Shenali Waduge

It is without a doubt that a country not only needs a good Government it also needs a brave Opposition. Yet, in Sri Lanka we can but wonder what exactly our Opposition espouses to achieve. Gaining a score over the Government should be done intelligently & not to ridicule Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s integrity. We are all aware the manner in which the Opposition ridiculed the military prior to its final onslaught against the LTTE. Parliament was turned into a circus with the Opposition terming Government announced victories as lies & some even going so far as to say the Army Commander was unsuited to even lead the Salvation Army! Nevertheless, it was the same Army Commander having being part of the success story that possibly got enticed into thinking himself far suitable for other roles that first started the avalanche of accusations from which the International Community & now the UN are using as yardsticks to drive & build up cases of war crimes against Sri Lanka & its armed forces.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For petty political gain (which didnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t come) creating & vocalizing unsubstantiated war scenarios are certainly unwarranted & have only started a motion of ridiculing a fete achieved by our armed forces which no foreign military has through 19^th century being able to do. Instead of the glory that should come to the country, its forces & all the leaderships responsible for the achievement, the Opposition & mostly the former Army Commander has embarrassed the country & what can it boast of actually gaining?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This certainly calls for a review of statements issued officially by Opposition Parties in future & the need for the leaderships of all Opposition parties not to allow its members to shoot their mouths off in a manner that would end up ridiculing the country.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ To be free of LTTE terror in Sri Lanka should be an achievement that the entire country should feel proud & happy about. Elimination could have been done by previous Governments had they had the will & the courage to go against the dictates of countries, institutions & other lobbies that prefer to have a war of this nature drag on for years & years. If the previous Governments did not it is not the fault of the present Government. To hide their own inadequacies by helping to create the present situation Sri Lanka is facing now requires the Opposition to at least put petty politics aside.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The country needs to build up a solid front & stand together to tell the UN to first probe war crimes created by the US for which despite enough of substantiated evidence nothing has been done, not a single UN representative has demanded US to resettle all those dislodged of homes in all countries that it has flouted international laws & descended upon. The cases of guilt against the US & its flouting off all Geneva Convention laws requires the UN if it is ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-fairƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚, unbiasedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ to create an ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-expert panelƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ on US atrocities over the years not on one country but so many. Besides, in all the thirty years of UN presence in Sri Lanka with documented violations numbering over 3000 recorded by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission & UN research finding the LTTE guilty of child soldiers a crime according to the Geneva Convention what exactly did the UN do against the LTTE? Now with the LTTE no more except those that call themselves the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-born-again LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ living in foreign climes who will the expert panel actually question? When the LTTE is no more isnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t the next & best solution to now concentrate on the development work & improving the living conditions of all those Tamils that were practically slaves of the LTTE?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The onus is on the Opposition & the former Army Commander to undo the damage it has done to the country (though their intention was to embarrass the Government)