Watch your words, Mr. Rock

THE sensible sections of the public and the country's law enforcement agencies and institutions are quite understandably shocked and saddened by an allegation made by the Special Advisor to the UN and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict on Sri Lanka, Allan Rock, that some sections of Sri Lanka's Armed Forces are forcing children in the Eastern Province into serving the Karuna group as armed combatants, at gun-point.

The worry and concern caused by this groundless allegation among the Security Forces are incalculable and although the UN Special Advisor has gone back on this stricture, great damage has already been done to the reputation of our law-enforcers.

In fact irreparable damage could be said to have been caused although the norms of decency behove the authorities to overlook the serious verbal indiscretion, once a retraction has been issued.

We need hardly say, however, that the enemies of the State, such as the LTTE and its supporters would be already extracting maximum propaganda mileage from Rock's impulsive action of "shooting from the hip." How, indeed, could such a grave situation be remedied?

The Sri Lankan conflict is a complex problem which has defied resolution so far on account of the destructive role being carried out by the Tigers.

If the UN Representative had done his homework prior to visiting Sri Lanka, he would have learnt that it is the Tigers who have right along been committing child abuse, including the abduction of children and their forced cooptation into the Tigers' combat ranks.

The UN has been on the LTTE trail on this issue for quite some time now, but has apparently not succeeded in getting the Tigers to lay off the country's children.

In complete contrast, the Armed Forces have been maintaining an unblemished record on this question.

Not only have they been refraining completely from subjecting this country's children to any form of harassment but have been most magnanimous towards those LTTE child combatants who have been surrendering to them.

In fact, it was only a few days ago that some such surrendees were given a new lease of life by the State in the form of not only rehabilitation but also employment abroad.

Thus the suggestion that the Security Forces are committing the heinous offense of forcing children into the ranks of an armed group, is most preposterous.

Although the UN representative's indiscreet comments have caused great pain of mind to the State and all right-thinking persons, a sincere apology which is tendered needs to be accepted.

However, the UN representative needs to take stock of the adverse repercussions his groundless allegations could have on Sri Lanka's national interest.

As a result of these remarks Sri Lanka's concerns have been compounded. While the State is going to great lengths to win international opinion to its side in its confrontation with the terribly recalcitrant, destructively-oriented LTTE, persons who should be knowing what they are saying are harming our national interest by apparently unwittingly tarnishing the image of our Security Forces.

If the world community is sincere when it says that it is helping Sri Lanka manage its conflict, it should try every means possible to uphold our collective interests. Loose comments are certainly no way of achieving this.

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