poster for the assassinated Foriegn Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar
In the West the Tamil Tigers are often romanticized as freeedom fighters. Anyone who lives here or even does a bit of cursory reading can see that the LTTE – despite very legitimate Tamil grievances – are terrorists. They kill sinhala and muslim villagers, forcibly conscript child soldiers, extort citizens, ethnically cleanse villages, and invented modern suicide bombing. Lakshman Kadirgamar called a spade a spade and got the LTTE classified as a terrorist group – by the US among others. Now they’ve shot him in his swimming pool. He was the Foriegn Minister, exceptionally bright, arrogant, and one of ‘the heavyweights’ in the cabinet. He was also, incidentally, a Tamil.
Sri Lankan Tamils certainly have very legitimate grievances. In 1983 Sri Lankans rioted in the streets and killed peaceable Tamil citizens, with tacit goverment support, or at least inaction. The Sri Lankan Army has disappeared countless numbers of people. More generally, SWRD Bandaranaike and JR simply insulted and disenfranchised Tamils by restricting the use of Tamil language, especially in government service. All of these conditions and the failure of peaceful parlimentary measures led to the rise of militant, terrorist groups like the LTTE. Now the legitimacy of the cause has somehow rubbed off on the LTTE, which it does not deserve. The LTTE is not democratic, it is not diverse, and it is not elected by Tamil people. The were not given power by elections, they took power by process of elimination. You may notice that there isn’t much Tamil opposition, because they’re all dead. For example, A. Amirthalingam (TULF), Sri Sabarathinam (TELO), K. Padmanabha (EPRLF) and Umamaheswaran of the PLOTE. Shot, dragged through the streets behind trucks, etc. One of the most peaceful and loved Sri Lankan intellectuals, Neelan Tiruchelvam was killed as he drove away from his house. That name or any of those names may not mean anything to you. I never knew Neelan Tiruchelvam either, but when I walk by the spot where he died – still covered with fresh chalk doves – it still affects me.
The LTTE is a terrorist group. It doesn’t take a huge stretch of imagination to say that, and Kadiragamar pointed it out the the world. They are also the only negotiating partner, but to act like they are the Tamil cause is disengenous. If Tamils have grievance, those are their grievances. They can vote with them, they can march with them, and they can speak out. Sri Lankan governments have not made it easy – but the LTTE makes it impossible. If you speak out against the LTTE they will kill you. If you try to form a political party they will kill you. If they think you are thinking about speaking out, they will kill you. Whatever the fate of Sri Lankan Tamils is, I think they are better under a democratic Sri Lanka than a facist, corrupt, and terrorist LTTE. But that’s me, here are some quotes from Lakshman Kadirgamar, from LacNet.
I cannot presume to speak for the “vast majority of Tamils” because, quite simply, I do not even represent a Tamil electorate. I am a member of Parliament on the National List. I can only speak for myself and, on occasions, for the SLFP. The vast majority of Tamils, wherever they may live, are law-abiding, hard working, peaceful people. I cannot believe that they condone terrorism, especially the child conscriptions, abduction, killings, extortions that are still being carried out by the LTTE in the North and East, accompanied by the suppression of peaceful dissent. I also believe that the “vast majority of Tamils” would prefer to see, for the future, a united Sri Lanka, rather than two separate States. The concept of devolution of power from the centre to the periphery – some kind of federal structure – is now espoused by the major political parties. But what kind of devolution is a matter for discussion. Within the Tamil community – as indeed within the Sinhala and Muslim communities – there are different views on this question.
…
There was a time when, for instance, the use of Tamil for official purposes was not recognised and there was discrimination against the Tamil-speaking community in respect of education and employment. The Tamils had grievances. That cannot be denied. The situation is much better now. But since independence the ethnic policy of successive governments has been characterised by a lack of foresight, mismanagement and broken promises – the Bandaranike/Chelvanayakam pact and the Dudley Senanayake/Chelvanayakan pact are examples. President Kumaratunga in her address to the nation on the historic occasion of the 50th anniversary of Independence, spoke courageously as follows: “We must also with humility examine our failures. We have failed in the essential task of nation – building. We have meandered and faltered along the path, whilst our neighbours in Asia and many other countries have forged strong and united nations in which peoples of various communities, of race, religion and language live in harmony”. As for your question whether the Sri Lankan Tamils would have been better off if the LTTE did not drag the country into a bloody civil war, my personal view is that socio-economic and political questions can never be resolved by war. But one must try to understand why a generation of young Tamils who had witnessed unsuccessful satyagraha campaigns and other peaceful attempts to secure redress for their grievances came to the conclusion that there was no alternative but to resort to arms. However, as the armed conflict has progressed it has become increasingly clear that war cannot resolve the problems that led to war in the first place. Many Tamils, even those of a moderate persuasion, hold the view that if the LTTE had not taken up arms the question of a negotiated settlement of the ethnic problem would never have been considered by any government in the South. The same group of moderate Tamils would, I am sure, now say “enough of war”; the armed conflict must end; a solution must be found through negotiations. As for the homeland question I do not think the vast majority of Tamils, whether they presently live in Sri Lanka or abroad, would prefer to live under Mr. Prabhakarn’s rule, rather than in a free, democratic, united Sri Lanka where the rights of minorities are adequately safeguarded.
