Employ whatever resources to ensure national security - NMAT

by Chamikara Weerasinghe

The National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) yesterday strongly urged the Government to employ whatever resources at its disposal to ensure that the country's national security is not compromised.

The Movement's International Affairs Secretary Malinda Seneviratne said the Government needs to focus more on strengthening its security than concentrate on the possibilities of "The LTTE returning to war" as feared by some people.

Seneviratne was speaking at a press conference yesterday at the Library Services Auditorium in Colombo. The conference had been organised by the NMAT to explain its stand in relation to the current security situation in the country.

"There is no point in saying that the LTTE would return to war since they had not stopped killings at any time.

They did not ceased from terrorist activities and killings, even after the CFA was signed," Seneviratne pointed out. "What we have seen from December 2001 to 2006 is not a Cease-fire, but low intensity military operations to describe them properly, which were aimed at demoralising the security Forces while at the same time gradually eliminating our security personnel," he explained.

He said this could be a sign that the group was preparing for an all-out terrorist attack on the security forces.

The Propaganda Secretary of NMAT, Anuruddha Perera said that they have no reason to believe that the LTTE had shown any commitment or interest in peace talks for the last two years, except that they had launched campaigns to justify their separatist demands.

Issuing a media release the MNAT said: The National Movement Against Terrorism wishes to express its gravest concerns regarding the current political situation in the country, especially the issue of terrorism.

While there is fear and apprehension regarding what some people articulate as "the LTTE returning to war", we wish to state the LTTE never stopped fighting. What we saw from December 2001 to November 2005 is not a ceasefire but low intensity military activity on the part of the LTTE, which targeted political opponents and key military personnel while continuing to abduct children to serve in combat, procure arms and train cadres.

In short, the past four years comprised of comprehensive preparation for an all-out war and should by no means be described as a de-escalation on their part.

The LTTE has time and again tested the patience of the security forces, often employing proxy organisations and so-called civilian groups beholden to follow the LTTE's edict, attempting to provoke strong response so that they (the security forces) could be portrayed as being anti-Tamil.

The LTTE's recent attacks as well as its action to rob the people in areas under its control of their franchise and its determined efforts to quell alternative political movements and groups among Tamils indicates that a) it is not interested in a negotiated settlement, b) is fundamentally anti-democratic and c) totalitarian in intent and fascist in practice.

The NMAT states that it is a folly to confuse "peace" with a "ceasefire" and regrets that successive governments, peace advocates and certain sections of the international community have been particularly persistent in making this mistake. We are of the view that the recent losses the security forces have suffered can be directly attributed to this confusion and/or naivete.

Where a ceasfire is not a means towards peace, it is a meaningless exercise. Indeed, as some conflict-resolution experts have put it, "A ceasefire based on wrong assumptions and which is not properly designed can only be a precursor to a more catastrophic war."

The ceasefire between the Government and the LTTE would be the most illustrative example of this proposition.

Under these circumstances the NMAT strongly urges the Government and all concerned parties: To employ whatever resources at its disposal to ensure that security is not compromised.

To accept the truth and reality that the LTTE cannot be made to lay down arms through negotiations and indeed that the LTTE has a history of viewing negotiations through a military framework and using them to strengthen its military capabilities, a historical path it shows no sign of veering from.

To understand that the LTTE will not be subdued by condemnation or threat from the international community, peace activists and other, but only through concrete action to cripple its terrorist inclination.

Finally, we call upon all peace-loving people of this country to understand these realities and that we have reached a stage where we have no choice as a nation but to face this challenge and therefore to be vigilant and prepared at all times.