The trends of Terrorism ...

By. Ananth Palakidnar

(October,26,Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It was soon after the conclusion of the International conference on countering terrorism at the BMICH on October 20, a twenty one member team of LTTE’s suicide cadres had attacked the Anuradhapura Air Force base causing extensive damage to men and machines at the base.

The confab on overcoming the menace of terrorism was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the participation of globally renowned experts on handling the issues with regard to terrorism.

The speakers at the conference analysed in details on the issues pertaining to terrorism and one of the key speakers was Gen. Mallik, the retired Chief of the Indian Army.

It was when the Indian Army was in the Lankan soil between 1987 to 1989 to implement the Indo-Lanka accord, Gen. Mallik would have been one of the senior higher level officers in the Indian Army.

The senior officials of the Indian Army who rose to the position as its commanders since 1989, would have definitely had the experience of encountering the LTTE in the North and East regions of Sri Lanka.

Several veterans who served in the Indian Army during the country’s wars with China and Pakistan was in Sri Lanka when the IPKF was fighting the LTTE . The Chief of the Indian Army was General Krishnaswamy Sundarji, a Tamil from South India when the IPKF arrived in Sri Lanka.

It was Gen .Sundarji who worked out the plans for the `Operation Blue Star’ which was carried out successfully to flush out the Sikh militants from the ‘Golden Temple’ in Punjab in the early eighties.

The late Indian Premier Indira Gandhi who gave her blessings for ‘Operation Blue Star’ was later assassinated by her Sikh body guards. The Chief of the Indian Army during the Golden Temple military offensive , General. A. S. Waidya was also assassinated a few years later by the Sikh militants .However Gen Sudarji, survived the attempts on his life by the Sikh militants and went on to challenge the LTTE during his tenure as the Chief of the Indian Army.

Therefore, Gen .Malik , who was one of the Indian Army Chiefs after Gen. Sundarji categorically said the military approach with regard to the Lankan ethnic crisis would not provide any constructive settlement and only through political means the crisis could be ended.

Though India successfully ended the Sikh crisis and the militancy in Assam politically, the Kashmir issue still remains a headache to the country.

Though the speakers at the BMICH confab condemned the atrocities of the LTTE, they held the views unanimously that the conflicts that emerge within a country should be addressed politically.

A year ago the former Irish Republican Army stalwart Martin Mc Guiness , was in Colombo. In an exclusive interview with the Daily News he spoke in detail on the IRA issue and went on to explain why the outfit decided to give up militancy and entered the political mainstream.

Martin Mc Guiness said that the IRA was carrying on its arms struggle with the British Government for a long period. However neither the British Govt nor the IRA rebels could not settle the crisis through engaging each other militarily. The IRA was responsible for several devastating attacks in the United Kingdom .One of their attacks even killed Lord Mountbatten who was a prominent figure among the British Royals and was also the last Vice Roy of India .

When the IRA launched its attacks against the British, they were rated as one of the worst terrorists in the world. The attempts that were carried out to bring the IRA and the British leaders to the negotiating table had failed in several occasions.

However the determination of the British government in finding a political solution to the IRA crisis and the bi- partisan approach of the British leaders towards the IRA issue helped in a big way in finding a political settlement to the crisis.

In 1998, there were turning points and later the determination of both sides in ironing out their differences paid the dividends.

Martin Mc Guiness said that IRA could have continued with its arms struggle , but it realised that the struggle would only lead to destruction and not take any where in finding a political solution.

The IRA crisis in UK is now settled and the people in the British main land and in North Ireland live peacefully without any fear of clashes or attacks.It is unfortunate that the attempts carried out in settling the Lankan crisis so far have failed without any fruitful outcome.

The LTTE outfit which is considered one of the most deadliest militant organisations in the world now possess its air wing and with this new addition the Lankan Security Forces are challenged not only on the land and sea but even in the air.

The attack that was carried out at the Anuradhapura air base in the wee hours on Sunday by the LTTE has indicated that the outfit was likely to launch further attacks of this nature in the future.

The government has also announced that it would not give in for the LTTE and continue with its efforts in weakening the organisation.

Therefore, as both sides determined to continue with their warfare ,it is high time to remember the IRA veteran’s views on meaningless arms struggle.As the Ceasefire Agreement is in place, the warring sides should abide by it and keep away themselves in going for further destructions.

Courtesy: Colombo based weekly “ The Friday”