“It is now apparent that the last remaining weapons of the Tigers are going to be bunds, poison gas and, of course, Tamil Nadu politicians. None of these seems to have had a strategic impact in halting the advance of the forces, though it may have delayed the advance for a while. Reports indicate that the forces are well prepared.”
(October 22, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Human rights activists are generally agreed that Velupillai Prabhakaran is one of the all-time human rights criminals. Documentation by human rights activists (like the University Teachers for Human Rights – Jaffna (UTHR) has established his crimes against humanity and war crimes. He has been violating, with impunity, international humanitarian law in several key areas: a) recruitment of children; b) suicide bombing (a crime against humanity as it indiscriminately kills civilians), c) ethnic cleansing, d) running concentration camps, e) holding civilians incommunicado and without trials, f) assassination of political dissidents, etc. To this list he has now added the use of poison gas against the Sri Lankan Security Forces advancing into the capital of his pseudo-state, Killinochchi.
Modern usage of poison gas dates back to the battle of Ypres, April 22, 1915 in World War I. Japanese used mustard gas in its war against the Chinese from 1937 – 45. The worst known case is when the Germans gassed the Jews in their exterminating chambers. Prabhakaran is the latest in this long line of criminals. Obviously, he is setting another example to the terrorists in other parts of the world. Will this set the example for Taliban terrorists to use it against US forces in Afghanistan? Will the Indian forces fighting in Kashmir face similar attacks now that the terrorists globally are quick to pick up Tiger technology?
According to reports the poison gas used by the Tigers are home-made. It is a technology that is easily transferable across borders. Indian authorities are fully aware of the transfer of Tiger technology to Maoist and Naxalite terrorists plaguing the sub-continent. Incidentally, this is not the first time that the Tigers used it. Prof Peter Chalk attached to the Rand Corporation was the first to announce that the Tigers were using poisonous chemicals. Ironically, he noted, that the gas hurled at the Security Forces was blown back by the wind and it affected the Tigers more than the forces.
It is now apparent that the last remaining weapons of the Tigers are going to be bunds, poison gas and, of course, Tamil Nadu politicians. None of these seems to have had a strategic impact in halting the advance of the forces, though it may have delayed the advance for a while. Reports indicate that the forces are well prepared.
Not surprisingly, the watch dogs in the foreign-funded NGO pundits in Sri Lanka have decided to a turn blind eye to Prabhakaran’s use of poison gas, though they never miss an opportunity to accuse the Sri Lankan government of violations of human rights. This illegal use of poison gas, banned by the international community in various international declarations and agreements, is bound to lead to violations of human rights. But Prabhakaran will continue to get away with impunity because the local champions of human rights will give it a nudge-and-a-wink. As stated by UTHR, the NGOs in Colombo have been “pussyfooting” around human rights violations by Prabhakaran and his criminal gangs. Downplaying or dismissing violations by the Tamil Tigers has been a consistent part of their political agenda that targets the Sri Lankan government unfailingly. This double-standard is seen again in the case of the Tigers throwing poison gas against the Sri Lankan Security forces. Not a word has been uttered so far by the champions of human rights who have endorsed the use of chemical weapons with their silence.
The silence of the international community (including India) is equally appalling. The West usually refuses to acknowledge war crimes and crimes against humanity until it affects them. They refused to act against Hitler’s gas chambers until it was too late. They refused to intervene in the case of Saddam Hussein, who committed genocide by gassing an entire Kurdish village. United States, in fact refused to sponsor a UN resolution against Saddam Hussein for committing genocide, because he was fighting Iran on their behalf. US did not move against Iran until Saddam invaded Kuwait.
Given the enormity of the crimes committed by Prabhakaran he should be indicted in an ad hoc international court which should try him for the violations against his own Tamil people, let alone the genocidal attacks against the Muslims and Sinhalese. Instead, Sri Lanka’s Mickey Mouse moralists in NGOs are talking of “the humanitarian crisis in the Vanni”, exaggerating the figures of IDPs, the lack of essentials, opening up corridors for the trapped Tamils to get out of Vanni etc. These issues are whipped up by the hired NGO hacks to poison Indo-Sri Lanka relations.