Indi, how can you make a statement like ‘LTTE Kills Kadrigamar’ as if they had released a statement taking responsibly for the assassination. I assure you that I am as shocked as you are by this terrible incident, but it is unwise to make such rash statements when not even the Government of Sri Lanka has accused the LTTE of having carried out this attack. Such misinformation can only broaden the existing divisions in Sri Lanka, and is callous and un-necessary.
Also, I am deeply distressed by your link to SPUR. Do you believe them to be a organisation with a rational ideology, or with any kind of committment? Again, I urge you to do some reserach into SPUR’s background and the kind of misinformation campaigns they have conducted in the past before you take their word on what they say.
Do not become a part of the problem.
yes and yes. All the papers, however, are carrying the LTTE and it seems pretty obvious. They don’t claim anything, so it’ll remain debateable.
SPUR does suck, I’ve dropped them. They were just the only list of LTTE murdered Tamils I could find.
So,
“it seems pretty obvious” and “it’ll remain debatable” were conclusive enough to warrant “LTTE Kills Kadirgamar”?
It seems the reaction to this event has taken the following course
1. Kadirgamar killed
2. Media reports cite SL gov/police sources as suspecting the LTTE
3. LTTE bash-fest.
Considering the variety and complexity of actors within the sri lankan situation, this event requires far more skepticism, patience and far less emotion than we’ve been getting from the vast majority of commenters, be they bloggers or the media.
LTTE didn’t claim the Central Bank or Rajiv Gandhi assassination either. By debateable I mean that Morquendi will continue to advance odd theories that Jayantha Dhanapala, Head of the UN Peace Unit did it.
Seeing as LTTE cadres were discovered surveying the house 2 weeks prior, ITN aired reports of LTTE radio communiques saying ‘we finished him off’, the President has said there was conclusive evidence implicating the LTTE, etc. I think we can go ahead and say the LTTE did it.
Should not the SLFP and the JVP bears the responsibility for all the ethnic issue related deaths between October 2003 and now in Sri Lanka? It seems to me that Ranil Wickremasinghe was trying the snare the tiger, when this bunch grabbed power and got themselves and all of us snared.
Surprised that no one has called you on this–
You say “In 1983 Sri Lankans rioted in the streets and killed peaceable Tamil citizens, with tacit goverment support, or at least inaction.” It’s true, but inadvertently elides the specific truth that Sinhalese mobs rioted in the streets, etc etc. Also, the government’s support was more than tacit/inaction; in some cases (Welikada prison riots) there’s pretty clear evidence that Sinhalese powers organized, aided, and abetted the atrocities. The equation Sinhalese = Sri Lankan is at best sloppy, and more often sinster.
That’s neither here nor there on the Kadirgamar issue, though. Just read a wonderful article from the New Yorker (Aug 1, by Philip Gourevitch) on the transformation of the tsunami from a bringer of hope (for peace) to a bringer of deeper, darker divisions in society. Best thing I’ve read in a while.
Anyway, I still think that the LTTE isn’t necessarily up for this one. The Sivaram killing absolutely reeked of (some kind of) government collusion and so does this: why are all the pieces of intelligence evidence so neatly falling into place if they were so horribly bad at security and protection in the first place??
today one local tv channel showed a UNP parliamentarian saying something to the effect of “it doesnt matter whether we condemn this killing, blame it on the LTTE or prove that its them. its not gonna make much of a difference. we just have to get them (LTTE) in to the world of democracy through negotiation.”.. that does make sense (although im hardly a supporter of the UNP)… we do have to make sure this cease fire agreement turns into a permanent solution for peace in spite of stumbling blocks on the way since going back to a war would be devastating….
