Wailing for the dogs of war

Dushy Ranetunge

PROTEST: TNA, the Tamil nationalist proxy of the LTTE has been protesting and expressing their disappointment that the international community is not criticising the Sri Lankan state for the death of civilians and children in combat areas.

The British and the US armies in Iraq and the Sri Lankan army in the North East do not deliberately target civilians and children. Under the circumstances no international body could criticise the Sri Lankan army and not do the same to the US and British armies in Iraq.

Even last week, road bombs killed British army officers in Iraq and there has been civilian deaths as a result of defensive action by the British army.

The LTTE's declared position was that the claymore mine attack was the work of Tamil civilians. The TNA, a front of the LTTE has failed to clarify if these particular civilians being referred to are the ones the LTTE condemned as throwing hand grenades and exploding claymore mines against security forces personnel.

On Tuesday, there have been protests in Kilinochchi against extra-judicial killings. This week Suda Nadarajah, the editor of the Tamil Guardian newspaper has also highlighted this matter with great concern.

The Tamil Guardian is controlled by the LTTE, and its editor Suda Nadarajah made up the support staff of the LTTE delegation to Geneva for the last round of CFA talks.

The TNA, Tamil Guardian and protesting `Tamil civilians' of Kilinochchi, which are all LTTE fronts, only champion human rights on behalf of the LTTE. They do not protest for the human rights outrages perpetrated by the LTTE against Tamils who are democratically opposed to the LTTE.

In the British parliament early this year, Mrs Amirthalingam chargedat a meeting that the LTTE has killed more Tamils than the Sri Lankan army. It is amusing that this same LTTE is this week trying to champion the human rights of Tamil civilians whom they condemned to the Norwegians early this year as being responsible for throwing grenades and exploding claymore mines against the security forces.

There are complex and underlying reasons for the `disappointment' of Tamil nationalism in relation to the death of civilians and their sudden and orchestrated concern expressed by three LTTE front groups this week.

After the ceasefire agreement was signed by the Wickremasinghe administration, the LTTE went about assassinating army intelligence officers and democratic Tamils who were opposed to the LTTE. The Tamil nationalists were not `upset' and did not express their `disappointment' of these killings, because they wanted their champions the LTTE to murder all opposition and take over the North and the East.

Ponnambalam MP of the TNA confessed in Brussels that the LTTE were their bargaining chip. In effect he was acknowledging that the TNA are bargaining with the lives of Tamil children and civilian by working hand in glove with the biggest mass murderers of Sri Lankan Tamils in recorded history.

The master strategists of the Vanni planned that by throwing grenades and exploding claymore mines targeting security forces personnel, they would be able to get the upper hand and embarrass the Rajapaksa administration as being impotent in failing to deal with the LTTE challenge.

The LTTE presumed that the Sri Lankan state will not be able to respond to the LTTE's grenade/claymore mine challenge and that with mounting security forces casualties the Presidency would be frustrated. The LTTE was going to teach the perceived Sinhala hardliner a lesson. But the first bad news for the LTTE came with the appointment of Gen. Sarath Fonseka as the Commander in Chief. The LTTE were clearly disappointed and expressed their disappointment openly.

The LTTE does not want a war. It wanted to put the Sri Lankan state in the CFA straight jacket, and pursue a claymore/grenades strategy to debilitate it into a position that would provide the LTTE with an advantage. While Prime Minister Wickremasinghe was in New York meeting George Bush and shopping for International safety nets, the LTTE was manufacturing a net of their own, to entrap the Sri Lankan state.

However, things have not fanned out the way the LTTE anticipated.

The Sri Lankan state has responded to the LTTE challenge by deploying deep penetrating robust counter terrorism strategy.

The LTTE targeted the Sri Lankan Army Commander because the LTTE was losing the grenade/claymore mine war. They suspected that General Sarath Fonseka was the architect of the Sri Lankan army's counter terrorism strategy. Counter terrorism was his forte during his one year course at the Royal College of Defense Studies (RCDS) in the United Kingdom a few years ago.

The Geneva talks were delayed for the same reason. The LTTE perceived that it can sit in Geneva with grenades and claymore mines on the table and negotiate with the Sri Lankan state from such a position, which it perceived as being a position of strength.

Sudden and unexpected events are known to transform the course of history. The Karuna phenomenon is such an event and it has pulled the carpet from under the LTTE. Tamil nationalists, who perceived that Eelam was within their grasp, are shell shocked. The attempt to get the government to disarm the Karuna faction and the grenade/claymore mine war are all strategies by the beleaguered LTTE to regain some degree of bargaining power.

With the LTTE losing the grenade/claymore mine war, it perceived that its position in Geneva would be a weak one. Hence no show for Geneva II.

After having lost the grenade and claymore mine war and its position looking increasingly hopeless the LTTE is looking for alternatives.

So this week we have the LTTE in the form of the Tamil Guardian, the TNA and the `civilian' protestors in Kilinochchi trying to play the old human rights card about civilians being killed.

We are witnessing the absurdity of the greatest human rights violators of the Tamil people trying to champion human rights. The Nazis would have stood a better chance trying to champion the human rights of the Jews.

In February during the Geneva talks, Balasingham told the Sri Lankan delegation in the presence of the Norwegians `killing is our business'. The Norwegians must be now confused as to the new role of those in the killing business as champions of human rights.