To the OHCHR, the UN, the Peace Activists, the NGOs/INGOs & all those who steer the bandwagon of ceasefires is asked a simple question – how can a ceasefire release civilian hostages especially those being forcefully kept by the LTTE & condensed to 28sq.km.
It will be very interesting to hear how they propose to have these captured civilians released from LTTE control. However, until they can explain the modus operandi of releasing the hostages creating a dramatic platform of “humanitarian catastrophe will only serve to reveal that the heads & representatives of these “humanitarian agencies” have simply failed the people & fooled the people with their press releases & loud statements for they have done absolutely nothing to address the main question & the core issue. Who is to put these agencies on trial for the lack of professionalism, lack of accountability & the lack of genuineness for the roles they hold especially for the remunerations that come their way? Where is the logic in forcing the Government to agree to a ceasefire & then thinking about how to release the civilians without identifying why the LTTE is keeping the civilians in the first place!
The latest entrant to join in the vilification of the GOSL is the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay who chose to ignore the LTTE suicide attack a few days earlier in the South of Sri Lanka aimed at 6 Government Ministers at an event held to celebrate the Holy Prophet’s Birthday & to issue a Press Release expressing her “growing alarm” at the number of civilians killed & injured. What has she done against Israel following its siege on the Gaza & the killing of over 1300 civilians? Who could have stopped the siege & how? We are well aware that tied to these ceasefires are a monetary carrot & the 2002 Cease Fire Agreement itself is a perfect example of the LTTE being bought over – which again portrays that the Eelaam war is nothing but a money generating enterprise for the LTTE & its leadership which includes the Tamil Diaspora & foreign nations are advised to look closer into their financial dealings & their incomes!
What are these “certain actions” that Navi Pillay is refereeing to, place them in clear terms for us to be able to understand. Those that cry genocide of Tamils may like to explain how over 40,000 Tamil civilians in IDP camps set up by the GOSL & fed & clothed by the GOSL are still alive? If the Government was involved in ethnic cleansing or genocide should these civilians not be dead by now? Instead, why does the Government use the Sri Lankan tax payers money to buy food & medicines, spend on transport to the IDP camps & distribute them to these Tamil civilians? Can the Government’s conduct in looking after the Tamil people who have fled LTTE control be referred to as “ruthless disregard” for their safety as Ms. Pillai declares & is feeding the Tamil civilians a “war crime”?
There are too many loose statements going around by “authoritative” bodies & their paid representatives which have no credibility but which are able to flame up issues that are used to pressurize Governments by the manner they are able to attract international media. Thus, if the OHCHR declares itself suited to issue a press release it is only right we question them on where they received their information.
where are the “other areas” that have been shelled? Name them, give dates & times & show pictures for these references must be accompanied by graphical evidence – heresay is not accepted!
Who are these “credible sources” & how did they count 2800 civilians? – were they male, female, children? Where were their bodies located from – name these places where the bodies were found, the dates & times found as well.
How injured are these 7000 civilians – Scratches, bruises, without limbs etc? how were they counted & by whom?
Why have not these “credible sources” given exactly how many civilians are actually trapped – we seem to be trying to ascertain if there are actually 400,000 or less than 75,000 as the Government now claims!
We do not need to tell the UN, the OHCHR even foreign governments of the LTTE’s resume of killings & they have their own profiles on the LTTE & their intelligence has enough evidence of their international operations & clandestine businesses which will of course involve citizens of those countries as well.
If there is limited food which perhaps may be true, without finding fault with the Government isn’t it proper to send food to these areas through the Government. But it should not be forgotten that the Government has thus far sent over 75,000 metric tons of food & the larger consignments of food sent in late 2008 where the exaggerated figures of 400,000 civilians were being internationalized by INGOs/NGOs ensured the disbursement of large amounts of food to the uncleared areas which inadvertently means they have been taken by LTTE & used for their consumption only – obviously to enable a long drawn out battle & the LTTE not having to worry about supplies of food!. If there is a shortage of medicines, shouldn’t goodwill nations send stocks – blaming the Government through press releases is hardly going to benefit civilians needing painkillers!
