Unite to defeat terror

With the horrendousness of LTTE brutality increasing by the day, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's appeal to the country to unite to defeat Tiger terror, we hope, will meet with a ready, positive response.

Opinion-makers and political theorists have split hairs over the years on the definition of terror and who a terrorist is, but the ordinary people easily recognize these eerie political phenomena when they see them. Today the conviction is held by all right-thinking persons that the intentional shedding of innocent blood for a political cause constitutes terror.

There is hardly any need to rack one's brains over it and what is even more remarkable is that terror meets with universal condemnation, except among the demented fringe, operating outside the confines of civilization.

Right now, the LTTE seems to be confirming and reconfirming its identity as a dehumanized gang of terrorists, through its continued attacks on civilian targets.

Sure cases in point are the bus blasts at Nittambuwa and Hikkaduwa. Cruel, barbaric attacks on civilians and civilian centres have been for long a Tiger forte and the recent instances of LTTE barbarity are added proof of the Tigers' degenerate nature. In fact, we are now confronting the evidence that the LTTE's blood lust can never be satisfied.

The more blood it spills, the more it seems to be wanting.

The Tigers' increasing brutality comes in the wake of the Government's insistence that it remains pledged to a negotiated settlement. It also flies in the face of the State's commitment to the CFA. What could be deduced from these premises is that the Tigers' evil designs must be defeated and that LTTE terror should be fought by the country as one man. If this is not done, the Tigers may continue to spill innocent blood and succeed in plunging the country into increasing lawlessness.

To be sure, the ordinary citizenry cannot take-up arms against the LTTE, but they could help defeat terror by denouncing it forthrightly and by helping the State in the task of law enforcement. They can, for instance, enhance State vigilance by full-heartedly participating in Vigilance Committees.

As mentioned by the President, the politicians and religious of the land could help greatly in moulding a peace-loving citizenry. Thus far, there has been a strong tendency in our polity for some sections of the political elite to take the politically expedient course of not denouncing political extremism.

This is tantamount to feeding the flames of extremism and terror. Since terror is the very anti-thesis of democratic governance every section of our polity is obliged to denounce terror and unite in helping to root it out.

However, they should strongly consider helping in the task of fostering a peace-loving polity. In this task they could be joined by our religious. For far too long the majority of our clergy have played a highly formal role in public life. Cloistered virtue is unlikely to help mould a value-oriented society.

The time has come for our religious to play a more activist role in helping to establish a civic society which strongly abides by humane values.

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