Running out of time and heading for disaster

By Kumbakarana

It was then that funds began to flow to the Wanni from foreign sources. The result was that Tamils of recent Indian origin, due to be repatriated to India, were settled in the Wanni between 1977 and 1987.These innocents are now used as human shields to protect the LTTE in Wanni. Foreign-funded NGOs took these helpless people to the Wanni and are making a livelihood out of their plight.

After the Kilinochchi debacle of September 1998 there have been no major battles. Not stopping with Kilinochchi the LTTE extended its fire power as far as Pooneryn. Jaffna was expected to be the next target. Instead, the LTTE which has shown that Jaffna is within its artillery fire, started disrupting civil administration in Jaffna. Now they are destabilising life in the Wanni villages. The Sinhalese of Kekulawa and Padaviya have been reduced to refugee status. 

Thus the LTTE while holding out threats to Mannar, Jaffna and Welioya are also arming the people of Wanni. The LTTE's silence is due to their recruiting campaigns. While in September 1998 their strength would have been around 3500-4000 cadres, their numbers would have now increased to about 8500. The LTTE has now extended its military power as far as Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Vavuniya. Moving in small groups they inflict considerable damage on the army. In the past few weeks they have launched around 30 ambushes, attacks and landmine explosions. Such attacks when spread over a large area could cause fatigue, and demoralisation within the armed forces.

The LTTE could also benefit by changes in the international scene. With the likelihood of the BJP, coming to power in India, the LTTE could very well twist the arms of the government. It could strengthen its strategy by launching a couple of massive military operations. It is evident from the defeats at Pooneryn, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi that the armed forces do not have a long term strategy and are not prepared for such well-organised assaults of around 4000 LTTE cadres. For this reason a continuous wave of military attacks cannot be ruled out.

Some of the strategies adopted by the armed forces last year were utterly incomprehensible. In 1998 Mankulam was captured, but with the fall of Kilinochchi the situation changed. After Mankulam the forces spread out towards the East and the West. They made valuable gains in the capture of Oddusuddan and Madhu. With the capture of these two bases of the LTTE, Mullaitivu and Mallawi came within the artillery fire of the army. 

The message of the army was this: If the LTTE attempted to enter Jaffna or any other region the army was ready to capture Mullaitivu and Mallavi. After operation Jaya Sikurui the LTTE has not launched any counter offensive against army operations. But what was evident from the army's attempt to overrun Pooneryn and Vidathaltivu was that the LTTE was able to match the army's fire power. 

With the elections in mind the aim was to bring more and more people into the cleared areas. 

To some extent this was a success but with the influx of displaced people, trained LTTE cadres too crept into the army's military area. Their numbers have reached saturation point. 

Time is of prime importance. If soon after Riviresa there had been a recruiting campaign the problem would have been solved to some extent. But due to the lull the Tigers were able to capture Mullaitivu and seize large quantities of weaponry, with which they were able to weaken the progress of Jaya Sikurui. 

The same is happening now. Because the government needs funds for its election propaganda it is cutting down on military operations. The 1999 Budget cut down on financial provision for the war. 

This was because 1999 was considered an election year. The LTTE knows that whichever party comes to power, it will initiate talks with the Tigers. It knows for certain that its 'Wanni' strategy will come to no harm. 

The LTTE knows that its widely spread out attacks in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Colombo and Batticaloa will cause fatigue to the government. While the clamour for peace reaches its high point the LTTE hopes to become overlords in the North and the East. 

Already they are decimating successfully, other Tamil parties. More than 100 cadres of the EPDP and the PLOTE who were fighting alongside the army have joined the LTTE. They take with them information about the armed forces. Disaster is the consequence of reprehensible politics and stupid lapses in time. 

Dr. Tiruchelvam and the tragedy of Tamils

Tamil conscience warped by Kynsey Road explosion

By D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Though not described as a memorial number the entire issue apart from advertisements published news items, comments and articles on Dr. Tiruchelvam's death. Even the editorial was transformed into a miscellany of notable quotes about him. The cover too was a montage of Dr. Tiruchelvam's images. In the dark cloud of silence that has enveloped mainstream Tamils after Dr. Tiruchelvam's killing the deviant action of the Tamil Times stands out as a silver lining.

