Double standards on LTTE abductions

THE conduct of sections of the international community is most curious when it comes to handling the LTTE - to say the least.

Some of these sections which vociferously berate and fault the Lankan State on what are considered humanitarian issues are deafeningly silent on the atrocities of the LTTE.

This intriguing mode of conduct comes to the fore, once again, on the abduction of two UN workers, around a month ago, by the Tigers in the North.

As revealed by some sections of the press, the Colombo mission of the UN is fully aware of the incident, but has not reported it to the UN Secretary General’s office in New York, to date.

Apparently, the Colombo UN mission is aiming at obtaining the release of the workers through covert talks with the Tigers.

Why keep the talks under wraps, when the correct procedure to follow would be to report the incident, both to the UN Secretary General’s office and the Lankan State? Ideally, the help of the latter should be obtained to trace those who have been abducted and effect their release.

Apparently, the UN mission here is acutely sensitive about offending the LTTE. Why?

Is this institution having some sort of collaborative link with the LTTE? If so, this is very bad news because an upholder of international law and order, such as the UN, could have nothing to do with a terror organisation, such as the LTTE, which is the very anti-thesis of the UN.

The UN needs to be a model of impartiality and straight-dealing on account of its identity as an upholder of law, order and peace.

The UN can not only have nothing to do with the LTTE, it should be in a position to apply equal standards to all parties to a conflict, stringently and consistently. If not it could stand accused of adopting double standards.

That is, one set of standards for the State and another for the LTTE. In short, the UN would be devaluing itself and opening itself to ridicule.

Accordingly, we urge the UN’s Colombo mission to come clean on this issue of the abduction of its workers. It simply cannot afford to be double-faced on this question.

If it does so, it would be only encouraging the LTTE in its evil conduct, whereas what it should do is seek the assistance of the State to track down the workers and obtain their release. It could have no truck with terrorists.

This is an inviolable rule in the conduct of international relations and all legal actors in the world system need to strongly uphold it.

Perhaps we are seeing in this situation one of the reasons why terror is prospering in the world. It is the witting or unwitting encouragement it is receiving from some sections which is making terror prosper.

Terrorists and terror should be roundly condemned by the right-thinking and collaboratively hunted down. Secret arrangements with terrorists would only lend the latter some legitimacy and enable them to strengthen themselves in the world.

We caution the UN that there could be no fence-sitting on these issues. The more terrorists are recognised and related to, the greater would be the turmoil in countries such as our’s. To the extent to which terrorists are hunted down and incapacitated, the greater would law and order prosper.