LTTE has no right of place amongst Tamil people

The UN, World Leaders & Human Rights Groups forget that Tamil civilians are FLEEING LTTE CONTROL! So far close upon 40,000 civilians have FLED to Government controlled areas. “FLEEING” Tamil Civilians clearly signals to the world that the LTTE has no right of place amongst the Tamil people or Sri Lankan society.

Footage of these innocent men, women & children braving days of hardship, minus food & holding whatever possessions they could call their own were accepted with warmth by Sri Lanka’s armed forces – no one can deny the manner in which we viewed army, navy & air force personnel taking these people to safety, feeding & comforting them. What is strange is that very little appreciation was given to these armed force personnel by human rights groups who choose instead to harp upon an “unknown” & unverified number of civilians supposedly still in LTTE “territory”.

There is much significance in the use of the word “FLEE”. It connotes the misery of suffering by these Tamil people all these years, most of whom have had no escape from tiger territory, most of whom have had to sacrifice their children for suicide missions, children denied the right to life, right to education & right to live in peace. That these people have FLED the tiger areas reveal how much of agony they have suffered & now in IDP camps, however much foreign human rights groups try to diminish the manner in which they are being kept, the set of ambassadors that visited these sights saw for themselves how happy the children were & how free they were to even say that they wanted to grow up & study & even to complain that they had only ONE BOOK – could this child even say this much fearlessly in tiger territory? – instead of appreciating what the Government has done the human rights groups & even some UN representatives are claiming that these people have no right of movement. These people don’t even have Sri Lanka’s road map, they have been prisoners in their own country, they haven’t even been looked after by the “caring” Tamil Diaspora or even Colombo based Tamils – can these human rights group suggest where these people desire to go??? Are they to just wonder of like gypsies & who is to look after their welfare! The LTTE says it is not keeping civilians …then changes their stand realizing that the presence of “civilians” serves to allow arguments to delay army advances. It also allows know-it-all NGOs/INGOs etc to give exaggerated versions of civilian figures which inadvertently ensures stocks of food & other essentials are sent to these uncleared areas – naturally this translates to a prolonged battle & tigers having a steady flow of free food coming their way.

Then there are calls to allow humanitarian workers to go & look into the “real” state of affairs. In the context of UN staff members also being kept by LTTE how bizarre it would be to send further “humanitarian” workers with food & medical supplies & what affirmation would they have of coming back? Then there is the argument that independent verification is not possible since no media is allowed – when media channels are downright BIASED in their reporting can there be INDEPENDENT verification at all – a perfect example was the manner that channels like CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC were showing footage of banned LTTE front organizations which were outdated to project events happening in the present – is this not MISLEADING global viewers who are clueless about what is happening in Sri Lanka? Even when the LTTE suicide woman posing as a Tamil civilian blew herself up killing unarmed soldiers & Tamil civilians including Tamil children these international media outlets were careful not to show the dead Tamil child being carried by the army soldier. Given that “humanitarian” workers or media representatives are allowed to enter LTTE territory what if they are taken hostage will not the fault again bounce back to the Government for not taking care of their safety & then it will once again mean that a forced release option has to be taken. Can the international community vouch for the word of the LTTE? – If they can why not all of the civilians were held in their territory not released ……it is clear that the LTTE’s calculations have misfired & they are cornered tigers wondering what to do next.

If there are some who feel that the LTTE has financially assisted certain groups of people it may not surprise us when voices arise calling for “ceasefires”, using civilians as excuse to buy time & “peace talks” it is these last ditch attempts that should arouse our curiosity further & keep us alert to when the 45sq.km is finally liberated to see how many civilians there are. From this will emerge the charade, the duplicity & the conniving of these people who should have no place of employment as “humanitarian” workers for they have only looked after their welfare & their lifestyle – the “civilians” are just a tool for the continuance of their employment in countries like Sri Lanka where their stay is no short of a luxury holiday to which risk allowances, perks, privileges are added by virtue of their reporting of the dangers of serving in Sri Lanka.

