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Chilling outrage

THE outrageous, cold-blooded, daylight gunning-down of the head of the Military Intelligence Corps, Major Nizam Muthaliph, in the heart of Colombo, besides meeting with our unreserved condemnation and that of all right thinking persons, puts a fresh, huge question mark over the bona fides of the LTTE.

For, this killing carries all the hallmarks of the mindless brutality of the LTTE and prompts a requestioning of the LTTE's true intentions as regards a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

While one could expect another of the LTTE's now almost ritualistic denials of such killings, it is plain to see that the LTTE stands to gain most from the elimination of a top intelligence official of the Sri Lanka Army.

In fact the LTTE has gunned down to date, 35 undercover operatives of whom 10 have been from Army Intelligence. The magnitude of this latest killing could be gauged from the fact that Major Muthaliph was the most senior army officer to have been killed in these efforts to eliminate army personnel holding sensitive positions.

The national interest and the ends of the peace process, however, wouldn't be served by any section of the public violating the law or committing hostile acts of any kind on receiving the news of this killing.

We call an all sections of the public to keep the peace and to respect the law, for, the perpetrators of this crime would certainly stand to gain by an outbreak of lawlessness in Southern Sri Lanka. Complete calmness and patience would be the ideal answers to developments of this kind.

However, the hard questions cannot be avoided. How serious is the LTTE in claiming that it is for a just, negotiated settlement? The continuous elimination of State intelligence operatives by the LTTE points to the persistence of a murderous mindset.

It points to a relentlessly hostile attitude towards the Lankan State. How swiftly, then, could a negotiated settlement be arrived at? To what degree is the LTTE keen on making compromises for the sake of ethnic peace?

The LTTE needs to asks itself these questions because, as we see it, it is only the Tamil people who would suffer as a result of the LTTE following a fork-tongued policy on these issues of grave importance.

At this crucial juncture in the post-independence history of this country, careful, sensitive deliberation is needed by all major parties to the peace process. Let no party brag foolishly of an assumed military superiority.

The Sri Lanka Army is duty-bound and compelled to attach foremost priority to keeping the peace everywhere in the country and to uphold at all times the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

This policy of the State security forces shouldn't be seen as a weakness by the enemies of peace. Brashness and foolhardiness of those intent on ruining Lanka's hopes of peace would only backfire on the whole of Lanka.

The people everywhere in the land would suffer indefinitely by such myopic perceptions. How, then, could the Tamil cause be served by these braggarts?

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