By V. Thangavelu
Foreign Minister Lakshman
Kadirgamar is a man with an unholy mission. His mission is to act as the gravedigger doing all the
dirty work for his paymasters. Many are unaware of the fact that Kadirgamar came to politics
through fortuitous circumstances. He was cooling his heels in Geneva practicing law before he was
picked up by Chandrika Kumaratunga. I suppose she did this
more for his (Tamil) name than his brains.
Although Kadirgamar bears a Tamil name, he
for all intents and purposes is a de-nationalized Tamil not conversant in his mother tongue.
Having said that there is no doubt Kadirgamar has proved himself an excellent Minister conducting
a virulent Goebelsian style propaganda war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In this respect he behaves more like a Minister of Propaganda for President Chandrika than
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The first question relates
to the offer of a cease-fire by the LTTE. He was asked for his reaction. Kadirgamar’s reply ran to
several paragraphs. He faulted the LTTE for not discussing the cease-fire with the Norwegian
government’s representative first before announcing it.
There is a proverb in Tamil
that says that to an unwilling wife it is an offence if your leg or hand touches her. It is
obvious to any impartial observer that Kadirgamar is simply picking holes and offering lame
excuses for rejecting the LTTE’s unilateral declaration of cease-fire. In fact the Norwegian
government was informed about the cease-fire well in advance of the LTTE press release by fax.
· “At this juncture, we raise our suppressed voices together.
·
“The government must immediately stop this war. It must
immediately begin meaningful and just peace talks
with the
Liberation Tigers.
·
“Through this process, we want to see a just solution that
recognises the Tamil people’s aspirations of the recognition of the
TAMIL NATION, recognition of OUR HOMELAND and recognition of our RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION.
Your conscience must lead the way to finding a just and peaceful solution for our
lives.”
This Declaration in
unequivocal language identifies clearly the core
demands of the Tamil people. It is a clear convergence of
the demands of the LTTE on behalf of the Tamil people by the Tamil people themselves. It
cuts the grass under the feet of President Chandrika’s
attempts to drive a wedge between the LTTE and the Tamil people. Above all it demolishes to
smithereens Minister Kadirgamar’s oft repeated lies that “They
(Tamil people)
do not want a separate state. They do not want to be ruled by a fascist organization. They wish to
be left alone to pick up the pieces of their broken lives. They wish to remain within a united Sri
Lanka. They wish to enjoy the fruits of development and progress...”
“Prabhakaran will
not be able to go on...”
Minister Kadirgamar says
“The Tamil people of the North voted at the last Parliamentary General elections in October in
many, many thousands...” but the question is whom did they vote?
The much-despised armed Tamil Quisling group the EPDP managed to poll only 20% of the votes
cast in the North and that too after wholesale rigging!
Kadirgamar’s Phobia about Tamil Diaspora
Now let us look at Minister
Kadirgamar’s phobia about the Tamil Diaspora. Kadirgamar claims that
“for many years I have been pressing countries where the majority of Tamil expatriates live –
Australia, Canada.... to
enact national laws enabling proscription of terrorist organizations and the prohibition of fund
raising activities for terrorist purposes!”
On the one hand Kadirgamar
takes up the position that the ethnic problem is an internal matter. He urges
the international community to desist from making ad-hoc statements which
undermine Sri Lanka's right to resolve her own problem. "I
would ask our friends abroad to desist from making statements which infringe on our right to
resolve our own problem ........I take rather strong exception to that statement. Because,
self-determination could very well mean, the right to cessation. The state of Sri Lanka cannot
under any circumstances whatsoever, contemplate the possibility of a right of cessation.”
Brave words indeed, but it is the same Minister who is falling at the feet of foreign heads of
states “to
enact national laws enabling proscription of terrorist organizations and the prohibition of fund
raising activities for terrorist purposes!”
Though the charge is
completely false, there is a sad admission on the part of Kadirgamar that LTTE enjoys popular
support among the Tamil Diaspora. The arrest and indefinite detention of thousands of Tamils as
Tiger suspects in all parts of Sri Lanka also belies the government propaganda that it had won the
hearts and minds of the Tamil people.
What
Kadirgamar wants is to eat the cake and have the cake at the same time. He wants foreign countries
like Britain to ban the LTTE, but he will not brook any interference by those governments in its
internal affairs.
Minister Kadirgamar’s remarks about Tamil Diaspora reminds one about the
fool who thought he could stop the wedding by hiding the comb! He mistakenly thinks that if the
Tamil Diaspora stops funding; the LTTE will lose the war. He of all people should know that LTTE
gets 90% of its arms from the Sinhala army itself. After the fall of Elephant Pass, the LTTE
proudly announced that the arms and ammunitions they captured would serve them well for the next
10 years!
It is not the arms that are helping LTTE to rout the Sinhala army. It is the fierce determination, commitment, courage and the spirit of sacrifice in the face of death that is the secret of LTTE’s victories. On the other hand corrupt army generals and politicians are fattening themselves at the expense of Sinhala youths who are used as sacrificial lambs. That explains why 30,000 Sinhala troops (the strength of 3 divisions) deserted their ranks and ran for their life.