NGOs are raising the issue of displaced Tamils without focusing on the grave crimes of the Tamil Tigers using their own people as human shields. Reports indicate that the flow of refugees has decreased considerably. Earlier the Tigers would allow the Tamils to go to Tamil Nadu to put pressure on the Indian government to act against the Sri Lankan government on humanitarian grounds. Now they have changed tactics because the Tigers can’t allow a single Tamil to escape their clutches. They need the Tamils to be with them for three main reasons: 1) the lesser the population lesser the legitimacy of Tigers to claim to be the sole representative of the Tamil people; 2) the more the Tamils the more the chances of forcing the Tamils to be their human shield and accuse the Sri Lankan government violating human rights and 3) greater the Tamil population greater the potential of recruiting cadres from the teenagers to fill the depleted cadres. At this stage it is clear that it is the Tigers who need the Tamils and not vice versa.
Faced with this critical situation, throwing poison gas is a desperate move by the Tigers to delay the advance, hoping that India will come to their rescue. The Tigers are hoping to gain some time for the Indians to come in, though the consensus among analysts confirms that India will not make their mistake twice. The last remaining hope of Tigers is to twist the tail of Tamil Nadu to jump on Delhi. But neither Delhi nor the rest of India are agitated about it. Though the issue of saving Prabhakaran (conceived mistakenly as saving the Tamils) is raked up among the Tamil political class it is hardly an issue outside Tamil Nadu. Besides, Tamil Nadu leader, Karunanidhi, is toning down his earlier threat of bringing down the Congress government at the centre because he is dependent on the Congress votes in Tamil Nadu. It’s a tit-for-tat game that both parties can play.
As things stand now pressure mounting on India would ease considerably if the Sri Lankan forces can grab Killinochchi fast and move further afield to carry out mop up operations. The fall of Killinochchi is only a matter of time. It is on the cards for sure. It is certainly not going to be the Stalingrad that some Indian pundits hope it would be. In the meantime, the best bet for India is to remain “concerned” on the sidelines without getting its hand soiled in Sri Lanka.
(October 22, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Human rights activists are generally agreed that Velupillai Prabhakaran is one of the all-time human rights criminals. Documentation by human rights activists (like the University Teachers for Human Rights – Jaffna (UTHR) has established his crimes against humanity and war crimes. He has been violating, with impunity, international humanitarian law in several key areas: a) recruitment of children; b) suicide bombing (a crime against humanity as it indiscriminately kills civilians), c) ethnic cleansing, d) running concentration camps, e) holding civilians incommunicado and without trials, f) assassination of political dissidents, etc. To this list he has now added the use of poison gas against the Sri Lankan Security Forces advancing into the capital of his pseudo-state, Killinochchi.
Modern usage of poison gas dates back to the battle of Ypres, April 22, 1915 in World War I. Japanese used mustard gas in its war against the Chinese from 1937 – 45. The worst known case is when the Germans gassed the Jews in their exterminating chambers. Prabhakaran is the latest in this long line of criminals. Obviously, he is setting another example to the terrorists in other parts of the world. Will this set the example for Taliban terrorists to use it against US forces in Afghanistan? Will the Indian forces fighting in Kashmir face similar attacks now that the terrorists globally are quick to pick up Tiger technology?
According to reports the poison gas used by the Tigers are home-made. It is a technology that is easily transferable across borders. Indian authorities are fully aware of the transfer of Tiger technology to Maoist and Naxalite terrorists plaguing the sub-continent. Incidentally, this is not the first time that the Tigers used it. Prof Peter Chalk attached to the Rand Corporation was the first to announce that the Tigers were using poisonous chemicals. Ironically, he noted, that the gas hurled at the Security Forces was blown back by the wind and it affected the Tigers more than the forces.
It is now apparent that the last remaining weapons of the Tigers are going to be bunds, poison gas and, of course, Tamil Nadu politicians. None of these seems to have had a strategic impact in halting the advance of the forces, though it may have delayed the advance for a while. Reports indicate that the forces are well prepared.
