Preserve every piece of information found in LTTE Peace Secretariat

by Malin Abeyatunge writes from Melbourne

(January 06, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The whole nation salutes with pride and joy President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Commanders of the Tri-forces and the STF for causing a humiliating defeat to the LTTE and capturing its last bastion Kilinochchi. It’s a victory for the peace loving Sri Lankans all over the world and a defeat not only to the LTTE terrorist outfit and the Tamil Diaspora who have been supporting the LTTE terrorists to the hilt but also to global terrorism.

But yet, we should not relax and be complacent with this victory. The rag –tag LTTE that transpired into a strong conventional army would revert back to a rag-tag guerilla group until such time they may (who knows) consolidate again with the help of the Tamil Diaspora and of course Tamil Nadu. Until the last Tamil Tiger terrorist is wiped off not only in the North and the East, but also in the South, this menace will continue to haunt the peace loving Sri Lankans for some time.

Now that the LTTE’s defacto capital Kilinochchi has been captured by our heroic forces and their Peace Secretariat is under Government control, it will be prudent and necessary to preserve every piece of paper, documents and notes in those offices for our future references. There may be important information in the Peace Secretariat which may throw light into the indirect involvement of the international community, INGOs and NGOs etc. As an example, the office will have some documents which throw light on to the misuse of funds; correspondence with INGOs and NGOs which can prove their involvement with LTTE.

It will be therefore be necessary to preserve and protect every piece of information without destroying them and the Government should appoint a special panel of prudent and skilled officers to gather, collate information and evaluate them for our future reference.

We also have a tremendous obligation to the heroic soldiers. There are hundreds of our valiant soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of the country leaving behind their beloved parents, brothers, sisters, wives, and children.

There are hundreds of our heroes from all armed forces who have lost their limbs and organs and have become disabled.

It’s the prime duty of every Sri Lankan to look after these disabled war heroes and their families during their life time. What you and I couldn’t do in the battle front, we can do now to lift the lives of these fallen heroes and their families. What some of our elite society spend for a one night dinner at a plush hotel can buy an artificial limb, a pair of crutches or a wheel chair for these war heroes of our time.

The corporate /private sector and the government should provide a certain percentage of its employment to the disabled heroes who fought for the country. That’s our obligation.

If the corporate/private sector does not do it voluntarily, the government should intervene and bring in regulatory measures making it mandatory to leave a percentage of their work force to employ the disabled war heroes who are full of varied skills. This will help the disabled war heroes to spend the rest of their life with dignity without any obligation or burden to others. - Sri Lanka Guardian