It is tiresome to have the GOSL & the LTTE considered on the same platform & world leaders & their Governments as well as international agencies need to finally come to terms with the fact that the LTTE is nothing but a terrorist organization & not even the representative of the Tamil people. It is a handful of people who are today responsible for projecting a very wrong & warped version of what is happening in Sri Lanka & it is time that the world realizes the treachery that goes on in international bodies who enjoy referring to themselves as unbiased but their deeds will reveal how corrupt & biased they actually are.
What “accurate assessment” has been thus far coming from international agencies for Sri Lanka to allow them access to areas that the military has perfect control over? Let us remind the world that in the LTTE defacto capital of Kilinochchi, other than the LTTE & a handful of Tamil civilians the only others located there were the NGOs/INGOs & their offices & it was these foreign & local representatives who did not inform to the GOSL where the LTTE terrorist offices were located & what exactly the LTTE was doing since 2002 which was but a few yards from where their offices were. It was these representatives who would have know how the LTTE treated the Tamil people, how the LTTE kidnapped the Tamil children to make them into child soldiers & it is these NGOs/INGOs & “independent” agencies that claimed there were 400,000 Tamil civilians trapped amongst the LTTE – numbers which though exaggerated revealed a larger game plan to showcase to the world the need to block military advances by using the “civilians” as a ruse. In a country of 20million people & with 2.4m Tamils (12% of population) it is impossible to have 200,000 let alone 400,000 in Mullaitivu!
If we are alarmed at the amount of pressures coming from “international agencies” that should be “unbiased” we need only to come to terms with the larger picture of how beneficial world conflicts are – all 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council deal in arms manufacture. The New York Times reported that the Defense Department made $32 billion in foreign weapons and military equipment deals in 2008 (US weapons sales to foreign countries 45% higher than 2007)- The United States now provides 52 % of the world’s arms. The agencies that guise themselves as “humanitarian” striven have their own agendas & most now lead very bountiful lifestyles, rub shoulders with the rich & famous & are on never ending VIP stopovers to discuss “conflicts” “prepare reports” “issue press releases” & obtain media attention – it has served every player & stakeholder over the years while those party to the conflicts end up continuously suffering.
What Sri Lanka now needs is to give the military the opportunity to take over the remaining 28sq.km that the LTTE controls & eliminate all LTTE cadres with arms. There are likely to be a scattered few but they will find it an increasing challenge to survive amongst their own when the people of these areas realize what lies the LTTE had been feeding them. Other than crying genocide, discrimination what have the 800,000 Tamil Diaspora given to the Tamil people suffering amongst the LTTE in the Wanni? Have they even educated a child, built a school, a playground, a hospital when they can shower dollars & pounds to purchasing arms to the LTTE to fight the Sri Lankan army? Even as civilians are being looked after in IDP camps how many of the 800,000 Tamil Diaspora have even sent food, clothing or toys from their comfortable homes in the western hemisphere? Instead, the Tamil Diaspora can carry placards & should abuse at the Government of Sri Lanka for feeding & looking after the Tamil civilians some of whom are being kept by the very group to which they send money to fight the army. Is this not bordering the farcical?
The shams & lies will needless to say reveal themselves in time – the connections to LTTE, the monetary transactions etc will all surface & it is this that will make the ultimate victory the ever greater. To be able to rise above the odds, to be able to stand firm under all odds, to be defiant & to be committed to the resolve that the military option has gained unbelievable grounds & cornered a brute force that was given oxygen & allowed to continue to torment a nation over 25 years just because it served an industry, served the lifestyles of a few & served hidden agendas that proposes to continue to quell growth of developing nations & thus upset the equilibrium of how things are made to happen by a group of select world leaders & their powerful nations.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said that “every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” This world needs to move away from the reckless path our leaders past & present seem to follow & those leaders who desire to make that difference should be supported & people need to unite to right the terrible wrongs that have taken place.
By: Shenali Waduge