Let’s unite once more against the UN (LTTE) lies!

By Ian

All of us have heard of the latest ‘findings’ of the UN appointed panel. It looks like it’s a copy/paste from the TamilNet in early 2009. My issue is how these people who write and also comment on the report do that in isolation from the main issue. Lets for a moment assume that what is written in the report actually happened. In that hypothesis I like to invite the attention of all to the following.

Srebrenica genocide memorial in Potocari. Gordon Weiss can have his 15 minutes of fame but not by demeaning the victims of Srebrenica genocide by comparing it to what happened in Sri Lanka to save civilians

1.If it happened, then it happened to put an end of violence and killing that lasted for 30 years. In any war there is collateral damage. If this did not end it would have killed another 300-400,000 for another 30-40 years.

2.The original plan was to complete the war in 2010. It was the West and the Millibands who pushed the hand of the Government for an early finish. The Millibands played a game for their own benefit. The Government had two options. Stop the war and ‘negotiate’ and drag it for another two to three generations or expedite and take risks of higher human casualties. Considering the suffering of many, the Government made the right decision and that was to expedite. So again if it happened then it happened as the West was pushing for a ceasefire that would have dragged the issue for decades with many more loss of lives.

3.It was the members of LTTE (and on their payroll) who marched in major roads in major cities in the West. Their intention was NOT to avert the civilian killings. They were hard selling ‘genocide’ to get a ceasefire and breathing space for LTTE to regroup and re-arm. This is exactly the Government didn’t let happen. The Government/defence forces had to expedite operations to ensure that the hidden agendas of the Eelamists or the West were not met. Therefore if what is said happened, it happened due to the actions of the west and Eelamists.

4.It was LTTE who is responsible for deaths as it was them who took the innocent civilians as human shield and placed rocket positions among the civilian tents. The option for the Government was do nothing and drag on as one cannot bomb the positions as it would endanger the civilians or to make a military judgment and bomb (knowing that there will be some collateral damage) for the greater good. Again, if it happened, then it happened to conduct a legitimate war against an illegitimate outfit and not for the love of killing civilians. I also wonder what other options were. Don’t civilians get killed every day in Afghanistan even with the availability of much smarter weapons for the allies? I also wonder as the panel is now free, can’t we appoint them to investigate the USA’s bombing of civilians in Afghanistan?

5.It was the LTTE that moved in to the no fire zone established for civilians. I wonder whether the UN or the West offered an option to the Government to separate the civilians from the terrorists. The defence forces managed to get the civilians out and kill the enemy. They reached their objective. Therefore again, if it happened, it happened in the process of separating the civilians and rescuing the civilians from the armed terrorists.

6.Unlike the defence forces, the terrorists don’t wear uniforms or labels. Hence the filtering process was necessary to ensure that LTTE did not infiltrate the masses and recommence their activities that would naturally put the hardships back on the innocent Tamil civilians. Hence, how can the UN panel find wrong with the camps as it was done for future good of the people? Therefore, if anything untoward happened in these camps that was not part of the strategy of the Government or the defence forces.

7.Gordon Weiss, a former UN Spokesman in Sri Lanka during the final years of the island war, has told British television programme Channel 4 News that the leaked report into “credible allegations” of war crimes represent Sri Lanka’s “Srebrenica moment”. According to Wikipedia, Srebrenica genocide refers to the July 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by units of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) under the command of General Ratko Mladić during the Bosnian War. According to Wikipedia, a paramilitary unit from Serbia known as the Scorpions, officially part of the Serbian Interior Ministry until 1991, participated in the massacre. The forcible transfer of between 25,000 to 30,000 Bosniak women, children and elderly who accompanied the massacre was found by the ICTY to be evidence of the genocidal intent of members of the VRS Main Staff who orchestrated the massacre. This is genocide and ethnic cleansing. This did not happen in the Sri Lankan war. If this kind of massacre happened in the north and the east, the Government and defence forces could have completed the war in a maximum of three months with much less casualties to the forces.  The long time and the large number of casualties the defence forces had to suffer were to save civilian lives and not to destroy. Gordon Weiss can have his 15 minutes of fame but not by demeaning the victims of Srebrenica genocide by comparing it to what happened in Sri Lanka to save civilians. This comment shows the malicious intentions of the so-called UN personnel who are on an agenda or well paid by the Eelamists. The SLDF fought four months when LTTE was cornered and they took positions in the no fly zone.

