by Sachi Sri Kantha; published June 3, 2004
There are two books adjacently placed in my study, since their titles share an affinity. The first is ‘The Oldest Profession – A History of Prostitution’ (1993 print) of an English translation of a German language original by Lujo Bassermann. The second is, ‘The Second Oldest Profession – Spies and Spying in the Twentieth Century’ (1988) by Phillip Knightley. An entertaining suggestion has been made about the origins of these two oldest professions. Tens of thousands of years ago, one cave dweller, fired by his libido, crept into an archetypal brothel [oldest profession]; his neighbor – fired by jealousy – followed him [second oldest profession] to the same spot and later blackmailed him. It need not be highlighted that the second oldest profession also extensively uses the charm of the oldest profession in enticing prospective defectors, and even black-mailing their weak-spirited opponent counterparts (as experienced by the RAW official Unnikrishnan in 1987) to gather ‘intelligence.’
Phillip Knightley’s book on the spying craft carries an interesting chapter on the defection game – a topic which is highly relevant to Sri Lankans of all shades. In the parliamentary pit of Sri Lanka, defection from one party to another has been a recurring drama for the past 50 years. I distinguish three categories of political defector. The first category are the perennial (more than twice) defectors; W.Dahanayake, Ronnie de Mel, M.M.Mustapha, and the Thondaman family (both grandfather and grandson). The performances of this category belonging to eccentric opportunists, due to ad-nauseam repetition, were hardly of news value. The second category are occasional (twice) defectors; V.Ananthasangaree and Anura Bandaranaike. The third category are ‘only once’ defectors, whose deeds make first page news in Colombo; these include, C.P.de Silva (in 1964), and C.Rajadurai (in 1979).
Col.Karuna’s defection belongs to a special category of ‘only once’ military-cum political defection. To quote the words of Varathan, the mouth-piece of Karuna, “earlier Sri Lankan Presidential office was in touch with them, but subsequently when TNA points man R.Sampanthan contacted President’s office and gave assurance, if in case Sri Lankan President ditch Karuna, then TNA would give issue based support to the President’s newly formed government and LTTE also would come forward for peace talks. It was told that President’s office found that Sampanthar – Prabakaran combine was better evil than Karuna and the government failed to come forward to support when they were attacked on 10 April.” [vide, Asian Tribune website, April 21, 2004]
Irrespective of how much accuracy one can tag to the ‘We got cheated by Chandrika’ lament of Varathan, in their own words, Karuna and his coterie were in contact with President Chandrika Kumaratunga after their split from the LTTE. The fact that they were abandoned high and dry by the President – after the general election of April 2nd – proves that their pre-April 9th bunk of ‘military bravado’ and their prattle of ‘defending their territory, if attacked’ was a hollow one; and they were utterly dependent on the side-support of the Sri Lankan armed forces. That President Chandrika Kumaratunga didn’t keep her end of the ‘promise’ also indicate two things. First, it exposes the amateurish politicking indulged in by Karuna. Secondly, the wily Chandrika showed Karuna that his past military exploits in Sri Lankan territory were only worth for the sweet talk of entrapment, and unless he delivered numbers in terms of political heads, he is expendable. Now, the Karuna gang is clinging onto the pants of anti-Tamil forces for their survival.
A couple of readers have requested me to comment on Karuna’s current mental frame. Since Knightley , a professional in the ‘Second Oldest Profession,’ provided interesting thoughts on the defection game – gained from the British-American angle in their handling of defectors from the then Soviet bloc – I can do no better than provide excerpts from his description. Though the names of defectors and intelligence agencies may differ, their modus operandi remains the same. Eelam Tamils just need to think of Karuna as the most recent defector. His handlers were (and are) the anti-Tamil forces in India and Sri Lanka.
Phillip Knightley on the defection game
“…The defection of an important officer from the other side’s intelligence agency is a major event. He brings information to up-date your knowledge of the opposition agency, the nuts and bolts of his organization, his order of battle, training methods, strategy and tactics, and the relationship between his agency and the opposition government. If he is well placed in his service, or if he has prepared for his defection, then he brings clues to the identity of opposition agents and moles in your country – almost every major counter intelligence coup since the war in the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Scandinavia and Australia has been sparked off by a defection. The pursuit and capture of these moles will help enhance your service’s image with your government – a factor vital to your survival and growth. He can bring an assessment of what the opposition service knows and thinks about you – a matter of importance to professionals trying to improve their performance.
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| Col. Karuna in 2003 |
Defectors, both genuine ones and those who ‘change their minds’ soon after coming over, can be used as messengers via whom agencies can exchange information – or disinformation. At the very least, a defector provides an agency with the opportunity to ‘go public’ with all the information that the agency has gathered over the years from poor sources, such as gossip, stolen papers and unreliable newspaper reports. Since this would not normally be believed, the agency has been forced to sit on it. Then a defector arrives. The agency can now attribute to him all this poorly sourced information. Many a defector must have been greatly surprised to learn how much secret information he knew, how important he was before he came over and, above all, what a high rank he had achieved in his old job. Finally, there is always the exciting prospect that a potential defector can be persuaded to stay in place, thus enabling you to penetrate the opposition the easy way….
