Archives

It happened again, as it had to. This time the target of the LTTE was the EPDP's Propaganda Secretary and Media spokesman, the well known Tamil journalist Kanthasamy Iyer, aka Sinnapala and more popularly known as Ilayavan, his pseudonym in writing.

Protests at this latest of LTTE killings of EPDP members are not in short supply. However, it had to happen, because seeking the elimination of the EPDP, as it did to other former Tamil militant groups is the determined goal of the LTTE. Kanthasamy Iyer was not only a journalist, although considerable protests have been made about yet another attack on a journalist, often without naming the obvious suspect.

He was a long time political activist, who worked with the LTTE too. He was active in the Tamil militant movement for many years and was a well known name in EROS, from where he gravitated to the Vanni and the LTTE. Later, when he was disenchanted with the LTTE's politics of terror and accepted the politics of democracy he worked with the EPRLF, led by Vartharaja Perumal.

From there he joined the EPDP and became both a confidante of its leader Douglas Devananda, and held the key positions of Propaganda Secretary and Media Spokesman for the party. It was barely a week ago that he was featured in the "Dinamina" as Tamil journalist whose writing was tempered by armed struggle.

He knew the full meaning of armed struggle of the Tamils, as well as the complete hijacking and distortion of this struggle carried out by the LTTE. To the LTTE such a person is a traitor to its cause, which it seeks to present as the cause of the Tamils, as much as the MPs of the ITAK (or TNA) now in parliament through highly questionable means, claims themselves as the LTTE's proxies to be the sole representatives of the Tamils.

The last rites of Kanthasamy Iyer took place at Kanatte in Colombo last Thursday. The awareness of this killing as a threat to democracy was amply seen by the cross section of political parties and concerned organizations of civil society represented there.

The question that one has to ask is who is next on the list. There is no doubt that Douglas Devananda is in the cross-hairs of the LTTE's assassins. But other Tamils who hold similar views or other views that do not agree with those of the LTTE and are ready to express them in public, are very much in the hit list of the LTTE.

What we are witnessing today in sharp focus is the targeting of democracy itself. It is the denial of the principle of pluralism in politics, and complete disregard for any of the norms of human rights that various organizations ask the LTTE to respect, without having the courage to name it as the most blatant violator of human rights possibly in all of Asia (not considering the travesty of human rights now going in Iraq in the name of liberation and democratic reform).

One must make critical comment here of an organization that claims to defend media freedom, which in a statement on this killing sought to link it to the LTTE's fight with the Karuna group, too. It was a deliberate red herring for international consumption.

Ease of diplomacy

President Kumaratunga has made some strong comments about the LTTE's intransigence and its role in the rising tide of violence in the country, with special reference to the situation in the East. She is also of the view that what the LTTE is bothered with today is not the ISGA as the basis for talks, but settling its scores with Karuna Amman first, and shoring up its Eastern flank once again.

However, as the killings of the EPDP cadres and others, possibly supporters of Karuna who are not armed anymore continue in this fashion, on what basis of adherence to the principles of democracy is one to resume talks with the LTTE, whether based on the ISGA, the reported alternative proposals being prepared by legal experts in the South, or both?

One must emphasize here that it is very easy for diplomats and those members of the international community interested in Sri Lankan peace, to urge both parties to get back to talking. It is also very easy for these countries and organizations such as Japan and the European Union for example, to issue statements condemning the LTTE's role in the escalation of violence in the country, and warn of the threat it holds for a more lasting peace.

However, what sanctions are these members of the international community prepared to enforce on the LTTE for the purpose of ending this violence and getting back to talks?

Just now no such moves are noticeable on the peace process radar screen, and most probably there will not even be blips of such sanctions or even threats of them in the future. Instead, one will see more weight being put on the Government to get back to talks, in the most unprincipled manner, with the threat of losing the US$ 4.5 billion package of aid agreed at the Tokyo conference in April last year.

A caveat for talks

A question that bothers those concerned with democracy, and the genuine rights of the Tamil people, is how this government could be pressured by any country or organization to resume talks with the LTTE, when it does not show an iota of change from its belief in terrorism as political strategy; its continued killing of political opponents; its refusal to accept the principle of political pluralism; and, its open violation of human rights, including the continued recruitment of child soldiers.

www.crescat.com

www.ceylincoproperties.com

www.Pathmaconstruction.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager