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The international community's blatant hypocrisyThe ethnic situation in Sri Lanka has opened our eyes to the blatant hypocrisy shown by the international community in dealing with terrorism. Most of the western countries, including the United States, Great Britain, the European Union and our non-western neighbour, India, has in the past, and will in the future, use whatever means necessary to defeat terrorist activities in their own countries. The United States invaded a sovereign country, Iraq, in the guise that Iraq posed a terrorist threat to the United States. However, these same international players sit idly by as the LTTE cannibalizes the political and military leaders of Sri Lanka, brutally massacres innocent people and ruins the fragile economy of the country. Their action in regard to these terrorist acts consist of issuing empty statements of condemnation and useless promises of support. India in particular, is a country that is quite adept at issuing statements of support to the Sri Lankan government after every bombing or terrorist act. However, it has been slow in taking a leadership position on Sri Lanka's ethnic issue. If the international community is genuinely interested in a just and equitable solution to the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka, they should first and foremost pressure the LTTE to completely abandon its regime of terror and become a legitimate political partner in the pursuit of peace. Anything else other than pressure to de-claw the Tamil Tiger Terrorists rings hollow in the ears of the peace loving public of Sri Lanka. VISH DIAS ABEYGUNAWARDENA - ---------------------------------------- Vikings prowling in the HimalayasErick Solheim, 'the innovator and facilitator' of Sri Lanka peace process is now in Nepal to investigate whether there is a role for him in and the Norwegian retired Army personnel in the troubled kingdom in the Himalaya region. While this member SAARC country is burning other members are watching from the sidelines in keeping with the protocols. However, the nation of the Vikings having tasted the lures of continuous 'low intensity war' in Sri Lanka must be planning better things for the land locked poor Nepal. Norway, the new rich small country in Europe is on a discovery expedition of world's trouble spots while being one of the leading arms exporters to the whole world! Nepal in her present predicament can be diddled with Kronars and their think tanks can be pursued to seek Viking help by appraising them about the Sri Lankan adventure. It will be advisable for China, India, Pakistan and other members to have their eyes open to see how Norway will select the most suitable insurgent group in the Himalaya region to train, fund and supply them with high-tech communication equipment, etc. so that once in, Norway will be required to stay on. They will also get Co-Chairs to act as puppets to Viking music for the international recognition. Norway is a clear failure in the peace building exercise in all their ventures and it is indeed unfortunate how poor nations are be led by kronars and dollars while the friendly countries selfishly keep their eyes shut. Our Asian friends should wake up and expose the Viking adventure in South Asia. RANJITH SOYSA - ---------------------------------------- Press freedomToday, many view freedom of the press solely in terms of overcoming government oppression and censorship. However, the fundamental moral requirement of all communication is respect for and service of the truth. By accurately reporting events and correctly explaining issues, the media has a strict duty to foster justice and solidarity in human relationships at all levels of society. The media serve freedom by serving truth: they obstruct freedom to the extent that they depart from what is true by disseminating falsehoods or creating a climate of unsound emotional reaction to events. Only when people have free access to true and sufficient information can they pursue the common good and hold public authority accountable. If the media is to serve freedom, they themselves must be free and correctly use that freedom. Their privileged status obliges the media to rise above purely commercial concerns and serve society's true needs and interests. The communications media are key actors in today's world, and they have an immense role to play in building that trust. Their power is such that in a few short days they can create the positive or negative public reaction to events which suit their purposes. Reasonable people will realize that such enormous power calls for the highest standards of commitment to truth and goodness. PAUL KOKOSKI - ---------------------------------------- 'Seek help from Russia, China'With reference to L. Jayasooriya's letter, suggesting we seek assistance from Russia, China etc., I think we should not seek assistance from ANY country; we should harness our own energy and make a real effort to overcome every problem and make our own plans to develop this country. We should kick out the World Bank, the Norwegians, the Japanese and every other so called help tanks. As Mr. Jayasooriya says, none of these countries are here because they love us, or want to be charitable. They have Hidden Agendas. It is too late when we realize the real reason why they are here. We should, starting at the very top, tighten our belts and really work hard for the sake of this, and following generations. Russia is a wealthy country from the point of view of 'frozen' assets such as oil, metal etc. yet untapped. They are yet unable to fully feed themselves and as we saw recently in the case of Georgia when Russia cut-off Natural Gas at the height of Winter, it also affected the whole of Western Europe, so much so that France and Germany are seeking other sources for their energy needs. Obviously, many in Sri Lanka are unaware of this episode. China is a wealthy nation, with the largest single population but with a wide gap between the rich and poor. The cause for the high cost of oil at present is because China's demand for domestic consumption. How can these countries help us? KUMARA SOYSA - ---------------------------------------- Bump, bump over manholesI wish to draw the attention of the respective road engineers, that some of the highways are well maintained by attending to the dent and damages of the existing roadways, but have failed to raise the existing man-holes in the middle of the highways, to the existing road level. as a result some of us have fallen victims, specially the sick and the disabled due to the sudden impact while travelling by vehicles. It is time that the authorities concerned take immediate action to raise the road level of these man-holes to the existing highways before a major accident occurs. M. I. M. Mudassir - ---------------------------------------- Buddhism and meat eatingI read with interest the letter by U. N. Nanayakkara on the above subject in the Daily News. Although the Buddha did not approve eating meat, there is no sin involved if flesh from an animal who died as a result of an accident is consumed. Mr. Nanayakkara goes on to say that it is a sin to kill or encourage killing. That is correct. Then we as Buddhists will have to starve as we cannot even eat rice and vegetables as farmers use to kill thousands and thousands of insects in order to protect their cultivations and sell their products to us. Animals and insects all have lives. SHELTON PEIRIS - |
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