BUT… that doesn’t mean everybody in this country should become brain dead, memory erased, thick headed bunch of morons… for god’s sake… when a senior person of the govt. who’s allegedly been at the very top of the hit-list of a terrorist organization for a long time IS actually assassinated, is it SO outrageous to suggest that it might actually be the work of that org. ???.. there could be other possibilities… but what ARE they ???… that jayantha danapala is behind it ??… or maybe its a land dispute gone too far ?? (i sure hope morquendi was just kidding about these).. if you want alternate theories. how about this… couldn’t LTTE have done all the intelligence work on it (two were actually caught recently hanging around LK’s place) and out-sourced the actual job to a third party hit-man ??.. leaving only a money trail which leads no where… aaaand tempting the idiots in south to turn it into a mud slinging political argument accusing each other… is THAT so far fetched ???… kermit in his blog mentions “Occam’s Razor” as a tip for forming an opinion in this sort of a situation.. maybe some should seriously think about that…
If u have even a small brain , You can understand that Mr.Kadiragamar was assasinated by LTTE. He was on the top of there list for many years. Tamil papers publish in north requested to kill him. Kadir was their number one tamil enemy. Idiots in western countries couldn’t understand these things. Bin Ladan will make them to understand. So westerners wait for that.
Idiots in western countries couldn’t understand these things. Bin Ladin will make them to understand. So westerners wait for that.
Ruwan – What does this mean? What is it that UBL is going to help understand? Are we talking about the merits of a caliphate ruling the world? Or is it the finer points of difference between god and scepticism? Is it the fact that banning organisations involved in terror is the wrong thing to do? Is it the fact that supporting authoritarian regimes cause blowbacks?
Gee … I must be an idiot, I don’t get it. Indi can you help me out here?
uh, sometimes the syntax makes no sense so it’s hard to tell what the person actually means. One sensible interpretation may be that Westerners didn’t properly condemn Sri Lankan terrorism until 9/11. Beyond that it makes my head hurt and I’m not sure it’s worth trying to parse.
4 things to say…
*****
1.
Seeing as LTTE cadres were discovered surveying the house 2 weeks prior???
Indi I would suggest you get your facts right. The two suspected LTTE members were not arrested outside LK’s personal residence. They were arrested outside his official residence which is not really nearby, if you know Colombo. I am not even in the country yet I am aware of this. Your ignorance of this fact can only be an indication of your willingness to twist information pertaining to the investigation to fit your case.
And they are not LTTE cadre, as this has never been proven by the police. They are suspected LTTE members. If you know something the police doesn’t, I suggest you get in touch with them immediately.
Don’t use lies and twsited facts to further your anti-LTTE agenda. That puts you on the same level as the JVP or the JHU.
2.
As for calling the LTTE terrorist, I agree. The LTTE are terrorists. No doubt about that. But the Government of Sri Lanka are also terrorists for the crimes they have perpetrated on the Tamil people of the country for the past 5 decades.
There are no degrees in terrorism. Terrorism cannot be quantified and measured to state that one party is less a terrorist than another.
If you are willing to ignore the crimes comitted by successive Sinhala majortiy Governments on the Tamil people of the country while you harp on the crimes comitted by the LTTE, then it is clear to the world that you follow a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist, anti-Tamil agenda.
3.
it seems pretty obvious
If you stand outside in the sun for a while it’s fairly obvious that the sun travels around the earth. It’s also fairly obvious that the earth is flat since none of us keep falling off.
It might be obvious to you that the LTTE did it. I guess you know the LTTE well enough to know what they are capable of doing and what they are not capable of doing. I would suggest you spend some time in Kilinochchi with them before you make such statements.
Also, to the Tamil population of Sri Lanka it’s fairly obvious that the Government had a direct role to play in the July 83 riots. But this is not obvious to you.
Just because something is obvious to you that does not mean that it is right. With maturity comes the ability to understand this.
4.
All the papers, however, are carrying the LTTE
You suddenly believe all the papers? Not make this personal but just as an example: did you believe them when they were nailing certain family members to the wall for their involvement in the privatisation of a certain key government asset?
You didn’t believe them then did you?
Again, you choose to believe what fits into your agenda. You have your case to make and whatever information will further that case is acceptable and harped on while whatever information goes against your agenda is ignored.
*****
Please, Indi, show some maturity by trying not to look at the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka as black and white. I believe you have the capacity to process more information in a more productive manner than to attempt to simplify the problem like this.
As I commented in Electra’s blog about the LTTE radio thing. Can you tell me who intercepted the frequency to reveal this IMPORTANT piece of evidence! I take it that the LTTE are that stupid to confess to something like this over a radio transmission. I can assure you that the frequencies used by the LTTE are far beyond interception and even if they murdered Kadir, they aren’t that foolish to confess that they did it in the radio spectrum indi. This is the same intelligence that said that an expensive coffin from India was imported for Prabakran’s wife’s/Thamilchelvam’s funeral after the Tsunami! I am quite disappointed in the way you’ve come to your conclusion Indi. For someone who appreciates Tracy’s work, i thought you’d be able to think beyond certain ‘obvious’ facts.
