Toasts and terrorists
United States Ambassador Ashley Wills raised a glass
of bubbly and toasted Velupillai Prabhakaran's health, after getting the
Sri Lankan business community to rise for the occasion along with their
glasses. It was a bit much — this public toast to a leader of a terrorist
organization banned in the United States. Seems like Ashley Wills has not
come a long way since the days his ancestors who settled in the frontier
towns were called "men of the forked tongue'' by the indigenous Indians.
Velupillai Prabhakaran has just recently signed a ceasefire agreement,
which is a far cry from ending the war that has brought untold misery to
millions of Sri Lankans of all races. It is a ceasefire agreement, which,
for several reasons, could be a tactical ploy. History is on our side in
saying this – as Mr Prabhakaran has unilaterally terminated such ceasefires
four times before this.
Mr. Wills got the go-ahead for toasting Velupillai Prabhakaran when
his boss the Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe
and congratulated him for signing the ceasefire agreement. Mr Powell was
simultaneously carrying out his boss the President's orders to pound to
a pulp the miserable Al Qaeda cadres remaining in the caves of the Afghan
mountains. The logic is that when terrorism is aimed against America, Americans
do not budge an inch. But the rest of the world has to make peace fast
with terrorists.
In Brisbane Australia, in the meanwhile, the British Prime Minister
Tony Blair was snubbed not just by African leaders, but by India and Sri
Lanka as well, for wanting to punish Zimbabwe. Clearly at least half the
world has had enough of this duplicitous holier-than-thou sermonizing by
the other half.
Not so long ago, Pakistan, it will be remembered, faced American sanctions
for going nuclear. It was asked how potty Pakistan could join a club of
"responsible nuclear nations''. Then the Commonwealth expelled Pakistan
from its club of nations for a military coup. Pakistan was thus turned
into an international pariah state, until the war against the Taleban at
which point Tony Blair led the international team to this pariah-state,
elevated it to exalted status, and invited Gen Pervez Musharaff to dine
at the White House and Downing Street. All sanctions were of course removed
forthwith. Pakistan of course became the gateway to Afghanistan for American
forces.
So it is clear that the world cannot take any US or British position
on any issue at face value. Even their own allies such as the Europeans
and the French are not in tow with British and American actions. The Commonwealth
summit at which Mr. Blair got snubbed last week over the Zimbabwe issue
is a turning point in world affairs indicating that nations are no longer
prepared to rubber-stamp the vested interests of certain avaricious countries.
Even the Commonwealth secretariat headed by a former New Zealand Foreign
Minister did not appreciate the problem of terrorism in the Commonwealth
until September 11th, which is an admitted fact revealed in one of our
issues of the recent past. So all this is worth ruminating for those who
are firmly of the view that the international community will be "on our
side'', when it comes to ironing out our own imbroglio with the Liberation
Tigers. |
