Comments on: “Today’s terrorist is today’s and tomorrow’s murderer”: Resolving violent conflict in Sri Lanka

By: punitham

punitham — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:03:16 +0000

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.

By: davidson panabokke

davidson panabokke — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:40:30 +0000

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.

By: Ajith

Ajith — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:42:07 +0000

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.

By: CHINTHANA MAHINDA

CHINTHANA MAHINDA — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:48:15 +0000

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

By: rekaperera

rekaperera — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:28:02 +0000

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.

By: isura

isura — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:51:25 +0000

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?

By: Ajith

Ajith — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:05:19 +0000

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.

By: Ajith

Ajith — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:55:11 +0000

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!

By: CHINTHANA MAHINDA

CHINTHANA MAHINDA — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 05:14:15 +0000

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!

By: deepan

deepan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:20:11 +0000

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.