With regards to one of your questions Spectral. . .’other possibilities?’ An obvious answer would be the JVP my friend. My question to you is, would you class the JVP as a terrorist organisation? I mean they only just went around killing people whenever they wanted to [well before the existence of the LTTE]. That doesn’t make them half as cruel as the LTTE now does it? I am NOT justifying the LTTE but what I am saying is that the JVP are as bad or perhaps worse. Have you noticed that the total number of seats for this particular ‘political party’ has been increasing steadily over the past few years. Does that tell us anything? Well, if I were living in Colombo, I’d think that we have more racists than we ever had before and would be afraid to liv life normally in MY OWN COUNTRY!
And even that list wasn’t accurate! They’ve got to check their facts.
I have no particular love for GoSL, but nothing they’ve done compares to the Central Bank bombing, suicide bombers, airport bombing, Temple of the Tooth bombing etc, all of which are obvious and now prototypical terrorist attacks. The definition of terrorism is hotly disputed but one contention is that it involves non-state actors. The LTTE is unelected, so they’re in no position to declare war on behalf of anybody. They started so small that they couldn’t capture and occupy land as per ‘war’ so they use targeted terror attacks to work the media and emotions with a small investment. That’s pretty conventional terrorism.
What GoSL has done is bad and I have admitted it, but it is still a state with some accountability internally and externally. You can argue that all violence is terrorism all you want, but there are some lines that the mainstream discourse draws. I’m pretty sure that the LTTE is on the Terrorist side, and I go by the US and UK lists. Copy and Paste Morquendi, that’s a good one. However, if you’re going to be sanctimonious you could at least try for internal consistency:
I am not one to aim for the foot, but you seem to have a hole there.
Indi, strongly suggest you do some reading about what the GoSL has subjected the Tamil people of the island to for the past 50 years. Perhaps then you maybe able to understand the root of the conflict.
If you hop into the country halfway through the ceasefire and believe you can develop a sense of what has been going on over the past 50 (20+ if you want to talk only about the war) years, then you are sadly mistaken. You and other such Sri Lankans who live abroad can have your little debate on your site but please don’t expect anyone else to take you seriously.
nothing they’ve done compares to the Central Bank bombing, suicide bombers, airport bombing, Temple of the Tooth bombing
Again, you try to quantify terrorism. If you believe it can be quantified and measured then I have nothing further to say to you. Only someone who has never experineced the many forms that terrorism takes can believe that the world is so black and white.
In my opinion state terrorism is worse than that carried out by non-state parties. Non-state parties are not bound by any conventions and one need not be surprised if they resort to terrorism. But when states such as the GoSL resort to terrorism it is a blatant violation of the rights of the very people they claim to represent and serve. Your understanding of the very concept of democracy seems to be flawed. I suggest you do some reading on that too.
And pray tell me on whose behalf did the GoSL wage war against the LTTE? Did the Sri Lankan people vote them into power to napalm Tamil villages? You may sanction your government to do that because you, with your American/Bush mentality, don’t seem to think the killing of innocent civilians is wrong, but no Sri Lankan did.
If you want to go by the UK and US lists I suggest you go and live there. You come from there and with that mentality so I am not surprised that you are willing to accept anything they say as the word of god.
This is a Sri Lankan problem of which you clearly have no understanding. The world might be black and white to you and Bush, but it most certainly is many shades of gray to all Sri Lankans.
Quoting Indi:”I have no particular love for GoSL, but nothing they’ve done compares to the Central Bank bombing, suicide bombers, airport bombing, Temple of the Tooth bombing etc, all of which are obvious and now prototypical terrorist attacks”
EXCUSE ME INDI! Have you lost part of your brain or are you suffering from amnesia? Remember something called the 79 & 83 riots??? Where tamils were massacred in their own land? People burnt down alive in their house/vehicles. Now how could someone call that terrorism right? I mean that’s only the minority of the country being beaten up so who the hell cares. Again, I STRESS here that I am NOT justifying what the LTTE did (and not ‘wetting my words either. What benefit do i get by doing so) but I am only replying to a very disturbing comment from you Indi. What do you mean how could it compare to the ones you’ve listed. Do you know what it’s like to be dragged out of your own house in your own country and raped or even worse killed/burnt alive? Do you how many temples were brought down in the late 70s and early 80s in Jaffna by the army? Do you? Well, I am sorry Indi like Morq said you have to go through it for it to hit you. So I suggest you DO YOUR HOMEWORK before posting because it’s very important to have your facts straight, like somebody pointed out in another one of your posts, relating erroneous facts (the one where you had mentioned that the JHU was part of CBK’s coalition!-one of many errors) Think/research before you write.
I do admit that by bombing the Dalada Maligawa, the tigers stooped down to the level of the SLA. See the thing is the Dalada Maligawa is famous unlike the many temples that were ruined in Jaffna. Everything apart , a place of worship is a place of worship and NO ONE has the right to damage/destroy one.
