“Today’s terrorist is today’s and tomorrow’s murderer”: Resolving violent conflict in Sri Lanka
Repost This Article“There is a false and foolish and evil saying that today’s terrorist is tomorrow’s freedom fighter. Today’s terrorist is today’s and tomorrow’s murderer.”
These were the words used by the former Foreign Minister of Australia Alexander Downer while delivering the Lakshman Kadirgamar memorial lecture 2008 in Colombo on Wednesday (October 15).
In an era when some people are attempting to glorify the terrorists and justify terrorism as a means to achieve political ends, these words of Mr.Downer should get all right thinking people really thinking.
As Sri Lankan we all know the terrible toll the unleashing of terrorist violence has taken on this country. . It has not left anyone untouched whatever their hierarchy in society maybe. From the politically powerful to the man lowest down in society, terrorism has in some way touched their lives, irrespective of which race or religion they belong to.
The late Lakshman Kadirgamar was a victim of an act of terrorism. If I say “a senseless act of terrorism”, I would be stating the obvious because sensible people will not resort to terrorism on any grounds. Lakshman Kadirgarmar was not the run-of-the-mill politician we had got all too familiar with but was an exceptional person and was killed because he refused to compromise on his strong belief that terrorism should not be used as a tool to achieve political ends. Major General Janaka Perera, the most recent victim of terrorist violence was a decorated officer who spent his career in the military fighting the LTTE. They are just two in the long line of men and women this country has lost of terrorism and continues to lose   even now.
The fact that the LTTE has been the single largest perpetrator of terrorism in Sri Lanka is well known. The notoriety that the LTTE gained since its first political assassination of the Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappa in 1975 has continued to grow over the years with its leadership showing no remorse for any of the heinous crimes committed in the name of gaining self determination for the Tamils of Sri Lanka. . They have not spared any Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslim leader that stood in their way of their outrageous claim of being the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people.
The Tamil people of this country have many grievances and they need to be addressed urgently and through the political process. But while every Sinhalese leaders that has lead this country maybe guilty of playing the race card as a short cut to gain political power and then failing to address the problems faced by minority communities, there can be no Sinhala leader or political party that is guilty of bringing upon the Tamil people of this country more suffering than the LTTE has done. The Group has eliminated one Tamil leader after the other, killed thousands of civilians and continues to conscript young men and women to fight a war so that the LTTE leader Prabhakaran can some day proclaim himself as the sole representative of the Tamils and sit on a throne and rule over his own kingdom.
Maybe President Mahinda Rajapaksa is thinking of his political survival when he beats the war drums and says”I will not stop till terrorism is defeated in the country.” But what ever our political differences maybe, if there is one issue on which all Sri Lankan need to unite, it is to end the terrorism perpetrated by the LTTE.
In the words of the Former Australian Foreign Minister , there is no political or religious cause which justifies terrorism and no cause is so great that it justifies deliberately murdering innocent men, women and, in particular , children. “Here in Sri Lanka, if those who use terror as a toll of politics think they can win, they will continue the struggle. If they are persuaded they can never win, eventually they will lose enthusiasm for the cause. All decent people must vigorously oppose terrorism as a tool of politics.” Mr.Downer said.
While it is crystal clear by now that no means of persuasion will make the LTTE deviate form his murderous path, the Government has a responsibility to dissuade people who may be sympathetic towards the LTTE, particularly the Tamil people by doing more to win them over. This cannot be done by high handed military tactics but by offering the Tamil people the right to live with dignity and self respect in areas where they are a majority. The political process needs top go hand in hand with the military offensive if people are to be convinced that the LTTE has brought nothing but suffering and destruction to people and that acts of terrorism will never pave the way for people win their political rights. Unfortunately, this administration has alienated the Tamil people by over zealously perusing the military drive and totally forgetting to address the underlying cause which allowed a group like the LTTE to win sympathy with the Tamil population and become a strong force.
If terrorism is to be truly defeated, this needs to change now.
can you find any Tamil who with the government and standing up for tamils’ equality and rights in sri lanka. Government has taken some Tamils like Karuna to use them fight against LTTE which is child of Sri Lanka’s inequality. Karuna needs protection from LTTE while government needs Karuna’s help to fight aginst LTTE. Is it really democracy?
I am Australian and have visited SriLanka on four occassions, the last in August/September 2008. I have many friends who live in Sri Lanka, both Tamil and Sinhalese. They all talk of living together harmounisly in the past and into the future. I have to agree with Mr Alexander Downer that no cause is worth the continued killing of a countries men, women and children. Is there a Political answer to this ongoing internal war. I am not so sure. I think it will take a very big effort from the Sri Lankan Government and the Leader of the Tamil Tigers of Ellam (LTTE) to realise that no one is the winner here and come to the Peace table. But I must stress, only do this if you genuinly want to stop the killing and maiming of your countrymen.
