DOUBLE GAME OF THE WEST
Two ex Presidents of the United States of America have visited Sri Lanka. They were here as part of what can be called a tsunami visit to South and South East Asia and no single politician in Sri Lanka could claim credit for inviting or organising the visit of two of the most powerful people of yesteryear. Some of the poor people in the tsunami affected areas in Sri Lanka would have had the opportunity of seeing two people who had more power as Presidents, than Mr. George Windsor the sixth or Ms. Victoria Windsor. Poor Mr. Charles Windsor, if and when he becomes the king of Britain or the United Kingdom, would have to plead to the Prime Minister of UK of the day if Camila wants to use the title Queen, though the Queen would not have the powers of a Pradeshiya Sabha Manthri in Sri Lanka.
However we should be glad that USA is the most powerful nation on the earth as we would not have had the privilege of seeing two ex kings or one ex king and one king at the same time if the British were still in power. Two in one is big for us the Sri Lankans but the people would not flock to see the duo the way their grand parents did when Ms. Elizabeth Windsor visited Sri Lanka in 1953. However, I am somewhat concerned about the money that went to finance the visit of the two ex presidents. Is it covered by the funds that Sri Lanka has been promised or is the white house directly financing the visit without any deductions from the "aid" that we are supposed to get. There should be transparency even with respect to the visits by the ex Presidents and the people in Sri Lanka in general and those in the tsunami affected areas in particular should know whether the visit by the two ex Presidents of the USA is also part of the "aid" given by USA.
While the government media was concentrating on the visit of the ex Presidents, some other incidents brought the policy of USA on Tamil racist movements in Sri Lanka to the limelight. Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada Mr. Pierre Pettigrew while condemning terrorist activities by the LTTE, including "suspected" recruitment of child soldiers, has said that the country is still not ready to outlaw the organization. What is interesting is that according to Mr. Pettigrew it is the USA and Norway that had requested not to move into proscribing the LTTE. The two countries have asked Canada not to aggravate the situation by moving against the LTTE in Canada , as reported in the Canadian press. Mr. Pettigrew has further said that they believe it is better to try to work and engage the LTTE in a very fragile ceasefire, to strengthen it and maintain it.
Meanwhile Mr. Pettigrew's cabinet colleague, Public Safety Minister Ms. Anne McLellan, had indicated that the Foreign Affairs Department had been lobbying her against an outright ban on the LTTE. It should ne interesting to note that Ms. McLellan had made the comments at a Senate committee as she defended federal anti-terrorism legislation passed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by Islamic extremists in New York and Washington. This particular law allows police to make preventive arrests, hold people without charge for up to 72 hours and compel them to testify before a judge about suspected terrorist activity. Canada while taking drastic action pertaining to the organisations that are a threat to the North America, is not prepared to outlaw the LTTE in their country. Canada apparently has been lobbied by proxy groups of the LTTE not to ban the terrorist outfit, and the LTTE is on a good wicket thanks to the work done by the Norway with the concurrence of the USA.
The statements as reported in the Canadian Press reveal the double game played by USA. The two ex presidents who visit us would not be able to convince the Sinhala people who have not been brainwashed by the education in Political Science, Sociology and other Social Sciences that is packed in USA and exported for the consumption of Asians and Africans, that USA is not helping the LTTE terrorists. The United Nations that in general reflects the foreign policy of USA had to say sorry for the condolence message sent by its secretary general to the members of the family of the assassinated terrorist Kaushalyan. The chief of staff of the cabinet of Mr. Koffi Annan has apparently said that the Colombo office of the United Nations is not responsible for the statements by the secretary general. Then the question is who is responsible for them. Are we to believe that Mr. Annan himself on his own decided to make the statements? It is very likely that the Sri Lankan government would drop the matter after the discussions Mr. Bernard Goonetilake has had with the UN officials, but those Sinhala people who cannot be influenced by USA propaganda would not believe everything that the chief of staff of Mr. Annan's cabinet has told the Sri Lankan representative in UN.
It is very easy for UN and USA to condemn the LTTE for recruitment of children and make a big fuss about sanctions and then keep quiet for sometime. Mr. Olara Ottunu came to Sri Lanka long time ago to find out for himself the fate of children in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. He could come and go, make statements but the LTTE has not changed their policies. These statements occasionally issued are for the consumption of the Sri Lankan middle class that does not want to lose faith in the English speaking world dominated by USA at present. Since the seventies the Sri Lankan middle class has gradually being attracted to USA making Britain a distant relative in the process. While making the occasional statement to please the Sinhala middle class the USA, Norway and UN with the other westerners especially of non RC Christian of faith continue to support and maintain the LTTE.
The latest attempt by the LTTE to create an Eelam was in connection with the demands made by Anton Balasingham who has been inflated by the western press and their imitators in Sri Lanka as the chief ideologue/theoretician of the LTTE. Balasingham who is only another terrorist married to a white woman from Australia wants the government and the LTTE to work together in the North and the East in work connected with rebuilding and rehabilitation. He has also said that all the armed groups in the Northern and the Eastern Provinces should be disarmed. If the LTTE wants all the groups in the two provinces disarmed then it is the LTTE that has to disarmed first. Would Anton Balasingham agree with that?
What Balasingham says is that the other groups such as Karuna tigers of the east, may be the EPDP, should be disarmed. Why is Anton Balasingham scared of Karuna? If the LTTE is the sole representative of the Tamils then there cannot be a Karuna group carrying arms, which the LTTE finds it impossible to disarm. The LTTE wants the help of the Sri Lankan government to disarm Karuna, remember not in Colombo but in the North and the East, which many Tamil racists call the North East as if all the districts in those two provinces have been administratively and otherwise united, implying that the LTTE does not have the power in the two provinces even to do that. This weak organisation that has been inflated by the western press, at the same time wants them to be treated as a government.
When the LTTE demands that all the other groups in the eastern and the northern provinces be disarmed the implication is that the LTTE has the right to carry arms. The only organisation or the body that has the legal right to carry arms is the government. When the LTTE states that they also should be able to carry arms it implies that the terrorist organisation should be treated as a government. What does the USA say about this demand? How about allowing some organisation of blacks to carry arms in USA? What would Messrs. Annan and Ottunu say of the latest demand by the terrorist Balasingham?
The second demand by the LTTE is on rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the North and the East. There is no reason why the LTTE should work with the government in this matter. The LTTE has no control whatsoever in the Eastern Province and the government could engage in relevant work connected with those affected by tsunami without the help of the LTTE. The armed forces could easily handle the work in the Northern province as well. It has to be remembered that the LTTE is confined to a small area in the Northern province, and if not for the west and the Sri Lankan "government" that is dictated by the west the LTTE could have been defeated long time ago.
The LTTE by making these two demand as pre conditions for the so called peace talks want to commence "negotiations" having claimed governmental status. If the government agrees to the two demands then there is nothing to negotiate as governmental status has already been conferred on the LTTE. The terrorists are in a position to make these demands not because they are strong but because of the double game played by the west and a government headed by spineless "leaders".
Professor Nalin de Silva
>
>
>