From LTTE to PTTE

By Brian Jansz
Letter to Editor

(August 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Well, the battle against insurgency, sectarianism, terrorism (call it what you may) has all but ended is what has been proclaimed to the people of this land. In war, people get killed, maimed, frightened or become homeless and that is what is common to people as well. Seriously, apart from the battles, is the war in Sri Lanka finished? No!
Winning a battle is not the end of war. During World War II, for almost four years many battles were fought on various fronts and the culmination of these battles was the ending of the war. Following war, peace with reconciliation and reconstruction was the priority to leaders and people alike. And today we see that "yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends" and that was how countries after war, Phoenix like, rose again.

From the times of great tyrants like Genghis Khan, Hitler, Mussolini, Emperor Tojo, to the present day lot of Saddam Hussein, Papa Doc Duvalier, Idi Amin and others, history shows us that suppression, terror and fear have a short span of life. The fact is, it is inherent in mankind to want freedom.

But still, historical facts point to many cruelties during war — rape, pillage, murder and abject suffering for those caught in the middle. With all the legal and international watch-dogs the suffering intensifies basically due to selfish motives of leaders. After winning the war for the Allies in 1944, Winston Churchill was put out of office — and being the gentleman he was, he accepted the verdict gracefully. No banners, boot-licking or parades!

But what of our own politicians? From the President right down to all ministers, the carnival is still not over. The life-size hoardings, banners and posters on every wall, garbage bin or post keeps on harping on ‘kings’ and ‘victories.’ The leaders keep basking in the lime-light though they never faced the enemy!

Lankans, as a whole have the mentality of supporting the winning side (vaasi peththata hoiya). It was Dostoyevsky who said : "Mankind always strives to find someone new to worship." But now after battling terrorists, today a new brand of terrorists have emerged taking their power to excesses outside the law, posing a threat to the common people they are commissioned to protect.

I refer to the police force that is going on the rampage! Of what use is it to refer to the "rights of the people as enshrined in the constitution?" By law, even an accused has the right of defence — the hot shots of the police cannot run around shooting people! What are the defence authorities doing? Sleeping?

A few days back President Rajapakse appeared on all TV channels screaming that every child has the right of good parenting — including himself, with all his onerous duties. Doesn’t that cover every citizen in Sri Lanka? What’s sauce for the goose, in his view is not sauce for the gander. Certain ministers are letting their pet vermin get out of the country before they too fall foul of the police! And the irony of it all is that a Western country that was very adamant on "human rights" in Lanka opens its doors as a haven to drug addicts, thugs, murderers and henchman of terror merchants whilst making it difficult for the hoi polloi to obtain a visa for a holiday or study.

King Lear made it clear to leaders with grandiose schemes of power all their lives when he said: "I shall do those things, what they are, as yet I do not know, yet they shall be the terror of the earth" — very prophetic indeed of things to come in this country if the leader does not take control of the ongoing situation. If not, the sad truth of the Sri Lanka Police will be thus:

We have vanquished the LTTE. But now is awakening a new ghost — PTTE — Police Terror Tactics and Extermination.

What the leaders, ministers and common man must realise is, if you want peace, look not at others’ faults but your own. You and I and the rest must learn to understand that none is a stranger. The world belongs to all. When we seek the goodness God has placed in every single man and woman then evil will lose its hold. Then we will know PEACE!

Civilisation should be the art of looking at one another without fear!

-Sri Lanka Guardian