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The UNP's Criticism Of The Government Over
The Ceasefire Abrogation Needs To Be Trashed!
© Insight By Sunil
Kumar For LankaWeb.
Jan 7th 2007
In a very negative response as is usually the case with the UNP who
are more adept at placing obstacles in the path of this very progressive
Administration of Mahinda Rajapaksha the main opposition UNP is reported
in the media as describing the Government’s decision to abrogate
the Ceasefire Agreement as one which has weakened the country both internationally
and domestically and had benefited the LTTE’s aspirations for a
separate state.
The primary argument to discount this theory is that it is instinctive
on the part of the UNP to criticise the Government's action as it was
the UNP which set this lop sided deal with the terrorists calling it
a Peace Agreement and a Ceasefire in the first place and to see it undone
by the present administration is not only a loss of face for them but
also reflects upon a meaningless agreement considering the reality that
the deal was done with terrorists and not the Tamil Community where
the UNP should have had better sense and intelligence to differentiate
between the two entities.
This can be said very confidently that today it has become very clear
that the LTTE cannot be recognized as the overall representation of
the Sri Lankan Tamils~ there being many conscientious objectors to this
concept within the Tamil community both at home and abroad which by
far overides the lesser proportion of overseas Diaspora and other terrorist
supportive Tamils who are being gradually overwhelmed and choked towards
accepting the reality that the LTTE are unrelenting terrorists and have
no right to the acceptance as Tamil representatives.
This also provides carte blanche to the Government's stand that it is
confronting terrorists and not Tamil representation within Sri Lanka
and no matter what the UNP says to contradict this the reality of it
is etched in stone.There can be no more deals with the LTTE terrorists
which will merely promote more loss of lives, Nation destruction and
mayhem if they are permitted to exist as terrorists, as such is their
genre and creed!
When the Government is magnanimous to still leave the door open to negotiation
it does not necessarily mean a door open to the terrorists but to the
contrary, terrorists who are prepared to relent, come clean and join
mainstream society inasmuch as some others who shed affiliations with
the terrorists and hold public office today and are the examples which
the LTTE should follow rather than depend on the frustrated bickerings
of the UNP which they probably initiated where this criticism by the
UNP if viewed in the proper perspective seems tantamount to propaganda
and a means to stave off the relentless pursuit of the Armed Forces
combined with dejections of the UNP as a catalyst towards the cause
on behalf of the LTTE!
President Rajapaksa has nothing to explain to the people of Sri Lanka
about abandoning the framework for a negotiated settlement to the conflict
in the country as he in all his perceptions and pragmatism has drawn
the right conclusion that these are worthless, mendacious terrorists
he is dealing with. Given their track record and what has transpired
within the Nation ever since the Ceasefire was signed has been the creation
of a one sided platform for the LTTE to regroup perhaps going back to
the memorable days of the Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera leadership of the
Armed Forces when they were being hammered from all fronts and were
running for cover even as they are today.
The vacuum created in Sri Lankan National Security became very apparent
as the Janaka Perera displacement by those within the Sinhala Administration
who orchestrated his removal ( a shameful faux pas at the least!) was
synonymous with the LTTE's opportunity to regroup and the rest is history.
It also seems a fair assumption that under the Perera leadership of
the Army Sri Lanka could well have been in a similar situation as the
present where the LTTE may have been cornered and facing elimination
albeit speculative.It could also have been cost effective where Sri
Lanka may not have lost all the time valuable towards re-development
with the exception of the Tsunami.
There can be analogies drawn as a parallel with Sri Lanka's current
situation relative to the terrorist issue where Lieut Gen. Sarath Fonseka
has more than adequately taken up the reins where Maj.Gen Janaka Perera
left off and perhaps the President of Sri Lanka is very perceptive of
this reality as well as the strength of the Armed Forces being overwhelmingly
stronger than the residue of the LTTE and being aware of this fact is
prepared to press home the advantage towards ridding the Nation of them
permanently regardless of the opinions of wayward theoreticians who
don't seem to know the difference between terrorists and peace loving
civilians.
The only glitch in the President's decision to abrogate the Ceasefire
on the basis of its meaningless is his willingness to negotiate with
terrorists. Perhaps he would be better off taking a page from the books
of other nations who persist in their common stance of no deals with
terrorists unless they lay down arms and relent their terrorist idealogies
rather than beat around the bush about a negotiation which is somewhat
unlikely to transpire merely to appease the international community
knowing fully well the mentalities of the terrorists particularly that
of its megalomaniac leader Prabhakaran.The only deals needing to be
entered into has to be with the non-terrorist supportive Tamil community
of Sri lanka helmed by a sane leader after the terrorists have been
deposed and the President would be on the right track once this direction
is established.
For the UNP to talk about economically and internationally disadvantageous
positions on the basis of ceasefire abrogation seems somewhat far fetched
given its own track record which left the nation in a shambles both
economically as well as how it was viewed by the more discerning of
the international community when they initiated the Peace Process and
Ceasefire.(Norway perhaps the odd exception ) Perhaps as a bunch of
misguided bunglers who gave wings to vultures and freedom to dangerous
terrorists that were pretty close to being coralled.This in collussion
with the meddling NGOs and Foreign Monitors who eventually also turned
into meddlers who came in droves to Sri Lanka for this exact purpose
perhaps funded by the huge coffers of the LTTE at the time.In this sense
the only clarification needed is about how the Administration hopes
to conduct peace talks with the Tamil community liberated from the clutches
of the LTTE once the Army has overrun them permanently as the duplicitous
Foreign Monitors and NGO have already begun to run voluntarily in addition
to those officially asked to depart and will not pose any threat towards
Sri Lanka's well being and posterity!
It therefore has to be reiterated that the UNP needs to come to terms
with the imperative importance of security measures required to counter
terrorism where a long-lasting peace is possible only through a negotiated
settlement with the displaced communities within the land as a direct
result of the ravages of terrorism once the terrorists are eliminated,
and to euphemise that the eradication of terrorism is possible only
through democracy somewhat puerile and foolhardy given the unrelenting
hardcore nature of the LTTE to whom the term democracy seems to be in
the same context as chewing betel and spitting it out!
The UNP in quoting the Lord Buddha who advocated that hatred does not
end hatred probably needs a few reminder about some of its own attrocities
particularly during the tenure of Ranil Wickremasinghe where a certain
location called Batalanda did not personify all these noble teachings
and there are many who have not forgotten. It needs also to be emphasized
that by saying that " Furthermore terrorism does not end terrorism."
is a direct accusation that the present Administration resorts to terrorism
where the accusation truly belies the justification of a Sovereign Nation's
right to confront and crush the terrorist menace which has plagued it
for decades and more than justifiable!
This in the present climate of Sri Lanka would certainly be an acceptable
norm to all communities and in this sense the UNP's criticism of the
Government's decision to abrogate the ceasefire needs to be trashed!
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