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LTTE contacts embassies, claims `criminal negligence` by Govt.
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dravid
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 425
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28 Feb 2007 06:41:49 GMT Report for Abuse
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Barring this article does anyone have any details regarding the leaflets in the east that discuss the re-entry of the karuna faction into the ltte?
If the whole election conspiracy is accurate how do we not know this split was engineered from the very beginning?
Just imagine without Karuna SLA intel in the east would once again be nil :D and in terms of future actions the SLDF would be scrambling to weaken Karuna faction cadres who have already infiltrated the government controlled east...
The K-factor can turn things on their head ;) |
bigwave
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 171
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28 Feb 2007 06:44:49 GMT Report for Abuse
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2 minutes ago
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned a Tamil rebel artillery attack in Sri Lanka that injured several foreign diplomats, including a UN official, taking part in a humanitarian assessment mission.
'The secretary general condemns the shelling' by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa district, 'which was in total disregard for the lives of civilians, humanitarian workers, government officials and the international community,' his spokeswoman Michele Montas told a press briefing on Tuesday
She said the UN resident coordinator was among at least a dozen people injured in Tuesday's shelling. In Colombo, the government said the ambassadors of Italy and the United States were also hurt in the raid.
The diplomats were visiting Batticaloa for the first time after security forces last month dismantled a de facto separate state the Tigers ran in the region for over a decade.
The Sri Lankan military retaliated for the Tuesday attack with air attacks against suspected LTTE positions, military officials said.
The LTTE said at least 20 civilians were wounded in the government's air assault.
Montas meanwhile said Ban called on the government and the LTTE 'to end the destructive spiral of violence and ...to make every effort to return to the peace process as soon as possible.'
Tuesday's shelling of two military helicopters transporting ambassadors from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the EU delegation and the heads of three UN agencies was one of the worst ever against foreigners in the country's lengthy civil war. |
rasak
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 741
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28 Feb 2007 06:49:26 GMT Report for Abuse
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Very good analysis
By Malinda Seneviratne (daily mirror)
Anyone who watched 'Janapathi Jana Hamuwa' on Saturday night would understand that Mahinda Rajapaksa is an accomplished politician: he understands the play of power and now, given the extensive executive powers of his position, is going full steam to consolidate his gains over the past 14 months. There is acertain poetry about this, one must admit, for Rajapaksa is clearly playing ?The Prince? in the classic Machiavellian mould. It was not theatre of the absurd but pragmatic, common-sense, politicking on the part of the President.
Questions pertaining to Mangala Samaraweera's antics, the machinations regarding the COPE report and military engagement were quite effectively dealt with. That his brother Gotabhaya upstaged him did not detract from the lustre but only fixed another shining jewel on the dictatorial crown conferred on him by the 1978 constitution. On Saturday he not only silenced his critics, but also imprisoned any possible dissent in the ranks by putting his ministers in a position where they could not but sing his praises.
The footage will no doubt be locked up somewhere safe. J.R.Jayewardene, with his demand for undated letters of resignation, appears to have been pretty crude in contrast. As things stand, given Mahinda Rajapaksa's political fluency, nothing short of assassination could shake the man, one feels.
We all know that there are still people who indulge in daydreaming about democratically undermining the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, fantasizing about grand alliances between the strangest bedfellows such as Chandrika Kumaratunga and the JVP, the UNP and the JVP etc., and they have every right to do so. There are also those who bet their political futures on the predictions of soothsayers. There are others, among them political commentators, who dress up their fantasies as probable outcome and they too have every right to do so. Hope, after all, is supposed to spring eternally in the human heart, even if such hearts are resident in bodies that are simple-minded and vindictive. All this is great stuff for those who are wont to pledge undying allegiance. It is also great stuff for those who believe that a strong president who is committed to eradicating terrorism is a blessing (and I am one of them ? a president who is wishy-washy on the LTTE would have been a nightmare). Still, to the extent that all this indicates the extent of power vested in the office of the president and the consequently powerlessness of the citizen, those who prefer democracy to dictatorship and who have greater faith in institutions rather than in personalities (and I am one of them) need to be seriously concerned. We do not live in easy times. |
rasak
Joined: Aug 2006
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28 Feb 2007 06:49:56 GMT Report for Abuse
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The citizen is forced to elect men to offices that have been designed to turn the elected into dictators; benevolent or otherwise, they remain capable of infringing on the democratic rights of the electors. On the other hand the nation is under threat from a blood-thirsty tyrant, a kidnapper and child molester who aspires to engage in land-theft. Add to all this, as has been recently revealed, is the fact that there are journalists, peace-activists and self-styled 'leftists' who have in the pursuit of 'revolution' agreed to be trained militarily by the terrorists, and the situation is very serious as far as the ordinary citizen is concerned.
It has also been revealed that the LTTE recruited these would-be Sinhala terrorists at the Pongu Thamil celebration held a few years ago in Colombo. That particular event was dubbed by artists and peace-activists as a landmark in the fostering of Sinhala-Tamil cultural relations and when a group of people who raised questions about celebrating the LTTE there ensued a pitched battle within and without the assembly hall. The 'disrupters' (who had the worst of the exchange) were charged in court.
Today, they stand vindicated, whereas the entire process serves as a splendid lesson on the pitfalls of naiveté to all those wide-eyed people who believe talking peace with people who don't understand or want peace or democracy in even in rudimentary form will bring an end to war. At this point it would be worth saying something about 'immunity'. University students, in particular those affiliated with the JVP, have long believed that the university system stands outside the legal frame of the country and that they can manhandle opponents at will and without fear of retribution. The truth is that no one is above the law, subject of course to the caveat that 'immunity' is something that executive presidents enjoy in degrees that the rest of the population cannot even begin to dream about.
