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START EXTERMINATING TERRORISTS
Dilrook Kannangara
As widely expected this round of peace talks also ended up adding
a further burden on the tax payers and foreign reserves. Also there
are reports that the terrorist delegation is visiting Norway allegedly
for arms purchase at our expense!! It may not come surprising since
we already provide them with food, medication, education facilities
and all other amenities only to be used for ethnic cleansing, terrorism
and violence. When will this expensive circus end?
Also in the tiger camp is the “facilitator” who covertly threatens
Sri Lanka with aid restrictions. On top of that already a few countries
have warned their citizens against travelling to Sri Lanka and there
is no doubt the tourism industry is going to suffer this season which
is set to begin in a month from now. Economic activity in Jaffna, Vanni,
Trinco and parts of Baticaloa has been seriously affected due to recent
terror activities. Foreign Direct Investments will soon reduce to a
tickle if the present state of lawlessness continues. Along these there
come other economic and social problems making it difficult to maintain
national security. In short we may be heading towards another 2001 (sans
a 9/11). Also in the background is the fact that the International Community
appears to be indifferent towards fighting terror as no fresh attacks
were launched by Al-Qaeda. All this boils down to economic doom.
There is no time to waste; authorities should take steps to exterminate
terrorists ASAP and safeguard economic and military nerve centres. It
is worth noting that the last attempt to do so was made 19 years ago.
Since then the security forces played a more defensive role and occasionally
engaged in winning and losing territory.
There’s no doubt that the LTTE prefers a prolong war characterised
by the government’s attempt to take control of land mass. This
will only help the terrorists in;
procuring vital supplies from government controlled areas,
opportunity to attack army positions,
regroup and rearm effortlessly in their territory,
infiltrate into civilian areas and cause havoc,
agitate for racial disharmony and riots
highlighting possible human rights violations by the army
shifting the terror command centre away from fighting zones
maintain communication and coordination centres
meet with foreign diplomats and sympathisers
be counted as an aid recipient
The strongest incentive to exterminate terrorists come from the economic
front. During the past few years developing economies in Asia registered
recorded levels of GDP growth and we didn’t. Also there haven’t
been major projects in the past 20 years in Sri Lanka after the last
big project – the Mahaweli project- was crippled by the terrorists.
This has resulted in further economic reversals. Hambantota port project
which alone can steer the country towards a South Asian Singapore is
at a standstill. If we are to make use of its potential we need to exterminate
terrorists; mere peace with terrorists will not fool the international
business tycoons as we have seen in 2002 – 2004 period where attempted
privatisations attracted no foreign funds.
What we need is law and order and not peace; definitely not peace with
terrorists. With every passing day the price we have to pay for a terror-free
country increases. Let us start exterminating the terrorists NOW, let
us start the killing spree.
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