UNP must eschew petty politics
At a time when national unity is the
need of the hour, the leader of the UNP, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has
chosen to call for a special Parliamentary debate on the botched LTTE
terror attack on the Katunayake air base.
Such a position by the UNP leader at this juncture defies
comprehension. What is the justification for a Parliamentary debate
which is certain to pave the way for an airing of contentious issues,
when what is crucially needed is support for the State which is
effectively beating down the LTTE terror threat?
Since the raising of controversial issues at this stage is tantamount
to fishing in troubled waters, we call on the UNP to place the national
interest before petty, partisan politics and to cooperate with the
Government in defeating the LTTE terror threat.
The fact is that the desperate LTTE is resorting to its meanest ruses
to undermine the State and take more and more human lives. Perpetrating
terror with the aim of destroying Sri Lanka is its agenda. The State is
very successfully thwarting this aim and this is aggravating the chagrin
and desperation of the Tigers. It is this mounting frustration which has
led it to try its hand at air strikes.
In this fiendish endeavour the LTTE has failed because it could not
cause even minor damage to the fleet of MiG aircraft at the air base.
Accordingly, it is obligatory on the part of all our political
parties and the wider public to wholeheartedly help the State to
resoundingly defeat LTTE terror. A failure to do this or any attempt at
working against this norm would be tantamount to playing into the hands
of the LTTE, which wants a divided Sri Lanka.
Certainly, as the major Opposition party, it is specially incumbent
on the UNP to support the State in the endeavour of putting down LTTE
terror.
We need hardly tell the UNP that mindlessly opposing the Government
is not what is expected of a responsible Opposition. Rather, it should
come out with constructive suggestions on how the terror threat could be
met.
We also need hardly say that the State is leaving no stone unturned
in its efforts to learn the bare facts behind the LTTE terror strike on
the air base in Katunayake.
In fact two probes are already underway. In short, the State is doing
what is expected of it. The State would also be acting in accordance
with what is revealed by these probes.
The UNP has nothing to fear, therefore, on the question of the State
not doing what is deemed correct in these circumstances. The State
represents the totality of the body politic and should be backed to the
hilt. |
The background to Indian intervention
The Armed Forces are instructed in the need to
maintain discipline, unlike in the eighties when attacks on
civilians were rife. The argument that all this is in theory, and
that the Armed Forces are no different from the days in which they
were described as the most indisciplined in the world is untenable,
in view of the records maintained by the Scandinavian monitors of
the current Ceasefire, who recorded nearly 4000 violations by the
LTTE and less than a tenth as many by the Sri Lankan Government.
 Full Story
Capital punishment - not the best solution
Capital punishment is a solution to deal with
criminals in society, but it is an easy one. Is this the best
solution the human mind can think of? In a Buddhist country such as
Sri Lanka, non-violence, even in the face of the most hideous of
crimes, should be applied. This should mean to the end of capital
punishment in its absolute form.
Full Story
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