Double - talk
The Sri Lankan government displayed the high point of its non-aligned policy this week when the President criticised her US counterpart for his war on Iraq, accusing him of "double standards" and the Prime Minister criticised folks at home for criticising the war on Iraq accusing them of practicing "double standards" by calling for war against the LTTE.

This forked-tongued Sri Lankan foreign policy would remind older readers of the famous quip by the President's father in the early days of the Non-Aligned Movement, that non-alignment does not mean having to sit on the fence. But the foreign policy of the cohabitation government has seen Sri Lankans sitting on the Iraqi fence with one leg on each side of it.

And so, while the President now has had to explain her stance on Bush foreign policy to the US Ambassador, the Prime Minister is attracting some flak from opposition Muslims (not pro-government Muslims) for his remarks.

One thing seems to be clear. The anti-war protests in Sri Lanka are politically motivated. Ironically, it is the nationalist JVP that is spearheading protests, while a handful of Muslim organizations are dutifully doing the honours after prayers each Friday.

This, however, should not be mis-understood with the deep resentment that the average citizen entertains as US weapons of mass destruction are at work breaking all international laws. It is just that there is no love lost towards a military dictator.
The Prime Minister no doubt used the southern city of Matara, where the JVP is more active than elsewhere, to deliver a message to them about their "double standards' on war.

The JVP is for a more militaristic and belligerent stance towards the LTTE - but then the comparison is incomparable. One is a war the whole world condemns. It's an illegal war. You just cannot brand some foreign government "an evil regime"; walk into a sovereign state after bombing it's civilians; and set up a puppet administration.

Opposition to such a war is different from opposing a terrorist organisation that, while talking peace in world capitals is re-arming itself, for what other purpose, than war. The incidents of LTTE arms shipments during the year-long ceasefire period is well catalogued.

Despite assurances to the contrary, recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE continues. A Colombo based Ambassador of a foreign diplomatic mission was shocked at what he saw during a visit to the East in the recent weeks. There were more than a 100 child soldiers in the camp he visited.

Senior LTTE leaders have publicly admitted that they were in the process of an arms build up. The issue then is, who is engaging in “Double - Standards” and hypocracy?
The world does not share the US-UK government view on the war on Iraq, as much as there may be two views on terrorism and armed liberation movements.

Clearly, though, the majority of the world has only one standard when it comes to an illegal international war, and an illegal internal secessionist, terrorist war.

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