By Mario Perera, Kadawata

A group calling themselves ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Christian clergy and laymenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ have signed a statement in which they say ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We call on all Sri Lankans and particularly religious leaders and the government to take into serious consideration the stories of our brothers and sisters contained in the (Ban-ki Moon) report, along with its conclusions and recommendations.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Anglican Bishop Emeritus Kumara Illangasinghe, Father Jeyabalan Croos, Jesuit Father Thangarasa Jeevaraj and Father Nandana Manatunga, were among the signatories. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Instead of denial and rejection that seems to be happening now, we believe all Sri Lankans should treat this report as a resource and tool in our own efforts towards a process of reconciliation that is based on truth, justice, accountability and reparation for victims,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ the statement further added.

This group restates what we all know as emanating from the office of Ban-Ki and spokesmen of the western super powers hell bent on pinning us down under their weight. In fact Robert Bake is dong a first class plane ride to repeat all over again this nauseating declaration in our hearing. This is also the demand of the gentleman who still, with the blessings of his Church labels himself Rev.Fr.S.J.Emmanuel, the man who called Prabharakan ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Jesus ChristƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ and the LTTE, the soldiers of Christ.

One is well within oneƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s rights to ask: why this tremendous hurry for justice for those who died at the final stages of the war? Why was there no hurry at all for all those who met with tragic deaths during the thirty years of LTTE terror? Where were the above signatories when S.J.Emmanuel called the LTTE suicide bombers ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”martyrsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ worthy of Catholic burials? We know what Catholic martyrs are entitled to immediately on death, the open arms of God and the welcoming words: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-well done my good and faithful servant, enter into the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the worldƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚. This was the reception that according to Emmanuel, with the total silence of his Church, that God has prepared for the LTTE suicide bombers who blasted simple men women and children by their hundreds into smithereens in public places. Where were they when 600 unarmed policemen were taken away and executed? The list will fill volumes. What is under consideration is not a few months but thirty years of inhuman atrocities committed by the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”soldiers of ChristƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. Have these signatories not seen the ranks of Catholic priests holding the pictures of Prabhakaran on their breasts while shouting themselves hoarse for Ealam? But of course was not Prabhakaran ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Jesus ChristƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ in person? Have these Christians, priests, clergy men and laymen never read the much cited damning passage in the book of J.N.Dixit that all the Tamil clergy argued in favour of the LTTE and Ealam. There was no accountability then when the dastardly perpetrators were still moving around and not yet lying on their backs like the one on the banks of the Nandikadal lagoon.

The statement goes on with ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-We have received desperate calls, emails and messages about how the government repeatedly shelled the no fire zones in which it asked civilians to take shelter, how hospitals and food distribution centers were attacked when their locations were known and clearly marked and about people being killed and injured in these places and in bunkers they had dug with bare hands.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Oh yea they received calls, emails and messages which they attest after a lapse of two years, confirm Ban KiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s report. But what about the large and glaring head lines with gruesome pictures and newspaper accounts day in and day out about the victims during those thirty years? This selective morality and preaching from those who live with their eyes turned towards the everlasting and the eternal is not only unbearably hypocritical but also an unpardonable crime with intent to put the noose fabricated by the white man around this countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s neck. These make believe Christian religious heroes are nothing else but abject traitors to their motherland.

The ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ they expect will amount to confessions of sins with heavier penalties than the reciting of a few ejaculatory prayers sinners are told to utter as penance. A famous phrase that repeatedly occurs with the demand for a ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ is that it would do justice to the victims, and will also ensure that such an event will never occur again in the future. So easy, to the point of being naƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚¯ve and childish. Of course they imagine all in the image of the church confessional where the guilty emerge after the absolution whitened as snow, naturally to sin again.

Yes indeed justice must be done to the victims of thirty years of terror and to the entire Sri Lanka nation held to ransom by those who are now trying to lord it over us as epitomes of international morality. We remember how these ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”emperors without clothesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ approached the subject of LTTE terror by reminding this nation that those devastating events only go to show the crying need of arriving at a negotiated settlement (negotiated settlement with a group condemned worldwide as the greatest of terror organizations). Quite a gaping contrast indeed with their own reactions as seen with nations on whom they are imposing superlative destruction under the guise of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”humanitarian interventionsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢.

A ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reconciliationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ aimed at punishing this nation already punished by callous indifference and scheming manipulations will only be an affront to the majority community which forms seventy-five percent of our population. Such ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”reconciliationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ will NEVER engender peace and will only serve to boomerang on the minorities who pushed for it. It will harden other battles lines and will lead to other reparations. What other reparations? Need that be said as it has soften been mentioned so forcefully in these columns?

If such an event is never to occur again as these self-styled prophets intend, the only measure is definitely and definitively doing away with whatever serves as the base for the pretentious day dream Tamil homeland so that it will never more take the contours of a Frankenstein. The measure to be taken is making the North and the East competely multi-cultural. How can that be done? By establishing principally large Sinhala settlements in those areas. For those who ask for justice so that this episode will never again be re-enacted, that is the only solution and not infantile ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Reconciliation CommissionsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ which is blind manƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s buff and hoodwink.

When the dust settles on this issue, for all is dust and to dust it must return, this country will emerge with a strengthened identity knowing who her friends and enemies are, both within and without, whatever be their religious or ethnic tags. Indeed there are only two categories of people in this country, those who love Sri Lanka and those who do not. As for our motherland now under siege, it will come out of this crisis into another world order where the white persecutors, buffaloes in porcelain shops would not have the same say and way anymore. Indeed they are wielding a double-edged sword which might well be leading to results they least expect.