There is an end to this war and you DO have the power to bring it about. I wonder if the leaders can demonstrate caring and compassion enough to want this??
I know, some may view my writing as simplistic, but maybe a simplistic heartfelt and honest solution is the answer.
The difference between liberty and slavery is that in slavery a master would decide for a slave, instead of allowing the slave to decide freely for himself as to what he should do. Because of such dehumanisation there is always a longing by the slave to have liberty and human dignity. But a master enjoys his status at the expense of another human being.
Under the prevailing ethnic “master-slave” culture in Sri Lanka(SL), maniacal selfishness has motivated oppressive Sinhalese political decisions against Tamils. The Sinhalese have been ruthlessly deciding as to what political rights and freedoms the Tamils should have, instead of granting them their rights that are legitimate and democratic.
Last week, Gothabaya Rajapakse, the appendage of the president, reflected his ethnic master arrogance when he defiantly said that no other food help whatsoever would be permitted to reach the Tamil civilians in Kilinochchi. He said this with sweet added to it that the Tamils in SL are “their citizens” and the government of Sri Lanka(GOSL) would take “care” of them.
In the recently concluded UN Human Rights Council sessions the GOSL used the same phraseology to escape UN action. Rights violations have tremendously increased since then.
A few days after Gothabaya spoke of the “care” for Tamils, a convoy of food sent by the UN from Vavuniya to meet the needs of the Tamil civilians in Kilinochchi was forced to return due to deliberate shelling by Sinhalese soldiers; a drama enacted by the state not to supply food to Kilinochchi where there is a humanitarian crisis.
Past assurances to the world community of “caring” for Tamils has produced a history of 60 years of discrimination, dehumanisation and destruction of Tamil lives, causing collective punishment and Tamil genocide.
Genocide is ugly to the utmost and those who commit this crime are demonised to deceive their victims. They become dangerous liars. During genocide, Jews were sweetly told that they were going to be clean after their shower and all were gassed to death in gas chambers.
The present monstrous, careless and catastrophical destruction of Tamil civilian lives and material values built up laboriously over centuries is undoubtedly and unequivocally genocide. But such collective Sinhalese action is called “liberating the North East(NE)” and “war on terrorism” by the state for deceptive consumption by the International Community.
For a long time, the UN and the world leaders have been duped by such distortion of realities.
Consequent to ethnic “master-slave” criminal acts committed by Serbians, Kosovo declared unilateral independence a few months ago. And during the second week of this month, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court Of Justice(ICJ) to rule on whether Kosovo’s unilateral secession from Serbia is in accordance with International law.
The people of NE asked for an amicable divorce from the south of the island, democratically, in the year 1977. Since then, the desire was repeated again and again with no results.
The UN General Assembly should also justifiably ask the ICJ to rule on whether the unilateral declaration of republic by SL in 1972 was in accordance with international law and on the legitimacy of Tamil Eelam from the year 1977.
The ruling by the ICJ could pave way to the dawn of freedom for all the inhabitants of the island under an “equality culture” that would stop the present Tamil genocide in the NE and bring peace to the island.
It is time for Sri Lankans to decide as to who is a terrorist.
Author
Visible violence was born 30 years ago after 30 years of structural violence of successive governments. That structural violence has only been escalating faster and faster in the last thirty years. If and when the structural violence disappears, visible violence will disappear. To put it in another way if and when the ethnic majority decide to be fair to the ethnic minorities, armed struggle will evaporate – you don’t need a war for that.
OK, let’s start by first lifting the ban on Elmore Perera’s practice of law.
Yes, I do agree with the author that LTTE has grown to be a terrorist organization. I do believe that there is is no terrorist groups comes to be without a cause. Could we have avoided the birth of such group? Yes! the day the “sinhala only” nationalist idea was born, it conveyed only one message and that is Sri Lanka is a Sinhala country and the same message was coneyed by Brg. Sarath Fonseka in his September 2008 interview. This gose to show that minds and hearts of sinhala majority hasn’t changed.
Further more, terrorism grew with the 1953 and the 1983 ethnic violence.
Has the situation and safety for the tamils guranteed? No! the first All Party Conference (APC) was called soon after 1983 riots, the IPKF was here, we discussed about the 13th ammenment many times, many times thought we could win by war and finally we are talking about APC again. All this since 1983. After 25 years, almost half a life time one……nothing has changed.
We talk without any action! With each election each political party uses the ethnic issue to come to power promising a solution, but once in power, the polititions are busy filling their pockets.
There are many killings on both sides since 1983 including Richard De Soysa, Vijaya Kumaranathunga, the famous Sargent Nallathamby(Nihal DeSilva) and many more. Our system and juridiction is so corrupt that we have not brought any killer to justice other thatn Prabaharan.