Indi, you sound very immature. how old are you if you don’t mind me asking?
Lately, in internet discussions about the Tigers, i’ve found a lot of animosity from Sinhalese people towards young tamils in the west who claim support for the Tigers. They claim these people have no knowledge of the situation on the ground, are ignorant of the history and context of the conflict and have never (and likely will never) face the consequences that others will from the actions of the LTTE.
I think that here, we’re seeing the same occurring from the opposite perspective.
Your almost blind faith in the GoSL actually surprises me Indi, it’s in stark contrast to the impression i get of you from reading your other posts. You seem to have c hosen a side and are now railing against the opposing side. You’ve forgotten/never knew/absolved your side of any wrong they’ve done and have placed the blame and onus for the situation entirely on the opposition.
Is that rational? Are you unable to view this situation from the perspective of a non-colombo sri lankan tamil? Are you really that ignorant of the atrocities that your government has committed on your behalf?
I agree with Morquendi, you need to learn more (from impartial sources) about the situation as a whole, what all sides have done in this conflict and the effect it has had, not just the tigers. I think advocacy without knowledge is, at best, mildly annoying and at worst, possibly dangerous. Don’t take this post as an insult, I don’t intend it to be that, but i’m still really surprised by the almost racist perspective you seem to have taken up.
Morquendi , Ananthan – Both of you allude to Indi’s racist / almost racist perpectives against Tamils. I haven’t found any racial hatred,superiority or intolerance in any of Indi’s blogs/comments. Please feel free to correct me but exactly where and how he is being a racist?
I haven’t either but my only concern is where he gets his facts from.
Kavi
Hi Kavi,
You said ,
Please point me to a place where I can find a list of temples destroyed by SLA.
Please don’t take this as a challenge or something .Just want to get my facts straight.I’m interested in the religion/SLA angle of this .It seems highly unlikely that majority Sinahala-Buddhists Army destroying Hindu Shrines because Sinhala Buddhism is so much mixed up with Hinduism.Just go to your local temple and check how many Hindu gods are there.
thanks
Chandare
P.S
I’m aware of Navali Church bombing by air force because LTTE attacked SLA from the church using innocent civilians as a shield.For which the SLA said sorry later(I understand there has been mob attacks on Hindu Kovils in 1983,77,58. I need to know direct SLA attacks)
If you take the attacks by LTTE on Religious sites (and clergy) ,we have Sri Maha Bodhi (116 gunned down ),Arantalawa Massacre(20 monks?) then Dalada Maligawa.
On the other hand what constitutes a religious site in Sri Lanka where they have Buddha,Jesus and Hindu gods statues every where ?I remember the case about bo-tree /small shrine on Punchi Borella Junction.When the road expansion was going on 4-5 years back ,the buddhist priests made a big fuss .The priest was illegaly in the land and wouldn’t let the it go .Remember the recent ho -ha about the Buddha statue in Trinco?If you place a buddha statue under a bo-tree ,Ganesh statue under a banayan tree or place a crucifixion in a crowded junction is that a site of religious worship?
oops ,
I did a google search and found out 33 monks were killed in Arantalawa(mostly samanera, pre-teen student monks)
then 120 in Sri Maha Bodhi
I missed,103 in Kattankudi Mosque
SLA
Navali Church bombing 117 dead
then I found this in Tamil net
1700 Hindu temples !
It’s virtually all the hindu temples in North and East isn’t it?(if you get the no of hindus in N&E and divide this by 1700 probably this will be 400-500 hindus for each temple destroyed ) can this be correct?
I’ve got no numbers on kovils destroyed by the SLA, but in Jaffna bombed/desecrated/closed/abandoned Shiva temples are everywhere. I saw them so often I stopped noticing and had to remind myself of how recently they were in use; these aren’t ancient ruins. Also most of the churches are bombed out. The landscape is truly ravaged and sadly religion is a huge part of that.
Morq, I think one can quantify terror, in some instances, and it’s important (though not always central) to do so: it helps in determining what punishments and dissuasions we as a society will use to protect ourselves from terrorists. I would argue that there’s something worse about random public sniper attacks and racially motivated ones, for example. In a just world we punish the latter more severely because it represents an attack on a category of people (even when it doesn’t physically harm all of them). Ignoring the psychological intent of terror implicitly condones psychological violence.
Indi, of course states can precipitate or perpetrate terror. Wikipedia places the criterion “The perpetrator is a non-state entity” last in a seven-element partitionable list. Think Milosevic, Rwanda, Third Reich, Herod… the reason we remember these more than, say, Sierra Leone or Armenia (arguably) is that they were state-supported. Because the GoSL is a democracy, it bears greater responsibility to protect citizens than does a Fascist separatist junta. Totting up the numbers dead and holies violated on either side is a) pointless for peace prospects and b) a horrible, devastating indictment of the rotten, weak values of the ‘democracy’ that spawned and perpetuated the horrors we’ve seen over the past 50 years.