Ever since Dr. Tiruchelvam was brutally assassinated on July 29 in Colombo the civilised world has been reacting in horror and disgust, messages of sympathy have been pouring in from all corners of the globe. 

US President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Azworthy, Australian Foreign Minister Graham Downer, Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswanth Singh are but some of the prominent personalities who have condemned the killing and paid tribute to Dr. Tiruchelvam's memory. 

Organisations such as the Amnesty International, Minority Rights Group and International Commission of Jurists, too, have done so.

What is remarkable about this is that Dr. Tiruchelvam was neither a head of state nor even a government minister. Only personalities of that ilk have been recipients of such accolades in the past. 

The tributes paid by a cross section of the world's eminent statespersons, political leaders, academics, human rights activists, scholars, jurists and intellectuals illustrate the multi- dimensional attributes of the remarkable person that was Neelan. 

The Tamil Times issue in that sense is a glowing testimony to the calibre of a gentle person whose death has evoked world-wide eulogies steeped in very high quality.

This spontaneous response of a near universal and greater nature however has to be juxtaposed with another reaction that is particular and to some extent lesser. 

This response or non- response, whether contrived or otherwise is best illustrated by Nirupama Subramaniam's perceptive report in the "Indian Express" of August 3. She says, "Tiruchelvam's senseless killing may have outraged the world, but Sri Lanka's Tamil community, which has mortgaged its soul to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remains unmoved and unprotesting. 

While there have been no calls from anyone in the Tamil community except the former militant groups, specifically condemning the LTTE for the killing, the justifications have begun".

Nirupama, who incidentally hails from Tamil Nadu in India, goes on to cite instances of this. Among these are details of conversation among Tamils at a book launch in Wellawatte. This is what the Colombo Correspondent of the "Indian Express" wrote: "According to those present at the function many justified the killing on the grounds that Dr. Tiruchelvam was close to the government. The general feeling was that while alive Dr. Tiruchelvam made no positive contribution to the Tamil cause, and his death made no difference to the community, a lawyer present at the function reported".

These sentiments allegedly expressed by sections of the Colombo Tamil community are indeed outrageously wrong and callously insensitive. They are however symptomatic of a deep-seated malaise that has afflicted the Sri Lankan Tamil community. 

While the silent majority among them remain overtly detached and non-committal, a vociferously vituperative minority continues to attack and character assassinate a man who has already been assassinated. 

In the case of Dr. Tiruchelvam one is able to discern all the signs of blaming-the-victim syndrome and also, to borrow a phrase from Indian commentator Praful Bidwai, manifestations of "victimising the victim" itself.

While he was alive Dr. Tiruchelvam was the pet target of direct and indirect Tiger propaganda. Almost every Tiger organ within and outside Sri Lanka dished out venomous and hateful news and comments about him. The LTTE poet laureate Puthuvai Rathinadurai writing under the pseudonym Viyaasan wrote hate poetry ceaselessly against him. Several others, including some Tiger fellow travellers who had their petty pickaxes to grind, also followed suit. 

Many persons with different motives hitched their wagons to the LTTE star. An easy way to curry favour or avoid Tiger displeasure was to attack a vulnerable target. The inoffensive democrat that he was Neelan Tiruchelvam fitted the bill. Thus the past four or five years have seen a cacophony of diatribes against him. 

Most prominent among them was a distinguished. Tamil politician whose lifelong ambition of being a Parliamentarian has been consistently rejected by Tamil voters.

A Tamil tabloid published in Colombo also plays a negative role in this regard. This weekly led and continues to lead the media hound pack in a vicious campaign against Dr. Tiruchelvam. The king pin is an ex-militant turned Tamil parliamentarian from a Tamil party. This tabloid has contributed greatly towards undermining Dr. Tiruchelvam's image among Tamils. 

Many years ago before the LSSP aligned with the SLFP, Sirima Bandaranaike referred to N. M. Perera in Sinhala as the man who "nomaraa maru" her late husband. This was in reference to the Trotskyite leader's sustained campaign of political strikes against S.W.R.D Bandaranaike. 

Likewise this tabloid too can be accused in Tamil of "Kollaamal Kondra" in the case of Neelan. The lone assassin standing at the Rosmead Place-Kynsey Road intersection destroyed only Dr. Tiruchelvam's body. But as far as the Tamil reading public was concerned Dr. Tiruchelvam's political reputation had been exterminated before.

