“A lawful Government of a country teaming up with terrorists to defeat other terrorists who pose an immediate threat to that country is nothing new. The best example that comes to mind is the United States of America and Great Britain teaming up with the arch terrorist Josef Stalin to defeat another arch terrorist Adolf Hitler after those two terrorists who were once allies became enemies during the 2nd World War.”_______________________________
by S.L.Gunasekara
(April 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In as rare a show of unanimity as one could dream of finding in that quagmire called “Politics” in Sri Lanka, practically all the parties opposed to the present Government [that is `opposed’ at this moment – for who knows what they will be in the next moment !!] including the SLMC, its junior partner [at this moment] the UNP, and the JVP have, with one voice called for the immediate disarming of the Pillaiyan Group before the Eastern Provincial Council Elections. Such is the `seriousness’ they attach to this cry that the JVP has decided to take disciplinary action against its Parliamentary Group Leader Wimal Weerawansa for having expressed a different and more logical view.
What a pity it is that there was no such unanimous call for the disarming of the LTTE – for if there had been such a call, the current military campaign against the LTTE would have had the backing of all parties in Parliament. Such, however, was not to be, for `reason’ and `party politics’ are mutually allergic to each other.
Far from calling for the disarming of the LTTE, the then UNP Government of which Ranil Wickremesinghe was 3rd in command actually armed the LTTE in 1989-90; while the UNP Government of which Ranil Wickremesinghe was in command in 2002 entered into a Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE in terms of which he permitted the LTTE to continue to bear arms without let or hindrance from that `Government’ while causing the armed Tamil Groups which were assisting the Government to defend the country against the LTTE to disarm – i.e. he did the unthinkable by disarming our allies while allowing our enemy to continue to remain armed !!!
The fact of the LTTE carrying arms during Provincial council, Parliamentary and Presidential Elections when voters came from `cleared’ as well as `uncleared’ areas; and/or the fact of the LTTE intimidating voters to secure a victory for the so called `Tamil National Alliance’ in the Northern Province, going even to the extent of preventing TULF leader V Anandasangari from casting his vote at the Parliamentary Elections of 2004 did not cause the current junior partner of the SLMC, the UNP or the UNP’s current senior partner, the SLMC to call for the disarming of the LTTE.
The JVP alone of these parties has steadfastly called for the disarming of the LTTE – at least after the then UNP Government posed a threat to all but one member of the murderous leadership of that Party by a series of `extra-judicial executions’ carried out with manifest `impunity’, much to the relief of all peace-loving citizens of our land in 1989-90. Today, however, even the JVP calls for the immediate disarming of the Pillaiyan Group much to the delight of the LTTE.
The Pillaiyan Group [formerly termed the Karuna Group] were terrorists of the LTTE : it is they, who under the leadership of Prabhakaran and his lieutenant Karuna, carried out some of the most gruesome acts of terrorism we have had the misfortune to encounter. The credit’ for the mass murders of over 600 unarmed police officers who had surrendered on the orders of the pusillanimous UNP Government on 11.6.1990, the mass murders of 140 Muslims praying at their Mosques in Kaththankudy on 3.8.1990 and 127 in their beds in Eravur on 10.8.90, the mass murders of 57 Sinhalese [including infants in arms] at Gonagala on 19.9.99 and 11 at Inginiyagala on 2.6.99 among countless other feats of loathsome savagery must go to this Group.
The Pillaiyan Group were terrorists and continue to be terrorists: killing is a way of life to them. They are now with the Government only because their then leader Karuna fell out with Prabhakaran – their parting company with Prabhakaran did not transform them into a group of angelic apostles of peace.
The parting of ways between the Pillaiyan Group and Prabhakaran was a blessing for our country – for with that parting, the Pillaiyan Group stopped fighting our forces; stopped killing Sinhalese because they were Sinhalese; stopped killing Muslims because they were Muslims; stopped killing Tamils because they opposed or didn’t obey the LTTE and began fighting the LTTE and killing Tamils who supported or obeyed the LTTE or were connected to the LTTE.
There can be little doubt that the very fact of the Pillaiyan Group parting company with the LTTE and turning their guns on the LTTE contributed in no small measure to the liberation of the East from the LTTE.
A lawful Government of a country teaming up with terrorists to defeat other terrorists who pose an immediate threat to that country is nothing new. The best example that comes to mind is the United States of America and Great Britain teaming up with the arch terrorist Josef Stalin to defeat another arch terrorist Adolf Hitler after those two terrorists who were once allies became enemies during the 2nd World War.
However, nothing said above is reason for placing the Pillaiyan Group above the law or permitting them to bear arms indefinitely. The Rule of Law demands that only the legitimate Armed Forces and Police of the Republic should bear arms. The question, therefore is not `whether’ but `when’ the Pillaiyan Group should be disarmed.
The disarming of the Pillaiyan Group not being a mere theoretical or academic exercise, but one that would have to be effected by our already hard pressed Armed Forces, practical considerations must necessarily be taken into account.
It would be plain stupidity to even think that the Pillaiyan Group would meekly surrender their arms and disarm at request. To a terrorist who lives by his arms, parting with them would be more painful than losing a limb. Thus, disarming the Pillaiyan Group is a task that would have to be accomplished forcibly – by military action. Clearly, if the Government is to seek to disarm the Pillaiyan Group now, while the LTTE is still armed and a fighting force to be reckoned with, not only will our Forces lose the support of the Pillaiyan Group in the battles they fight on our behalf with the LTTE, but would necessarily have to fight not one set of terrorists but two: that would thus be an imbecilic exercise from which only the LTTE would stand to gain.
Despite what has been stated above, there is one matter on which the Government must draw the line and draw it here and now. The kidnapping of children [called `child conscription’ by some] whether by the LTTE or the Pillaiyan Group must be stopped forthwith, whatever the cost of doing so may be. This is a task for which all parties including the Tamil National Alliance, and the `Human Rights Businessmen’ who call themselves “Peace Activists” must co-operate with the Government and act as one whatever the cost may be.
There is no purpose in extolling the value of children and saying that children are the wealth of the Nation if each `side’ turns a blind eye to offences against children when they are committed by their respective allies or those with whom they sympathize.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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