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Confronting false dichotomies - Part 5:
Fight against terror
 Keynote Address by Sri Lanka's Belgium,
Luxembourg and the EU Ambassador Ravinatha P. Aryasinha
Continued from yesterday
From a Sri Lankan perspective, it is unfortunate that European
Governments, some who have placed their diplomatic representatives at
boarding gates in my country to check visas of those boarding aircraft
to their countries, concerned of the possibility of LTTE cadres
surreptitiously slipping into their countries using forged documents, to
tell the Government of Sri Lanka that it should not complete militarily
defeating the LTTE terrorists, or permit the LTTE and its numerous front
organizations already operating in their countries to abuse their
systems.
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A cache of arms used by LTTE |
As for the LTTE and its front organizations, despite their imminent
defeat on the battlefield in Sri Lanka, it must be expected that they
will continue to mutate and metamorphose abroad and well networked and
trained as they are, in order to survive, members of the LTTE are likely
to engage in clandestine businesses or in criminal activities for other
terrorist organizations. Hence, failure to take urgent action to arrest
this trend in Europe at this stage, would not be in your self interest.
In her seminal book of 1984, 'The March of Folly; From Troy to
Vietnam', Barbara W. Tuchman, described 'folly', as 'pursuit of policy
contrary to self-interest', despite 'the availability of a recognized
and feasible alternatives'.
It is the Government of Sri Lanka's fervent hope that Europe will not
make the same mistake with respect to how it treats LTTE front
organizations, disregarding the growing body of evidence of the extent
to which these organizations have infected your body politic and have
the potential to further corrupt and frustrate your 'fight against
terror'.
I am hopeful that your deliberations will shed more light on how to
face the challenge posed by terrorist front organizations that have
undermined the fight against terrorism - for Sri Lanka, as it has for
many other countries of the world. (Concluded) |
