CC Malayalam Blog

Join News Letter

Iraq

Peak Oil

Climate Change

US Imperialism

Palestine

Latin America

Communalism

Gender/Feminism

Dalit

Globalisation

Humanrights

Economy

India-pakistan

Kashmir

Environment

Gujarat Pogrom

WSF

Arts/Culture

India Elections

Archives

Links

Submission Policy

Contact Us

Subscribe To Our
News Letter

Name: E-mail:

 

Sri Lanka: Balance Of Terror

By Chandi Sinnathurai

29 May, 2007
Countercurrents.org

It does not take much long to realise that, the undeclared war in Sri Lanka has gone pear shaped. The economy is in deep trouble. The declared intention of beating the Tamil Tigers [LTTE] militarily has also all gone awry. Only the flourish of rhetoric remains alive and well.

The talk of ‘surgical strikes on the Terrorists’ in order to open up negotiations is a badly advised imported idea for Sri Lanka. In recent times, Iraq has proven to the world that, looking at human misery purely from a clinical sense is far from accurate. Precision bombing inevitably falls on innocent human beings – women, children and men have died as a result of such “surgery”.

From the days of the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960’s the Bi-polar world has viewed peace with much trepidation. Kennedy and Khrushchev opened a new chapter in international peace-keeping. And that “peace” was precisely kept by the balance of terror. It is the fear of an attack; even the thought of a pre-emptive lethal attack that pushed nation states to negotiate for peace. Today, in the uni-polar Imperium, world politics and international relations hinges fundamentally on the balance of terror. Sadly, it is not peace for peace sake. There is more to it than meets the eye.

The War for peace mind set is glaringly prevalent in Sri Lanka. The Government hides all its atrocities done against innocent Tamil citizens with much spin and propaganda precision. As a cover-up for crimes against Tamils, the Tamil Tigers are portrayed by the State as ruthless barbarians.

One must not forget, in Sri Lanka, there is state terror that is unleashed against poor Tamil civilian population. Hundreds of civilians have involuntarily disapeared - this includes writers, journalists, scholars and clergymen. If one has to counteract STATE TERROR, then there has to be an equal and opposite and natural résistance. It is to this equation, the Tamil Tigers have risen to the occasion as an 'answer'. And that is the historical fact of ‘terrorism’ in Sri Lanka. As they say, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

So, in order to negotiate peace, the international peace-brokers must deal with the root cause: And that is the horrorism of STATE TERROR in Sri Lanka. The reality of it has to be recognised, accepted and has to be uprooted. The simple logic of taking care of Cents will ensure that the Rupees will take care of it self. First things first; the State Terror machinery must be dismantled. Until such time, there will be circuitous talks about peace minus the tangible peace on the ground.

The Western Governments don’t seem to “buy” the argument of state terror. If they did, crudely put, there will be a serious reduction to their profits via arms trade!

The Western Church leaders also seem to shun away from the logic of state terror. Why? Because instead of being voice for the voiceless; they want to play mouth organ to the ideology of the State.

Britain's Labour Government however, has come forward to be a go-between the Sinhalas and the Tamils. And they are willing to support the cause for self-determination of the Tamils. The Sri Lankan State cannot play the same game with a half-century old problem thinking it will go away. As far as the Sri Lankan state coffers are concerned, the West has got the powers of leverage. It is believed that, the Tamil lobby will exert moral pressure on Brown's Britian to pull the purse strings.

People who voice concern about the appalling plight of human rights in Sri Lanka can take no sides. That will be morally wrong. They have to be true to their conscience.

Until there is sustainable peace in Sri Lanka; it is sadly the innocent people who are victimised daily.

Chandi Sinnathurai is a peasant- priest. He is currently travelling in the conflict zones.

 

Leave A Comment
&
Share Your Insights

Comment Policy


Digg it! And spread the word!



Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So, as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.



 

Get CC HeadlinesOn your Desk Top

 

Search Our Archive



Our Site

Web

Online Users