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| Thursday, 6 December 2001 |
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Letters | |
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A careful analysis of the message delivered by Velupillai Prabhakaran on the occasion of his 47th birthday on 27.11.2001 reveals, among other things, the following: 1. The indisputable fact that the LTTE is facing a crisis situation are a result of the ban imposed on them and the freezing of their funds by countries such as the USA, UK and Canada and also due to the ongoing war against terrorism led by the US (The US President has stated that the said war will not end with the destruction of the Al Qaeda network and capture of Bin Laden). 2. A feeble attempt has been made once again to convince the international community that the LTTE is not a terrorist movement but a liberation movement. A terrorist movement is a movement which kills unarmed, innocent civilians in order to achieve their goals. However Prabhakaran has not stated as to who, in his opinion, is responsible for the gruesome, cold-blooded killing of nearly 60,000 unarmed, innocent civilians (including Tamils and Muslims) through the use of suicide cadres, vehicle bombs etc., since 1983. 3. In his message Prabhakaran has tried to make the international community also believe that all the Sinhalese are war mongers and racists. Isn't it a fact that more Tamils than those in the North and East are now living in peace in Sinhala and Muslim dominated areas in Sri Lanka? It is the LTTE who chased out, not only the Sinhalese but also the Muslim residents of Jaffna. Is there any Sinhala or Muslim family living in areas controlled by the LTTE? 4. Prabhakaran also continues to demand that the LTTE should be regarded as the sole and legitimate representative of the Sri Lankan Tamils. On what basis is he (and also the Tamil National Alliance) making this claim? It is the Tamil people living in the North and East who should decide, at a free and fair election, who their (sole or otherwise) representative should be and the LTTE should give up their arms and enter the democratic system in the first place. I think that the most important precondition Prabhakaran has put forward for re-commencing 'Peace Talks' is the lifting of the ban imposed on the LTTE by the Sri Lankan Govt. Prabhakaran fully well knows that no self respecting and patriotic political leader in the South (except a power hungry one) would agree to such a demand. On the other hand Prabhakaran and the LTTE, who are in a desperate situation, is not a fool to make such a near-impossible-to-meet demand at this juncture unless he is or has been made aware that there is, in fact, a Sinhala political leader who would agree or who has already secretly agreed to grant such a demand if the said leader is assured of support from the Tamil political parties who have decided to become the cats or is it the tigers) paw of the LTTE. Therefore, the million dollar question is who is the said Sinhala leader? NLR , I read in your paper of 22nd November, a news item which said that only a leftist Government can take Sri Lanka towards progress. I would like an explanation from any of your readers as to what a leftist Government. According to Parliamentary procedure leftists are those who sit on the left side of the Speaker, that is the Opposition whatever party they may belong to and those who sit on the Government side are the rightists. Under these circumstances how can the Opposition form a Government unless elected to power? In which case they are no longer leftists. Hence the word leftist has been used in the wrong context. CLIFFORD RATWATTE , The election violence as for the report of the Police HQ has risen to over 1500 cases. Several killings and serious attacks too had been reported. Still it continues. Is the life of a person so cheap to die for another person who is to enjoy his life by entering the Parliament? Why should two loving brothers, two friendly neighbours or two good office colleagues become themselves enemies or sometimes kill themselves because of a politician who is merely an opportunist? In the case of such a death the supported politician will visit the funeral house, pat the victim's son, express his deepest sympathies to the widow, promise some 'helps' or 'concession' or any other 'special' from the government and walk out only to forget the victim forever. NASZLY CASSIM , The Sri Lankan team performed magnificently in the first Test against the Windies and admirably in the 2nd Test. We could not have lost the 2nd Test,however, well the Windies played-given the time to score and the target to be reached. The most the Windies could have achieved was a draw. But, as luck would have it, we won because of the most unfortunate way that Brian Lara was given out.I am not sure whether in the excitement of seeing the back of Lara the Sri Lankans overlooked the manner of his dismissal! But as an ardent admirer of our team and the game I wish that Lara was recalled to continue his innings-if such an action was not against the rules. He could have still fallen a victim to Murali later in the innings but more importantly the victory would not have left such a bitter taste in the mouth! I sincerely hope that at least in the future our cricketers would be more magnanimous especially when we could afford to be. It would have brought us everlasting fame rather than a mere victory in a game. DR. N. AMARASEKERA , |
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