While I totally believe that this report and its contents are malicious and erroneous, I invite everyone to consider the fact that would the so-called killings (if it happened) would have happened:

nIf the LTTE didn’t take the civilians as human shield and engaged in whatever warfare they were engaged in.

nIF LTTE stooges took to streets to get the West to force a ceasefire (that forced the hand of the Government for an expedited conclusion).

nIf the LTTE didn’t occupy a no fire zone that was meant for civilians.

nIf the West which claims to possess smart weapons of surveillance held the defence forces with the technology to solve the issue of terrorists among large number of civilians in no fire zone.

Victim’s belongings found inside a Srebrenica genocide mass grave in Snagovo. Srebrenica genocide refers to the July 1995 killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys

nIf the west (Millibands) didn’t try to force the Government for a ceasefire considering they knew the modus operandi of the LTTE with regard to the ceasefires and the damage that could have continued to happen if the Government didn’t do what it did.

The TNA who are praising the UN report do not have any shame as they know that whatever the collateral damage that happened, happened solely due to the actions of LTTE, its supporters and the Western politicians who were either on payroll or on vote blackmail by the Diaspora. If you want the Government to be upright on negotiating, why don’t you also upright and express the balance view and tell the truth?

The Government (the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Gen. Sarath Fonseka) together with the other commanders and the troops had a well-laid-out plan to complete the mission with the weapons from friendly nations, small boats squadrons, strategies and also the motivation to fight to a finish, with much less casualties.

Hence, if there were casualties, then it is a result of the selfish agendas and strategies of the LTTE and the West and UN (such as Pillai) that is responsible and not the troops or the leadership. I do not in any way condone the imprisonment of Gen. Fonseka or the forcing of the national anthem to be sung only in Sinhalese, or the triumphalism and the ‘sale’ of the war victory for elections or any such acts, actions and omissions that happened after the war. That does not mean that a Sri Lankan can be quiet thinking that it is the country’s leadership that is in trouble. We have to see beyond our party colour and our race. This is a major episode of the Eelam campaign that rode on lies and deception from day one going to a bigger stage with the UN stamp. Regardless of what our opinions or beliefs of the current politics of the country, it is the duty of every person regardless of political beliefs, race or religion to stand up with one voice. It is also the duty of the Tamils who were spared of extortion, enlistment and harassment of the LTTE by the ending of war to speak up.

It is clear as black and white. You know the lies of LTTE and how they exploited you. You know how they shot you when you tried to flee from their captivity. You know you are better off without them. You know what really happened. Please speak up for the sake of the truth and most importantly, future unity and prosperity of all of us.

I for one am proud that small Sri Lanka managed to win this war against the most ruthless terrorist group. The win was in the backdrop of an unbelievable and unprecedented level of internal and external issues and pressures. Therefore we have to re-enact the information and cyber battles all of us fought in our own way during the war to ensure that this so-called UN report would not be another step in the ladder to be used in a future date by the Eelamists.

This report is not an attack on a person or the Leader of the country. This is an attack on Sri Lanka. All political, religious, communal, business and society leaders should speak on this issue in one voice.

The Sri Lankan Diaspora should educate friends and colleagues of these issues and also the circumstances and motivations of the people behind this report and the campaign against Sri Lanka. Members of any party who do not support this should resign or not support the party anymore. One cannot allow anyone to capitalise their political motivations on this issue here or abroad.

We should in one voice communicate to Ban Ki-moon in no uncertain terms that we cannot let him play with Sri Lanka to get the help of the West for him to get re-elected. We should let him know that his intentions are as shameless as the Millibands who attempted to risk the future of a country to win an electorate in UK elections. He should retire gracefully without prostituting the seat of Secretary General.