The so-called Free Media Movement was quick to take umbrage when the first set of Sinhala men were arrested on suspicion of links with the LTTE. Perhaps they had no clue what their friends were up to.
They protested vociferously and when the confessions appeared in the media swiftly changed their position to demanding 'due process' in investigation and legal action.
What is important to understand is that terrorism does not have a permanent residence. In fact it can have multiple residencies. It can and does have multiple disguises, including uniforms belonging to the security forces. Considering the degree of threat involved it would be folly indeed to say 'hands off' with respect to any specific vocation. Would this amount to a call for a witch-hunt against journalists, leftists and peace-activists? Some can argue that of course.
However, a state cannot be complacent and neither can the citizen. The only distinction that need to be taken into account is the degree to which a particular individual or organization is complicit in terrorist activity. Someone who has undergone weapons training at the hands of the LTTE is different from someone who, for whatever reason, engages in politics in ways that helps bolster the LTTE's image and its lie and serves to undermine the effort to defeat terrorism. The former category should be treated the way a confirmed LTTE cadre is treated. We note that an Indonesian General has been given a 20 year prison sentence for helping the LTTE. That's how that country dealt with a threat to a friendly country.
The latter category should be dealt with in the ideological realm. In short there is a difference between a peace-activist and a peace-Tiger, between a journalist and a Tiger-journalist, a leftist and a Tiger-leftist. The arrest of a journalist who is a confirmed member of the LTTE should not result in all journalists being painted in stripes. Similarly, no one should be upset, least of all journalists, when a Tiger-journalist is called just that. Indeed, it should serve to alert everyone to the threat of infiltration. It should make all of us more circumspect when we choose friends. That's tough and indeed frightening but then again we are living in tough times.
If it serves to shed some reality-light into the murky ideological chambers surrounded by the thick curtains of unforgivable naiveté, then such people could indeed become authentic advocates of peace and democracy. Until then, they will remain suspect. To return to the larger canvass of exemption it is imperative that we as citizens remember that if immunity is a blanket that we do not have the privilege to take cover under, it is certainly not something that the President can have exclusive rights over.
This is not to charge Mahinda Rajapaksa of bedding with Prabhakaran of course, although many of his tribe have and still do indulge in such dangerous pastimes. We are talking, rather, about the I-shall-do-as-I-please privileges accorded by a constitution that has been designed to strangle the citizen. President Rajapaksa, towards the tail-end of the well-scripted drama on Saturday night, talked about his vision of a fear-free society.
A benevolent dictator could, arguably, make such a vision a reality. Dictators, however, are human and consequently humanly frail. They make mistakes, they can go overboard and they can be ill-advised by the parasites that are typically attracted to and feed on the bodies of the powerful. 'Biyen-seken-thora,' however is too serious a matter to defer to the lottery that is getting a decent person in the highest seat of power. For one, the man can change any moment. For another, his successor may very well turn things around in an instant. That is too much of a gamble for a people living in a democratic society. Mahinda, riding what is probably an unprecedented wave of popularity and possessing skills almost tailor-made for the ambit that goes with his office, is certainly in Easy Street in the matter of wielding power.
He must remember that there will come a day when he will be evaluated by history. If he eradicates the terrorist threat he will be cheered. For a while. Life is longer, though. Time too. History will say 'not enough' if that is all he does. As for the people, they will also be assessed and they will have to assess themselves in terms of what they did or did not do in ensuring that their children do not end up as slaves.
All of us will have to return to a draconian constitution and decide if and how we engage with it. We are never offered the privilege of immunity from history's gaze or that of our children. Let us repeat this again for the purpose of emphasis: 'it's all about institutions in the long run and as far Sri Lanka is concerned, it is about the 17th Amendment, strengthening it by correcting its faults'. It is not in Rajapaksa's interest or in Ranil Wickremesinghe's interest either. It is in the interest of the citizen. The citizen has to speak. Or shut up. One thing is clear. We are not immune and neither can we afford to be naïve. |
ahmadineja
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 891
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28 Feb 2007 07:27:40 GMT Report for Abuse
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Read this folks...
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/4727 |
Moby1975
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2006
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28 Feb 2007 07:28:37 GMT Report for Abuse
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I think i echo the sentiments of all anti-LTTE elements in this forum, the SLA or the GOSL is not expecting any military assistance or any mileage militarily from yesterday debacle of the LTTE. Our SLA/SLN/SLAF/STF and all other units are now capable of giving the LTTE a good run for their money. To think that we hope for a USA landing in Mullaituvu would be an insult to our forces, we will show them how it should be done. The past successes and today's success are testament to a determined force that LTTE has created by their own foolishness. Forget the past losses and failures, the SLA has learned and it has learned well. But what we expect from yesterday is for the IC to see and understand that the LTTE can be callous in their attacks and have no regard for human life and that its support base is capable of justifying all their actions with lame excuses and invalid legalities. That will lay bare the true facts about the LTTE and its supporters and how short sighted and idiotic they really are.
Edited By - Moby1975 - 28 Feb 2007 07:36:51 GMT |
Lion5Den
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 270
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28 Feb 2007 07:41:50 GMT Report for Abuse
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| The argument that they did not know there were dignitaries is irrelevant to the activity that was carried out i.e. terrorism. its like the thief saying its not my fault for stealing the car - its the owners fault for parking it on the street! |
Kato
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 129
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28 Feb 2007 07:44:31 GMT Report for Abuse
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Internationally recognized terrorists attack foriegn diplomats and accuse the govt of putting DPs in danger? Common... do they really think IC and people in general are that stupid?
Given how close the motar landed near to the DPs it shows how well planned this attack was. |
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