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Death comes as the end
Saturday, 16 December 2006 - 6:36 AM SL Time
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One of the pillars of the LTTE has fallen with the demise of its ideologue Anton Balasingham. He managed to give the LTTE`s macabre ideology a semblance of sophistication and over the years became a seasoned negotiator for the movement.
Mr. Balasingham may have genuinely believed in the cause of his choice like all others who advocate violence as the means to an end. Unfortunately, those who choose that path of brutality fail to realise that violence becomes, with the passage of time, the end and the means both and the perpetrators end up being prisoners of it. The survival of any movement that resorts to terror, hinges on its ability to unleash more and more violence. the LTTE being a classic example.
Mr. Balaisngham`s devotion to the LTTE was never in question. His contribution to the rise of the LTTE as a formidable outfit was tremendous. He was instrumental in putting the outfit on the international radar and wooing the support of several foreign powers to its cause initially. The LTTE has every reason to treat him as a hero but the question is whether he could be considered as such the people whose lives have been devastated by the LTTE terror, which he fiercely defended?
The LTTE, which he supported to the hilt, has over the years killed more Tamils than Sinhalese or Muslims. It has eliminated almost the entire democratic Tamil political leadership besides a large number of other leaders including an incumbent Head of State and a foreign minister. The North and the East have been reduced to a wasteland where children are being forcibly recruited as combatants and democracy is a thing of the past. The majority of the inhabitants of those areas are either internally displaced or living abroad or have migrated to other parts of the country. If anyone has stood to gain from that situation, he or she is definitely an economic refugee in an affluent country, wishing for the perpetuation of the conflict and thereby the extension of his or her refugee status.
The LTTE has lost over 20,000 cadres including many leaders and killed thousands in return, mostly civilians who were no party to the conflict. It has deprived thousands of children of their education and, above all, their innocent childhood. Many of them have perished in battle. It has, in short, plunged the country into a river of blood which is still flowing. But what has it achieved? It has been banned in several countries which were once sympathetic to its cause. More and more bans are staring the outfit in the eye, thanks to its unbridled violence. Worst of all, it is under pressure to settle for devolution, which it could have gained many years ago without shedding so much of blood. It was only the other day that the US shot down the LTTE leader`s claim that he had no alternative to political independence. It has isolated itself internationally and is losing ground militarily. How can the LTTE aspire to a separate state any longer, having got nowhere near it thus far?
Its violence has manifestly come home to roost after two decades. As the Ravaya Editor Victor Ivan pointed out in an interview with this newspaper yesterday, the LTTE has, despite its military victories in the past?the capture of the Elephant Pass camp, the attack on the Airport etc.,?which marked the zenith of its military campaign, come to such a pass that today it is resorting to small scale terror attacks like targeting VIP convoys. It has had to begin from the very beginning after twenty years of fighting! That is the price any guerrilla movement pursuing a Utopian goal sans a proper political programme has to pay sooner or later.
The LTTE has suffered the worst ever split with one of its best military commanders, Karuna Amman, breaking ranks and forming the Eastern Tigers. And more desertions are being reported unlike in the past. The death of Mr. Balasingham couldn`t have come at a worse time for the LTTE, which, in a desperate struggle to bounce back, needs his services more than ever.
How Mr. Balasingham assessed the situation in which the LTTE found itself towards the latter stages of his life, we don`t know. But, he couldn`t have been happy about what the movement had reaped after two decades of a relentless campaign of violence. (Remember, he regretted the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.)
Prabhakran may find a replacement for his departed loyal friend to function as his mouthpiece. But, whether the successor, whoever it may be, will be able to achieve what Mr. Balasingham, in spite of his glibness, wile and acumen, tried without success?selling the LTTE violence to the world?remains to be seen.
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gajaba56
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16 Dec 2006 08:24:36 GMT Report for Abuse
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It is surprising that everybody calls Balasingham a negotiator.Wasn't he just another terrorist?. The only difference was, he promoted terrorism under the protection of western governments like England. Prabhakaran does not have that guarantee of protection. Why don't we call a terrorist a terrorist?.