Which is not to say that I’ve picked my side. I have neither love nor sympathy for the aforementioned Fascist Junta.
I’ve been in Kandy for the Perahera, so just now getting a chance to respond. As far as I can tell Morquendi’s main line of argument is that
# I’m not Sri Lankan enough to comment, that is, a paraya (pariah)
# His personal experience is the measure of all things
# Terrorism cannot be quantifed
The most obvious example of points 1 and 2 is: “This is a Sri Lankan problem of which you clearly have no understanding. The world might be black and white to you and Bush, but it most certainly is many shades of gray to all Sri Lankans.”
If you want to believe that 1) I am not Sri Lankan and 2) Morquendi speaks for ‘all Sri Lankans’ then I hope you and Morq have synchronized your watches for a successful uprising. On that day you can revoke my citizenship and make Morquendi’s word law, but until then I’m glad I live in a democratic country. Morq can comment all he wants, but no one can tell me how Sri Lankan or not Sri Lankan I am. If you want to call me paraya because I disagree with you, then that’s your business, but the Sri Lanka I live in is democratic and free. Also crappy and run-down, but dammit, we’re trying.
His third point actually rises above the Mervyn Silva level of debate of yelling paraya and spouting self-righteous rhetoric. That point: Is Sri Lanka a terrorist state?
Some characteristics of terrorists states are death squads, disappearances, torture, unfair trials, child stealing, and ideological persecution. Now the line between this and war is thin, and almost every country commits some of these sins. What separates a terrorist state from a normal, crappy but functional state is how they deal with it. That, of course, and quantity. If your participation in the national and international legal system doesn’t lead to a decrease in Humna Rights Violations, then you have a problem. In Sri Lanka however, the use of state violence has drastically declined since 1983. Then the killing of 13 foot-soldiers triggered unchecked rioting. Now the killing of our Foriegn Minister has triggered nothing more than a call to return to peace talks.
The Sri Lankan State has done some horrible horrible shit in the course of the War. A great deal of that can be attributed to War, but there are enough disappearances, civilian killings, and cases of torture that parts the Sri Lankan government has been censured in various courts and legal bodies – nationally and internationally. Morquendi, however, has a unique take on the rule of law.
Morquendi seems to be talking to himself here. He is somehow arguing that being bound by conventions makes you a terrorist, whereas following no conventions makes terrorism OK. By that logic it’s OK to rob a house as long as you don’t believe in the rule of law, and God forbid that anyone call you a criminal. I’m making the more logical argument that because Sri Lanka is bound by conventions, it is not a terrorist state. Every state commits Human Rights Violations, except Godland or Narnia. Sri Lanka has a constitution, it subscribes to the Geneva Convention, it gets hauled in front of the UN, etc. Has Sri Lanka paid for its offences? No, that’s never possible. However, Sri Lanka does have the democratic mechanisms to bring some modicum of justice to its people. To quote from a very LTTE biased source (Tamil Canadian) –
I have looked through a few of their cases of Sri Lankan Terrorism, and they mostly have some resolution under rule of law, as another example:
Is there perfect justice? Hell no, the justice system is bloated, politicized, bureaucratic and bang-your-head-against-the-wall frustrating. For every case that’s prosecuted 20 are left unresolved. The justice system does, however, exist. As crappy as it is, in democratic Sri Lanka there is a mechanism for resolving and hopefully preventing Human Rights Violations. I agree that it sucks and barely works, but I’ll take barely over nothing. Nothing is all the LTTE has in the way of justice. If the LTTE abducts your child you’re pretty much fucked.
As Morquendi says, the LTTE – as a non-state – are not bound by any conventions. Take a look at the Human Rights Watch file for Sri Lanka. The vast majority of offences are by the LTTE, and those have no resolution. Cases by the Sri Lankan state however, are subject to trials and official international scrutiny. Is there always justice? Hell no, but there is a justice system. The LTTE, on the other hand, is abducting children to serve in its army and the parents have no recourse at all. Can check out the Amnesty Report as well, to see what GoSL is still getting wrong, and how it is dealing with issues like torture.
The Sri Lankan State is not terrorist precisely because it is bound by conventions. When it breaks those conventions, as all states do, it takes (baby) steps to correct itself. Terrorists answer to no one, whereas GoSL does – however haltingly – respond to the needs of the people it serves.
At the same time, the LTTE is so prototypically terrorist that I’m surprised it’s even an issue.
The LTTE answers to no one, whereas the Sri Lankan democracy answers to itself and the international community. Furthermore, GoSL uses a uniformed army and is fighting an ugly war, with incidental human rights violations. For the LTTE, however, human rights violations are its bread and butter – against Tamils, Sinhalese, and Muslims alike.
