Boston Globe favouring LTTE - Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha
SCOPP Secretary General Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha has hit out at the
Boston Globe accusing it of bias in favour of the LTTE in its comments
on the unfolding developments in the battle front.
Issuing a statement, the Secretary General said: “As what seems the
end of the Tigers draws nigh, the arguments used to rescue them from
oblivion get ever more preposterous. Let us begin with the Boston Globe,
which has issued yet another editorial on the subject.
Last time round I wrote about what the Boston Globe failed to say, in
its patronising description of the Sri Lankan situation. This time, I
can only draw attention to a couple of its horrendous non sequiturs.
It begins by claiming that ‘The shelling of a hospital paediatric
ward Sunday in Sri Lanka gave the world a glimpse of the scorched-earth
offensive Sri Lanka’s Government has been conducting against the
secessionist Tamil Tigers’.
Only belatedly does it seem to grant that it is not really sure who
did the shelling, when it declares that it does not matter whether the
Government or the Tigers are most to blame for the suffering of the
civilians ‘trapped in the war zone’ - i.e., it is the Tigers who will
not let them get away, obviously because they want the suffering of
these civilians to prompt the world to interfere, and this is what the
Globe is obligingly engaged in.
The Globe, as though it has made a discovery no one else has, asserts
that the only true solution must be political.
This is what the Government has been saying, and this is why
successive Governments sought to negotiate with the Tigers, who withdrew
from talks with a much more indulgent Government in 2003 and then came
back to talk with this Government only to launch two violent military
offensives even while it claimed it was willing to talk.
But the prejudice of the Globe becomes clear when it claims that what
it means by a political solution is ‘some sort of confederal autonomy
for the Tamil regions’. Does it not realise that the Tigers repudiated
federalism when that was mooted in 2002?
Does it not realise that Sri Lankan voters have repudiated
federalism? Does it believe that Boston Brahmins can impose whatever
solution they wish, regardless of the democratic will of the people of
Sri Lanka?
The Globe then goes on to say that ending the offensive would be
politically wise, because the Tigers, even if defeated militarily, are
likely to regroup and commit terrorist acts in Colombo - i.e., they
should be allowed to escape because, if they don’t escape, they will
commit terrorist acts. Even a fool - and Bostonians are not foolish -
would realise that, if they do escape, they will commit even more
outrageous terrorist acts.
Then the Globe claims it is nervous about Tamil pressures leading to
destabilisation in India.
Surely the Globe should realise by now that India is grown up enough
to look after its own safety, and if the Indian Government has made it
clear that Tiger terrorism must be destroyed, it is a bit much of the
Globe to want to intervene on their behalf and give the Tigers the new
lease of life that they were provided with nearly twenty years ago when
Sri Lanka lost its head and thought, as the Globe seems to do now, that
Tigers are really endearing pussy cats.
In short, when for once a Government is - as Time Magazine put it
clearly, whilst also urging moderation in seeking a political solution
and greater concern for human rights - succeeding in a struggle against
terror, it is outrageous that the Globe should seek to subvert this.
It is one thing to ask for justice for the Tamils - and also the
Muslims, because the Globe should not forget that one of the areas the
Tigers claimed as their own actually has more Muslims, and the Tigers
have actually sent Muslims away from some areas in the only known
instance of ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka. It is quite another, and
totally unacceptable, to promote the cause of terrorists. |