Victory over terrorism :

Why should Sri Lanka apologise?

by Shenali Waduge

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had its ground militant force vanquished by the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka on May 19, 2009 after several appeals made by the Sri Lankan President to lay down their arms and surrender were ignored. Close to 12,000 LTTE fighters gave themselves in, of which 594 were child soldiers and the Sri Lankan military ended up sacrificing close to 6,000 lives to save 294,000 Tamil civilians who had been herded by the LTTE to be used as civilian combatants or hostages.

That the world’s most brutal terrorist organisation, banned internationally by 32 nations, had been finally defeated on its own home turf was a shock to all. Sri Lanka’s terrorism was categorised as an “unwinnable war” and it suited the world to allow Sri Lanka to be a victim while it was happy to keep statistics on the number of peace talks, ceasefires and negotiations held.

While it was always the Sri Lankan government that had to offer the compromises, the LTTE got away with countless crimes, all of which the international community put into a bag, terming it “both sides committed atrocities”, yet it is always the Sri Lankan government that continued to be hounded and questioned on accountability.

Why are these questions not posed to Father Emmanuel, Rudrakumaran, the TNA leadership, Father Rayappu Joseph, Surendiran, Nediyavan and a host of others in Tamil Nadu – all of whom have had close links with the LTTE and had indirectly and directly played a role in LTTE terror? They need to be questioned and asked to prove their innocence because, by association too, they cannot escape their guilt.

We next come to the question of why some opine that Sri Lanka should not celebrate the victory over LTTE terrorism and call for May 19 to be declared as 'Reconciliation Day'. Mind you, these opinions come from the very sources that are funded to tarnish Sri Lanka and destabilise it and groups that have also had ties with the LTTE over the years. Their names need to also be brought out into the open and they too need to be challenged on proving their innocence.

It was on May 1, 2011, that US President Barack Obama, his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the heads of the US Armed Forces watched from the White House as US Navy Seals violated the sovereignty of Pakistan, enter a compound in Abbottabad and shoot an unarmed Osama bin Laden and several others including his son.

Leave aside Osama being a wanted terrorist, the issue was that there was no self-defence to shoot, it was no war situation and moreover watching a murder makes one an accomplice to that crime.

Nevertheless, after the official announcement, thousands gathered to celebrate outside the White House, and similar gatherings were seen all over the US and the entire world. Even sports events were interrupted to relay the national announcement as did mainstream television channels who interrupted scheduled broadcasts to relay the news to 56.5 million Americans, people were shouting U-S-A, carrying slogans, carrying the American flag, jumping up and down in glee while former Presidents rang President Obama to congratulate him on the victory.

Profoundly important moment

President Bill Clinton's message was that the death of Osama was “a profoundly important moment for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom and cooperation for our children”.

The New York City Mayor announced that he hoped the death of bin Laden “would comfort those who lost loved ones” in the 9/11 attacks.

Condoleezza Rice, the former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State said that she was “overwhelmed with gratitude and continues to be amazed at what our military has achieved”.

The former Supreme Court Justice Paul Stevens said that “it was not merely to do justice and avenge September 11, but to remove an enemy who had been trying every day to attack the United States… I haven’t the slightest doubt it was entirely appropriate for American forces to act” as they did.

Why then did Sri Lanka’s victory and celebration get the crucifix with the UN Chief Ban Ki-moon asking Sri Lanka not to indulge in “triumphalism”. We know the speechwriter chose the word, but on what grounds did the US celebrate a killing of an unarmed man and several others including his unarmed son by violating the territorial sovereignty of an independent country for just a single attack on the US in 2001 (though even that has yet to be proved) when there is sufficient evidence of LTTE atrocities over three decades and far more civilian deaths to count?

If former President Clinton is happy that the children are now safer without bin Laden, shouldn’t Sri Lanka be happier without Prabhakaran, given that he kidnapped scores of poor and low-caste children and turned them into child soldiers?

If the New York City Mayor is happy that the death of bin Laden has “comforted” those who lost their loved ones in 9/11, what about the Sri Lankan people whose loved ones were lost since the early 1980s due to LTTE suicide missions numbering over 250, bombs and assassinations that ran into three decades, targeting young clergy, border villages, year-old babies cut into pieces, pregnant women with their stomachs slit, students on their way to school, passengers travelling on buses, politicians and even Tamil leaders who were against the LTTE?

Overwhelmed with gratitude

If Condoleezza Rice can be “overwhelmed with gratitude” and continue to be “amazed” at what the US military has achieved, why can't Sri Lanka, given that our tiny island remains the ONLY nation to have defeated and crushed the deadliest terrorist movement on earth - far more dangerous than Al-Qaeda? Bin Laden never ran terrorist aircraft, Al-Qaeda didn’t have its own fleet of ships to smuggle arms and engage in international rackets, bin Laden didn’t have a terrorist naval unit that carried out specialised suicide missions.

The LTTE was far more sophisticated than any of the terrorist movements that prevail and that no one can deny.

We next come to the topic of accountability and reconciliation. This is an opportune time to look at Hitler’s Holocaust and the de-nazification that resulted after the defeat of the enemy by Allied troops.

The term 'de-nazification' was coined by the US Pentagon and became a legal term in 1943. De-nazification Directives were on identified people/groups and outlined judicial procedures to handle them.

It meant the removal of all symbols associated with the Nazi regime. This included the swastika.

Sri Lanka needs to immediately apply the de-nazification directive to all LTTE emblems and signages and take steps to demand all political parties using the word ‘Eelam’ to change their name and the LTTE and everyone associated with the LTTE to be put on trial, no different to the trial for war crimes at Nuremberg.

