy with Gonawala Sunil as his CEO, assisted ably by Bradman Weerakoon who is on the pay roll of NGOs when he is not administering his master's Batalanda democracy. Incidentally, Gonawala Sunil, who used to run Wickremesinghe's Ministry of Education with his feet cocked on the Minister?s desk, disappeared mysteriously, Batalanda style. Any chance of Weerakoon initiating an inquiry with the help of NGOs into this mysterious death of Gonawala Sunil? After all, he was the blue eyed boy of his master, wasn't he?

In mocking the achievements of the Security Forces Wickremesinghe has once again exposed his inability to either relate to events or to people, or to judge the consequences of his cheap and dirty politicking. He is reinforcing the belief that he is good at selling the nation down the river rather than standing up for the people who are making sacrifices to protect him and the nation. In short, he is signalling Prabhakaran to go ahead with his planned attacks so that he can score on the misery of the nation. He is good at playing dirty politics whether it be throwing out Paul Harris or pouring scorn on the Security Forces, or sending coded messages to Prabhakaran not to be disheartened by his failure at Thoppigala. Translated into more plain language he is telling Prabhakaran: "Don't worry Thamby. You lost only a rocky patch in the jungle. You have the whole of Sri Lanka and Colombo to play with. I am there with you. I will attack from my end and you attack from your end. Together we can get Mahinda Rajapaksa."

Thoppigala is a simple issue that should not have divided the nation. If Wickremesinghe wants to politicize it for his gain then he should cop the blame for it. His civilized duty was to put politics aside and congratulate the Commander-in-Chief, the Defence Secretary, the Commanders of the Forces and the entire chain of command, going right down to the firing line, for giving new life and hope to a beleaguered nation. But old habits die hard: Wickremesinghe will never rise above his habit of playing cheap, dirty politics. That is why people will value the dust on the boots of our soldiers who raised the flag at Thoppigala than all the droppings that drip from the pea brain of Wickremesinghe.