Ideological extremism raising its ugly head

by Manjula Fernando

Ideological extremism – the precursor to terrorism is raising its ugly head in less than four years after the defeat of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, an international terrorism expert warned.

Prof. Gunaratna

Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore made this observation in the wake of a number of TNA MPs in parliament and elsewhere making open statements glorifying terrorist leaders and calling for a separate national anthem for the Northern province and the observance of a martyr’s day in November.

Prof. Gunaratna who has researched the origins of the LTTE said “One must not forget that the TULF, the predecessor of the TNA, also used Parliament to spread its hate propaganda.” He said that similar to pick pockets, terrorists and their supporters will exploit loopholes in the law, to spread extremist ideas that will lead to disharmony.

According to Prof.Gunaratna, the LTTE international network today is a shadow of what it was before however, he cautioned that this is no reason to be complacent, the LTTE must be dismantled irrespective of geography.

“The continuity of an active or dormant LTTE presence overseas poses an immediate, mid and long- term national security threat to Sri Lanka," he said. “The LTTE in Sri Lanka has been entirely dismantled but are rebuilding a significant presence in India with the help of Tamil Nadu’s pro LTTE politicians such as Seeman and Vaiko. “

The international network is reorganising in the West with hubs in Canada and the UK.

The LTTE leaders who funnelled weapons for the LTTE earlier, pose as human rights activists today, lobbying governments, politicians, INGOs and international organisations. Their latest weapon is constituency pressure. Prof.Gunaratna said these influential LTTE players must be identified by the Government and an effort must made to engage them, giving them the option to reject extremism and embrace democratic politics. If that fails, he said the leaders must be prosecuted here with the help of the host countries.

Suggesting that Sri Lanka needed a law similar to that of the anti-Nazi law in Germany to fight extremist ideology, he said that even the TNA parliamentarians who engage in hate propaganda must be brought to book.