Exposing the true face of terror

The international community has to be constantly reminded about the LTTE's ruthlessness and what it cost Sri Lanka. This is necessitated by the barrage of anti-Lanka propaganda being spewed by the enemies of Sri Lanka worldwide, including, of course, the Tiger rump and those forces of subversion which have been voraciously gnawing away at this country's best interests over the years.

The state has marked its proactive engagement in this all-important task by launching the DVD titled 'RUTHLESS - LTTE's Final Crimes Against Humanity', under the aegis of the Media Centre for National Security, headed by its Director General Lakshman Hulugalle, and it is hoped that every sinew and nerve would be exerted by the authorities to take the content and the message in this DVD far and wide.

This is basically a battle for the hearts and minds of the world and it is to the extent to which the state succeeds in this offensive that those sections of the world which are against Sri Lanka would know the error of their ways. Accordingly, putting the record straight as regards the atrocities of the LTTE and the unconscionable crimes committed by it for the sake of an unrealizable abstract idea, is a task of the first magnitude and is something which cannot be procrastinated, come what may.

We hardly need point out that the backdrop to this latest expose by the state of LTTE savagery are the continuing efforts by Sri Lanka's critics abroad and locally to pillory this country on nebulous allegations, in the 'Councils of the World.' Their seeming case is based mainly on the Darusman Report and it should be considered a bounden duty by the Sri Lankan state and its allies to expose the Report as a monumental falsehood which has no basis in reality.

In the manner in which the infamous Channel 4 video footage was rubbished by Sri Lanka's defense authorities, all unfounded allegations that are being brought against this country must be systematically demolished and very vigorously too. Putting the record straight on the Tigers is part of this process and we suggest that no metropolis of particularly the West be excluded from this awareness-raising exercise.

While doing so, care must also be taken to indicate to the country's critics the blatant double standards being used by them in their appraisals of the state of Sri Lanka and the LTTE. The pronouncements of Deputy Minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle which we highlighted on our front page yesterday, on the assassination of her husband, former Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, by the LTTE, are most important in this respect.

While, Sri Lanka's critics swoop on any opportunity to defame her in the context of issues arising from the closing stages of the conflict in particular, they are mutely silent on LTTE atrocities.

The senseless killing of her husband was a case in point. This was the principal point made by Ms. Fernandopulle and we hope her comments would lead to some soul-searching on the part of Sri Lanka's critics.

The point is being brazenly ignored by Sri Lanka's critics that the LTTE was steeped in brutality. Tens of thousands of innocent lives were taken by the LTTE to mainly feed the megalomaniacal conceit of the Tiger leadership. Only a peek needs to be taken into the history of social strife in this country over the past 30 years to realize the truth of this proposition. Grievances in some quarters were only a cover for ineffable brutality and mindless violence.

Those sections unleashing criticisms of the harshest kind against Sri Lanka must face up to these realities. No worthy cause would be served by them by unconscionably using double standards in assessing the conduct of any party to the conflict. Criminality is usually universally condemned and the civilized world thinks it incumbent on itself to bring mass murderers in particular to justice.

If so, the LTTE must be seen for what it is and condemned. Those sections of the Western world which lay claim to civilized living are duty bound to disassociate themselves completely from the Tigers and take up the cause of the Lankan state which symbolizes law and order. Accordingly, Sri Lanka must be given ample space to grow and prosper.