|
I commend A.A.M. Nizam’s open letter to the British High Commissioner
appearing in the DN of June 29.
I am very glad that Sri Lankans of different communities have seen
fit to expose the double standards of the Western diplomatic community
in Sri Lanka, bashing the Sri Lankan Government and mollycoddling the
LTTE terrorists. Even for them to call them ‘terrorists’, they seem to
be very embarrassed to hurt the feelings of the LTTE.
Not two days after the new British PM took office, the terrorists in
the UK gave a very clear message to the British people. What does the
new PM say: “Our first obligation is the security of our people”.
This goes for Sri Lanka and every other country bedeviled by
terrorism. We now hear that raids are being conducted countrywide to
apprehend ‘suspects’.
We can be sure that most of these ‘suspects’ will be Asians and
Muslims. Does it sound like ‘ethnic cleansing’?
Our government was accused of this by the enlightened Western
countries and dollar gobbling INGOs and NGOs.
The first country to voice support and concern for England was none
other than George Bush and the US Government. Predictable. When innocent
children and civilians are killed in Sri Lanka, no one raises a voice
internationally, except to bracket the legitimate and democratically
elected government of Sri Lanka with the blood thirsty LTTE terrorists.
Look what America is doing in Afghanistan: within a matter of days
they have bombed children and killed dozens of civilians. They have the
most sophisticated weaponry and technical know how to pin point attacks.
When the SLAF bombs terrorist hideouts, Western countries talk of IDPs.
What about the IDP’s in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq?
Recently, the Al-Jazeera interviewed an American interrogator about
methods adopted in Iraq by the US Forces. There was no abiding by the
Geneva Convention. This was subsequently confirmed by an American
General.
The CIA plans the assassination of leaders who are not to the liking
of America. Vietnamese children and adults are still suffering from the
effects of Agent Orange dropped on innocent Vietnamese civilians. Wire
tapping, opening of personal mail, injecting drugs for testing on people
without their knowledge. All this, the US Government did against their
own people.
We would like to ask the ever smiling American Ambassador in Sri
Lanka to give us some tips on interrogation.
Can you arrange for a ‘regime change’ in the Vanni, then all our
terrorist problems will be over.
Has any of our peace loving INGOs and NGOs and media personnel ever
used some of the money they get from foreign donors and gone to a
foreign country and joined with the diaspora who demonstrate against the
LTTE. Oh No! Their bread basket will be affected and perhaps no more
invitations to diplomatic parties.
Let the Western enlightened, First World and civilised diplomats and
their citizens caution the British and the US Governments not to violate
individual liberties, not to raid people’s homes in the wee hours of the
morning and drag them to detention centres. Let’s hope the British
Police in their enthusiasm do not shoot some innocent person in the
head, in the guise of arresting a terrorist suspect. After all, these
are not done, in civilised societies.
Let England, the US and others who lecture us, join hands with the
Sri Lankans to eliminate the scourge of terrorism in Sri Lanka.
At least this will be a small start and will show us in Sri Lanka
that these people are at least now removing their blinkers and showing
they have some guts, albeit late, to eliminate the terrorists in Sri
Lanka.
We say to the defence establishment of Sri Lanka: Go ahead and
decimate the terrorists, so that innocent Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims
can once again live in peace and harmony and we can make Sri Lanka a
prosperous country. England, we sympathise with you and share your shock
and grief. Spare a thought for Sri Lanka too.
LAKSHMAN PERERA
Colombo 8
The CR&FC vs Kandy Sports Club rugby encounter was the most fancied
and looked forward to game this season, as both teams were unbeaten.
The match was telecast on channel eye, which gave an opportunity for
all rugby fans in the island to witness this game.
The foreign referee controlled the game excellently and he should be
commended for the excellent job.
There was a commentator who was feeling very jittery when the heat
was against the CR&FC, because from certain comments he made, I felt he
had goose flesh. He mentioned that the crowds in Colombo were well
behaved unlike the Kandy crowds, even when the game was totally against
the Colombo club.
He even made comments against certain decisions made by the referee
and in fact I who was listening to him felt he shouldn’t have taken up
commentary because he would have been a very good astrologer.
I personally felt he had missed the train and bus as the main reason
for Kandy’s great victory was due to the superb refereeing. The crowd
normally gets antagonised when there are too many bad decisions made by
the referee which makes the game go out of control.
This commentator should stomach what he sees, because seeing is
believing and in future I advise this gentlemen to have a good parcel of
rice which has been packed in a banana leaf for lunch, before he
commences his commentary in the future.
LI KUANG SHU Kandy
|
