Opinion: Forming a coalition with TNA:

Opposition parties will have to obey Tiger rump

By K.M.H.C.B. Kulatunga

A section of the crowd at the UPFA May Day rally on Thursday.

It is unfortunate that certain politicians and their supporters have forgotten the devastation the LTTE terrorists had been making, barely five years after the Security Forces had militarily crushed the world’s most ruthless terrorist outfit.

In their lust for power, they now hold discussions with the Tiger-proxy TNA which had never been sincere with its desire for a united Sri Lanka. With almost two-and-a-half years to go for the next Presidential election, some political parties seem to have already begun a dialogue with the TNA.

Moreover, the undemocratic forces are now conspiring with the TNA to reach an understanding for a common candidate for the next Presidential election.

Knowingly or not, they are trying to use Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha thero as a scapegoat to achive their petty political goals.

The monk may have given his consent with sincere goals but perhaps being unaware that the forces which back his candidacy are doing so under an agreement with the TNA.

The TNA will not compromise for nothing. They have a hidden agenda and would always make use of the minor and minority parties to achieve their goals at any cost. What the TNA plans to do is crystal clear after a statement made by none other than the Chief Minister of the Northern Province C. V. Wigneswaran during a closed door meeting among their seniors.

'Threat'

Hence, anyone who intends to have any political alliance with the TNA or meets with the TNA for any political purpose will have to advance the TNA agenda that has been spelt out by the Northern Province Chief Minister.

Wigneswaran at a recent meeting of the TNA in Trincomalee had said that the party seeks as a top priority to send the Security Forces out of the Northern Province as “the presence of the Security Forces is a threat to the security of the region and that of India”.

The Chief Minister has also said at this meeting that the government has to be opposed by all means possible so as to achieve the aspirations of the Tamil people, and has said that the government should be subverted as a means to achieving the stated ends such as an international investigation and getting the Security Forces to move out of the North as “Indian security too is in danger as a result of troop presence”.

He had also stated that it is imperative to lift the ban on organisations and individuals put in place recently by the Government.

These TNA goals and aspirations would be a “must” to all political parties and organisations which intend to form an alliance with the party which had danced to the LTTE melody when Prabhakaran’s terror outfit was in full control.

The political forces that seek to meet the TNA leadership in the near future would have to fall in line with these core pivots of the TNA's policy and there would be no avoiding that fact. Whether they like it or not, that would be a principal condition for which had to agree in case they form an alliance with the TNA.

Future alliance

Wigneswaran has made it clear that there is no deviation from this policy when he spoke at the meeting. The TNA is working to a clear agenda and it is possible any political force from the South would have to work to that agenda.

Forcing an international investigation is also part of the agenda of the TNA, as spelt out by Wigneswaran. Hence, all those Opposition politicians who daydream of future alliance with the TNA should bear in mind that they have to swallow the LTTE ideology, whether they endorse that or not.

Canada which pampers the LTTE rump should make a careful study of the latest country report on Sri Lanka by the US State Department. The report clearly states that the LTTE uses its international contacts and the large Tamil diaspora in North America, Europe and Asia to procure weapons, communications, funding and other needed supplies.

The Country Report on Terrorism 2013, also states that the US State Department also said the LTTE's financial network of support continued to operate throughout 2013. The report added: “There have been no known attacks in Sri Lanka that could verifiably be attributed to the LTTE since the end of the war, but LTTE's financial network of support continued to operate throughout 2013.

“Despite its military defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan government in 2009, the LTTE's international network of sympathisers and financial support persists,” the report adds. It also said that LTTE members or supporters are operating in Sri Lanka and India.

Inactive

The report added that the LTTE's international network of sympathisers and financial support persists are still operational, despite its military defeat at the hands of the Security Forces in May 2009.

Although the LTTE has been largely inactive since its military defeat, the LTTE was responsible for an integrated battlefield insurgent strategy that targeted key installations and senior political and military leaders in the past.

