People’s Nobel Prize for President Rajapaksa

RANJITH SOYSA Australia

This year’s Nobel peace prize winner, US President, Barack Obama in accepting the award created history when he justified the US war surge in Afghanistan. In fact in doing so he burrowed a term from his predecessor George Bush referring to the other side as ‘evil forces’. The NGOs, Centers for Peace, International Conflict Resolutionists who abhor war when a country like Sri Lanka is confronted with ruthless terror are now compelled to change their policies taking a cue from the Nobel Peace Foundation to re write their future programs for international intervention, R2P ect. in dictating to sovereign States.

While Obama celebrates his achievements (or non achievements) in Oslo, the Sri Lankan people will recollect how the West not only ignored the significance of Sri Lanka’s historic victory over the ‘most ruthless terror organization in the world’ but also how they attempted to mar the country’s image at international fora. Such attempts include the threats to, withdraw concessions such as the GSP + and to influence the decisions of International monitory organizations.

It is indeed ironic that many of these countries still allow LTTE fronts to function, carry on Lanka bashing propaganda and collect funds to fight the elected government in Sri Lanka. This is in contrast to Obama’s definition of a ‘Just war’. The west, should re-evaluate and re-examine their own policy towards the LTTE rather than attempting to bully Sri Lanka on its ‘just war’ against terror, in which the Sri Lankan government has little choice.

The nationalist forces in Sri Lanka lead by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, able Defense Secretary Gotabhaya and members of the defence forces should not lose heart for not winning the Nobel Peace prise because they have won the hearts and minds of the Sri Lankan people by bringing genuine peace to their country and inspiration to countless others in this world who are engaged in fighting terrorism.

The truth is, with the type of judgments taken by the Nobel Peace Foundation the Nobel Peace price in increasingly becoming an instrument of derision rather than a one that inspires genuine world peace. President Rajapaksa should count himself in the company of Mahathma Gandhi, who was another one of those worthy winners, overlooked by the Nobel Peace Foundation, for inexplicable reasons.