THIS DAY, THIS IMPORTANT
DAY
On this 65th anniversary of our independence, it is
particularly incumbent on all authentic quintessential Lankan
citizens (as opposed to the nominally Sri Lankan) to ensure that
the spirit of the celebration is kept alive, when there are
elements both extraneous and local, that are doubled-down in
attempts to rob our freedom of its true meaning.
There are those who are cheering-on attempts to traduce the
real meaning of freedom by supporting a UN resolution that seeks
to take the country�s leadership to task for making independence
meaningful, by ridding us of the twin evils of terrorism and
secession.
The well meaning can be excused, even if they are too shrill
in their criticism, and too impractical and perfectionist about
the direction they want the country to take. But it is those
that unmistakably carp and then sabotage the people with
transparently ulterior motives that cannot be easily shrugged
off.
Newspaper headlines scream that there will be a UN sponsored
resolution against Sri Lanka consisting of various separate
elements, such as the implementation of the LLRC report, the so
called overstay by the troops in Jaffna and the Northern
province, and the recent impeachment.
The nexus between these three issues makes it abundantly
clear what is behind these moves to virtually intimidate a
leadership that is resolved to have the interests of the people
of this country paramount. There is a not so subtly discernible
thread that binds these seemingly unconnected matters that are
to be agitated at the UNHRC deliberations.
The LLRC report relates to so called reconciliation and
resettlement concerns which the authorities have handled with
admirable alacrity after the end of the conflict in 2009. Yet,
interested parties are not prepared to see this issue in
perspective and instead, are preparing to bear down on the Sri
Lankan government, and demand for the extraction of their pound
of flesh, as far as its implementation is concerned.
The cry about the North is with the motive of getting the
troops out of the Jaffna peninsula, and the rest of the North
and the East. Again, the modus operandi is clear. Get the troops
out, and the North, it is presumed, will be under the sway of
all and sundry -- that is all and sundry, except the Sri Lankan
government forces.
Strangely, the third issue, the impeachment, is part of the
same nexus too as it appears that through the agency of the
courts, there was an attempt to insidiously get control of
Northern and Eastern territories, and subvert their direct rule
by the Sri Lankan government and its forces, which was
essential, nay mandatory, after a decades of war and deathly
destruction.
That the current agitation is on these three issues makes it
clear except to those in some kind of pathological state of
denial, that there are certain forces in the diaspora and the
Tamil Tiger rump that have still not given up the idea of a
master plan to undermine the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan
state, that was almost miraculous left intact after years of
debilitating conflict.
In simpler terms, the bid is to sabotage our independence, by
fair means or foul and complete the task of subversion led by
Prabhakaran by other means. It is why, this independence, the
need for solidarity and commitment is more important than ever
before.
Across all party lines, across the delineations of race,
creed, class and social standing, all Sri Lankans will
necessarily have to come together, to make the outright alien,
and their handmaidens the unmoored locally spawned saboteurs,
aware of the fact that we do not treat our hard-got freedoms and
the true meaning of all that it entails, lightly.
The foes of these freedoms -- the barbarians if you will --
are lined up at the gates. They have the gall to use the same
language (�barbarians are at the gates�, whimpered a rootless
lawyer during the recent drama of the impeachment�) against the
people of this country, when there are attempts to save the
nation from all of the insidious enemies that are arraigned
against it.
Those who have hitherto been pro-people, at least some of
them, have been misled by the devious cunning of these people,
and some have deserted the citizenry at large on vital issues
such as the impeachment. But true Sri Lankans should take that
as a challenge, and this 65th Independence Day, resolve to let
out the most resounding cheer, to drown out the whimpering
noises of the cynical, the jaundiced, the anti-Sri Lankan, and
all the assorted varieties of naysayers � among them, the
perennial, the opportunist, and the recently converted� |
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