By Dilrook Kannangara
LankaWeb.comFebruary 29, 2012
When the illegal CFA was signed, there were widespread protests organised by patriotic groups against it. Their slogan was a ‘respectable peace’. Interestingly the current President participated in them. These protests were extremely popular although the then government tried hard without succuss to downplay them; so successful that the CFA UNF government was toppled prematurely just two years later. Similar protests were launched in 1958 against the illegal Banda-Chelva and Dudley-Chelva (1965) Pacts, 1987 Indo-Lanka Peace Accord and the political package of 2000. People burnt the political package inside and outside the parliament. PTOMS (2005) is another case of public anger against anti-national moves despite the fact that collapsing PTOMS meant no tsunami aid to people under LTTE control. An excellent move that proved invaluable when war broke out a year later. However, there aren’t any such protests today. Government sponsored protests are too politicised that only UPFA activists and organisers participate in them. The problem with government sponsored patriotic agitations is their contradiction. On one hand they support unpatriotic moves of the government and on the other they want to display patriotism to the rest.
What created this pathetic situation?
All potent patriotic individuals and groups have been subjugated by the government. Wimal Weerawansa, Patali Ranawaka, Ven Ellawala Medhananda, Ven Elle Gunawansa and most other patriots and the movements they powered have been totally subjugated by the government. As a result there are no patriotic forces that can function independently and objectively against threats facing the nation. This is a much bigger threat than the threat posed by separatists and their western warlords. To some extent they are good salespersons. They very successfully sold patriotism to voters to get elected. But once elected they have abandoned that which made them winners.
Their cheap antics are a disgrace to the nation and fail to achieve anything. People find these antics amusing. Barking, screaming, name calling, threatening and burning aimed at UN agencies and powerful UN members cannot achieve anything. Nothing was achieved this way. Only decisive action can achieve tangible outcomes.
When the government entertains TNA demands, there is no one to oppose them either in public or from within the government!
Where are the patriots within the government? Probably they have very complex excuses – which the public either cannot understand or rightfully, don’t bother to understand – for not opposing the appeasement of TNA!
Give into some demands and there will be more demands
It was silly on the part of the government to entertain TNA concerns in the first place, sometimes at the expense of national security and equality. Once these initial demands were met (some demands were more than met), TNA leaders like typical bloodhounds started making more demands. It should have been expected. Now the demands, grievances, aspirations, allegations and all other names for extortion have snowballed. It is too big for the government to handle now. TNA has not made it a secret. They openly declare their “little now, more later” strategy. Knowingly the government has fallen head first into their trap.
Stupid antics of some by the name of patriotism look even worse in this background.
When demands cannot be won through puppets, puppeteers directly get involved. Before agreeing to anything demanded by US, EU or India, the government must consult the people, China, Russia and other genuinely friendly nations. All their interests must be protected in any move. Giving into US and EU demands will not make them friends but it can turn our friends into enemies. Same goes for TNA. Giving TNA demands never make TNA any better. It only destroys the future of non-Tamils.
We are in Geneva because of incompetent reconciliation advisors
A new breed of go-betweens emerged after the war triumph in 2009. They are called reconciliation advisors who are nothing but election refuse. People repeatedly rejected them at elections defeating them. If they had done their job properly, Sri Lanka will not be in Geneva today. Thankfully at this very late hour the government has finally realized their incompetency and not appointed them to any key position to handle the impending Geneva showdown.
Reconciliation advisors argued the reason behind allegations of war crimes is the weakness in government propaganda campaign that was not consistent. Though it is true the government propaganda campaign was weak, it is only part of the problem. They naively argued that if western nations and India know the ground reality, they would not believe anything the LTTE rump is spreading. Assuming their naive argument is correct, what did they do about it? Nothing.
US, EU and India know very well the ground reality. A few dozen visitors from these places have visited Sri Lanka with annoying frequency. They know Sri Lanka is safe for Tamils; they know Tamils enjoy an unfair advantage in Sri Lanka in terms of land rights, Tamil own land laws, the right and ability to live in any part of the island nation, all fundamental rights and equal rights. There is nothing they don’t know about it. Yet they demand more. Reconciliation advisors kept advising to appease Tamils and TNA more and more until their demands snowballed to a level they cannot handle. If TNA demands were cut down at inception, they would not be making any demands today.
