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Why The Government Has No Obligations To Accede To Thamilselvam's Demand About Karuna!
Nandimithra Perera - Popular Front Against Terrorism In Sri Lanka (PFATISL) For LankaWeb


At his speculative best LTTE's political division head Tamilselvan has requested the Sri Lanka n Government to hand over Colonel Karuna to them to take disciplinary action against him. Perhaps it is also about time as a response that the International Community demands in like perspective for the head of Prabhakaran "on a platter!" In keeping with the continued demands of Interpol, the Government of India and Sri Lanka and the " in absentia" sentencing and indictements of Velupillai Prabhakaran for his crimes against humanity and the assassination of a much loved head of State as well as very prominent Sri Lankan Political leaders, it is time appropriate that he too was handed oiver to the authorities towards disciplinary action!
Notwithstanding the credibilities of whether or not the Government has the cognizances of Karuna's whereabout there is no obligation whatsoever on the part of the Sri Lankan Government towards imperiling the existences of Karuna whom the Government of Sri Lanka has to logically consider a nation friendly ally and a leader of his community, a leader who is not only nation friendly but also the best choice to be an eventual leader of the Tamil Community given the reasoning that his group has all the qualifications towards the task as well as a moderate approach where a terrorist approach has been indicated by their dialogue as not feasible! They are neither looking for a separate state nor are they unprepared to enter into a dialogue which would incorporate the Tamill community of Sri Lanka as part of mainstream Sri Lankan Society with vested powers to their leaders within a federal system of government if necessary but outside the framawork of a terrorist structure so vehemently maintained by the LTTE!

Turning Karuna to over them which LTTE seem to address as the proper thing to do even if the wherewithal to do so was available to the Government should be the furthest item on the Government's agenda or not at all and Thamilselvam's request should be disillussioned towards the reality that if the LTTE want to deal with their grievances against Karuna they should do so themselves.

The Government while having no obligation towards appeasing all of the LTTE's anxieties towards their survival and continued existences, should bear in mind that the LTTE have a dread apprehension of Karuna, perhaps one even greater than which they harbour against the Armed Forces and the precondition requested by Thamilchelvan in the event of a breakdown in talks at Geneva has to be considered a No No! with all the LTTE threats to return to their insurgencies and attrocities hanging in the balance as it would provide an added Govermental advantage towards the capability of containing, coralling and routing the LTTE should they have any ambitions towards this objective even hypothetically! In fact maintaining cordiality with Karuna appears to be a trump card the Government of Sri Lanka could hardly afford to relinquish.

The LTTE through Thamilselvam's entreaties towards getting a hold of Karuna for what they call "interrogation and disciplinary action "which in reality probably translates to torture and murder have also revealed an interesting achilles heel which has to be borne in mind as something of great significance. Karuna and his loyalists are accomplished field campaigners at ground level in the event of military confrontation, know territory and strategic locations of the LTTE and an asset which the Government of Sri Lanka is probably also aware of as a key towards disrupting any future ambitions of the LTTE in case they step out of line.

It seems an understatement that quote unquote off Asian Tibune, "Tamilselvan head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has lamented that long ago Sri Lankan Government must have turned over Karuna to the LTTE ." It is truly an expression of fear and anxiety and a garbled expression of thought which when proofed to be gramatically correct categorically says that Thamilselvam believes the Sri Lankan Government should have handed Karuna over to them long ago, which is not only wishful thinking on their part as the Government has never indicated any alliance with the Karuna Faction nor acknowledged being aware of their location. LTTE whilst barking up the wrong tree are also indicating their trepidations about Karuna ! point in case for the Government of Sri Lanka to take a great note of towards posterity.

If past tendencies of peace negotiations hold true to the one in Geneva there seems little to indicate a miracle of an LTTE turnaround in the best interests of Sri Lanka knowing their usual manouverings and prevarications on vital issues where they are more than likely to insist justification of their de- facto control over parts of the the North and East and will move to consolidate it rather than relinquish it and more than likely continue to rant and rave about being the sole representations of the Tamil Community!

There will also quite likely be a return to the usual innuendo where it will be vehemently argued by the LTTE that (citing a Thamilselvam quote from the Asian Tribune once more ) " The Karuna affair was an internal matter which could have been solved through disciplinary measures had the Sri Lankan Government turned in Karuna to the LTTE. Instead of doing so their intelligence unit has exploited the situation to commit many acts of violence against sections of the Tamil people. and an LTTE bluff of crystal clear transparencies which will need to be called on the basis of Karuna's vital importance to the well being of all Sri Lankans and most importantly that of the Sri Lankan Tamils a vast proportion of whom now pin their hopes on him realistically rather than the desperate survival attempts of the LTTE who continue to be a fully armed and considered dangerous group of terrorists proscribed and isolated within the international spectrum dedicated towards eliminating world terrorism which includes major superpowers!

Regardless of the outcome of the Geneva Talks. Sri Lanka has no obligation towards alienating herself from what might prove to be a benevolent alliance with the Karuna faction and Thamilselvam is better off representing an LTTE ready to denounce objectives towards their separatist agenda, decommissioning weapons, softening their rhetoric on their terrorist capabilities which is part of their continued campaigns as the writing seems to be on the wall towards their ultimate demise in the event that they choose aggression over peace!

Perhaps they should make their peace with Karuna, subject themselves to his astute leadership and approach the Sovereign Nation of Sri Lanka in contrition while handing over Prabhakaran to the authorities as a best option towards their well being! which once again seems more of a pipe dream where only time will tell the means towards a realistic resolution!

The fact of the matter however, remains that it will not be a terrorist dictated one at best!

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