Co-Chairs' need for sense of balance

THE Tokyo Donor Conference Co-Chairs, an important segment of the international community as far as Sri Lanka's conflict is concerned, have tried to take the State to task for some civilian deaths which apparently occurred when the Lankan Air Force bombed LTTE targets in Kilinochchi recently, which happened to be some distance away from the Kilinochchi base hospital.

Apparently, the Co-Chairs have swallowed a falsehood dished out to the world on this incident by the LTTE, hook, line and sinker. The record has been put straight on this issue by the military authorities who pointed out that the targets of the Air Force operation were LTTE ones and not civilians.

However, the Co-Chairs have apparently fallen for the familiar Tiger ruse of alleging that the Security Forces have perpetrated civilian deaths, while concealing their (Tigers') destructive anti-national activities.

This LTTE tactic of placing the blame for civilian deaths at the doorstep of the Security Forces, is aimed at garnering international sympathy for the Tigers at a time when their recalcitrance is high and rising and it is about time the Co-Chairs in particular awakened to these elaborate deception games of the Tigers.

The simple truth is that the Tigers are playing for time and are not cooperating with the State in the negotiatory effort.

They are clearly failing to deliver on their pledges made at the conclusion of Geneva I. To effectively evade these responsibilities, they are resorting to the familiar and notorious tactic of alleging that the Security Forces are responsible for civilian deaths.

They also hammer out the jaded position that the Security Forces are hot on the trail of civilian targets. Through these devious means the Tigers could play for time and attract much needed international sympathy.

The Co-Chairs need to see through such deviousness. All this is familiar terrain. Those impartial watchers of the Lankan scene from the early eighties are quite familiar with these dark designs of the LTTE and need not be freshly introduced to them.

They would dismiss these Tiger allegations as time-worn tactics which hold no water.

The bottom line is that the Tigers are now being forced to run for cover. They have been steadily violating the CFA and getting away with it.

But now that the Security Forces are protecting the national interest through limited, defensive operations, the LTTE is forced to belch a plethora of misleading allegations with a view to gaining the moral high ground in the eyes of the world community.

We urge the international community and the Co-Chairs in particular to refrain from falling for these LTTE deception schemes.

It is the West which coined the phrase 'collateral damage'. By this phrase it means the loss of civilian lives in theatres of armed conflict. Such 'damage' is viewed as inevitable in scenes of conflict around the world, where Western security forces are deeply involved in securing the vital interests of the West. Two of these scenes of action are Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here, civilians lose their lives in the dozens everyday and Western military experts accept these deaths as inevitable. That is, they are the 'collateral damage', which Western military intervention, which is meant well, inevitably incurs.

Apparently, what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander. What is 'collateral damage' in one context is 'civilian deaths' which are needless, in another. These are double standards which defy comprehension.

Western security forces are not barbaric hordes which are intent on spilling innocent blood. But the fact is that in armed conflicts, sometimes civilian casualties occur, inadvertently. This needs to be understood with a degree of empathy by the West in relation to other states too.

Given this background the Co-Chairs' statement on the recent civilian deaths in Kilinochchi betrays a high degree of insensitivity and an inability to understand the situation of other states which are up against implacable enemies of peace such as the LTTE. Let it not be forgotten that the Al-qaeda and the LTTE are brothers in arms.

We, therefore, call for a sense of balance and proportion on the part of the Co-Chairs when voicing strictures on civilian deaths. The Security Forces do not take innocent blood. They are only defending Sri Lanka's national interest.

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