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| Saturday, 2 October 2004 |
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LTTE's killing spree "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Mathew 5:8) Last Saturday this column said there was another killing of an EPDP cadre, and another demonstration before the Norwegian Embassy. We asked how many more deaths were needed to satisfy the bloodlust of Velupillai Prabhakaran and his fellow fascists in the Vanni. "Is it the blood of all members of the EPDP and what is left of the EPRLF and PLOTE? What is the assurance that even with all that blood, those who dream the dream of a Greater Eelam as the Sun God in the Vanni does, will be satiated?" Last week the country received the answers. Two more EPDP cadres were killed in Colombo and Jaffna, as well as a political activist of the EPRLF. Three more killings in one week, and the possibility of the entrance to the Norwegian Embassy may not be only a pause of protest on the way to the final rites for some of these victims. Instead it could be the last resting place, until the CMC or some other State institution removes the remains. It was hardly an hour after the Norwegian Embassy assured it would pressure the LTTE to stop political assassinations, when the LTTE pistol killers took the life of Valisunderan of the EPRLF, an elected member of the Valikamam Pradesheeya Sabha. Thus the killing spree goes on unabated, with the LTTE unshaken by criticism by the European Union and the very firm position of the United States that it gives up violence. This unbridled spate of killings by the LTTE, after having disarmed its political rivals under the CeaseFire Agreement, is now compelling the EPDP to consider rearming its cadres, despite the restrictions of the CFA. Such compulsions become inevitable in the interests of self-defence if there are no other forces capable of defending them. One cannot simply expect this killing spree to go on with no reactions at all from those who are targeted by it. Ranil says talk first Despite all this violence that concerns important sections of the international community which involved both the Oslo and Tokyo declarations, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe rejects the President's suggestion that the process of Southern consultation should begin, before talks with the LTTE. This is as cowardly or self-seeking decision as his refusal to co-chair these consultations with the Prime Minister. Should there at least not be some consensus on the need to extract some assurance by the LTTE that it will stop these killings and other political violence before both sides sit down to talks? Should talks be resumed on any agenda (the UNP and LTTE wants it to be the ISGA) while all this violence continues? How can anyone assure the South that such talks will also not be a sell-out to the LTTE, as Ranil's UNP led coalition did when in office? Russian President Vladimir Putin, angered by repeated questions by the Western media about the wisdom of his handling the Beslan catastrophe asked: "Why don't you meet Osama bin Laden, invite him to Brussels or the White House and engage in talks." He added that, "no one has a moral right to tell us to talk to child killers." One would not go as far as President Putin, but it is also relevant to ask as to whether it is wrong to insist that one will not talk to the killers of political opponents, with the strength they have gained through the UNP - LTTE MoU. Should one not insist on some covenant with the LTTE over human rights, child soldiers and the acceptance of political pluralism, guaranteed by the co-chairs of the Tokyo Conference, before any talks are resumed? The UNP may not want this for political reasons and its understandings with the LTTE, but could this not be understood by the various organisations claiming to work for peace unless it is a well publicised pilgrimage to the shrine to the Sun God at Kilinochchi? The bloody gulf of Mannar This is not about the concerns here about India's dredging of the Gulf of Mannar. Referring to the highly provocative statements by the Bishop of Jaffna Rt. Revd. Thomas Deogupillai, on September 12, 2004 this column asked: "Does the Church have a different mission in Jaffna?" We now have the Catholic Bishop of Mannar Rev. Rajappu Joseph, warning of separation by saying the "Sinhalese should realise the Thamil conflict cannot be solved within a united Sri Lanka." He has said so an interview to the Tamil daily "Virakesari" and quoted by the "Eelam Nation" website on September 21, 2004. It's a new and bloody gulf of separation. The Bishop of Mannar says the Thamils should enjoy the political and economic freedom as their counterparts in the "Sinhala country" (emphasis mine). As much as saying the conflict cannot be solved within a "united" country (not unitary), he proceeds to emphasize the two nations, two country concept which is at the core of the LTTE's separatism. The Bishop of Mannar takes liberty with history saying: "The Sinhala nation should understand that Sri Lanka was not a united country. The island was ruled by Sinhala as well as Thamil rulers simultaneously from time immemorial." He obviously does not advocate a united country but a divided land. The Bishop is not entirely wrong when he says "the Thamils had been long oppressed by the Sinhalese and it could not continue any more". But he expresses suspicions of the President's own sincerity about peace saying: "he suspected the sincerity of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga because she was not initiating the peace process." Can the Bishop tell us who else but the President initiated the peace process, a truth publicly accepted even by her arch political rival Ranil Wickremesinghe? Bishop Joseph either does not see or is ready to ignore the continued violence by the LTTE, against Tamil political rivals. How can a man of the cloth, elevated to the purple of a Bishop make such demands, without having the blood of those victims on one's hands? I ask again whether the Church does not realise how such comments place the average Catholic at great embarrassment and grave risk, by providing justification for Southern extremists who insist that the Catholic Church is the fifth column of the LTTE. In advocating separation in this manner, is the Bishop ignorant of the bloodshed it has caused in India and in other parts of the world? Can the chalice of bishops' be filled with the blood of those Tamils who dare disagree with the LTTE? Are these the peace makers referred to by Christ? |
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