Annihilate Tiger terrorism

The whole of Sri Lanka is now be ing swallowed by Tamil terrorism. Its aim is the establishment of a state of Tamil Eelam in the North and East of Sri Lanka, and then the capture of the whole country. Subsequently their aim as revealed in Indian documents is the establishment of a Dravida state in South Asia so called "Greater Eelam". In order to achieve this objective, not only is the LTTE carrying out an ideological, propagandist, protest campaign, but also a brutal military campaign in Sri Lanka. The Tigers are also carrying out in other parts of the world such as India, Africa and parts of the West, a political and ideological campaign through demonstrations and propaganda to achieve their objectives.

It has therefore become an immediate and critical imperative for Sri Lanka and the whole of South Asia to totally annihilate Tiger terrorism. The supreme priority of all peace loving and democratic-minded persons who value human freedom in Sri Lanka, as well as South Asia and in fact the entire world is to eradicate this Tamil terrorism. This should be done politically, ideologically, through propaganda and protest campaigns, as well as through military operations.

National Plan of action against Terrorism

We reject the myth that Tamil terrorism has been caused by grievances specific to the Tamil community. Similarly, we reject the myth that the entire Tamil community supports the Tigers. We need to distinguish between the Tamil community and the Tamil Tiger movement. It is a long time since the Tiger movement alienated itself from the democratic Tamil community.

Therefore, we reject also the other myth that the only way to win over the Tamil community is to once again appease the Tigers by amending the Constitution transforming Sri Lanka's unitary status which already has the federal features of the Indian one into a still looser federal state. Several countries have proved in recent years, that in the case of intransigent groups, annihilating terrorism is the only path. 

The fact that the Sinhalese as a whole are not a racist community has been amply proved since 1983. Even after 127 civilian attacks on civilians and bombings of economic and civilian targets by the terrorists, the Sinhala community remained unprovoked, and did not carry out any reprisals. 

A national aim and objective for fighting the war

The collective psychology of a people is a critical element in winning a war. Without such a back-up from the people and clear objectives, essential economic and moral support cannot be obtained to defeat the Tigers. In order to motivate the nation and build the support of the people for the war, the following course of action should be taken.

1. The people as a whole should be called upon to become directly involved in activities, assistance and services connected with the war. Any other country, which has lost so many, would have mobilised the entire population by now.

In order to obtain manpower and material resources for the armed forces, committees directed against terrorism could be established in all state institutions, private enterprises, all workplaces, educational institutions, in towns and villages. With co-ordination with the armed forces, these committees could be organised, both for intelligence and defence activities. These anti-terrorist committees should not consist of bias and partisan political appointees. 

2. In order to crush Tiger terrorism, all nationalistic political parties and national organisations should come together and form a National Coalition.

The members of such a coalition should be carefully chosen with a clear view of its objectives and with total focus on the job at hand.

3. The re-organisation of school curricula in order to develop a sense of patriotism among school children.

From a tender age, school- children should be taught a correct and accurate history of our country, and be given an awareness of the barbaric activities of the Tigers, of the fraudulent Eelam myths, which are today being publicised. This is an immediate imperative at this present juncture. The favourable consequences flowing from such a course of action will be felt in a matter of a year or two. It will result in thousands of committed young men and women coming forward to fight the war.

4. All inessential functions and tamashas should be stopped. Cultural programmes directed at raising and developing patriotic feelings and love of the country among the people should be organised. A range of programmes should be organised through the media, through films, teledramas, songs, literature and other cultural activities to condemn Tiger terrorism.

5. The whole of the media should be utilised to publicise anti-terrorists propaganda relevant to combating terrorism, as has happened in other countries faced with a similar threat.

6 Legislation relating to the proscription of the LTTE should be further strengthened, and persons who give support to the LTTE should be apprehended and prosecuted.

NGOs, media organisations and individuals that, through subtle means romanticise the Tigers as heroes should be charged as traitors and punished. This would be their fate in other countries faced with a similar situation. In addition, the activities of foreign funded and Tiger infected NGOs, who through propagandist programmes, through TV, by seminars, so-called research publications directed at preventing the recruitment of soldiers for the armed services and the police should be stopped. Legislation should be brought to cover and prevent these activities whose final outcome is the dismemberment of the country.

7. Adequate investigation of Tamils migrating to the South must be made and their anti-Tiger affiliations and sympathies verified.

The fact that Tiger terrorists hide themselves among the Tamils who migrate to the South from the North is a threat to all in the South, including innocent Tamils. Accurate statistics should be compiled regarding the numbers of Tamils who have migrated to Colombo, Kandy, Negombo, Dehiwala-Galkissa, Kotte etc. from the North since 1987. They should be issued with special identity cards. Should a member of a family be involved in terrorist activities, the family should be held responsible. Steps should be taken to develop a programme whereby Tamil citizens' organisations take responsibility for the actions of these families. If not, due to uncharted Tamil expansionism terrorist activities such as bomb blasts in Colombo, Kandy etc., cannot be prevented.