What is repugnantly repulsive about the situation is that the vilification of Dr. Tiruchelvam continues among sections of the Tamils even after his death. As was the case before his death most of this maligning is based on a wholesale distortion of truth. 

The Tamil people who like to boast of their millennia old cultural legacy seem oblivious to the fact that one of their hallowed values is being violated in the most disgusting way. 

The age old custom of not vilifying a dead person is being flouted flagrantly in the most foul manner. It must be noted that the LTTE weekly "Eelamurasu" published in Paris too was constrained to preface a critique of Dr. Tiruchelvam with a public apology to the readers for dishonoring the Tamil cultural tradition of speaking ill of the dead.

The Tamil tabloid in Colombo has been publishing despicable news and views about Dr. Tiruchelvam after his death too. The man who was assassinated brutally is now being character assassinated relentlessly. 

That a paper which claims to be the largest selling Tamil weekly can go on denigrating a dead person who cannot defend himself speaks volumes about the socio-cultural morass the Tamil community has sunk into. The abysmal nadir in this respect however has been reached by "vocal Warriors" of upper crust Tamil society.

The various pro-LTTE websites, e-mail exchanges and English journals have been publishing various articles criticising Dr. Tiruchelvam after his death. Some of these written by "prominent" but not necessarily eminent Tamils have been collected as part of a single web page in the New York Tamil Sangam website. 

It is a good indicator to gauge the depths of depravity the Sri Lankan Tamils have descended to. All decent people will be appalled by the incredibly vitriolic attacks defiling the memory of an intellectual giant whose only "crime" was to strive for a peaceful settlement. 

The New York Tamil Sangham is in many ways a front for the LTTE in the USA. Nevertheless the office bearers and most members are acknowledged professionals from the cream of Tamil society. Yet they are able to indulge in a vulgar exhibition that offends all canons of decency.

Worse still are the motley crew of demolition experts writing about Dr. Tiruchelvam. They are supposedly members of the Sri Lankan Tamil elite. Some are alumni of Oxford and Cambridge; some have dined and wined at the inns of Lincoln, Gray, Inner and Middle Temple; some have PhDs from the prestigious universities of the west. Yet they have all like Caesar's enemies ''drawn their swords separately to strike jointly" in a revolting display of necrophoebia. 

A Tamil poet described them succinctly "Savathukku Mele Moothiram Peyyurangal" (They are urninating on a corpse). 

What is deplorable about this sordid affair is that many of these people are old Royalists and Thomians who knew Dr. Tiruchelvam personally and had at various times obtained favours from him too.

One's disgust increases even more when these Tamil websites pat themselves on their backs by publishing congratulatory responses from readers over the articles published. 

These responding readers range from retired UN experts to nuclear scientists, from Catholic priests to university lecturers. How is it that such "educated" people subjected to the emancipator aspects of modern Western society and claiming to be the legatee of an ancient and honorable culture violate the basic tenets of decent conduct? 

It is almost as if impelled by a desire to ingratiate themselves with their masters, the LTTE, each one is standing up to be counted by the Tigers as having approved their action. 

In a bid to ingratiate with the LTTE, the diatribe authors are competing among themselves, too. One of them has published his "masterpiece" as a glossy booklet and is distributing it free by post to sections of the Tamil Diaspora.

In contrast to this gutter sniping is the conspicuous public silence of other Tamils. Except for a few, most Tamils have neither condemned the killing nor expressed their appreciation of Dr. Tiruchelvam openly. 

It is this "deafening silence" that is being interpreted by certain elements as a "sanction" of the assassination. 

The truth however is that as Nirupama Subramaniam expresssed it well "Tamil souls have been mortgaged to the LTTE'. In many cases it is a mortal fear of the LTTE that has contributed to this non-committal behaviour.

There have been several instances of people condemning the killing in private but not daring to say so in public.

Some who have been critical about the killing when conversing with trusted confidantes have performed somersaults publicly. In our villages there is a habit of not mentioning the snake or devil by name. 

This is because of the fear that some harm would befall them as these personify evil. Similarly the Tamil psyche too does not dare mention the LTTE by name let alone criticise it.

The naive belief is that by avoiding public comments against the LTTE they could ward off possible danger from it. 

