THE DRAMA OF THE EAST
It can only be described as drama. Four diplomats from four of the powerful western countries go to the Eastern Province in hired helicopters together with a minister, and are attacked by the LTTE. Despite the LTTE attacking them after they had landed the diplomats and the minister come back to Colombo with a minor injury to one of them and the LTTE blames the government for not informing them of the visit by the VIPs. Even before the TNA the proxy party of the LTTE could get instructions from Thamilselvan on the course of action that the former has to take to safeguard democracy, the rights of the Tamil people, and that of the diplomats to visit the "Tamil homeland" the duo that most probably were responsible for the alleged pact between Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse and Prabhakaran , or is it Thamilselvan, drew their swords against the government and said at a press conference that the government had made a blunder by taking the diplomats to the Eastern Province. The UNP not to be outdone by the Federal duo criticized the government for what had happened to the diplomats.
However, despite the attack of the LTTE on the diplomats, the attitudes of their governments on the LTTE have not changed. They do not state that the LTTE is fascist or barbaric, and that the terrorists should be destroyed or even defeated, according to the general western policy on the terrorists after the September eleventh incident, but they insist that the government should talk to the LTTE. If an organization other than the LTTE had attacked the diplomats of four powerful western countries how would the west have reacted? All that the western countries would say is that the LTTE is banned in their countries, though countries such as Norway would never think of banning the LTTE. If some people, especially the gullible Sinhalas in Colombo and the western countries, think that some of the western countries have banned the LTTE because of the terrorism of that organization in Sri Lanka, then they are mistaken. As we have argued on many occasions, the ban is due to the LTTE connections with some Arab terrorist organizations which are a threat to the western countries and their civilization. When nobody is talking to Al Qaeda, and when no talks are held with the IRA until they are decommissioned the western countries have been forcing the Sri Lankan government to talk to the LTTE. They have given us Norway as the mediator that mediates on behalf of the LTTE.
The statement by the Federal duo in the SLFP, against the government could have made an initial impact, as they appeared to be raising an issue on behalf of the innocent diplomats who had been transported to the East by the government. Did not the presence of a cabinet minister in the party that came back to Colombo with most probably nothing more than a scratch, indicate that the "ill fated" journey had the blessings of the government that wanted to tell the world that the East has been liberated from the "liberating Tigers"? Could the government risk the lives of four western diplomats, and a cabinet minister for propaganda work to tell the world that the East has been liberated? However, now at least a few facts have been revealed we know that the west could not have been that innocent in this incident too.
One of the diplomats who went to the East had said that the relevant embassies had already informed the LTTE about their visit. Thus even if the government had not informed that all mighty in Killinochchi, the LTTE were aware of the visit and there is no evidence to show that the LTTE even at the last minute wanted to cancel the attack on the diplomats. It is clear that the LTTE had attacked having being informed that the four diplomats were visiting the Eastern province. It was not a case of mistaken identity, contrary to the picture that some others were trying to paint. The LTTE had decided to attack the diplomats and the script had been written by somebody who wanted to kill not two birds with a bomb. Even if the diplomats themselves were not aware of the impending attack we cannot rule out some embassy employees were innocent of what happened on that "ill fated" day. After all we all know that not all the officials in an embassy are involved with pure diplomatic missions.
Then according a Sunday newspaper Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse had said that the government did not want to allow the diplomats to travel to the East and the North, knowing that all was not well in those provinces, in spite of the military victories. According to the secretary to the ministry of defense the western diplomats, not necessarily the four who took the helicopter to the East, had always said that government wanted to hide facts from the former whenever they were not allowed to go to the Eastern and the Northern provinces. Did the four diplomats go on their own without permission from the ministry of defense or did the ministry give permission this time as it did not want criticism from the western diplomats? Whatever the case may be it is reasonable to assume that the diplomats either went on their own or forced the government to give them permission to visit the East. What Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe was doing in the helicopter is anybody's guess, and we are happy that the terrorists had thrown the bomb to some other part of the ground on which the helicopter had landed. The scriptwriter appears to be a novice, and he/she could have obtained instructions from some of the Sinhala film producers and the scriptwriters who have won awards at international film festivals by producing films against the armed forces in the country.
What did the scriptwriter and the others who are associated with the (melo) drama wanted to achieve? Though they were unsuccessful, it is very unlikely that they will win an award for their performance, they wanted to show a number of things to the world. First and foremost that the Eastern province has not been "liberated" by the government, contrary to the reports that the armed forces have defeated the LTTE. It is a propaganda victory for the LTTE. The western pundits and their local "enlightened" (prabuddha) henchmen could write thesis after thesis on the invincible guerilla groups. They could also preach on the injustices caused to the Tamils by the successive Sinhala governments since 1947, ignoring of course the history of privileges given to the Tamil elite by the British in the legislature and the professions and how the elite interpreted losing some of these privileges as discrimination against the Tamils in general.
This theory on invincible guerilla movements is nothing but humbug. The western political scientists do not differentiate between guerilla movements fighting against the governments in their own countries, and against foreign militaries. It may be that the USA finds it difficult to defeat guerilla movements outside of the country, but there are many instances where guerillas have been defeated by armed forces of the respective countries. Also the Maoist theory of guerilla being a fish in the sea of people is not applicable to the LTTE terrorists who are now not maintained by the Tamil people but by the western powers. If anybody thinks that the LTTE buys all the arms from their kappan money then he/she does not know the moneys involved in arms dealings. The Sri Lankan armed forces together with the special task force have the capability of defeating the LTTE in spite of the support the terrorists are getting from the west.
What the west wants is negotiations between the government and the LTTE, and it is clear that the scriptwriter who wanted to show that the in spite of the military defeats the LTTE is not weakened in the East had this in his/her mind. Even after four of the western ambassadors have been involved in the incident, the west still calls for negotiations as if they are against war of any form. It has to be reminded that in Europe war has been at least temporarily stopped not by anti war artistes such as Brecht but by Churchill on one hand and Stalin on the other hand who fought against fascism. The local communist party anti war heroes from DEW Gunasekera to the rank and file member should realize that Stalin did not take part in anti war demonstrations nor in NGO sponsored activities. As far as the local card board Brechts are concerned we all know that if not for foreign funds and/or the heroism (porathvaya) they are associated in the local press they would be nowhere.
The scriptwriter also wanted to criticize the government for risking the lives of the diplomats, knowing very well that according to the script nothing serious would happen to any one of them. The Federal duo and the UNP have "grabbed the opportunity" with both hands not knowing that the government had at least on previous occasions stopped these humane westerners going to the Eastern and the Northern provinces to study the hardships faced by the people. However, it has to be mentioned that the scriptwriter as well as the director have failed miserably and as mentioned above a local cardboard Brecht could have come up with more drama. It was an ill fated day for the scriptwriter and the director.
Professor Nalin de Silva
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