The US and Australia Are Turning a Blind Eye

by V.Thangavelu

The Sri Lankan propaganda mill is working overtime to paint a picture that the GOSL is ready for talks and only the LTTE is dragging its feet.

The US Ambassador is breathing fire and brimstone threatening the Tigers that ' if they (Tigers) chose to "abandon peace," they will face a "stronger, more capable and more determined" Sri Lankan military.'

Now comes the news that Australian Foreign Minister Mr. Downer has thundered that “Australia recognizes the continued restraint shown by the government of Sri Lanka in the face of these latest attacks, as well as its determination not to allow the LTTE’s actions to undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated peace.”

Of course Mr Downer got it all wrong when he said “the LTTE and paramilitary groups should respect the ceasefire agreement.”

The US and Australia are letting the GOSL off the hook and placing all the blame on the LTTE’s head because the latter is a non-state player and ipso facto a soft target. As much as dogs don’t eat dogs, governments do not blame each other. If they did, it would be construed as “interfering in the internal affairs of the other country!”

These countries which blame the LTTE turn a blind eye to the glaring fact that there is no common ground between the LTTE and the GOSL on which to talk. President Mahinda Rajapakse has unceremoniously jettisoned all the core issues and, simply, there is no point in sitting around the table, whether in Oslo or Tokyo or anywhere else!

Mahinda Chinthanaya [Rajapaksa's election platform] includes: no Norway, no federal constitution, no right to a Tamil Homeland, no self-determination and nation-hood for Thamils, no PTOMS, no recognition of the LTTE as sole partner in negotiation, and no Oslo as a venue for talks.

This is why, when Mahinda Rajapakse visited India recently, the Indian government took pains to provide a power-point presentation on the virtues of the Indian model of federalism! There is no sign that Mahinda Rajapakse learnt any lesson from the exercise.

President Rajapakse told the Donor co-chairs last week that “he would continue to exercise restraint in the face of rebel attacks, but urged the group leaders to severely warn the LTTE.”

To President Rajapakse, the national conflict is “terrorism” on the part of the LTTE. Nothing more and nothing less.

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, not to be left out, appealed to the EU to ban the LTTE - something he dare not attempt in his own country. He has also asked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to ban the TRO and stop fund raising in the US, at the same time that the TRO is a registered NGO in Sri Lanka.

The Minister told the United States that it should “realise they are not dealing with a liberation movement, but a ruthless killing machine more dangerous than the al Qaeda,” said Samaraweera as quoted in the Times. The LTTE, he declared, was “the godfather of modern terrorism.” Very strong language indeed.

Mangala Samaraweera has also delivered an oblique threat that the government of Sri Lanka will not be in a position to control the Sinhalese in the south if attacks on the army continue. In other words, he threatened a repetition of the 1983 genocide.

Japan’s special envoy, Suzuki Akashi, has been by the GOSL told that Kilinochchi is out of bounds for him. Ditto to other foreign diplomats.

If this is the attitude of the GOSL, what hope is there the LTTE will trust the GOSL enough to agree to sit across the table and shake hands with the likes of Mangala Samaraweera?

Mahinda Rajapakse, who is the head of state and head of government, has threatened to kill the editor of a prestigious newspaper, The Sunday Leader! The editor has complained to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), who may be at wit ends as to what to do with the almighty President! And the hawkish Prime Minister is facing charges that he tried to bribe an underworld gangster, who is now in prison to assassinate the CEO of the Maharajah Organization, one of the main businesses of the island.

So we have the sad situation where not a bunch of ill-informed morons, but would-be murderers are holding the reins of office of the ship of state.

Mahinda Rajapakse’s incapacitation is indeed pathetic. He aspired for an office for which he is totally unfit! With two vipers in each pocket, he has become a prisoner to the JVP and JHU! They will not allow Mahinda to reverse or revise his stand. The fact that H.M.G.B.Kottedeniya, a strong JHU member and Sinhala chauvinist, but only a defence advisor, is able to despatch a 34 strong contingent of the militarized police Special Task Force to Trincomalee without the knowledge of the IGP shows that he is running or allowed to run a government within a government.

The pseudo Marxist JVP, which opposes World Bank, IMF, Norway’s facilitation and ‘Western Imperialism,’ have put the tails between their legs and are keeping mum over the offer of military help by the 'arch imperialist' U.!

Meanwhile, several thousand Thamil families have fled from Sri Lankan armed forces' controlled areas to LTTE controlled territory for safety. Some have sought refuge in Thamil Nadu, but the GOSL is feeling no shame, nor showing any remorse.

In these circustances one is forced to ask the question who is in control of the government? Certainly not Mahinda Rajapakse.

Is it too much to tell the US, Australia and the EU that they, jointly and severally, to rethink their stance? To digest the reality that there are two armies, two states and two Nations on the island?