De-nazification meant that people were put into categories – major offenders, lesser offenders, followers and exonerated persons and America applied this to every German over the age of 18 years.

The punishment for the Major offenders was immediate arrest, death, imprisonment; the Offenders were those who were activists, militants, profiteers and they were subject to 10 years imprisonment or reconstruction work; the Lesser offenders were placed on probation for two to three years but with no internment; the Followers had to face restrictions on travel, employment, political rights and even fines; while the Exonerated persons did not face any sanctions.

Perhaps the US State Department officials may like to go through these documents before pointing fingers at Sri Lanka?

Third World nations

When the very nations pointing fingers have yet to compensate the Third World nations that they plundered, the people they murdered, the environmental disasters that they now suffer because these nations were used to grow crops that were meant for their use and introduced administrative systems and legal systems that continue to divide people and legally protect the Western imperialists – why should Sri Lanka apologise?

Do we apologise for defeating one of the world’s most feared terrorist organisations?

Do we apologise because the West can no longer use the LTTE as a forward to advance their agendas in Sri Lanka and the rest of South Asia?

Do we apologise because we have angered many an NGO who now have no reason to remain in Sri Lanka and whose livelihood is at stake?

Are we to apologise because a lot of other people who stood to gain while the LTTE prevailed and the discussions for political solutions meant that many were enjoying additional perks and privileges?

Do we apologise because a handful of Tamils using the Sri Lankan situation as a plank to obtain refugee status now find themselves called “economic refugees” and are being sent home?

Do we also apologise because those that made merry out of the troubles in Sri Lanka, pocketing from the US$ 300 million LTTE kitty, are now having to devise other ways to keep the show running?

Rehabilitation program

Do we apologise for creating an indigenous rehabilitation program and reintegrating close to 12,000 former LTTE combatants who now lead a life of normality?

Do we also apologise for giving a Presidential Pardon to 594 former child soldiers because the Sri Lankan State considered them victims rather than perpetrators?

Do we also apologise for putting these surrendered former LTTErs through proper education and vocational programs and allowing them to sit for the O/L and A/L examinations and embarking on careers or further education?

Do we also apologise for introducing these former Tiger combatants to society just as some laughed at the manner in which female former Tigers modelled clothes on the catwalk? Would those that laughed at these girls prefer them to be holding guns?

Are these people laughing because these former combatants were married in a ceremony organised by the Army, are these people envious that these former combatants are now singing, dancing and even acting?

Do we apologise for ending the terrorism and ending the manner in which the LTTE kidnapped poor and low-caste Tamils and turned them into LTTE child soldiers? The reason these children never made the news was because of the rigid Tamil caste system and because NOT a single Tamil politician, NOT a single member of the Tamil Diaspora cared what happened to these child soldiers, because they were not only poor, they were LOW-CASTE – thus outcasts of Tamil society!

Do we apologise for taking vast amounts of loans, some of which were supposed to be for development of the South and instead spent on developing the entire infrastructure framework of the North that had been totally neglected by the LTTE and their stooges?

Do we apologise for giving electricity to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu - areas where for three decades, the people were denied electricity because the LTTE blew up the transformers, wanting to keep the people in the “dark”?

Do we apologise for maintaining a military presence in the North because we are well aware that the destabilising operators are still hunting to carry out some type of covert operation? Are we insane to recall the military when we know the ground realities? And who says the military is not welcome in the North? The people of the North prefer the military among them, far more than they want their own politicians and this is visibly clear in Mullaitivu. We are well aware what media campaigns are capable of doing and of media personnel who enjoy putting spins.

Bringing peace

Do we also apologise for bringing normality to the entire country? For bringing peace, for making sure not a single bomb has gone off, for ensuring not a single assassination has taken place by the LTTE in four years?

When not hundreds or thousands, but MILLIONS languish as displaced persons in their own lands, or suffer as refugees in distant neighbouring lands because Western forces forcibly invaded their nations on false allegations and turned their nations upside down and armed rebels to fight their own people - Sri Lanka did not invade another nation, Sri Lanka has resettled every Tamil civilian who was herded by the LTTE from their homes, Sri Lanka has virtually demined all areas that will now be declared safe for people to travel to and Sri Lanka’s success story deserves plaudits and not the brickbats that are being thrown its way unfairly and unjustly.

Anyone visiting the North will see for themselves. It is not Sri Lanka that needs to do the apologising, but many people who include locals, local politicians, local businessmen, local public officials, even some military personnel who for money betrayed their own comrades and that list of apologists include foreign governments, foreign politicians, media personnel, elements of the clergy, NGO and INGO heads and many others who have knowingly watched a terrorist movement to prevail.No apology should come unless the international community neglects and ignores the scores of LTTE representatives who function from their nations openly, under bogus charity names and associations and who have by association with the LTTE revealed their guilt.It is this list of people who need to be rounded up and questioned and made to apologise for the soldiers who died unnecessarily, for the civilians who became target practice and for the economy which was affected through three decades.Sri Lanka is not the one to be apologising. Our victory is a salute to our war heroes – all those who are now no more, all those who suffered loss of limb and are confined to wheelchairs and suffering other traumas and to the Armed Forces and Police personnel who played a major role in that victory, to the Defence Secretary who showed tremendous resolve in giving the backing to the Armed Forces heads and to the Sri Lankan President who weathered the diplomatic battle, surrounded by the friends (China, Russia, Pakistan) who helped conclude the war against terrorism.

Sri Lanka stands proud of every one of you.