Let’s all observe two minutes of silence today...
Twenty four years ago, ie February 22, 1987, around 3.00 pm, I got a
call from a batchmate at Peradeniya. Prabath Sahabandu, now the editor
of The Island newspaper, mentioned a name and followed it with two
words: Rohana gange giya (Rohana went down the river, meaning that he
had drowned).
Rohana Kalyanaratne was my roommate. For 13 years since that
sorrowful day, I sent my thoughts back to that time, that moment and
that beautiful man. Then came February 22, 2001 and finally I was
unburdened of that lingering sense of loss. The weight of that death was
erased by the lightness of a life, my daughter Mithsandi. She’ll be 10
as you read this and for 10 years I’ve remembered Rohana, not with
sadness but with a smile. I can’t help it and I am not apologetic about
it either. Life is like that.
Little girl
The February 22 was then about death and later about life. But life
is cunning. It gives, it takes. For six years, ie from 2002 to 2007 a
certain blackness cut through birthday cake and candles, voices singing
‘Happy birthday’ and the toy-joy time of a little girl. I don’t know if
others noticed, but this other darkness denied me the privilege of full
celebration. That blackness was initialled. CFA. ‘Ceasefire Agreement’
between the then Government of Sri Lanka and the world’s most ruthless
terrorist organization, the LTTE.
There were some who cheered, some who feared. Among those who
cheered, some genuinely believed that a respite from the fighting would
be good (no dispute there of course) and moreover it would create a
platform for discussions on core issues. Such people were clearly
myopic. The wording of the CFA showed intellectual sloth and complicity
in the LTTE’s designs with respect to the Sri Lankan State.
Ceasefire Agreement
It also indicated a manifest naivete about the LTTE. That
organization always looked at negotiations and ceasefires through a
strictly military lens and anyone who had even the most basic
familiarity with their history would have known from Day One that the
Ceasefire Agreement was doomed. And yet the CFA was treated like some
holy cow issued from some kind of immaculate conception, so sacred that
journalists and commentators were asked not to touch the precious little
angel and those who dared desecrate with comment or objection were
called ‘war mongers’ and ‘racists’ (usually with the tag ‘Sinhala-Buddhist’).
February 22, 2002 was a landmark in that it implied that the Sri
Lankan Government had acknowledged the following: a) the LTTE is the
sole-representative of the Tamil people, b) the LTTE deserved and got
parity of status vis-a-vis the Sri Lankan Government, c) the conceding
of territories seized, d) violence is a legitimate means of securing
political gains and e) a willingness to let a pro-LTTE entity (Norway)
to stand as Chief Arbiter in processes related to the CFA. The
inevitable happened. The LTTE used the CFA to a) re-arm, b) recuperate
from the heavy losses suffered at the hands of the Army’s ‘deep
penetration’ units, c) recruit (thousands of children were forcibly
recruited during the time the CFA was in operation), d) eliminate
political irritants, e) assassinate key members of the Army’s
intelligence units, f) expand operations to areas hitherto inaccessible.
International community
The Government, not enjoying the privileges that a
law-unto-themselves terrorist outfit could benefit from, was essentially
hand-tied during this time. Happily so, one might add, given the kind of
statements we heard from Ranil Wickremesinghe and his principal
confidantes/advisors at the time.
It was doomed to end with a bang and this is exactly what happened.
The LTTE upped the ante as expected and when it felt confident to
unleash another round of violence. That ill-conceived and poorly worded
piece of paper quickly lost relevance except for LTTE-friendly sections
of the international community to wave at the Sri Lankan Government like
a yellow or red card.
On January 8, 2008, it was proclaimed dead. I remember helping author
a book on the CFA around that time, titled ‘It is customary to bury the
dead’.
This is the fourth February 22nd since the CFA was abrogated. Much
violence and dispossession could have been avoided if successive
governments were not hoodwinked into believing the tall tales of rabidly
anti-Sinhala, anti-Buddhist and guardedly pro-LTTE elements masquerading
as academics, political analysts and sundry pundits and instead listened
to the likes of Dr Nalin De Silva, who argued that the LTTE needed to be
militarily engaged and that victory was not impossible. ‘It is customary
to bury the dead’ contains useful information relevant to the CFA, how
it came about, its principal backers, the assumptions it was based on
and how it gradually slipped into full-scale arms-clash courtesy the
LTTE.
Period of terror
The CFA must be remembered for it is a classic example of how not to
deal with intransigent thugs.
On February 22, 1988 I wrote a few lines for my friend. This was as
the country was quickly moving towards the UNP-JVP bheeshanaya (period
of terror).
One more victorious year
stamped on the pages of their history,
turbulent rivers flow through ours....
.... (with) this era at an end,
there is little to tell.
just the subdued rain on fallen leaves
and silent beads of sweat,
and hope buried in the past.
Twenty three years later I would tell him that the skies are not
exactly blue all day and full of stars at night. I would say that there
are clouds but they are not all dark and foreboding. I would tell him
that part of the reason is something beautiful that came into my life
exactly 14 years after her exit.
I would say ‘that’s not the only reason, brother.’ And I would say
all this with a smile that does not indicate absence of sorrow. Life is
never clear-cut and neither is death.
I will spend two minutes in complete silence. That’s personal. I will
remain silent for two additional minutes. That’s collective. You can
join if you like.
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