But that’s just a paraya talking, Morquendi and Mervyn Silva are true sons of the soil. Judging by their combined wisdom, Malaka is a normal boy, the CIA is funding the JVP, and Jayantha Dhanapala killed Kadirgamar in order to become Secretary General of the UN. Damn paraya don’t understand anything.
Chandare? You Googled for this information? So you’re one of those people who believe Google to be the leading source of information on any subject anywhere?
Of course Chandare, you should have consulted Morquendi’s navel. What are facts, research, and differing opinions compared to the shaman-like life experience of El Morq? Who needs a second opinion when Morquendi has been to Killinochi? Remember, he also went to school with poor people. Morq speaks for the poor and oppressed, and those other voices, opinions, research, and – god forbid – stats on Google will just confuse you.
One might think that the sign of human intelligence is when we went beyond our own personal experience and tried to use dialogue and research to find larger truths. Morquendi, however, still clings to his personal experience as the measure of all things.
Kadirgamar was killed on Buller’s Lane. His official residence is on Wijerama Mawatha and Gregory’s, if I’m correct. The LTTE cadres were surveying… wait for it… Buller’s Lane.
Always open to fact-checking, as long as the facts are right. Sometimes, however, Morq’s personal experience and reality are a little uncorrellated.
I just happened to be googling for some details on Charles Wijewardena murder, and came across Indi’s web. After surfing through, I found the contents very interesting.
My thoughts on Kadirgamar’s murder is that LTTE definitely did it, and they did it with long term intentions even if they knew that it will tilit the International opinion against them(well, that also will be negligable, now that CBK has sked them to come for talks and they have obliged like ducks to water). I’ ll put out the reason in point form:
1) If Mahinda Rajapakse is to become the President he would have to muster up the support of JHU and JVP, otherwise the Presidency could and will go to Ranil. And with Ranil as the President LTTE will have no problems whatsoever.
2) If Rajapakse becomes the President via the above route mentioned, then he will be hard pressed to be tough on the LTTE.
3) This will result in LTTE going about telling the International community that Rajapakse is a Sinhala/Buddhist chauvanist Leader for theire propaganda purposes of course.
4) In such an atmosphere the only able person to have tilted the International opinion in favour of GOSL would have been, you guessed it, Kadir.
5) So to overcome such an obstacle in theire way, they had to remove him.
This is the palin truth and the motive behind Kadirgarmar’s killing. Prabhakaran is a vicious terrorist and he will not stop at anything until he achieves his objectives. And what his clear objectives are I am sure even Thamilselvan is not aware of.
One other point is that LTTE is always a step or two ahead of the GOSL and this has been proved once more.
Actually, the LTTE did claim assassinating Rajiv Gandhi, which Anita Pratap discusses this in her book “Island of Bloodâ€. They also expressed regret in that assassination, which would make one think that they would have learnt something from the past, and would not rush into any rash assassinations again.
Here is another view of a different war.
(Brief background: Daily Kos is one of the top blogs.Kos(Markos Moulitas ) is a gulf war veteran.
The War Pragmatists
by kos
Tue Aug 23rd, 2005 at 12:48:34 PDT
I’m not anti-war. As I’ve said before, I’m a military hawk. I supported the Afghanistan War and I supported the Bosna and Kosovo interventions. I’m not one of these touchy-feely hippy types that thinks war is inherently bad. I laugh at people who think they can “visualize peace”.
Unlike most people reading this, I grew up in a country at war. I’ve seen the effects first-hand. I also served in the Army. To me war isn’t a video game or an abstract concept. It’s real. Yet sometimes, many times, military force is a force for good. There are evil people in the world, doing evil things. And all the sanctions in the world, all the strongly worded denunciations, will never have the effect of a 1,000 pound bomb.
I oppose the Iraq War.
But I refuse to be labeled “anti-war”. I’m not. I’m anti this war. Why? Because I’m a war pragmatist. I understand the costs of war, but I also understand the potential benefits.
And in a modern world, we need to be able to weigh the two when deciding whether it’s worth engaging in combat.
I opposed Iraq because it forced the U.S. to take the eyes off the real threat — the Al Qaida assholes that attacked the United States and many of our allies around the world. That was a rightous, honorable campaign. Yet we took the eyes off the ball to go after an impotent, contained, powerless regime that posed nary a threat to its neighbors, much less the U.S.
It’s a war that never should’ve been fought, it’s a war that’s been negligently managed, and it’s a war that we can’t win. All the military might in the world can’t convert fantastical wishful thinking into reality.
I oppose Iraq not because I’m anti-war. I’ll have nothing to do with any of the anti-war rallies planned in the near term (and the crazy cast of characters that seek to inject their unrelated own pet causes into the proceedings).
