UNP’ Leaders Dumb Founded:
Their “No Security Mantra” Evaporates after Minister Dassanayaka’s
Death
Philip Fernando in Los
Angeles (Former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer)
UNP leaders shamelessly sported black saatakas at M P
Maheswaran’s final journey last week and turned it into an anti-government
protest for not providing adequate security. Their “no security
mantra” evaporated overnight when the well protected Minister D
M Dassanayaka succumbed to the bomb detonated by the LTTE. It is not
the security stupid but the ruthless and wanton terrorism that is the
root cause of violence in Sri Lanka, said a noted political analyst.
UNP’s obscene obsession with high security or lack of it blew up
in their face so fast that they dare not foul-mouth the current well-planned
attack on the Tigers being waged by Sri Lanka.
UNP’s favourite theme song of security as the panacea for all ills
appeared in their belated defence of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA)
just abrogated by the Rajapaksa government. The four main points presented
by the UNP are not only indefensible but also an exercise in muddled
thinking.
The crux of their opposition to the CFA abrogation was based on false
claims. For example, to state that security measures will eradicate
terrorism is a myth. Even under the most stringent security measures
imaginable, the LTTE either assassinated or tried to harm many people
such as Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragama, President R Premadasa,
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Defiance Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,
Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, etc. Also, UNP seemed to have forgotten
that democracy and elections are anathema to Prabhakaran. The UNP’s
defence of the CFA is examined in detailed below.
The UNP also claimed that they brought near normalcy and economic boom.
This is wishful thinking and refutes reality. CFA provided a safe haven
to the LTTE to build bunkers and prepare for a deadly assault paving
the way for EELAM as the Sri Lankan army had to vacate strategic points
of utmost importance. That was the normalcy desired by Prabhakaran.
In thirty days the armed forces had to vacate buildings and other sites
completely negating all that had been achieved by the military for years.
Normalcy was nothing but surrendering territory to the LTTE.
UNP talks of new bonds of friendship and lasting ties established between
the north and south due to the CFA. While such delusionary scenario
erupted with a vengeance, the LTTE was bent on carrying out thousands
of violations against the CFA, including mass murder through suicide
bombers and land mines.
Sri Lankan businessmen trying to establish new ventures in Jaffna were
rudely shocked to know that they were not welcome and turned away-Seylan
Bank branch opening was a good example. Three were furniture dealers
trying to open new stores in Jaffna as furniture was a hot item there.
They returned no sooner they landed there. LTTE did not want anyone
from the south to do business there. They had done the ethnic cleansing
and quite happy about it. Even a few retail traders and vendors trying
to make a quick buck were driven away. Instances of normalcy that the
UNP now boasts about are sheer nonsense. The state of war existed for
the LTTE at all times and they were thriving under the freedom provided
by the CFA but the government was strictly prohibited from even trying
any defensive moves. The people were so enamoured by UNP’s normalcy
and economic resurgence that they have kept its leader Ranil Wickremesinghe
in political wilderness for over a decade. Two dozen of his trusted
followers have joined the government.
The UNP claimed that terrorism could be wiped out by imposing security
measures is a pathetic disregard of LTTE’s acumen and deadly unhindered
outreach. The budgetary allocations by the Sri Lankan governments from
2002 to present day to tighten security was over 5 percent of the Sri
Lankan annual budget. The LTTE rode rough shod over that with the greatest
of ease. Security, my foot is what thalaivar Velupillai said. While
the UNP talks of security measures, the CFA gave LTTE unrestricted access
to do whatever it wanted. They did it with the greatest of ease. The
CFA specifically mentioned cement and iron rods as urgently needed items
to be sent to the north. It is not food, clothing and medical supplies
that are vital but cement and iron rods. Today the armed forces and
the air force are destroying the very bunkers that Prabhakaran built
with the help of Ranil Wickremesinghe's CFA. Already two dozen have
bit the dust.
The mind-set of the UNP leader embodied in the CFA was glaringly apparent
during the victory march of the armed forces that took Mavil Aru and
Thoppigala, which were characterized as “Thoppigala is a jungle”
or “ any donkey can wage a war” in contrast to the heroic
efforts of the Sri Lankan armed forces. The same folks, who belittled
the victories in the east, did not see through Prabhakaran's demand
that "a new railway line be constructed from Kilinochchi to Welikanda."
Prabhakaran knew the strategic importance of Welikanda. That area was
the real Ruhuna in ancient times, the granary of the east. Without that
area it is impossible for the LTTE to even think of a separate state-built
on the arid desolate northern province. Ranil Wickremesinghe was totally
oblivious to what went into the CFA.
It is one thing to make generalized statements to sooth the gullible
supporters of your own party with yarns lessoning the importance of
the war that the people of Sri Lanka are now claiming as their own path
to a terror free country, but it is down right vicious and unacceptable
that such narratives be allowed to go as the unadulterated truth as
described the UNP leaders.
Finally the two claims that only a negotiated settlement and democracy
can solve the terrorist problem is baloney when in fact there are many
paths to that goal. Even UNP’s own attempts to negotiate ended
in failure as the LTTE walked out when Ranil Wickremesinghe was the
Prime Minister. Poor Ranil, even the LTTE had given up on him totally
when Prabhakaran prevented the people in the north from voting at the
presidential election of 2005. Those with short memories are usually
made to re-live these things.
The ruthlessly executed battle front to wipe out all remnants of the
parasitic terrorism must be accompanied by negotiations with the moderate
Tamils who are showing that they totally distrust the LTTE unlike the
UNP leaders. Talking democracy with an avowed apostle of unmitigated
terror can only come from those incapable of standing up to these deadly
disseminators of the poisonous doctrine of hate.
There is nothing that President Rajapaksa or anyone else should be
apologetic about. Taking the war to the enemy who had captured a vast
territory owned by Sri Lanka and threatened to establish a separate
state covering nearly two-thirds of the coastal area of the country
is nothing to be shamed of but the birth right of every Sri Lankan who
heard the battle cry of LTTE leader on November 26th 2007 when he posed
the question "where is the Tamil nation for 80 million Tamils?"
Ranil Wickremesinghe seems does not get his cue. Neither will his followers.
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