Ruwan k. |
Sandman
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16 Dec 2006 14:58:30 GMT Report for Abuse
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Bala misled the entire gullible tamil horde and then created the illusion that he was attempting to un-ring the bell, purely as a personal escape mechanism.
He was an awoved racist and terrorist. He may have escaped responsibility for decimating the tamils and internationally disgracing them, but history will place guilt on him eventually.
His death comes as a new beginning for the moderate tamils who wish to have a real life free of intimidation.
Edited By - Sandman - 16 Dec 2006 14:59:33 GMT |
kiwikanga
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16 Dec 2006 15:20:15 GMT Report for Abuse
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'Death comes as the end'. Has it ever come as the beginning?!?
Edited By - kiwikanga - 16 Dec 2006 15:30:12 GMT |
ravin
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16 Dec 2006 15:30:30 GMT Report for Abuse
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Only LTTE sympathisers would feel the lost for their struggle............
The day he died i saw on a PRO LTTE TV channel (Broadcasting from Europe) where handful of people voicing their condolences. With all due respect to a dead man HE could have used his wisdom to prevent such a war that has led to killing of 100K people. |
magha
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16 Dec 2006 16:05:03 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Bala was called the theoretician of LTTE. It is not difficult to fathom out what lousy theories he had looking at the destruction of the Tamil society achieved though the LTTE Tamil Home land concept and Eelam. He apparently done some research on Marxist psychoanalysis working with the Schizophrenic leader of LTTE Prabhakaran, and found himself in the same category of psychopathy and became the stinky mouth piece of the LTTE leader. |
kanthun
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16 Dec 2006 16:30:04 GMT Report for Abuse
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LOL.. it's obvious from the editorial as well as the comments from these pure racists who've deluded themselves into thinking they're moderates.. That Mr. Balasingham was much more than a thorn in the 'lions' paw.
He spoke the truth, he brought to light the countless murders, rapes, disappearances, intimidation, oppression, and outright acts of genocide committed by the Sinhalese on the minority Tamils. He took the plight of the Tamils to the international arena, if today the IC is even the least bit concerned (regardless of how hypocritical their concern is), it's in no small part due to him. If there is an SLMM here with international monitors, who're able to witness just who the real 'terrorists' in Sri Lanka, and also bring this truth to the world, that's also in no small part due to his efforts.
The two-faced nature of the Sinhalese government was exposed by Balasingham, he showed to the world why the Sinhalese will never accept federalism, and why they can never be trusted to give a just and fair solution of any significance to the Tamils.
He is a true hero in every way. who sacrificed his health and well being, many luxuries and wealth, and finally his entire life for his nation and people. No matter how many lies the Sinhalese create, no matter how many times they repeat it, lies simply cannot become the truth. |
Sandman
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16 Dec 2006 17:41:16 GMT Report for Abuse
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Kanthun
By allowing the 'tamil cause' to become nothing other than a racist-terrorist excuse, he brought inescapable defeat upon a cause that could have had some legitimacy in a more tolerant world.
Don't you see that this guy really was the architect of a vicious evil, which no civilized world would tolerate? Leaving aside sanctimonious platitudes most people like to mouth at the death of any mongrel, Bala is responsible for demeaning the tamils as a race and giving a scary credibility to sinhala extremists.
The simple fact that he escaped liability for the attrocities he masterminded does not absolve him from what his true legacy is. And that lies in the hearts and souls of the majority of people vocally and silently rejoicing his demise. I certainly am.
The tamils need to take a good look at what the 'tamil struggle' has truly become, since it is already defeated. Whether the LTTe continues to operate in some jungle with impunity or not, the tamil cause, by being attributed to them, has become a putrfying corpse. That is the true legacy of this devious coward-turned-bully with pretexes to greater literacy.
It will take ages to white-wash the 'tamil cause' even if it could be re-surrected in the face of the formidable opposition tamil racist-terrorism has created among the sinhalese. These people now know how to propagate illegality for that particular cause in order to keep it in perpetual darkness. Their determination to keep it so and suffocate it to the death should not be under-estimated.
