We have NOT defeated the LTTE says the Sri Lankan Government

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

(August 02, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) I respond to the report ‘Sri Lanka updates request to the EU to list LTTE front organizations as terrorist entities’, published in Sri Lanka Guardian.

Reading the headlines, I thought ‘so! the Sri Lankan Government is yet to defeat the LTTE. What’s worse – they need foreign help – help from the same source they kept out of Vanni to claim victory over Tamil insurgency No Sri Lankan Government is not independent of foreigners nor could they be trusted in terms of global level certificates’

As per the Common Australian, I was part of the
 ‘bad Tigers from North’. Now, after the telecast
of the Channel 4 video – the Sinhalese Australian
is also likely to be part of the ‘bad Government in
Sri Lanka’. Yes, we have reached a balance and a fresh
start. There have been calls for us to ‘forget the past’.

The gap between what really happened and what they said happened is the discount factor. This sends the message to truly independent global leaders – that the Sri Lankan Government is not reliable when it certifies Tamils – for better or for worse.

At a ‘Sri Lankan’ forum, the Channel 4 matter was discussed. One leader said that to him it was relevant but that there needed to be balance. My response was that there was balance because the LTTE were listed as Terrorists by the UN and here in Australia, persons were legally punished for funding the LTTE. When I wrote to the then Attorney General – the Hon Philip Ruddock in this regard, Mr. Ruddock wrote back to the effect that Australia had not listed the LTTE as a terrorist organization but that financing the LTTE would be illegal here in Australia. To me my communication invoked the Goodwill of the Attorney General and hence I was able to ultimately identify with the outcomes when the ‘accused’ were released.

Each country has responsibility to make its own laws on the basis of its assessment of the risks involved. Australian Government’s move in this regard communicated to me that they did not consider the LTTE to be of any direct risk to Australia. I was able to identify with that through my own beliefs. In terms of Sri Lanka, I am an apparent Tamil and have the responsibility to the side that is closest to me and my belief. In real terms it does not matter which side we speak through – so long as we contribute to the good side of the issue or to diffuse the bad side. But who we ‘seem’ to be makes a difference with those who ‘see’ and ‘believe’. In that regard, where an issue is has been taken to the primary level of the People - a Tamil has the responsibility to work through the Tamil side and a Sinhalese through the Sinhalese side.

As per the Common Australian, I was part of the ‘bad Tigers from North’. Now, after the telecast of the Channel 4 video – the Sinhalese Australian is also likely to be part of the ‘bad Government in Sri Lanka’. Yes, we have reached a balance and a fresh start. There have been calls for us to ‘forget the past’. The same source is now calling on foreign governments not to forget the past.

There we go again practicing the mantra ‘Do as I say and not as I do’. If the UN had been truly independent – it would have assessed terrorism risk on the basis of whether the LTTE was a risk to the global citizen. If not, the UN had the responsibility to work through the Government of Sri Lanka and not show separate results. The one experiencing most pain is the one with deepest authority. Given that Tamils in Sri Lanka suffered more due to ethnicity, Tamils of Sri Lanka have the moral right to provide the labels. Every Government that was openly critical of the Sri Lankan Government in this issue, has the responsibility to accept the verdict of Tamils of Sri Lanka. Given that Tamils do not have a single government they could rely on or an official government through devolution of political powers to be seen as equal to the Central Government – the declaration of genuine Tamil Commoner, based on her/his belief is the real certificate. All else is for selfish reasons by aliens.