Delhi stands firm, Brits given a lesson in diplomacy

President Mahinda Rajapaksa
at the ceremonial launch of ‘2009 - Year of English and Information Technology at the Presidential Secretariat on February 13

“The declaration of the Year of English and IT today is thus a benchmark which coincides with the end of terrorism and the clearing of the political space for the expression of the resolve of the Sri Lankan people to march together as one proud people towards a future of peace and prosperity. In the global environment of today, English and IT are two essential tools for the achievement of our goal. Marking the beginning of 2009 as a point of reference, the national initiative on English and IT will expand under my direction through a diversity of programs and activities.”

If February 1948 is remembered as the year of Independence from British colonial rule that covered the entire island, February 2009 will be remembered for achievements of even greater consequence.

The 61st anniversary of Independence was celebrated when the country was definitely coming out of the grip of terrorism, with the last pocket of the LTTE on the verge of being overrun, and as this is being written the LTTE’s hold over land is shrinking to less than 100 sq km in the north east of the island.

FREEDOM

For those who want to say that the freedom we gained, or were given, in February 1948, was valued little because it came with no bloodshed or mass movement, which is not exactly the case, the defeat of terrorism today has seen enough and more blood being shed in the cause of freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity, which makes this year a true landmark in the history of Sri Lanka.

February 13, 2009 saw an interesting and most propitious confluence of events. It followed the day when Sri Lanka told the United Kingdom, that it had better remember we were no more a colony in the British Empire, in turning down the move by Prime Minister Gordon Brown to appoint a special envoy in Brown’s hunt for a ceasefire in the North, in sync with the LTTE that is pushing so hard for it.

DIPLOMATIC PRACTICE

On February 12, the Cabinet of Ministers rejected this move noting that neither proper procedure nor consultations had been undertaken by the British Government prior to the said appointment; which are time honoured traditions in diplomatic practice.

It was obviously necessary to teach our former colonial master that not only were we not a colony anymore, but also that they needed tutoring in diplomacy.

The day after, with the declaration of 2009 as the Year of English and IT, we gave the clear message of being a country keeping with modern reality in accepting the need for English as a Life Skill, more than a language of fashion or class.

Freeing ourselves from the tug of colony was the emphatic decision to follow the Indian path for the spread of both English and IT, in the country; beckoning to future when English will certainly be the most widely spoken language in the world, and the UK, or what I left of it, being a place that also speaks another version of it.

So February 2009 saw terrorism being decisively defeated, freedom reborn, old colonizers reminded we were free, and we did take a major stride to the future with a commitment to English and IT in the life skills of the rural people.

February 2009 is also a time of great discovery. The territory coming under government control has led to the discovery of a massive fraud that INGOs, NGOs and various international organizations have been carrying out in the country, under the guise of welfare aid for the people of the North and East.

The more the LTTE was pushed down, the more one saw that all those millions disbursed in tiger land through nearly a decade, had produced nothing for the welfare of the people.

There were no schools, base hospitals or health centres, playgrounds or community centres.

There were a few shacks, and a whole lot of sign boards of various development and welfare projects, being claimed by the advancing tide of the jungle.

Of “development” there was plenty in the form of bunkers for which concrete had been lavishly poured, as well as the mansions of the LTTE leaders and their luxury vehicles.

It is now evident why these organizations are making such a massive effort to call for a ceasefire in the fight where the LTTE faces its nemesis...using every international organization and every lie possible in the arsenal of the false agents of peace.

Their fraud has been discovered, and very soon they will be answerable to the people of Sri Lanka, and also face the wrath of people in their own countries, duped into the belief that all those collections were for the “innocent, suffering Tamil Civilians” who were under the jackboot of majoritarian Sinhala forces.

This is why the “international community” kept on repeating the false figure of more than 200,000 civilians trapped in the Mullaitivu area when the LTTE was on the run, ably supported by the agents of the pro-LTTE diaspora in the international news services.

There was hardly a mention of the government’s repeated statements that the figure at most was closer to 120,000, and it was 120,000 too many civilians to suffer.

Although dealing with a tragic situation here, one recalls, what the late Sir John Kotelawala once said about foreign experts: “They come here to find out, and get out before they are found out”.

It is the latter part of the comment that applies to the do-gooders be they the phony SoS types from abroad or our own Peace Council.

They are now being found out, and just as much as the LTTE needs the lifeline of a ceasefire, they too need the same of opportunity to cook the books or make the false journal entries to fool local investigators closing in and foreign auditors, too.

DISCOVERY

There was also another important discovery, especially for those eagerly awaiting Indian intervention to help the LTTE with a ceasefire.

It was Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement last Wednesday, that: “The LTTE has done much damage to Tamil community, it should release all civilians and lay down arms for the interest of Tamil community,” which was much to the chagrin of the Tamil Nadu lawyers who have lost all respect for the law.

He said: “the LTTE would best serve the interest of the Tamils by immediately releasing all civilians and laying down arms,” adding that India is ready to facilitate evacuation of civilians from the area of conflict, working with the government of Sri Lanka and the International Red Cross.

There are bound to be more interesting discoveries, as the true condition of the IDPs under government shelter comes to light, and there is more known of how cruel the LTTE is in its treatment of the Tamil people as the pawns in its desperate moves to checkmate Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Sri Lankan armed forces.