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When is a ‘War’ not a War?

R Chandrasoma

In the topsy-turvey land of Sri Lanka, a war can actually be not a war. This violates the Law of Identity well known to logicians from ancient times but we must suppose that the usual two-valued logic is inapplicable in matters concerning our Island.

In the East there is, currently, two formidably armed groups in open conflict. On the one side, long-range artillery, mortars, claymore mines and assault-weapons are being used by the TTR (Terrorist Tamil Tigers) to kill or maim its perceived enemy while devastating the built-up structures that sustain the civilian population.

On the other side, the Army, Navy and the Air Force of the State are countering this assault with deadly fire from multi-barreled rocket launches, air-borne missiles and a miscellany of weapons carried by foot-soldiers.

If this murderous exchange is not a war, what is it? We ask this question because a heavily-bearded gentleman who identifies himself as the ‘defence spokesman’ of the State says emphatically that ‘there is no war’.

On probing further the strange logic of this affirmation, we are told that the TTR have not given notice of war through the Norwegian supervisors and what we currently see is an armed reaction of the State to the terror unleashed by what is courteously referred to as the ‘LTTE Sangvidanaya’. Is the bearded man taking us for a pack of arrant duffers? Suppose a man topples over, ceases to breath and feels like cold mutton. Clearly, he is dead.

A passer-by of the bearded kind could say ‘Oh, he is not dead – there is no certificate from a qualified doctor declaring that he is dead’.

This nefarious ‘LTTE Sangvidanaya’ has been at war with us for over a decade and a half and has killed, blown up, blasted and rendered hors de combat on a scale that is the envy of terrorist organizations world-wide.

Yet, there are hallucinants, delusionists and naïve fools who are prepared to tell us that there is ‘no war’ – that as a ‘responsible state’ (vagakiviyayuth aanduvak hatiyata) the path of peace is normative for the state.

This idiocy is widespread and is routinely uttered as a ‘mantram’ by politicians of all brands. Actually, the first duty of a State is to defend its integrity by taking action against would-be disruptors both within or outside. Peace is achieved only when this primary task of shoring up the defences of the State is accomplished.

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