Editorial

4th October 1998

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Govt. in exile?

"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic"-Joseph Stalin

Whoever said Truth is always the first casualty of war couldn't indeed have spoken more truly. This week we have witnessed the hideous spectacle of Government leaders and the State media lying through their very teeth regarding the intense battles that are being fought in the North. It should come as no surprise if, or when, a terrorist organization like the LTTE indulges in hyperbolic propaganda or covers over the truth. But for the Government of a country to do it is to touch the lower, if not the lowest depths.

Indeed so disillusioned have been the Ravaya and Yukthiya newspapers - newspapers that played a key role in bringing the PA to office - that they have decided to deliberately defy the military censorship and reveal to the country and its people the harsh realities of the war being waged so that they will not be deluded by these untruths doled out to them.

The censorship on the media was supposedly intended to prevent the divulging of military secrets to the enemy. So said the Government. It didn't need a great deal of intelligence for us to realise that this was surely a lie. What it was meant to do was to prevent the people from knowing the actual figures of death tolls and of those injured in battle and also of the military setbacks suffered by the Sri Lankan forces acting mostly on the impolitic if not imprudent orders of political Generals.

We pointed out to this even once earlier during a phase of the biggest military setbacks suffered at the time by the military when the Mullaitivu camp was overrun in 1996. A censorship was then in place. This week the overrunning of the Kilinochchi Garrison has come about at a time when the Government cannot blame the media for divulging secrets to the enemy. What the plain and simple truth is that military intelligence was so weak that the LTTE was obviously aware of Jaya Sikurui battle-plans and launched a major diversion 48 hours earlier attacking at Kilinochchi.

With so much happening in the conduct of the war isn't it at least fair to acknowledge that the people have a right to know what is going on not only to know of successes but also of debacles, and more importantly to know why and how they came about?

And why on earth cannot the military and the civilian propagandists work in tandem harnessing the support of the national media and galvanising the public-at large-for this war effort in general and the soldier at the front in particular.

A nation cannot on the one hand for ever be lulled into a false sense of security with fairy tales of heroic success. On the other our soldiers deserve the highest acclaim for valour.

What we see and know of is that there are few if any Cabinet meetings or War Cabinets dealing with the situation of the war in the North as it goes on. An enormous budget of Rs. 51 billion has been allocated by Parliament towards the war. Both the UNP and the PA are equally deaf, dumb, and blind to what is going on as defeats are swept under the carpet in the belief that what the people don't know does not happen and the fruits of victory are stolen by the politicians.

It is almost unbelievable that the President, who is the Defence Minister and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces was not in Sri Lanka when this massive operation was taking place.

In any other democratic country there would have been a big propaganda blitz with films showing the President or those in charge with the troops, ministers visiting the wounded and War Cabinets in session.

In this country it seems all this is a matter of course, a daily diet for people to be fed on and nothing more. As for the poor soldier at the front it is a matter of "each man for himself and God for all." We are at a loss to know sometimes if there is a working Government or not at all. With so many ministers abroad-it looks to be more like a Government in exile.

Political Column

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