8. Systematic educational programmes directed at the Tamils should be organised.

In order to rescue sections of the Tamil population, who have been deceived by Tamil racist myths and the fraudulently manipulated history of this country, the suffering and disaster undergone by the Tamils because of such manipulations should be instilled into their minds. These ideas should be impressed on them through educational and publicity campaigns.

They should be convinced that the problems facing them are not specific to the Tamils alone, and that the problems will not be solved through a violent division of the country.

9. Tamil organisations which harass or persecute the Tamils should be proscribed, disarmed, and their members, taken into custody.

10. Tamil organisations opposed to Tiger terrorism and separatism should be assisted to the maximum.

11. Programmes should be put in place to isolate Muslims from separatist ideas. Publicity campaigns should be carried out among Muslims to create awareness among Muslims about the catastrophic consequences of Tamil racism and Tiger terrorism. Muslims who support peace should be encouraged to join the fight against terrorism.

More dedicated soldiers to the front

It is often reported that the armed forces are incapable of meeting the terrorist threat. Hence we propose that the following proposals be activated.

1. A war agenda should be formlulated and put into place. 

2. In order to constantly maintain the patriotic and war like mentality of the soldiers, we suggest that the following steps be taken:

o In the operational areas, continuous educational programmes and publicity campaigns in this regard should be conducted.

o Promotion in the ranks of the armed forces should be made on suitability, heroism and ability and on active participation at the front and not on the superiority of service.

o Land, houses and other facilities should be provided for the soldiers on a major scale.

o A special civil authority should be established to look after the needs of the families of soldiers and be of assistance and comfort, in case of death of a soldier.

o Maximum publicity should be given to heroism shown by soldiers in the field, and they should be honoured as national heroes.

3. All activities that break the morale of soldiers should be stopped forthwith. The main obstacle preventing the recruitment of manpower to the armed forces is the negative publicity given both by the state and the private media, specially the State media. 

The propaganda of the Sudu Nelum movement and that of the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs and National Integration should be reviewed forthwith, and the traitorous activities of the foreign-funded NGOs should be stopped and perpetrators prosecuted.

4. Every recruit who joins the armed forces should, in addition to being trained in the use of weapons, follow an educational course. This should include: a) Our history and how our ancestors defeated foreign invaders, b) The evolution of Tamil racism and the development of Tamil terrorism, c) The experiences of eradicating terrorist forces in the world, d) The Tiger movement and its strategies, e) A knowledge of languages, particularly Tamil.

5. Special training for security forces personnel.

Only about 10% of our armed forces have received specialised training in anti-terrorist operations. Therefore, we propose that at least 50% of our armed forces should receive specialised training in guerilla and anti-terrorist warfare. In this manner, we believe we can raise the quality of our armed forces. Many of the specially trained personnel are not at the front, but are in the security details of Ministers and MPs. However only a select group of Ministers and MPs need special protection. Hence, we propose the special protection offered to Ministers and MPs should be cut by 50%.

6. A broad based programme should be organised in order to recruit young men from universities, technical colleges, schools and youth organisations.

In order to recruit new manpower for security forces, a broad plan of action targeting universities, technical colleges, schools and young peoples organisations should be put into place. An islandwide propaganda campaign should highlight the catastrophe faced by the nation, and the duty and the responsibility of the youth to rescue the country. Such programmes should be clearly focused on the task of obtaining manpower for the armed forces. In addition, propaganda campaigns should be carried out in universities, technical colleges, schools and villages in order to summon young men to the war front. Our correct history should be explained to them, and they should be made aware of the destruction caused by Tamil terrorists to our national property and to Buddhist places of worship.

7. A new Security Task Force should be established for civil security duties.

A large proportion of the armed forces is not at the front but are engaged in search operations and similar civil security duties. This is a national crime. All these civil security duties should be entrusted to an authority specially established for this purpose, and personnel of the armed forces now engaged in civil security duties should be released to the front. This institution could be affiliated to the Defence Ministry. When young men are recruited to this force, it should be made clear to them that they will not be sent to the front. That their official duties would be to man check points, provide security duties at public functions etc., and that their civil security duties would be outside the North and the East. It would be comparatively easy to recruit persons on this basis.

8. In order to give protection and cover to villages which are militarily important in the North and the East, 100 Groups of para/military and militarily villages should be established. 

All sections of the population who have been driven out of the East by Tamil terrorists should be resettled in their former homes. The government should be held accountable for utilising in a fair and equitable manner rehabilitation funds allocated by the state for the resettlement and rehabilitation of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. In order to carry out these measures, the compiling of lists of displaced persons in the East should be undertaken immediately. 

National Movement Against Terrorism

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