Geneva has destroyed all reconciliation efforts and as a result Tamils and non-Tamils are divided to the extent they were before the reconciliation process.
What to do now?
This is not the last resolution USA will be presenting against Sri Lanka. It is only the first in a series of resolutions aimed at creating Tamil Elam and appointing pro-US and pro-Indian TNA puppets as its supreme rulers. TNA leaders are now in India getting further instructions.
At the very least now, the government must recognize the danger of inaction. The only political solution is ethnic integration in the north where the problem is. The Indian model of ethnic segregation is not going to work in Sri Lanka. It is the Sri Lankan model based on ethnic integration that works. Reconciliation advisors must make an about turn from ethnic segregation efforts (devolution, power sharing based on ethnicity) to ethnic integration efforts (making sure the Jaffna peninsular is not Tamil only). Reconciliation must break barriers to integration by scrapping the Thesawalamei Law that very effectively prevents integration. Scrapping this has no negative impact on the outcome of any future election.
Legal action must be taken against TNA for conspiring against the Constitution and the nation. The 13th Amendment must be put before the public. War time solutions are not suitable for peacetimes. People can decide its suitability to modern ground realities. Scrapping the 13A can save billions of dollars every year that can go into development benefiting everyone.
The independent Tamil nation USA and India trying to create in the island to counter China, Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Russia and any other potential obstacle to neo-colonialism will be ruled by TNA. Eliminating TNA from the political sphere, legally, can disrupt their plans. It can make things easier for a proper political solution based on ethnic integration to be implemented. Similarly, western neo-colonial rulers have appointed their puppets in East Timor, Libya, etc. When it cannot be done peacefully, western colonials have used genocide to achieve it as exemplified in Diego Garcia. They provide useful geopolitical platforms to launch attacks on other nations. Giving into these moves to appease the puppeteer and the puppets is the worst the government can do. That will make Sri Lanka without any friends as friends of Lanka will find it a threat after puppet nations are created in its place.
Amidst this clamour there is resentment growing in the electorate against the government that is prepared to appease TNA at the expense of UPFA voters. Any power sharing deal no matter how weak it sounds with the TNA will be punished by voters at the next election. Since TNA will never be satisfied, no TNA voter will vote for the government. Even if they do the loss will be many times more than the gain. Losing the next national election will seal the fate of the Rajapaksha family in the hands of the opposition, US-EU axis of evil and the LTTE rump gunning for its blood. The government will be saved only to the extent it saves the interests of the people and its voters in particular.
This nation cannot stand on its own. The only way it can deflect interference from powerful nations is by having a symbolic military presence of China in the island. All nations big and small avoid confronting China for obvious reasons. There is no sense in putting off Chinese military presence in the island. It is a win-win situation for both nations which will be welcomed by most South Asian, African and Latin American nations. China is the centre of the new Non Align Movement. Sri Lanka has already aligned with China in development, finance of projects and credit. It is time to reaffirm this alignment economically, politically and militarily. Australia’s economic alignment with China saved it from one financial crisis after another. Singapore too avoided financial crises thanks to its very heavy economic alignment with China. Chinese military expertise will save Lanka from Indian sponsored separatists and any military threat they may mount.
President Premadasa successfully deflected Indian and British interference through his political and military alignment with China until Indian sponsored terror groups killed him. It is on record he is the only elected national leader since 1956 who didn’t offer any political solution to South Indian separatists. He surprised many by despatching the Indian invading army without any compromise. If anything came close to it, without a doubt it must be May 2009 when the Army Commander toured China with a military delegation at a time when India was expected to interfere in the island to avoid a “human rights catastrophe”. Since China is the only substantive lender and financier of Lankan projects, pro-western political parties have no future in Sri Lanka. If ever they come to power they will have to either lose their puppeteers and face dire consequences or lose the steady development support from China. That is a huge political incentive for the government to economically align with China. Economically, India is vastly disadvantageous to Lanka even without CEPA.
Indian action before Geneva has surprised many; it’s conduct during and after Geneva will shock them.
The Lion Flags say it ALL!
Sri Lanka Prevails against Australia in ODI in Melbourne - March 01, 2012