But defectors, rewarding though they may be, are also both dangerous and difficult. They are dangerous because of the need to decide whether they are genuine or acting under orders as part of a plan to plant a mole, however briefly, in your service, or to confuse and confound you with disinformation. A defector who arrives unexpectedly, who ‘walks in’, is therefore regarded with great suspicion. Western intelligence services prefer a defector they have targeted themselves, worked on for a long while, and who comes reluctantly, preferably kicking and screaming. Even then, suspicion lingers. It is an exaggeration, but not a great one, to say that defectors are never trusted, and few ever achieve total acceptance from all sections of the service. The rationale is simple and cynical; if he can be ‘turned’ once, he can be ‘turned’ again.
Defectors are difficult men because of the heavy emotional pressures they are under. These begin from the moment the decision to defect is taken. Few betray lightly and the thought of permanent exile is not a happy one. The defector is likely to develop a close attachment to the officer who has persuaded him to defect, both needing him and blaming him for what has happened. He is worried about retribution. He wants reassurance and admiration.
The Western intelligence agencies’ needs are different. They want the defector to tell them everything he knows as quickly as possible….This pressure to empty the defector of all he knows does not imply that an agency is uncaring. The CIA guarantees a defector a lifelong pension. His physical needs are taken care of – housing, medical attention, a welfare officer, financial advice, and, if he wants it, training for a new job. (Few are ever employed by the CIA, and, if so, usually only in a consultancy capacity.) But no matter how favourably this future may be presented to him, the ex-KGB officer soon sees it for what it is – the defectors’ scrap heap. He has little to look forward to except seeing out his days, probably in the suburbs of Washington, surrounded by fellow defectors, with, if he is lucky, an occasional visit from his CIA officer, who will have moved on to other cases and developed other interests.
The smarter defector realizes this in his early days in the West and tries to do something about it. He exaggerates his former role…He hints that he was privy to great secrets. He rations information, pleading poor memory. He is sparing with clues;…complains he is not being taken seriously enough and that his information is not being acted upon. All of this is to put off the dreadful day when he will be finished, pumped dry, his life’s work over, an alien…” [source: Phillip Knightley, The Second Oldest Profession, Viking Penguin Books, New York, 1987, chapter 13: The Defection Game, pp.297-339]
Let me recapitulate the five essential points from Knightley, to comprehend the mental dilemma Karuna and his coterie are undergoing now, while under their handlers’ captivity.
(1) The defector develops a close attachment to the officer who has persuaded him to defect, both needing him and blaming him for what has happened. He is worried about retribution.
(2) Handlers know that defectors are difficult to handle because of the heavy emotional pressures they are under.
(3) Handlers want the defector to tell them everything he knows as quickly as possible.
(4) Physical needs of a defector are taken care of – housing, medical attention, a welfare officer, financial advice, and, if he wants it, training for a new job – by the handlers; but they are not trusted.
(5) A smarter defector tries to exaggerate his former role, because he wants to put off the dreadful day when he will be finished, pumped dry, his life’s work over, an alien.
These five points answers the ‘why is Karuna doing this?’ question for the recurring releases of threats, appeals, cautions and killings directed towards the residents in Batticaloa-Amparai areas. While being held captive [in ‘undisclosed’ locations, due to extant threat against their lives and limbs], the ex-Tigers are being molded into scarecrow saviors. For the past few weeks, the blog sheet –the Asian Tribune – scribed by a Bangkok-based toady of the Bandaranaike clan, has been reporting on the activity of the ex-Tigers. The captions given to these actions make interesting reading.
Col.Karuna – ‘We are very much within Sri Lanka’ [April 21, 2004]
Launching of Neruppu [Fire] – an online daily of the Colonel Karuna group [May 1, 2004]
An appeal to the Batticaloa-Amparai Public – DO’s and DON’Ts by Col.Karuna [May 2, 2004]
Col.Karuna’s group caution Tamil people in the East not to hail Prabhakaran. [May 19, 2004]
‘Launch – Appeal – Caution’ are action words paraded in the Asian Tribune blog sheet by a light-minded hack, for a coterie who have lost their brains and credibility. Since Karuna couldn’t match his bunk to the newsmedia with muscular bravado between April 9th and 11th, those in Colombo and Chennai who bet on Karuna as the photogenic macho guy to topple Pirabhakaran were utterly disappointed. But the anti-Tamil forces would never abandon their game plan. Even if Karuna’s bravado act flopped, they could still use him as a scarecrow savior. So, now he is placed out there; a limping ex-tiger, transformed into the new role of a scarecrow.
Mention of scarecrow would remind movie fans of Ray Bolger’s signature role in the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). Lyrics of the scarecrow song ‘If I only had a brain’, written by E.Y.Harburg and sung by Ray Bolger seems apt to describe Karuna’s current status as well. Here it is:
I could while away the hours conferrin’ with the flowers,
Consulting with the rain
And my head I’d be a scratchin’ while my thoughts were busy hatchin
If I only had a brain.
I’d unravel ev’ry riddle for any individdle
In trouble or in pain
With the thoughts that I’d be thinkin’, I could be another Lincoln
If I only had a brain.
Oh, I – could tell you why – the ocean’s near the shore,
I could think of things I’d never thunk before,
And then I’d sit and think some more.
I would not be just a nuffin’, my head all full of stuffin’,
My heart all full of pain;
And perhaps I’d deserve you and be even worthy erv you
If I only had a brain.