Opinion:

Tiger terror campaign: Most brutal killings in November

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

The LTTE terrorists committed most number of explosions, devastations and brutal killings in the month of November. On the pretext of commemorating their dead Tiger cadres, the LTTE had gone on rampage in November with a series of brutal killings and mass-scale bomb explosions.

Understandingly, a dead terrorist was a hero to the LTTE. Moreover, it had been a morale-booster to the now defunct terror outfit to recruit more members, including schoolchildren. The so-called heroes' day or the much-publicised Mahaveer day had always been a nightmare for 21 million Sri Lankans, without knowing when the next LTTE bomb would explode.

Thanks to the supreme sacrifices of the Security Forces which vanquished the LTTE leadership and its terror, we do not have such worries anymore. Nevertheless, the LTTE rump is still making desperate attempts to mark the so-called Mahaveer day.

The LTTE is a proscribed organisation and is a banned terrorist outfit in the US, Australia and in most European countries. However, the LTTE sympathisers are still using those territories to carry LTTE related programs. It was reported that the LTTE rump has held such commemorative functions in countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Germany and Canada on last few days.

Vote base

It is well known why certain politicians in some of these countries fan the LTTE rump. There is a significant vote base of the Tamil Diaspora in most of these countries. Most politicians representing the Tamil dominated areas in these countries heavily depend on the vote of LTTE sympathisers for their political survival.

As Sri Lanka's High Commissioner for the UK, Dr. Chris Nonis told BBC television on Friday, British Prime Minister David Cameron is using Sri Lanka as a platform to gain political mileage and is playing to the gallery in the United Kingdom targeting the 2015 elections in Britain.

As Dr. Nonis has said, Sri Lanka is not under obligation to hold a comprehensive survey on how many people were killed during the battle against terrorism though some members of the international community pressured the Government to do so after CHOGM. Dr. Nonis said the survey is a result of a recommendation made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and the Action Plan that was subsequently drafted and not due to pressure by any international party.

Cameron used the public platform in Sri Lanka to woo the support of Tamils living in the UK, mainly due to his domestic political position as he represents a coalition government awaiting the 2015 elections, and at the same time has to face the significant Tamil diaspora in the UK.

LLRC recommendations

"Sri Lanka has nothing to hide and is ready to conduct a survey as recommended in the LLRC report. Despite sinister campaigns by the interested parties in the West, Sri Lanka will not bow down to pressure from any quarter to hold a survey. The LLRC issued the report in 2011, and the reconciliation process has been going on since then.

It is part of the LLRC recommendations and it would be conducted by the Grama Niladhariss, the Department of Census and Statistics and the Ministry of Public Administration," he said.

The LTTE rump or the international community should not worry about the impartiality of the survey as its being conducted by government officials. The masses have tremendous faith in it because the survey is independent and is conducted predominantly by Tamil teachers.

A fact that most politicians in the West have conveniently ignored is that Tamils are not only confined to the Northern Province.

More than half of Sri Lanka's Tamil population lives outside the North and the East. The Tamil-speaking population is the majority in the commercial capital of Colombo. The country's majority - the Sinhalese, are now a minority in Colombo city - probably only such unique example in the world.

Harmony

The majority of the Tamils and Muslims live in the South of Sri Lanka. It is only a minority of the Tamil population live in the North and the East. The demography of Sri Lanka is also not understood by many. An equal proportion of Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims live in perfect peace and harmony in Colombo, the complete opposite of what the LTTE rump has projected in the West.

As Minister Champika Ranawaka has said, Cameron has no right whatsoever to address the issue of the Tamils. The British premier should not shed crocodile tears on Tamils in Sri Lanka. They are our brothers and sisters and no foreigner could have a greater pain on them than our own leaders.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to take immediate action on the Indian Home Ministry's communication to her seeking the State government's assistance on the whereabouts of an LTTE operative, a Catholic Christian priest.

In a statement, Dr. Swamy said the priest had been named as accused by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a complaint filed before a court in the United States for terrorist related activities.

As an LTTE operative in the US he had tried to bribe US under-cover State Department officials to obtain material assistance for the LTTE two years ago. "Subsequently, warrant for his arrest had been issued and the FBI is now on a lookout for him. He has since escaped to India. Recently he surfaced on a NDTV and CNN IBN panel discussions on Sri Lanka. Hence it is clear that he is hiding somewhere in Tamil Nadu.

Therefore the Ministry of Home Affairs alerted to this LTTE terrorist on the run and has sought the help of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in nabbing him so that he can be dispatched to the US to face criminal prosecution," he was quoted as saying. It was good to see Tamil Nadu Police thwarting attempts made by Sri Lankan refugees to commemorate LTTE martyrs at the Chenkalpattu refugee camp last Tuesday. A special police team stormed the camp and demolished the commemorative stone and removed all decorations put up in yellow and red inside the camp premises.

The Special Chenkalpattu Camp, which houses around 100 Lankan refugees, was also thoroughly searched by the special police team, which had banned the commemoration.

The Sri Lankan refugees who had made arrangements for the commemoration chanted slogans against the Tamil Nadu Police and the Government of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, for interrupting the commemoration ceremony. Police officers responding to the Chenkalpattu Lankan refugees, said they would not be allowed to commemorate LTTE cadres as the outfit is proscribed in India, sources said.

This should be an example and an eye-opener for all other countries in which the LTTE is a proscribed terrorist outfit.

Banning the LTTE for the sake of doing so will not do anything good in the worldwide attempt to eradicate terrorism. Countries such as the UK must demonstrate their sincerity and transparency in such cases.

But the British Government's conduct as a toothless tiger against the activities of the LTTE too is understandable.

Cameron seems to be making every effort to win the hearts of adopted Tamils so that he could grab more votes at the elections that are due in two years time. Winning the hearts of the LTTE rump appears to be more important for Cameron than meeting justice to Sri Lanka.

Victims of terror

Most Western countries merely talk about the last stages of Sri Lanka's battle against terrorism. What perturbs us is their extraordinary interest to single out the final phase during which LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his senior terrorist leaders were killed.

That shows that some Western politicians are only interested in investigating the deaths of LTTE leaders killed in action and not about the countless number of civilians who had become unfortunate victims of the three decades of terror unleashed by the LTTE.

If the international community is sincerely interested in the human rights of 21 million Sri Lankans, they should consider the entire period of LTTE terror since 1983. Certain Western leaders such as Cameron and UNHRC chief Navi Pillai seem to be interested only in the human rights of LTTE terrorists killed in action.

On LTTE cadres commit murders abandon their weapon the West treats them as civilians. It is well-know that some LTTE cadres had not been in military attire during operations.

Hence, they have all the chance to engage in terror acts and throw their weapons after being fired by the Security Forces.

Then, the INGO agents and Western mafia runs to them and resurrect their image, counting those bodies as civilians killed by Sri Lanka's Security Forces.

This had been the strategy adopted by the LTTE with the help of certain countries and INGOs in the West. The international community shown no longer get mislead by those false propaganda campaigns of the LTTE rump.

It is unfortunate that there are so many countries, INGOs and international watchdogs to make a big hue and cry over the human rights of the LTTE terrorists killed in action. But how many of them have ever voiced on behalf of the human rights of thousands of civilians killed by the LTTE during its three decades of terror?

It is high time to understand the Western hypocrisy and their undue interest in Sri Lanka's internal matters. Sri Lanka is a sovereign nation and doesn't need any arbitrators or advisers to pontificate or investigate on our internal matters.

Sri Lanka only needs true friends who could sincerely lend a helping hand in its ambitious forward march.