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.