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Horse sense of a former Tiger
Wednesday, 22 October 2008 - 12:32 PM SL Time
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TMVP leader and MP Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan , better known as Karuna, may not be everybody`s cup of tea. But, it needs to be granted that only a few people may know the LTTE better than he. By the time he broke away, unable to tolerate Prabhakaran`s fascism and attendant thirst for blood, he had served the LTTE as a battle hardened combatant as well as military commander in the Eastern Province for 22 years.
Yesterday, Karuna at a meeting President Mahinda Rajapaksa had with newspaper editors and heads of electronic media at Temple Trees came out with a few home truths for the consumption of those who are trying to manipulate the humanitarian situation in the Vanni in favour of the Tigers stewing in their own juice, having plunged the country back into war. He said how Sri Lanka was fighting the LTTE was in stark contrast to the manner in which other countries were battling their terrorists. Before the US-led anti terror operations began, Karuna pointed out, sanctions had been imposed on the target countries.
The reaction of some UN officials in charge of humanitarian operations in Iraq during sanctions comes to mind. Denis Halliday, who was UN coordinator in Iraq from 1997 to 1998, resigned in protest against killer sanctions which, he said, amounted to `genocide`. His consternation was understandable. The worst affected by the sanctions were children. A UN survey of health and nutrition carried out in 1998 revealed that the mortality rate among the children under five in central and southern Iraq had more than doubled, as compared with the previous decade. There had been 500,000 excess deaths of children by 1998! In 2002, due to the willful debilitation of the systems that provided clean water, sanitation and electric power, 70 per cent of child deaths were caused by diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections. Hans von Sponeck, who replaced Halliday resigned in 2000 on the same grounds. Director of the World Food Programme in Iraq Jutta Burghardt followed suit saying, `I fully support what Mr. von Sponeck was saying.` That was the human cost of anti terror operations in that country. The situation in Afghanistan is equally shocking.
This is what former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had to say about the situation in Iraq on May 12, 1996 in a television interview. CBS journalist Lesley Stahl asked her: `We have heard that half a million children have died. I mean that`s more than the number of people who died in Hiroshima. And is the price worth it?` Albright calmly replied: `I think this is a very hard choice, but, the price, we think, the price is worth it.`
While the champions of human rights are fighting their terrorists at the expense of civilians in this dastardly manner with impunity, little Sri Lanka has been feeding the very terrorists it battles, as we pointed the other day. At yesterday`s meeting, President Rajapaksa reiterated that enough supplies of food and other essential commodities were being sent to the war zone though 70 per cent of them ended up in the LTTE`s hands. `We have been feeding even the LTTE, but we don`t care as we want to do our duty by the civilians.` Interestingly, Karuna admitted that he, too, as an LTTE fighter had been living on food supplied by the State! If the Tamil Nadu politicians really felt for the civilians in the Vanni, said Karuna, all that they had to do was to send relief to the Vanni through the government of Sri Lanka. But, sadly, they are exploiting the suffering of the Vanni civilians to gain political mileage to win elections and rescue the Tigers in a tight spot.
Prabhakaran, Karuna said, would neither eschew violence nor agree to a political solution. The on-going military operations, he argued, were in keeping with the remedy India had tried to administer in the late 1980s-eliminating terrorism and implementing the 13th Amendment. That method had been successfully applied in the Eastern Province a few months back, he said.
It is being argued in some quarters that the government should urgently undertake to devolve power to the provinces so as to neutralise mounting Indian pressure. Sri Lanka cannot afford to ignore India`s concerns. Power, no doubt, must be devolved but those who are pressuring the government to do so at this particular juncture seem to be barking up the wrong tree. For, resistance to devolution stems mainly from the fear that the terrorists may use it as a stepping stone. We must factor in these fears and apprehensions in trying to resolve the conflict, if a lasting solution is to be evolved. A solution will have to be acceptable to all stakeholders if it is to be durable. Once terrorism ceases to be a factor, there will be less opposition to power sharing as it will be seen as an arrangement to empower the minorities. Karuna, unlike some democratic Tamil leaders, sees devolution as something to be effected carefully with the consent of all parties to the conflict. Yesterday, he made no bones about his position that it was not advisable for the Provincial Councils to be given police powers at the present juncture, given the prevailing security situation in the country. The need of the hour, he said, was development.
Karuna had a message for both Sinhala and Tamil leaders desirous of bridge building and ushering in peace. The majority had to win the confidence of the minorities and vice versa as a prerequisite for resolving the conflict. How true! What should be attempted is power sharing and not power grabbing. Power sharing is possible only among friends and attempts at power grabbing always lead to resistance and acrimony. That may explain why all past peace efforts came a cropper. Karuna has got it right!
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varakuna
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 573
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 22 Oct 2008 14:30:53 GMT Report for Abuse
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| He knows well that nobody can give suerity to his life.pillaiyans mans are behind him.both are stary dogs.we will wait and see |
kiwikanga
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Joined: Nov 2005
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 22 Oct 2008 20:50:12 GMT Report for Abuse
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And is the price worth it?' Albright calmly replied: 'I think this is a very hard choice, but, the price, we think, the price is worth it.'
If that is so, use Albright's excuse as a 'Koakatath Thailey' and get on with the right royal massacre of the tamils in the name of ending terrorism.
Use Albright's answer and ask ALL those poking their noses and fingures into SL's human rights affairs and other affairs to GET LOST. Ask the UN and any such others to get lost.
Mokada ehema karanney neththey? Apey evun kaiwaaru gahana tharamata keruwaawa nethuwa wagei!
This is just to widen the support and sustain the existing support of the southern (m)asses!
Lankaawedi netta uda thiyagena chandi part, Lankaawen pita giyahama netta akapusse gahagena poos part!
If we do not want any one interfering into our internal affairs what is the explanation Gota and Basil have to do in India and Pakistan?
The majority had to win the confidence of the minorities...
AND how are we trying to win that confidence? Harrasing the minorities to the maximum (ask any tamil who is not a politician for details) even to the extent of saying the country belongs to the sinhalese and that the minor communities cannot make ANY demands( leave aside eelam and a separate state).
I suppose these help the majority to win the confidence of the minorities!!
Edited By - kiwikanga - 22 Oct 2008 21:36:52 GMT |
kiora
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 257
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29 Oct 2008 21:40:29 GMT Report for Abuse
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| If Karuna has got right shouldn't he be promoted to MR deputy. |
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