A relentless struggle to defeat terrorism

Dr. Edward PERERA

No one can hide the fact that local and international elements are working day and night to see the end of a great son of Sri Lankan soil.

First they made an attempt in broad daylight to assassinate him. The scattered body parts of the LTTE assassin could be seen at the location.

Amongst Sri Lankans, who were rejoicing the narrow escape of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, there were many Tamils too, who knew that as long as Gotabhaya lives, Prabhakaran’s dream will never materialise. These terrorists have the same assessment of the Army Commander Sarath Fonseka too.

This is why a person like Bruce Fein of the USA threatens that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka must be tried at the international court for war crimes.

Before they talk about the Defence Secretary and the Army Commander, they should bring several other world leaders to justice, who cheated the world community by saying that the former Iraq leader, the late Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons in his possession. The truth came out from their own intelligence services.

Nevertheless, they did invade Iraq and killed over a million people in a foreign land. The vast majority were innocent civilians. Bruce Fein and his clan have ridiculed the morals of his own country by pointing the finger at Gotabhaya and others who are determined to eradicate the terror menace from the country.

Gotabhaya was a brave soldier in several decisive battles fought against the LTTE. He works with clear-cut definitions in military strategies without manoeuvring himself for the leadership like Prabhakaran, who depends on inferior means of terrorism. Prabhakaran’s tactics have lost its military value due to the criminal outlook.

Gotabhaya and his military associates know the role of strategies in war and its impact on the outcome of the battle. Strategies are goal oriented and tactics are the means that are employed to achieve the set goals. The GOSL has a clear goal to liberate the country from terrorist menace. The LTTE’s goal does not conform to what the majority of Sri Lankan Tamils want. The Tamil homeland is a myth to an average Tamil.

Even the LTTE knew from the beginning that this dreamland was not for the Tamils but for another group that used the LTTE as an instrument to achieve its own goal. It is becoming clear, day by day that an armed group of people can in no way have authenticity to represent masses as long as they work for a hidden agenda.

Whether it is military or not, the commitment of a democratically elected Government must be transparent and manifested.

The difference between a responsible government and a terrorist outlet in a situation of war should be clear to everyone. The unnecessary sympathy from the so-called world community is created artificially to give legitimacy to the terrorist movement.

These groups know very well that only democratic Governments are vulnerable to criticism and allegations on human rights violations, but they do not utter a word against the atrocities committed by the LTTE terrorists. Under such circumstances, a person like Bruce Fein would be happy to attack the Defence Secretary and other important figures of the government.

Such cowardly acts could be attributed to character assassinations after their abortive attempts to assassinate him a few years ago. This clearly indicates that the LTTE is well aware of the co-relation between Gotabhaya’s role in the war and the defeat of terrorism. By destroying one factor, they do anticipate a landmark of their success.

Many Sons of our soil left the island due to shoddy treatment from oppositional political groups. Gotabhaya too had bitter experiences with such anti-national elements. Unlike many Sri Lankans, who left the country for better pastures, Gotabhaya had a dream to gather work experience in Computer Networking.

I had the pleasure of having lengthy discussions with him at his place in Los Angeles on this subject and in addition to our other interest areas like political stability and economic prosperity for Sri Lanka.

Whenever we met, we also talked about conspiracies hatched, financed and supported by various foreign elements to destabilize Sri Lanka. That was in the year 1998 during my stay in Los Angeles.

I first came to know the whole Rajapaksa family at Maedamulana, when I visited their residence in 1970 as a member of the University Teachers’ Front. We were there to support young Mahinda Rajapaksa who contested Beliatta electorate. I still remember the days that Gotabhaya joined the SL Army.

At that time I had no direct contacts with him personally but my personal contacts only with his brother Mahinda. Somewhere in 1960s, I had the opportunity to come to know late George Rajapaksa as I was an active member of the Soviet-Lanka Friendship League. George was the Chairman of that league.

Because of his charismatic leadership, I developed a great liking towards Rajapaksas from down south. D.M and D.A. Rajapaksa had produced great sons for future Sri Lanka. It is too much to expect Rajapaksas to be perfect in politics. Those who attack, especially Gotabhaya are carrying out the orders of their foreign masters. Their ultimate aim is to stop the complete defeat of the LTTE.

Gotabhaya had responded to my communications promptly. Unlike others, Gotabhaya has a different orientation and system of doing things.

Partly it can be attributed to his training as a military officer and his studies abroad especially in the field of Computer Science. Gotabhaya is a down to earth person and he is always prepared to listen to others. The opposition is furious when Gotabhaya is doing his duty admirably.

Those who shout and say “stop killing” had never uttered to stop “killing the members of Armed Forces” or “killing innocent civilians”. Of course the Government of Sri Lanka is dedicated to stop all kind of killings. Gotabhaya is firm and he knows what he does. Any attack against him is a treacherous act, which could prevent an amicable solution to the present crisis in Sri Lanka.

This vociferous campaign by traitors of the nation is an attempt to undermine the morale of the Forces. Gotabhaya will end his career once his overall duty is accomplished by sweeping terrorist menace from Sri Lankan soil. These traitors will be confined to the dustbin of history.

Asian Tribune