Kadirgamar was
asked, “How is the LTTE funding its war”? Pat came the usual tongue in cheek reply. “By the contributions of some sections of the Tamil Diaspora from trafficking in narcotics
and human smuggling....” This is an old kite, which had refused to fly, but Kadirgamar
persists in his folly!
Of course Kadirgamar makes
such wild accusations for the consumption of the international community which he thinks is
gullible enough to swallow his yarns. But he cannot fool even a few people for sometime by such
crude and false propaganda.
The abhorrence of
narcotics by the LTTE is legendary. When Jaffna peninsula was under the control of the LTTE, that
is the only area in the whole island that was free of drugs!
“Is LTTE still using child combatants”?
To the question
“Is LTTE still using child combatants”? Kadirgamar replies
“yes”. But Kadirgamar is least qualified to raise the bogey of child soldiers after the
massacre of 26 Tamil youths in their teens at Bindunuwewa detention centre and the mass graves at
Mirusuvil where a child as young as 5 years old were slaughtered and buried by Sinhala soldiers.
The same
“disciplined” army carried out the most cowardly murders of Tamil youths who were under judicial
custody at the Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation camp. Ironically Foreign Minister Kadirgamar was the
Chairman of the Rehabilitation Committee responsible for the administration of the camp! A clear
case of entrusting the chicken hoop in charge of wolves!
Even if the LTTE is
deploying child soldiers, it has been forced on them by a fascist state bent on a genocidal war
intend to impose Sinhala hegemonic rule over the Tamil people.
“Government supplies
free quantities of food, medicines..”
Minister Kadirgamar crows
that “government supplies free quantities of food,
medicines and other essential item required by the people, even in areas of conflict.” Such
statement by Minister Kadirgamar qualifies him as the best pupil of
Minister for Propaganda of Nazi Germany Dr. Joseph Goebbels! Kadirgamar thinks the bigger
the lie, the better its chance of acceptance!
Every report that emanates
from Vanni speaks of lack of food, medicine, clothing and shelter. There is widespread
malnutrition among pregnant mothers and infants. The following is an extract from Christian
Council Report, which gives the lie to Kadirgamar’s false propaganda that everything is rosy in
the Northeast. It also proves the dog in the manger policy of the racist Sri Lankan government of
not allowing foreign aid agencies to provide food and medicine to the Tamil refugees and thus
forcing them to be at the mercy of the racist government.
“Since the resumption of Eelam war III the
Government of Sri Lanka forbade NGOs from distributing food, and with the exception of ICRC,
distributing medicines. Stringent controls have been imposed on the ICRC also in the medicines
they provide.
“It imposes severe controls on the NGOs which are allowed
to work there. For instance, the NGO personnel are not allowed to carry cameras or even film
rolls.
“A
survey done by the midwives indicate that out of a random sample of 16,767 children under 5, those
who were normal were only 4863. 6371 children were found to be afflicted with third degree
malnutrition, 3186 children with second degree and 2347 with first-degree malnutrition.
Malnutrition is caused by lack of food, is compounded by diseases such as malaria, bronchial
diseases, worm infestations, etc. Particular areas have shown even higher percentage of
malnutrition. For instance, in a division called Puthuvedduvan in Mullaitivu district (population
1900 families), out of 121 children picked out by random sampling, 56 were seen to be suffering
from third degree malnutrition.” (Report From Christian Aid)
It is good to remind Minister Kadirgamar
that Tamil people of the Northeast has nothing but aversion , contempt and scorn for President
Chandrika and her government. They perceive her as the modern day
“goddess of death”
out for revenge and blood!
The open defiance by the Tamil youths should put to rest
Kadirgamar’s Goebbelsian propaganda about the “popularity” President Chandrika among the Tamil
people! This effectively debunks the myth that Tamil people are looking to her to “liberate” them
from the “clutches” of the LTTE! The Northeast has become an open prison and the killing field by
the Sinhala army.
The Tamil people are conscious of the fact that they have to carry on the
national liberation struggle against a brutal and
vicious enemy. The enemy wants to forcibly occupy the
Northeast not to help the Tamil people but to ensure that its writ is enforced at the point of the
gun.
The Tamils are not surprised that the enemy is refusing to renounce the path of military violence and terror against the Tamil people and seek a negotiated political settlement. President Chandrika is wilfully and recklessly dragging the nation state down the “pallam” shutting the door for a national reconciliation process for all time.
The vicious pursuit of “War for Peace” policy by President Chandrika compounded by bad governance
has bankrupted the Sri Lanka economy to the extent
the escalating defence expenditure (Rs.84 billion which is 30% of the revenue) is financed by
selling the family silver, raiding savings, borrowing and begging. The betrayal of the peace
mandate she obtained in 1994 is the mother of all betrayals, betrayal of law and justice, betrayal
of morality. She by
her crass opportunism, hypocrisy and even
criminality in politics has made J.R. and Premadasa
to look like “angels”!
The Tamil people are under no illusion that the road to freedom, justice and dignity is paved with roses. On the contrary it is paved with the blood, sweat and tears of our people. The anti-Tamil racial politics of Sinhalese leadership offers no alternative to the Tamil people other than fight to the bitter end. (January, 2001)