Not surprisingly, the watch dogs in the foreign-funded NGO pundits in Sri Lanka have decided to a turn blind eye to Prabhakaran’s use of poison gas, though they never miss an opportunity to accuse the Sri Lankan government of violations of human rights. This illegal use of poison gas, banned by the international community in various international declarations and agreements, is bound to lead to violations of human rights. But Prabhakaran will continue to get away with impunity because the local champions of human rights will give it a nudge-and-a-wink. As stated by UTHR, the NGOs in Colombo have been “pussyfooting” around human rights violations by Prabhakaran and his criminal gangs. Downplaying or dismissing violations by the Tamil Tigers has been a consistent part of their political agenda that targets the Sri Lankan government unfailingly. This double-standard is seen again in the case of the Tigers throwing poison gas against the Sri Lankan Security forces. Not a word has been uttered so far by the champions of human rights who have endorsed the use of chemical weapons with their silence.
The silence of the international community (including India) is equally appalling. The West usually refuses to acknowledge war crimes and crimes against humanity until it affects them. They refused to act against Hitler’s gas chambers until it was too late. They refused to intervene in the case of Saddam Hussein, who committed genocide by gassing an entire Kurdish village. United States, in fact refused to sponsor a UN resolution against Saddam Hussein for committing genocide, because he was fighting Iran on their behalf. US did not move against Iran until Saddam invaded Kuwait.
Given the enormity of the crimes committed by Prabhakaran he should be indicted in an ad hoc international court which should try him for the violations against his own Tamil people, let alone the genocidal attacks against the Muslims and Sinhalese. Instead, Sri Lanka’s Mickey Mouse moralists in NGOs are talking of “the humanitarian crisis in the Vanni”, exaggerating the figures of IDPs, the lack of essentials, opening up corridors for the trapped Tamils to get out of Vanni etc. These issues are whipped up by the hired NGO hacks to poison Indo-Sri Lanka relations.
NGOs are raising the issue of displaced Tamils without focusing on the grave crimes of the Tamil Tigers using their own people as human shields. Reports indicate that the flow of refugees has decreased considerably. Earlier the Tigers would allow the Tamils to go to Tamil Nadu to put pressure on the Indian government to act against the Sri Lankan government on humanitarian grounds. Now they have changed tactics because the Tigers can’t allow a single Tamil to escape their clutches. They need the Tamils to be with them for three main reasons: 1) the lesser the population lesser the legitimacy of Tigers to claim to be the sole representative of the Tamil people; 2) the more the Tamils the more the chances of forcing the Tamils to be their human shield and accuse the Sri Lankan government violating human rights and 3) greater the Tamil population greater the potential of recruiting cadres from the teenagers to fill the depleted cadres. At this stage it is clear that it is the Tigers who need the Tamils and not vice versa.
Faced with this critical situation, throwing poison gas is a desperate move by the Tigers to delay the advance, hoping that India will come to their rescue. The Tigers are hoping to gain some time for the Indians to come in, though the consensus among analysts confirms that India will not make their mistake twice. The last remaining hope of Tigers is to twist the tail of Tamil Nadu to jump on Delhi. But neither Delhi nor the rest of India are agitated about it. Though the issue of saving Prabhakaran (conceived mistakenly as saving the Tamils) is raked up among the Tamil political class it is hardly an issue outside Tamil Nadu. Besides, Tamil Nadu leader, Karunanidhi, is toning down his earlier threat of bringing down the Congress government at the centre because he is dependent on the Congress votes in Tamil Nadu. It’s a tit-for-tat game that both parties can play.
As things stand now pressure mounting on India would ease considerably if the Sri Lankan forces can grab Killinochchi fast and move further afield to carry out mop up operations. The fall of Killinochchi is only a matter of time. It is on the cards for sure. It is certainly not going to be the Stalingrad that some Indian pundits hope it would be. In the meantime, the best bet for India is to remain “concerned” on the sidelines without getting its hand soiled in Sri Lanka.
H.L.D.Mahindapala: Editor, Sunday and Daily Observer (1990 - 1994). President, Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association (1991 -1993). Secretary-General, South Asia Media Association (1993 -1994). He has been featured as a political commentator in Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Special Broadcasting Services and other mainstream TV and radio stations in Australia.)- Sri Lanka Guardian
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