Military necessity to eradicate terrorism
Dr. LEVINS T.C. RAJARATNAM
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights is not limited in scope to
ensuring the observance of human rights by Governments alone.
The Declaration has a far wider purpose: the observance of human
rights by all governmental and non-governmental alike. Article 3 of the
Universal Declaration, which requires that everyone has the right to
life; and the provisions of article 30 of the Declaration prescribes
that:
“Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any
State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform
any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set
forth herein”.
An act of terrorism by a non-governmental entity against civilians is
surely one of the most heinous violations of the human rights of its
victims and, surely, a crime against humanity as well.
We know the horrific direct consequences of terrorism: the carnage;
the horror; the thousands of unsuspecting innocent lives lost or maimed,
the thousands of families then left bereaved; the countless personal
tragedies that terrorism leaves.
The horrors of Tamil Terrorism of the LTTE and other Tamil militants
or Terrorists some of whom are designed as Tamil Political Parties with
the label of Eelam working hand-in-hand together has devastated the
country and have cast a heavy burden on successive Governments and the
Nation including all of us and on humanity as a whole.
There are also the larger disruptions of national stability and order
as well: of the economy and the customary ways of life.
We remember the bombing of the Central Bank, the adjacent Buildings,
the Temple of the Tooth Relic and other Temples in Sri Lanka where
numerous people of all communities were killed, injured and blinded, the
numerous innocent civilians who were killed and each of us would have a
story to tell about the injuries sustained or the deaths of our loved
ones.
The assassination of President Premadasa, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv
Gandhi, Presidential Candidate Gamini Dissanayake, Cabinet Minister
Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and two of my relatives Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam and
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar are some of the few victims cited.
However, during the 30 years of Tamil Terrorism not one Tamil Terrorist
Leader was killed by the Terrorists.
This reveals that there was conspiracy between all the Eelam Militant
Groups who conveniently registered their organizations in the same name
of their militant Groups as Political Parties but recent history and
present observation reveals to us they never changed their attitudes.
They convinced those around them that they hated the LTTE and even
had suicide cadres to display attempted assassinations. All Tamil
Militants have terrorized their own people.
They never changed - They earned money and still are marketing the
ultimate objectives of Terrorism by slandering the Government and making
derogatory remarks about the Government. We will always be affected by
the memories of the damage caused by the Terrorists- we shall carry with
us for as long as we live.
The terrorism of the eleventh of September, in the USA gave rise to a
“coming-together” of the people of the great city of New York in the
finest traditions of humanity. We expect the same in the IDP areas for
international support to revive and resuscitate the morale of the people
affected by the war. So, instead of talking about the dead let us talk
of the living who are dying.
Let us get together and support them. The Government is doing
everything possible to help them. Let us hope that such a deep sense of
the “togetherness” of all of humanity at times of great crises will
continue to be pervasive.
Terrorism is, sadly, no stranger to Sri Lanka. We, in Sri Lanka know
terrorism, unfortunately, only too well. We have shown that we could
eradicate it but the process is not over. The Tamil Militant groups
would have to be banned. The term “Eelam” denotes a separate State.
I was pleased to see the Hindu Newspapers of 30th of May news item of
which states that Dayasiri Jayasekera a prominent Member of Parliament
in the Opposition and Lawyer has made a Statement that all Political
Parties with the tag “Eelam” should be banned.
Lakshman Kadirgamar is remembered to have said “A criminal
organization - whether involved in rebellion against a State or not -
must depend for its sustenance outside the law. For its massive
operations and massive weaponry, massive collections of funds are
continually required.
As funds available for criminal activities within a State, especially
a developing State, are inevitably small, and the monitoring of their
collection and disbursement relatively simple, fund collection for such
activities is carried out abroad - through international criminal
networks, of course - and also, as in all criminal enterprises, through
knowing or unknowing front organizations or other entities that now
proliferate in many forms, in many countries - often in the guise,
sadly, of charitable groups or groups ostensibly concerned with human
rights, ethnic cultural or social matters.....
The many disparate forces for international terrorism do not come
together in one monolithic whole. They are variously interconnected in
numerous ways and their international networks are extensive.
They are mutually supportive and communicate through the global
underworld of crime when special missions are afoot. If international
terrorism is to be ever removed from our midst, we must begin with the
recognition that international terrorism is a form of global
criminality.
We must not let ourselves be deceived by the artfully crafted cloaks
of false pretensions. It is the method of terrorism as in the murder of
innocent civilians and the defiance of the sanctity of life - that
defines terrorism.”
We see it in a militant group in the business of shipping and engaged
airline flights to Jaffna with an absolutely frightening record of
criminal activities and now seeking support to contest the municipal
council election in the North having a fear of losing the elections
because of their criminal activities of barbarism, abductions and
extortions they are conveniently contemplating on leaning towards the
Ruling Party to further their criminal activities with ease. All these
perhaps can be masked within social activities.
The Ruling Party should not risk entertaining these criminals who
have links with the LTTE. They have links overseas to the LTTE, a
careful internet research would reveal the conspiracies.
We should therefore not be surprised that allegations of civilian
casualty in the present times generates from certain corporate interests
involved in international trade and terrorism.
One of the magnificent achievements of the UN, in the last half
century, has been the transformation that has taken place in global
opinion on the relationship that should obtain between the governing and
the governed, between the government and the citizen.
It was on the basis of the moral authority of the General Assembly’s
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the determined endeavours of
the Commission on Human Rights, that this transformation was achieved.
The dignity of the individual has now, largely as a result of United
Nations leadership in the field of human rights, been placed, as it
should be, amongst the primary priorities of national and international
attention.
The duly elected Executive President of the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the Commander-
in-Chief of the Armed Forces took a patriotic and bold decision as he is
morally and legally bound to protect his subjects from all forms of
terror.
Military Intervention was a necessity in the interests of the Nation.
It is in this connection that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has rightly
liberated the Tamil people who have been in bondage in the North.
The Exodus was like Moses giving freedom to the Jews from Egypt. But
the stunning difference is that the Tamil people were liberated by
President Rajapaksa, whilst the international community has from time to
time been misled by those marketing terrorism for their own corporate
interests.
No country has any moral or legal right to interfere or intervene in
the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has
exercised his jurisdiction by protecting the territorial integrity of
Sri Lanka and eradicating terrorism in Sri Lanka. The process is not
over, the President has to save the Nation from all the Tamil
Terrorists.
The doctrine is most often used in a sense which requires a balance
between the need to achieve a military victory and the needs of
humanity.
In this sense, necessity has been viewed as a limitation to unbridled
barbarity.
To be continued |