If only all those Tamils who are well aware of Dr. Tiruchelvam's positive and dedicated role in the sphere of achieving Tamil rights dared to articulate their feelings publicly! 

What a qualitative difference it would make to the current climate. But no the evil within exerts a stranglehold on the collective vocal chords of the community. So Dr. Tiruchelvam's detractors are able to create and promote the impression that he was a traitor who had to be eliminated.

The assassination of Dr. Tiruchelvam and its aftermath serve to portray vividly the totalitarian hold exercised by the LTTE over the collective conscience of the Tamil community. An entity with neo - fascist tendencies and is accountable to none has appropriated the leadership of the Tamil people. The right to express a different viewpoint let alone dissent is effectively tabooed. Again what a vortex the community has been sucked into. The majority of Sri Lankan Tamils are Saivites. The right of dissent is an age old Saivite Tamil tradition.

One of the great "Thiruvilaiaadals" (Great Divine Feast) by Lord Siva pertains to Nakkeeran the Madurai poet who composed the "Tirumurugaattuppadai".

There arose a doubt in the mind of the Pandyan King as to whether the fragrance of his queen's hair was natural or artificial. Lord Siva in an avatar wrote a stanza saying it was natural. The King concurred. 

But Nakkeeeran the head of the Tamil Sangham or Academy objected. He said it was artificial. Lord Siva began arguing with Nakkeeran and finally revealed himself and expected submission from the poet.

But Nakkeeran refused and continued to say Lord Siva's opinion was wrong. Then Lord Siva threatened to open his third eye in the forehead and burn Nakkeeran. Still Nakkeeran was unrelenting saying "Nettrikkann Thirappinum Kuttram Kuttrame" (Even if you open your third eye your opinion is wrong). An angry Siva burnt him to ashes but later relented and resurrected Nakkeeran restoring him to grace. 

The Nakkeeran episode has come to represent the courageous tradition of dissent within the Tamil ethos. Today like many other things the tradition and right of dissent too have been exploded by the barbaric hordes masquerading as Tamil saviours.

Given the tremendous transnational condemnation over Dr. Tiruchelvam's killing, it is easy to discern why the LTTE and its minions have to keep on character assassinating the man even after killing him. 

These attempts though despicable are in a sense feebly pathetic. Even as torrents of enlightened world opinion pour down in condemnation of the LTTE, a small group tries hard to vilify Dr. Tiruchelvam and justify his killing. Again this will succeed to a limited extent only among certain shades of Tamil opinion. 

(The second part of this article will appear next week)

From the Blue Corner

Erratic confusion behind the UNP amude

By Paakshikya

Now, I assume that Virudda Paakshikaya believes his beloved United National Party will win the elections and that is why he is indulging in all this over-confident braggadocio. 

In this respect I will let my friend in on a little secret: the elections that you think you will win will be held much sooner than you think and you will be caught with your pants down — or should I say amudes?

Virudda Paakshikaya thinks that our hopes of a victory come from the million people that attended our anniversary celebrations and claims that they were brought there for a 'buth packet'. He says that they did it when they were in office and accuses us of doing the same. 

I do not know what skullduggery you resorted to when you were in power Virudda Paakshikaya but I must emphatically say we do not resort to such tactics. Yes, we did give a buth packet to those who attended — and there is nothing to be ashamed in that — but we did not use the buth packet as an incentive for attendance. 

And, Virudda Paakshikaya, if you say that voters of this country can be bought over for a buth packet and that they will travel hundreds of miles just to get a square meal, you are only insulting the intelligence of our voters who are more intelligent than you are — but then that is what your party has been doing these past few years! 

Take, for instance, what happened on Wednesday when some of your members staged a so-called 'protest' wearing amudes? Now, Virudda Paakshikaya I'm sure someone — probably your advisor from Saachi and Saachi — has advised your leader that this will be a good exercise in grabbing publicity. 

Unfortunately for you Virudda Paakshikaya your leadership didn't do its homework and the whole exercise turned out to be a display of the UNP's ignorance of how the public perceives these events. Tell me, Virudda Paakshikaya, what relevance has the amude got with educational reforms? 

Even if there ever was one, the public did not realize it. Most of them were saying, 'okay, they are protesting against educational changes but what on earth has that got to do with the 'amude'?" 