It must be repeatedly told that up until the Government ordered all NGOs/INGOs to relocate from LTTE defacto capital Kilinochchi to Vavuniya, other than the LTTE only UN, INGOs & NGOs were located amongst the Tamil people & the LTTE in the North & it was their authoritative figures of 200,000 to 400,000 civilians that the Government accepted as good enough grounds to send food items, fuel, medicines etc for disbursement to displaced people. Thousands of metric tons of food have been sent through 2008 to date, the Government has had to hire ships to send food items & essentials to these areas & clearance at port has also been free – all costs born by the Government with 15-20% cost only handled by the World Food Program for their contribution to supplies. The version that is often portrayed by hostile media is to continuously depict that the WFP & ICRC alone carry out the humanitarian exercise in Sri Lanka. A little effort to find out exactly how much the Government has been spending to this exercise will reveal the true version.

We now come to the question of the fate of these Tamil civilians – these civilians the figures of which have been overestimated by NGOs/INGOs for reasons they may like to explain though we can assume why having seen sufficient evidence of their abuse of stay in Sri Lanka, their abuse of the “humanitarian” mandate given to them & their abuse of Sri Lanka’s hospitality reveal exactly how far members of these organizations have worked in contrivance of their actual duty. When sophisticated bunkers are built – we immediately wonder where have the cement, tiles, ACs, etc come from & more importantly how were these bunkers dug – heavy machinery was needed & the only heavy machinery taken were by NGOs/INGOs for “development” work in the North. The vast numbers of bunkers could not have been built without the knowledge of the staff of these NGOs/INGOs & certainly the machinery was not borrowed during the night & returned by daybreak! Then we have the LTTE runways, the LTTE offices, the LTTE training camps etc – all these could not have escaped the attention of UN/INGO/NGO workers & when the LTTE is declared a terror outfit by their very Governments does it not require them to at least inform the authorities of LTTE activities. Informing a legitimate Government of a terrorist group & its activities should not equate to being PARTIAL – since these NGOs/INGOs/UN enjoy referring to themselves as IMPARTIAL & UNBIASED. It must also be mentioned that when the UN has a dossier compiled on LTTE’s child soldiers including documented films – surely some of these LTTE soldier children would have been seen by these UN/INGO/NGO staff members, if so was there any report done & it would be interesting to read its contents. As ambassadors themselves, the staff of these “humanitarian” organizations are expected to not silently watch when their principle offices have given clear signals that they are against CHILD SOLDIERS – unless this too is just something to be put on paper & not to be taken seriously. This is precisely the context that makes us wonder whether the visit of Sir John Holmes was worthwhile at all. He leaves Sri Lanka a pleased man, happy with the Government’s efforts & says so in a press statement. While he was in Sri Lanka the civilians crossing over to Sri Lanka would have been close upon 35,000 & Government estimates of civilians trapped was declared to be less than 100,000 but continuously the UN is seen to issue statements of civilian figures still ranging from 200,000 to 250,000. Should we then wonder what Holmes went & conveyed or whether the UN is also having a separate agenda for Sri Lanka?

The importance at this juncture is to while safeguarding whatever “unknown” number of civilians there are amidst the shrinking areas the LTTE are hiding in the Government is allowed to briskly conclude the operation. Let the military be appreciated for taking over 15,000 sq.km that was once boldly called “LTTE areas” – were the civilian casualties anywhere near the over 1300 killed by Israel during a few days of stampeding into Palestinian territory while the world watched in silence & the UN was spending more time on coming to a common agreement on the statement to be issued!

What is important at this juncture is that Sri Lanka has had over 25 years of terrorism & this terrorism has served the selfish desires of a handful of people including Governments. India is likely to face the nemesis of its role for Tamil Nadu has suddenly fanning Tamil nationalist thought…we shall let India handle “separatism” as it has handled Kashmir….soon India will be faced with problems from two corners.

Sri Lanka has shown the world the merits of calling a spade a spade – the number of conflicts taking place the world over is rising which reveals the silent role of arms trade & the beneficiary Governments most of whom belong to the UN Security Council. In three years despite the odds, Sri Lanka has broken the military capability of the LTTE the worlds’ most brutal terror organization – many desirous of LTTE continuity wish to have it running as a guerilla force but the future of this lies with the Tamil people – now that they have seen what the LTTE has denied them all these years …it is likely that the LTTE will fear the people more than Sri Lanka’s military!

Sri Lanka’s military certainly deserves a place in the history books.

* Shenali Waduge is an independent writer. She can be reached at shenaliwaduge@gmail.com