I oppose the Iraq War because I’m a War Pragmatist.
What We Need Is A “KILLING FREE – CEASE FIRE AGREEMENT” !
Im not a Imbecile Believer Of Our Dear GOSL. Everybody whos somebody is a Jerk to me in that thing…
Im just wondering where are those Patriotic , Bold, “Unbiased” – Freedom Media Movement Initiators, No WAR ! Talk Personals , Peace Fighters , Visionary Philosophers who brings out the Most daring, Insightfull and BOLD looking Thoughts when SIVARAM A.K.A Tharaki Murdered!
My God !
But,
What I Think is this Silence- Must Be Heard..!
This is The Most Dangerous & Scariest thing.
LTTE will Fight , They will Do what ever it takes to get to their Ultimate Goal..
Who we have to really be carefull on are all these Freedom Fighters in the East..
Remember,
We Cry. We Forget. We Cant Remember. We never Want to Remember.
They Moan. They Never Forget. They know What they are after. They Always Gets their Job Done.
Its Time We Have to think about Alternative Strategies. But We also need to Understand the Hidden Agendas of these Peace Talkers .
War Is not Good. We Dont Need a war. Nobody Likes it.
But Staring at all these Killings Like Eunacs & Trading Our Souvarnity Is Not An Option..
Hail Sri Lanka!
very very true, asnihivar (your blogspot doesn’t seem to exist, btw)
so what do you have to say about the LTTE CFA violations outnumbering the SLA/GoSL’s violations by more than 2000?
The Sri Lankan Tamil community is eating itself from inside.
Thanks to the LTTE.
Day by day, week by week, the toll of Tamils killed during the ceasefire is increasing as the LTTE seeks to assume total domination over those it claims to represent. Anyone that the LTTE perceives as an enemy is cut down savagely, people are hunted like prey and made to live in fear because of their political standing outside the LTTE camp. Nothing is sacred to LTTE which has single-handedly destroyed democracy within the Tamil community and turned the circle of hate a complete 360 degrees – the evil enemies were the Sinhalese and Muslim communities, now it is the Tamil community itself.
The political bankcruptcy of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has shamelessly decided to jump into bed with a terrorist organisation is all too clear to all those Sri Lankans sick and tired of the campaign of murder and bloodshed being carried out by the Sun God (Surya Devan). Not once has the TNA raised a voice against the loss of Tamil life at the hands of the LTTE, not once has it shown the existence of a spine. It has always been a fundamentalist organisation bent on promoting the LTTE’s agenda and nothing else. Any claims to the contrary are just pure baloney.
The list of people killed at the hands of the Tamil Tigers since the signing of the ceasefire agreement is increasing exponentially as the months pass. And most of those killed are Tamils that the LTTE claims to fight for. This is how the LTTE is fighting for “Tamil rights” – by killing and murdering Tamils on a daily, weekly basis. All the LTTE is doing is destroying and decimating Tamil society from within. And the fundamentalists refuse to see it or accept it. In fact, they encourage it blatantly. All “traitors” (i.e. anyone who utters a syllable against the LTTE or anyone the LTTE perceives as a threat) must be dispatched as soon as possible, all in the name of “freedom” and “liberation” of course. Torture and murder of Muslim and Sinhalese civilians is welcomed and appreciated by worshippers of the Sun God. One megalomaniac’s pipe dream of a “Tamil Eelam” is being built on rivers of blood and suicide bombers.
And yet some have the nerve to blame the Sinhalese.
LMAO.
Atta boy Niroshan.. Not that I agree with you but your analysis is is incisive. I like such logical thinking though no one will be sure of the truth finally.
Hi there,
I read through the various postings and thought to myself that there were still some sane SriLankans in existence. After reading ANEY PAw’s comments, I am forced to come to only one conclusion. Everyone seem to be racist these days no matter the community you belong to.
Tamils killing tamils, JVP killing its own kind, Tsunami funds squandered by politicians and organisations depriving their own race are some of the events that we have come to accept. As for accountability, what accountability and by whom and to whom???
As for the Presidential Elections, we can safely assume that the two leading candidates are taking on contrasting stands in order to woo the contrasting opinion of the voters. Rajapakse has taken on the more aggressive position dismissing the very essence of the LTTE’s stance. It will be interesting to see how the voters respond. Can anyone shed light into where this is all heading? What we can expect in the coming months in the SriLankan political scenario? I , for one, cannot fathom the complexities of these problems and what outcome we can achieve. Will the Tigers take an aggressive stand as well and pull out of the CFA agreement following Rajapakse’s comments?
If the LTTE is a terrorist organization, then the Sri Lankan government is a greater terrorist organization. The latter has tortured and killed much more Tamil and Sinhala civilians.