As long as we have a corrupt polititions corrupting the minds of their voters, the terrorism will never end. It could be LTTE or JVP…….they will survive.
Some points to ponder:
Yesterdays terrorist from the east is todays member of parliament! Who knows if todays terrorist from the north might be tomorrows president?
Hatred cease not by hatred, nor by bus bombs or MIG bombs, but by the maximum devolution of power! That is the eternal though bitter truth!
I just want to thank the Author for reflecting my view on this issue in a similar fashion. The point is that the LTTE has no right what so ever to pro claim authority over a racial group by indiscriminately killing any critics!
Anyway I just thought I’d point to two other worthy articles that echo the same sentiment more or less by 2 Indian authors. Kind of reflective hearing about the Tamil Nadu circus happening at the moment.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/14/stories/2008101454490800.htm
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers29%5Cpaper2885.html
I’d also like to quote this part from the second article – “International law provides no right of secession in the name of self determination” see the article for reference. Just since I have seen International Law “experts” commenting here about self determination many times – mostly not knowing what they’re on about!
Sam, you should definitely read the 2 links I posted above because it talks about people like you too – using the word “genocide” callously for cheap propaganda insulting the genuine people who really suffered and perished to that terrible fate in our history.
If you’re using this term willy nilly please at least have the courage to include Sinhalese genocide too in many Sri Lankan cities thanks to the LTTE suicide squad. There are many “genocidal” acts against the Sinhalese at many of our roads, markets, banks, trains, buses, temples, air ports, you name a place really! I honestly pity your misguided blind hatred.
RAJ
wasnt lakshamn Kadiragamr – with the government – was he not the foreign minister? last time i checked he was a tamil with the government and he was shot by ?// ahhhhhh i forgot.
PUN – who the hell is elmo perera? some one related to Nalini Perera?
1.Lakshman Kadirgamar and Kumarasooriyar were not elected by Tamils. They were appointed by their Sinhalese friends who want to show the world they have Tamils in their governments.
2.When a President runs a country without constituting the Constitutional Council, when the armed forces have impunity for atrocious human rights violations, when journalists are threatened by defence ministry, when a part of the country is out of bounds for journalists, when journalists are murdered for criticising the government, when the country refuses to let in UN human rights monitoring mechanism, when villages are bombed and shelled to drive away the villagers from camp to camp from Sampur to Batticaloa, when IDPs are forcefully kept in camps, when parliamentarians are murdered for speaking uo for human rights, when humanitarian aid workers are murdered….. when murderers are promoted, when crimes are not investigated, scientists say(but anyone with commonsense knows it) there will be violent struggle for justice if non-violent struggle is suppressed.
Right to Self Determination
“…If democracy means the rule of the people, by the people, for the people, then the principle of self determination secures that no one people may rule another. The struggle for Tamil Eelam is about the democratic right of the people of Tamil Eelam to govern themselves in their homeland – nothing less and nothing more..”
“…Let us accept the fact that states have lifecycles similar to those of human beings who created them. ..hardly any Member State of the United Nations has existed within its present borders for longer than five generations… Restrictions on self-determination threaten not only democracy itself but the state which seeks its legitimation in democracy…”
Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein on Self Determination & the Future of Democracy, January 2001
Anyone with common sense knows most of what rek said is due to the existence of the LTTE and the rest is false. Allegations can be made by any madman.
not just Mr. Kadiragarmer. Most elected Tamil politicians have suffered a similar fate. All of these murders are done violating free speech! The right to criticize. If their cause was legitimate why the fear? Then the LTTE blow horns over state media freedom – which is 1000 times better! Absolute bollocks.
I once had aspirations of peace but until I realised and reaffirmed the fundamentals of the LTTE
1. LTTE does not recognize the meaning of compromising.
2. Their bargaining chip is violence.
To this date I haven’t seen LTTE make one ounce of a sacrifice towards a peacefully end this conflict – Karuna had to defect in order to make that sacrifice and now he is haunted by pro LTTE. The government was going out on a limb at certain stages at the cost of their own even. LTTE in their natural arrogant nature b1tch slapped the government – no better way to put this!
That is why I support the war at all costs. Therefore DEAL WITH the consequences of living in a nation at war! Sacrifices made now are in the name of hope. If this won’t end the way it is supposed to we are going to inherit life times of violence. All great wars were won temporarily sacrificing some freedoms. Stuff happening in SL atm are not that different to US Home Land Security activities.
1. I lost hope in peace when the learned professor succumbed to Rajapakse’s cudgel.
2. Who expects LTTE to be democratic when they took up arms when democratic means failed? If this government acts according to accepted international norms of justice, LTTE would disappear into thin air.
3.When the moderate Sinhalese are poked with spears, the Tamils have no hopes.
Some absurd, futile arguments are going in circles like a broken record.
Albert Einstein said:”Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment”.
There is too much of evidence for that here.