Time is ripe to count the dots

The Buddha had an enemy called Devadatta, Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus into the hands of the chief priests. In that sense the debacle President Mahinda Rajapaksa had to face during his recent visit to the UK on the invitation of the ‘Oxford Union’ was not extraordinary.

President’s resoluteness in vanquishing the most cold-blooded terrorist organization, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, from the Sri Lankan soil undoubtedly disconcerted certain Western countries, who even at the eleventh hour attempted to breathe life back in to the ailing terrorist outfit to offer refuge.

The rebuff from the Sri Lanka Government, in fact, appeared as a ‘slap in the face’ of some ‘big brothers’ who were misguided by a section of the Tamil Diaspora who had sought greener pastures in the West.

Temple of democracy

Some British politicians, who had to heavily depend on the ethnic minority vote, seized the opportunity when terrorist sympathizers pulled wool over Western eyes.

Selfishness on the part of Parliamentarians and motives behind securing a permanent stay in the UK by those who were hanging on knife edge situations in consolidating asylum status blended squarely to lubricate the LTTE propaganda machine to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka. In the main an accusing finger was directed at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London for being ‘inefficient’ during the recent fiasco.

Others called it a downright ‘breach of the law in England’ when loyal subjects of Her Majesty assembled to listen to a world leader who had been invited by the most prestigious seat of learning was denied by a minuscule group of protestors.

That was a clear cut, first-degree violation of human rights by denying the freedom of speech in the temple of democracy!

After all, President was an official invitee of the ‘Oxford Union’. Some reports from London stated that “at present there are several ‘ independent pocket student associations at Oxford’ set up by different ethnic groups linked to The Oxford Union to which late Messrs S W R D Bandaranike and Lalith Athulathmudali belonged.

These ‘pocket groups’ appear to organize different events, from musical shows to serious discourses by eminent personalities from their respective countries, periodically.

Oxford University

‘The Sri Lanka group’ at Oxford University is said to be “represented by sixteen Sinhala students, which in turn is divided into two separate sections! Twelve Tamil students have abstained from joining the Sri Lanka Group”. “Members of The Sri Lanka Group are not even committee members of the Parent OU. The recent event was organized by the Sri Lanka Group and its leader Dilan Fernando had invited President Rajapaksa for an oration,” London reports added.

A communique from the editor of a Sinhala newspaper in London further stated that to his knowledge Sri Lanka High Commission in London had advised the President about the impending chaotic situation that prevailed and urged the President not to proceed to the UK.

The SLFP UK branch too had beseeched the President ‘not to come’! However, President as indomitable as he is, with a clear conscience and not harbouring any guilt of any atrocities, apparently had taken the audacious decision to seize the golden opportunity to inform the world through this legendary seat of learning by performing an international public relations exercise to squash all the adverse publicity that has been doing the rounds about Sri Lanka.

Foreign dignitaries

There are few grey areas in this whole episode where embarrassment was brought upon the President. In the first place the so-called ‘pocket’ OU should have consulted the Parent Oxford Union and liaised with the Sri Lanka High Commission and made the symposium official to stop any lame excuses exploding as it has happened. With that as a back drop, the Sri Lanka High Commission on their part should have coordinated with the British Foreign Office that deals with diplomatic affairs to confirm President’s visit as ‘official’.

Whether these appropriate steps had been taken is yet to be investigated by the Sri Lanka administration and it becomes Foreign Ministry’s baby now.

On the part of the British, it is preposterous to suggest they were not aware of President’s presence in their country after deploying the Police at Heathrow airport at first.

Official or otherwise, Britain, as a host country, has a diplomatic obligation to receive foreign dignitaries by at least sending a representative from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and ensuring clear passage from the airport.

Here again it is dependent on the diplomatic role played by the Sri Lanka High Commission which could have stopped hundreds of sympathizers of LTTE, a proscribed terrorist organisation banned by the British themselves for years, to gather and disrupt the arrival terminal at Heathrow airport by waving terrorist flags.

Terrorist menace

After all, President Rajapaksa stands out today as the only world leader who has demonstrated to the world how to vanquish a 30-year-old parasitic terrorist menace under three years while the West is crawling still with their sophisticated armoury and computer thinking brains how to overcome such predicaments at the cost of ever increasing massacres and bloodshed in various destinations.

A critic from London put it bluntly: “Tamil refugees have nothing worthwhile to do here. A lot of them work in shops, Mc Donald’s, supermarkets and petrol stations. They have Tiger flags and T-shirts ever ready for this kind of manouvers. This kind of activity indeed is an outing for them. At beck and call they will be anywhere in thousands.

That’s the kind of training given to them by the ‘Tiger’ leadership over the years. Among them are hundreds of trained hard-core ‘Tigers’ migrated from Vanni”.

President’s encounter in London was a serious affair. Time has come to count the dots and deal severely, constitutionally and legally with any Sinhala traitors (if any) who let the cat out of the bag in London to ignite the ‘Tiger flame’ once again.

[email protected]