Then, Virudda Paakshikaya, what about the 'amude' itself? Judging from the pictures I saw in the media, they were a bright red in colour and had the words 'Channel Nine' printed on it. Now, even I was confused by that, I must admit. Here you are, supposedly protesting against some obscure education reforms and you are wearing a red 'amude' with 'Channel Nine' emblazoned across it! Tell me, my friend who is your advisor on these matters?

I ask you for we must know who he is — if only to avoid him like the plague! And it is with such exercises that you hope to win the next elections! Let me recall for you, Virudda Paakshikaya what you have done in the past few months — you have organized a few protests — against the continuation of the executive presidency, against the non — functioning of the bribery commission, against Channel Nine and against educational reforms. And your leadership has 'gone to the people' — whatever that means! — to seek their views on how the party should shape its policies after five full years of slumber while in the opposition! And you still hope to win the election!

And you Virudda Paakshikaya, are talking of winning the next elections and trying to belittle our President saying she is holding 'breakfast meetings' with her closer ministers. I think I must take issue with you on that too.

You must surely know that having an inner cabinet within the cabinet is accepted practice. Do you dare to say that UNP governments did not do that? Shall I recall what happened during the regimes of J. R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa? It was no secret that J. R. J. trusted only a few ministers. He trusted Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake more than he trusted R. Premadasa and there were many things that the former knew but the latter, even though he was Prime Minister did not know — and JR did nothing to change that state of affairs, did he? 

Just to quote one example, when the Indo — Lanka Accord was reached, many of the cabinet ministers were in the dark and Prime Minister Premadasa was out of the country — what happy coincidence indeed! If memory serves me right, it was Ministers Gamini Dissanayake and A. C. S. Hameed who did the spadework for the accord while the rest of the cabinet were blissfully unaware of any such impending agreement! 

Even President Premadasa had his chosen faithfuls in his cabinet, didn't he? He trusted Ministers Ranjan Wijeratne and of course, Sirisena Cooray while the likes of Athulathmudali and Dissanayake were anathema to him and that was the reason for the attempted impeachment wasn't it? 

And here you are, Virudda Paakshikaya, talking of inner cabinets being an indication of division of the People's Alliance! You are even saying that just because the proceedings of the breakfast meeting are reported in the media, the PA will fall apart! You must surely know, Virudda Paakshikaya that reporting of cabinet proceedings in newspapers is nothing new. And it is certainly nothing confined to the People's Alliance. 

You will recall that in the early days of J. R. Jayewardene regime, cabinet 'proceedings' were reported almost verbatim in the now defunct 'Weekend' newspaper in its political column much to the chagrin of senior ministers, including Prime Minister Premadasa who made several attempts to stop it but was unsuccessful. There was a theory that the 'Chief Informant' of all that information was none other than JRJ himself and that theory is yet to be disproved! 

Then, you will also recall that during the days of R. Premadasa the very newspaper that you contribute to now, Virudda Paakshikaya — the Sunday Times — carried these proceedings again almost verbatim and then Minister Sirisena Cooray was a very angry man.

What I'm trying to tell you, Virudda Paakshikaya is that these things happen in a government and I as a liberal believe that they should happen in the greater interests of democracy. 

You will realise that the difference between the UNP and the PA is that you tried to stop those reports appearing in the newspapers using various intimidatory tactics but we do not do that. What our President believes is let them be published — but if they breach legal boundaries they should be taken to courts. But what is more important for you in the opposition my friend is to realize that these are not issues on which the public will vote for you. Now, there is even a TV show which gives a detailed account of what transpired at cabinet meetings and the Sri Lankan electorate is intelligent enough to realize that they are able to see such a show only because the government is liberal enough to tolerate that — and that will be a plus point for the PA rather than an embarrassment! So, dear Virudda Paakshikaya, you are welcome to carry on with your antics — amude and all — but believe me, such juvenile tactics will not win you votes or the next elections. My advice to you is to take a leaf out of the Sri Lankan cricket team — see how a pathetic team was turned into a winning outfit almost overnight. I suppose you get the hint, my friend: get rid of the old hands who are obstacles, get a new leader and maybe you could turn a new leaf even though that might still be insufficient to defeat the People's Alliance!

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