Ailing Tiger Nursing Norwegian

Ramanie de Zoysa

Desperate Norwegian attempts to save the Tamil Tiger terrorists from extinction by way of a new orgy of talks in Oslo would have been hilarious if not for the disgusting motivation they display in serving the terrorists’ separatist agenda at the expense of the Sri Lankan Nation. Full credit is due to Mr Keheliya Rambukwella of the Sri Lankan Government and Mr Palitha Kohona of SCOPP for much needed direct talk and assertive reactions calling the Norwegian bluff.

It has only been a few months since the LTTE terrorists went all the way to Oslo under the guise of ‘talking’ where once landed in Oslo the Tiger spokesperson Thamilselvan suddenly remembered that he didn’t want to talk (or couldn’t talk) to the Sri Lankan Government. Instead the LTTE team went on a tour of Europe, recharged their batteries, enjoyed visitation rights to their brood studying and living in European locations, did some fundraising, had some war strategy lessons from the obliging Norwegians and the Swedish, browsed through the latest weapons catalogues, placed a few orders with arms dealers and returned to the island in time to enjoy the Kebithigollewa massacre of Sinhala civilians including a dozen children- a crime well side-stepped and white washed by Nurse Ulf and his team.

The fact remains is that Sri Lankan President Mr Rajapakse had made it very clear to the Norwegians and the rest of the international community that any future peace talks will need to involve the leader of the terrorist pack Prabhakaran himself. It is obvious that the spokesperson Thamilselvan can neither talk nor make decisions for the LTTE which have any guarantee of being implemented by the terror group. Having that made clear it is most reprehensible on the part of the Norwegians to announce discussions to be held in a place and at a time that were neither discussed nor agreed with the Sri Lankan Government. Continuing with the dishonesty that has been the modus operandi of Norwegian peacemakers, Matron Solheim’s announcement that the LTTE had agreed to ‘unconditional talks’ which was readily denied by Thamilselvam was a cheap shot at tying up the ‘loose ends’ poste haste before the Sri Lankan Government had the time to think. I fully agree with the much expressed view that this hasty, arrogant and forceful action of the Norwegians is aimed at both saving the LTTE from total annihilation and also grabbing back the areas cleared by the Sri Lankan Government Armed Forces in favour of the losing LTTE. Norway engineered statement issued recently by the so-called ‘donor countries’ was also aimed at brow beating the Sri Lankan Government to stop the weakening of the most ruthless terrorist outfit, the LTTE.

Sri Lanka does not need to tow this line any further for several reasons.

Firstly, Sri Lanka has proved beyond any doubt that it can defend itself against Tamil terror. Sri Lankan Government has commendably built up the armoury, the war strategy and the morale of the forces which has recently resulted in great defensive action dealing a deadly blow to the LTTE rag tag army of illegally recruited minors, orphans, brainwashed children and ill trained amateurs.

Secondly, Sri Lanka may not have the open support of any country other than Pakistan for its defence against terrorists. However, both United States and Canada, since of late, have given an indirect signal through the timely arrests made of the fundraising and arms procurement agents of LTTE on their soil that it is no longer willing to allow Tamil terrorism to destroy a perfectly legitimate democracy. Britain has also made certain overtures in this direction as can be inferred by several actions. The enquiries the British government subjected the LTTE to on the Black July commemorations held by a LTTE front in London after gaining permission under false pretexts carried a subtle but a strong message. Another very telling indication is the deathly silence of the ex- theoretician of LTTE, Balasingham domiciled in London. It was also no doubt the pressure applied by the US on the EU that finally persuaded the latter to ban the LTTE as a terrorist organisation. The message I read between the lines is that Sri Lanka must wipe out its terrorists; while US, Canada or Britain are not prepared come out in to the open and offer military support to Sri Lanka most likely due to the Tamil terrorist sympathisers who are voters in their countries these countries consider that Sri Lanka has the right to defend itself against the acts of mindless terror LTTE has been unleashing. This has been the stance US took recently when Israel took military action to counter Hezbollah’s terrorism against that country. Sri Lanka should seize the opportunity and not wait for open invitations from these countries but must take action to safeguard itself against terror and gain world wide respect as a Sovereign Nation. India is also in the same position as far as Sri Lanka is concerned; only India’s position is much weaker in this sense owing to the much larger size of the Tamil terrorist sympathisers that form part of the vote bank of that country. Norway is in the limelight as a monumental failure in the recent times specifically through its mishandling of the Sri Lankan situation. This is evident in the frustration and anger Norway is showing against the Sri Lankan Government. This shows Norway’s weakness and Sri Lankan Government must recognise it as such. The current trend of the Sri Lankan Government in exposing Norway’s duplicity and double dealings must increase in strength.

Thirdly, the international community has a short memory as our friend Pakistan knows very well. The veiled threats, open threats and promised sanctions targeted at Pakistan’s Pervez Musharaff at the time of the military coup through which he overthrew the Bandaranaikes and Senanayake’s of Pakistan and set up a peoples’ government were soon forgotten by the international community as Mr Musharraff proved beyond any doubt that he was a more democratic, people oriented and a patriotic leader for his country than all its previous corrupt politicians put together. The world forgot that Musharaff was branded as the pariah of the civilised world. In fact since 9-11 Mr Musharaff has been the best pal of the United States that has been a bitter critic of Musharaff the coup leader. Any opposition or criticism that Sri Lanka may cop from the international community to continued military action against the Tamil terrorist scourge is bound to be a temporary phenomenon. Once the Wanni LTTE has been wiped out and the Karuna LTTE group is disarmed the country can be developed bringing deliverance to all people that inhabit the land.

The response of Sri Lanka to Norway, the ‘co-chairs; and any other super power that may be interested should be a firm, assertive one that takes into consideration the ultimate sacrifices made so far by our heroic armed force personnel to redeem the country from rabid racist terrorism of the LTTE. Thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers have so far sacrificed their lives at the alter of our Sri Lankan Nation not to facilitate the Sri Lankan Government to talk an impossible peace with a separatist enemy or for the division of the country. The march commenced by our heroes towards freeing Sri Lanka from the deathly grip of the Tamil racist terrorism must be completed until that noble goal is realised. Any easing of pressure on the running Tiger terrorists will breathe life back into the dying monster to come back and terrorise and ultimately dismantle the Sri Lankan Nation. The valuable lives of our soldiers would be lost in vain making the Sri Lankan Nation a cursed barren land for generations to come.