Time to crack down hard on LTTE
An attempt by the LTTE to target the
highly effective Mig aircraft of the Air Force at the Katunayake air
base has resoundingly failed, but the botched effort leaves a trail of
questions to be answered by mainly the world community. For one thing,
here's confirmation - if confirmation is needed - that the Tigers do not
have even an iota of peace on their minds.
While claiming to abide by the CFA they have targeted a State
institution in a show of disdain of the political process which the
State has been championing. Clearly, a negotiated, political solution is
farthest from the LTTE's designs.
The world needs to make its inferences from this demonic conduct of
the LTTE. Could the LTTE be trusted to cooperate with the State in
bringing forth a political solution? This is the question that needs to
be answered. Could it be counted on to abide by the CFA in word and
spirit? This question too is crying out for an answer.
That the LTTE has some capability to launch light aircraft is no
secret. The Defence column in this newspaper has time and again drawn
attention to it. The LTTE air strip at Kilinochchi is, in fact, almost
common knowledge. Certainly the international community cannot plead
ignorance on this score. The SLMM and most Western diplomats would have
been fully aware of it.
However, for some unaccountable reason, the LTTE was allowed to get
away with it. Taking this complacency for weakness, the LTTE has now
gone so far as to launch an air attack against a legally - constituted
government which the world recognises and does business with.
This aborted attack on the Lankan State should bring to the minds of
Western publics and their governments the barbaric horrors of September
11.
On the latter date they formed a staggering impression of the
blood-chilling madness, terrorists are capable of unleashing on the
world. The same is true of the LTTE and the failed attempt on the
airbase should be a reminder that the world can no longer stand idly by
and allow the LTTE to engage in its demented ways.
From the point of view of brutality and lunacy, the LTTE is an easy
match for the authors of the September 11 hellfires. As is well known,
the LTTE is the most demonic of terror outfits and it goes without
saying that those behind September 11 may have taken a leaf from the
LTTE.
So, what is the world waiting for? The time's more than ripe for a
united, coordinated drive by the world to crack down on the LTTE and to
outlaw it forever.
It should be also known that the Tigers entertain no scruples. Their
wanton attack on the Western diplomats in the East bore this out. They
would not allow anybody or anything to get in between them and their
demonic ends.
Let the world then close ranks against the Tigers and ensure that
they are defeated into submission. It must do this before it is too
late. |
Unite rather than divide if we are to have peace
Yet when Generals Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Wijaya
Wimalaratne died, the civilians and the soldiers stood as one. There
was an outpouring of grief as never before. It was long after them
that we started tasting defeat. Yet through all this there was never
any doubt in the minds of the rural people especially that we would
win in as much as the LTTE resolve too never faltered.
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Tigers admit having an airstrip
It was April 2004 the Tigers admitted to the Sri
Lanka Monitoring Mission that they have an airstrip. The Sunday
Times and The Island had told the world about it. Nobody cared,
nobody bothered. Former President Kumaratunga did not bother. The
international community turned a blind eye.
Full Story
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