Commenting on the funding and external aid, the US Report says that the LTTE uses its international contacts and the large Tamil diaspora in North America, Europe, and Asia to procure weapons, communications, funding, and other needed supplies. The group had employed charities as fronts to collect and divert funds for their activities.

As terrorism expert, Dr Rohan Gunaratna had pointed out, the arrest of suspected Lankan Muslim terrorist Zakir Hussain in Chennai on Tuesday, and the busting of his outfit in Tamil Nadu is significant not only for Sri Lanka but for the entire South Asian region.

Hussain and his colleagues have been functioning in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India, posing a severe threat” to the entire region which is battling to wipe out terrorism. Hussain had been planning to attack targets in Sri Lanka and the Maldives as well as India.

As Dr. Gunaratne had pointed out, the fact that terror groups are becoming autonomous and developing a life of their own is making them intractable.

The apprehended ISI agent and Lankan national Hussain was gathering information on diplomatic missions in the country.

Sources said Hussain was assigned to recruit members for Pakistani-based terrorist outfits through networking in the banned outfits operating in the country in order to build a base in Chennai, which would facilitate sabotage missions in the city and at other vital installations.

Border protection

He was assigned to gather details related to the US Consulate in Chennai and the Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru. He was entrusted with the task of troubling the economy in the region by circulating counterfeits.

An official privy to the investigation had said that Hussain had been under surveillance by the Central agencies ever since he arrived in the city.

With the US reducing its military presence in Afghanistan, Islamic terror organisations could flex their muscle all over South Asia.

Hence, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives should have a joint understanding and approach towards terrorism.

Dr. Gunaratne too had advocated Sri Lanka to add a modern and integrated border protection agency comprising personnel from immigration, intelligence, customs, police, the armed forces, and the police narcotic bureau.

The recent twin bomb blasts at the Chennai Central Railway Station on the May Day morning reiterates the need for a collective effort by the South Asian countries to combat terrorism, irrespective of domestic politics.

The Government of Sri Lanka strongly condemned the twin blasts in the Tamil Nadu capital. Undoubtedly, the people of Sri Lanka share the pain and anguish of the Indian people over this wanton act of violence targeting innocent civilians. The Government and the people of Sri Lanka offer their deep condolences to the Government and the people of India, particularly the bereaved family as we have the most bitter and horrified experience on LTTE’s merciless terrorism.

The UN has made a sinister move by incorporating isolated incidents of sexual violence in the Secretary General’s report to discredit Sri Lanka. There is no basis whatsoever for the allegation of attributing the rise in sexual related crimes in the Northern region to the presence of security forces.

When one compares the statistics of sexual related offences in comparison to the rest of the country and the Northern region, there hardly any difference to patterns of sexual crimes. According to Police statistics 256 incidents have been reported during the period 2009 - 2012, to the police out of which 356 persons were convicted including 10 security forces personnel. In contrast, only 109 such incidents were reported during the period of 2007-2009.

Out of the 25 convicted only five were security forces personnel. This was when the terrorism was at its best in the North. In comparison, sexual crime ratio in the North is 1:1000 while it is the same in most other provinces. In the North Central Province it was 2:1000. In the densely populated Western Province the sexual crime ration was 0.7:1000 women. Civilians have committed most of these offences against women.

As a well disciplined and a professional security force the Sri Lanka Army has always taken a tough stand against its personnel committing such crimes and will not tolerate indiscipline among its rank and file. Strict punitive actions are taken against soldiers committing such crimes.

These statistics speak for themselves and proves that the presence of security forces in the North has in no way has been a reason for the increase in sexual related crimes. In fact, there had been an increase of such crimes since the end of war in 2009 and the resulting reduction of troops as the statistics show.

This was another Western conspiracy to discredit Sri Lanka’s valiant Security Forces which had accomplished a task which even the world’s most sophisticated armies could not achieve.