CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Britain holding Lanka's baby

Courtesy Editorial The Island

If the rotund LTTE leader Prabhakaran is a couch potato as his detractors claim, then his erstwhile partner in crime and military commander Karuna Amman has become a hot potato. The British government, which had him arrested for violating immigration laws, is in a quandary as to what to do with him. It is coming under increasing pressure to try him for crimes against humanity.

The Sri Lankan government is in the soup over a diplomatic passport Karuna is alleged to have used for his travel to the UK. However, the soup that the British government finds itself in is far bigger and hotter. Now that it has taken Karuna in, it ought to let the law take its course, but at the same time it cannot allow that to happen for political reasons.

The British intelligence, we are told, is interrogating Karuna to elicit as much information as possible about his collaboration with the Sri Lankan forces allegedly with a view to using that against Sri Lanka when the time is opportune. But, the war crimes for which the human rights groups want Karuna tried, were all committed by him while he was in the LTTE, whose leaders have found a safe haven in Britain. Thus, it could be seen that Britain has either wittingly or unwittingly contributed to Karuna's crimes by harbouring the LTTE leaders who coordinated and funded, mostly from the British soil, his violent military campaigns as well as massacres.

Britain has proved that it is capable of preventing LTTE crimes as the outfit is at its mercy. But, it has done precious little to rein in the outfit. When the LTTE abducted Tamil parliamentarian Sam Tambimuttu's wife and son in 1989, the then British government summoned LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham and told him in no uncertain terms that he would have to face deportation unless he saw to it that the Thambimuttus were released. Balasingham contacted Prabhakaran and they were released in no time. The present British government used the same method when Jayadevan was abducted and held in the Wanni a few years ago. He had ruffled Prabhakaran's feathers over a Kovil matter in London but escaped a violent death, thanks to the British intervention. Such is the influence that Britain wields over the LTTE!

Why hasn't the British government used that influence to secure the release of thousands of children the LTTE has abducted and recruited into fighting units? All that the British government has to do is to round up some key LTTE leaders in London, including those who are hobnobbing with the British lawmakers and tell them that they have a choice between deportation and getting the LTTE to release those unfortunate children.

Human rights groups and the international community, too, stand exposed for their duplicity. This is not the first time Karuna has travelled overseas. He has been abroad several times, especially during the UNF-LTTE honeymoon.

Why didn't they call for his arrest then? Karuna's involvement in a number of massacres in the Eastern Province is only too well known and all of them had been committed before he broke away in 2004. What have the human rights activists who are campaigning for a grand trial for Karuna got to say to this? Is it that Karuna became a bad guy only after he left the LTTE?

Never mind Karuna's ugly past. The UN has named him for having child soldiers within his ranks at present. The human rights conscious international community has, we reckon, finally got him in the right country, Britain, which specialises in exporting human rights and democracy to the rest of the planet, as evident from its involvement in the war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, claiming the democratisation of those two countries as its goal. Now Britain will have to either try Karuna for his past and present crimes or let him off the hook. If it opts for the latter, it will in the process forfeit its moral right to champion human rights. It will also have egg on its face, as in the case of Pinochet, whom Britain refused to extradite in spite of a request from the Spanish judiciary because of his involvement in killilng Spaniards. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had the chutzpah to write a letter to The Times newspaper in defence of Pinochet, whose 'Caravan of Death' left thousands of his political rivals dead in Chile.

Britain also had no qualms about allowing LTTE's Jaffna commander Kittu to be treated at a British hospital, after the massacre of over 300 rivals at his behest.If Karuna is ever tried, he is very likely to open a can of worms for Britain by telling the world how that country has been sponsoring the LTTE. We are reminded of a yarn. A troublesome hag, so goes the story, was once hauled up in court. A smart lawyer who gave himself a lot of airs tried to display his legal prowess at her expense. Amidst his theatrics aimed at breaking her will, he asked her if she knew who he was. He only realised his folly, when the aged terror not only identified him but told the court the number of mistresses he had, rackets he was involved in etc. Embarrassed and discomfited, in a bid to distract the she-devil looking for more prey, he, pointing to his arch rival guffawing, a few seats away, asked her whether she knew him.

Grinning menacingly, she said she knew him and divulged a great deal of info which made her new target wish the earth opened up under his eminent feet sucked him in. At this point, the learned judge who, like all other fallible humans, had some skeletons in the cupboard, which he didn't wish to have exposed in his court, called Mr. Smart and whispered this in his ear: "If you ever ask her whether she knows me, I will have you hanged-that's for sure!" (Needless to say the case was dismissed.) Britain must be feeling just like that judge with Karuna in custody.

Finally, we pose these questions to the organisations like the Human Rights Watch all out to have Karuna tried for war crimes. Is there any difference between Prabhakaran and Karuna, where their crimes are concerned? If so, could they tell us what those differences are? If not, why don't they campaign for trying Prabhakaran, too, for his crimes against humanity? Prabhakaran, they should be told, has already admitted to having murdered Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah. He has also been convicted of murder in Sri Lanka and is wanted for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in India. Above all, he is in the exalted company of the world's most wanted men on Interpol list. What is sauce for the goose …

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