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| Not only Gota but also others such as Gunadasa, Nalin are very angry. Global masters have abandoned them. Masters have given them an option. ‘Either you reconcile and give autonomy to the Tamil homeland or else bear the punishment for war crimes’. Can they prove war crimes? |
by Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne
(June 26, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sinhala heroes are on the run. The Goliath who protected them from the international enemies has turned against them. Delhi leaders, who gave orders to annihilate the Tamil insurrection and to bring the head of Prabhakaran to their feet, now want to pacify the Tamil bourgeoisie. The internationalization of the Tamil national issue has created a pressure unexpected. Tamil national problem was taken over by the international left organization and effected social democracy everywhere. Left in Lanka should be glad that has happened, and the sacrifice made was beneficial. The local workers struggle too created a condition that diluted the image of Sinhala chauvinism. The killing and injuring of workers that fought on economic issues had a devastating effect on the reformist workers who half heartedly joined the campaign. Thousands came out to give a blow to the government that made it drop the bogus pension bill and retreat rapidly. However there is something shady about this police attack on workers. LakbimaNews reported “According to information received, the CID has reason to believe that the police had deliberately opened fire on the protesters. The investigations have also revealed that police had broken open doors of FTZ factories, before firing in every possible direction although many protesters had dispersed by then.” Does that mean a secret hand is operating to put Mahinda in trouble? If so, then it should be a hand of somebody powerful and close to the defence ministry.
Secretary Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on 17 June made a peculiar statement. He said ‘Heroic efforts of our War Heroes are belittled by some interested parties, by claiming that our armed forces have committed war crimes. As a nation who salvaged this country from scourge of terrorism, it is our duty now as patriots to rise to the occasion and defeat those international attempts, meant to bring discredit to the country.’
To avert the attack
He then added ‘Some run to western embassies for complaint before they report even to the Police when any incident occurs. It is very unfortunate that it is to the US Embassy that the first complaint was made in regard to the attacks launched on the Tamil MPs. Nobody appears taking any interest in talking about how US operational troops in Pakistan shot and killed the unarmed wife of Bin Laden at first during their swoop’. The ‘simple’ incident that he referred to happened in Jaffna. The Army in uniform stormed into a meeting on 16 June where 6 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs participated and when they tried to attack the MPs, the security detail (MSD) of the MPs had tried to avert the attack. The assailants had then begun assaulting the security personnel and others who were present mercilessly with iron rods and clubs deliberately creating panic and pandemonium at the venue. The TNA MPs however completely repudiated Gotabhaya’s allegations as false. They said, they first made the complaint to the Telipallai police, Jaffna; and not a single MP of theirs complained to the US Embassy. Senior Police Superintendent (SSP) KKS Division Gamini Perera said that he had visited the scene of the attack, met some military personnel there and made inquiries. He said what the MPs stated was true and there had been such an incident, but they were yet to ascertain whether army personnel were involved in it.
It does not need Marxist analysis to conclude that some powerful people are planning something quite dangerous. As I indicated above, Sinhala chauvinist are desperate. India has let them down. The western powers who taught them methods of anti terrorist war are now not interested in the pro Sinhala story. Gotabhaya bemoaned that the western powers are neglecting them. He, referring to the non-participation of certain western powers in the recent Army-organized seminar, ‘Defeating Terrorism - The Sri Lankan Experience,’ noted that had those countries genuinely wanted to learn how the Sri Lanka Army fought terrorism, they would have sent their representatives to the seminar, enabling the Army to respond to any queries or clarifications as they required. Some of them want to provide a lifeline for revival of terrorist aspirations, he added.
Give autonomy
Not only Gota but also others such as Gunadasa, Nalin are very angry. Global masters have abandoned them. Masters have given them an option. ‘Either you reconcile and give autonomy to the Tamil homeland or else bear the punishment for war crimes’. Can they prove war crimes? Or yes, these heinous masters can prove anything. Unfortunately all of these Sinhala heroes merrily joined these masters to conduct the genocidal war according to latter’s dictates. Also they borrowed heavily for this purpose and became vassals of the IMF. Now they are tied up to the neck. If Gota wants to be a Castro and challenge the entire global oppressive system he has to break from the corporate system. Then he has to abandon Sinhala chauvinism and appeal to the international workers movement! There is no way to go back in the history to the times of Nandimithra and Suranimala, the days of heroes of Mahawansa. Gota can get the advice of chauvinist pundits, mobilize sectarian monks, use the military and try to establish a Burmese type regime. I do not know how the global powers will look at it; but I know for sure that the workers will answer that with a general strike and a massive hartal.
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