I think the general Sinhalese attitude towards the reports of abductions and killings – as many have pointed out – is indifference, apathy and even hostility. This needs to be changed, because we shouldn’t accept such lawlessness in our country, but I think our “civil society” has largely failed in this regard. The approach of these activists is flawed and self defeating, much like AI’s disastrous human rights campaign. If you look at the Civil Monitoring Committee, the head and the other Sinhala members are from the far left fringe groups, and have no credibility amongst the Sinhalese whatsoever – and the other members are from parties loyal to the LTTE. If it’s to get any traction, the mass mobilisation for human rights and against abductions/killings/extortion must be conducted seperately from the peacenik campaign for stopping the war, peace talks and devolution – none of which are popular causes. Due to the not-so-hidden political agenda of CMC and other groups, they deliberately refuse to distinguish legal arrests of suspected terrorists by the government (eg: the “Akuna journalists”) from illegal abductions of innocent people by unknown groups. In many cases, these activists simply parrot the press releases of the LTTE spin office, and while that may endear them to the Tigers and the Tamil diaspora, it’s only going to harden attitudes in the South.

These peaceniks by and large ignored the crimes committed by the LTTE during the peace talks in the name of peace. Such people are not going to have an audience amonsgt the Sinhalese in the South, and even just causes they are involved in, will be maligned by their association. These people are a liability, not an asset. Sinhalese feel that the peacenik campaign for human rights is simply to help the LTTE. , but this perception needs to be changed. Activists must distance themselves from political causes and parties that make them be seen as partisan and stop blaming the easy target (ie: security forces, white vans) for everything without any proof.

But then, do they really want abductions to stop? Would anti-virus companies survive in a world where there are no viruses? I don’t know, but I only hope at least some of these people are genuinely passionate about stopping abuses, not just profiting from them.