If the LTTE and tamil racism defeated anything among the sinhalese, it is the moderates. And for that, the penalty will be very high, and will be understood only much later by an intelligent few. I hope you will be the exception who does sooner.
Edited By - Sandman - 16 Dec 2006 17:46:32 GMT |
samanj
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16 Dec 2006 17:55:03 GMT Report for Abuse
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By the looks of it Bala aided by Velu kept the brutality rolling to serve their own ends.......
The circus is over.....................
According to Gaja, this circus was the vehicle to propel the Jaffna tamils diaspora in the scene at the expense of misery to those tamils that remained in the country.
International Tamil Diaspora hiked on the Bala/Paraba circus road show................
A clown has now fallen ...... whats next ?????????
Country & her people suffered and pushed back to the stone age. |
kanthun
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16 Dec 2006 18:10:34 GMT Report for Abuse
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Sandman..
By allowing the 'tamil cause' to become nothing other than a racist-terrorist excuse, he brought inescapable defeat upon a cause that could have had some legitimacy in a more tolerant world.
'Terrorists' and 'terrorism' are just a mere point of view. The Sinhalese see the LTTE as the terrorists and the Tamils see the GOSL and the Sri Lankan army as the terrorists. If we define terrorism as killing innocent civilians, then we all know that the Sri Lankan government is the biggest 'terrorist' in the island. The sinhalese government and its army has killed thousands of innocent Tamils, not just after the LTTE, but long before the LTTE ever came into existence.
There's no point in blaming the LTTE, and it's even more absurd to blame Mr. Balasingham. The GOSL has had so many chances to bring peace and deliver a just and fair solution to the Tamils, it has always been the Sinhalese Buddhist extremists who have destroyed any chance of peace. Don't be ignorant of the truth, this has been the case even decades before the LTTE was born.
It has always been convenient for you and many other Sinhalese to displace blame, and keep living in denial. And, it's obvious that people like Mr. Balasingham who were so vocal in their efforts, and who worked so relentlessly to bring to light the true face of the Sinhalese Racism, were upseting your blissful ignorance.
Admit it, the reason that Sinhalese like you hated Mr. Balasingham was because he was exposing your shameful lies to the world. He was a trouble maker, because he challenged the Sinhalese ideology, he exposed the Sinhalese double-handedness. The governments 'peace' proposals were inherently deceptive and cunning, it was simply a delay tactic with no intention of giving the Tamils any significant rights to autonomy, these two-faced proposals were repeatedly stripped naked and exposed to the world. And this is why the Sinhalese government and so-called 'moderates' like yourself hated Mr. Balasingham with such a passion.
Edited By - kanthun - 16 Dec 2006 18:14:06 GMT |
Sandman
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16 Dec 2006 20:18:37 GMT Report for Abuse
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Kanthun
Long and emotional response. But if finding a durable solution is what you are interested in, then the emotions need to be left behind.
What I see is the treachery of a man who had the opportunity to lead a campaign which was based on true injustices committed to people of this land by another group of people of this same land. He abused his position, and created a disaster which not only cost a horrendous amount of lives, but it also effectively illegitimized the call for settlement of grievences.
The hard reality to face is that the larger majority of both the perpetrators and victims of those injustices have since died off. Today, there is a small group of tamils who are attempting to justify ethnic-cleansing and other forms of tribal barbarism, claiming to be the victims of these injustices.
These guys were not even born when these things happened.
The people they are attempting to murder were not even born when these injustices were committed.
So you see, now it is a new series of crimes, with only an imaginary link to a past, attempting to justify its actions based on wild, unacceptable arguments.
What you are seeing in the determined response of the SLG, is based on the the present day sinhalese seeing it as above.
I am not responsible for crimes committed by my grandfather, and I am defintely not going to tolerate murder attempts by the descendents of the person/s victimized by my forefathers. I would sympathize to what happened, and make sure it does not happen in my life time, but I would never allow myself to be the victim of retaliation from some illiterate brute, who wants to wreak vigilante justice on civilization.
Edited By - Sandman - 16 Dec 2006 20:20:45 GMT |
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