Tamilnation > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Conflict Resolution - Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka > Norwegian Peace Initiative > Ceasefire Agreement & Lifting of Ban on LTTE > De-proscription of LTTE a shortsighted strategy says Brahmin owned Hindu

De-proscription of LTTE a shortsighted strategy 
says Brahmin owned Hindu

also Comment by Shan on the Maha Vishnu of Mount Road and its Poisonous Pen

7 September 2002

A misplaced trust in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its ruthless leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has led the Sri Lankan Cabinet to concede a key pre-condition set by this terrorist outfit that it be de-proscribed ahead of talks that will begin from September 16. Sri Lanka's Defence Minister, Tilak Marapone, declared yesterday that the ban on the LTTE had been lifted with immediate effect. The LTTE is engaged in a desperate search for legitimacy knowing full well that the current of international opinion runs strong in its abhorrence of terrorist organisations which rely solely on violence to promote their agendas.

This organisation has done nothing to prove that it has irrevocably abandoned violence as an instrument of policy, or that it has irreversibly embarked on a democratic orientation or that it is ready to abide by a pluralistic and inclusive solution to Sri Lanka's social problems. To accord legitimacy to the LTTE before it is even prepared to consider redeeming itself in these matters could turn out to be a fatal mistake. The LTTE's track record, vis-a-vis Sri Lanka as well as India, leaves no doubt that it treats periods wherein it is accorded some legitimacy as an opportunity to strengthen itself prior to a re-launch of its campaign of violence. This terrorist organisation's intransigence could well be on display as soon as the talks commence in Thailand.

It would have been far more prudent for the Sri Lankan Cabinet to have followed the approach of the President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, that the lifting of the ban on the LTTE should be considered, if at all, only after the talks had progressed to the extent that a positive outcome was in sight.

Instead, and with unwarranted optimism, the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has taken a grave risk in giving way to Mr. Prabhakaran's insistence that the talks mediated by Norway would not commence so long as the ban remained in place.

It is to be hoped that Mr. Wickremesinghe and his Ministers will not be influenced any further by the relative, and probably deceptive calm, that the LTTE has observed over the past few months and succumb to Mr. Prabhakaran's other demand that the interim administration of the northern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka be handed over to his control as soon as the talks get underway. Spokespersons for the Cabinet have said that they will try and ensure the talks are structured in such a way that the interim administration issue is not dealt with preliminary to, and separate from, the core issues. While the LTTE has said - more by a way of a snub to Ms. Kumaratunga than anything else - that it too is prepared to consider the core issues along with the question of the interim administration, its track record leaves no scope for suspending suspicions on this score.

With opposition to the de-proscription plans mounting within the Sinhala community, Ms. Kumaratunga had hinted that "legal avenues'' were available to strike down any decision on these lines. Developments on the judicial front cannot be entirely ruled out but do not appear very likely since the issue is more a political than legal one. The de-proscription of the LTTE occurred soon after Ms. Kumaratunga and Mr. Wickremesinghe met on September 3 and since their discussions covered this issue as well it would appear that they had reconciled their differences in this respect. The reports suggest that Sri Lanka's President and Prime Minister have settled their other differences and it is to be hoped that the consensus arrived at in respect of future interaction with the LTTE is based on a hard-headed and realistic appreciation of the true nature of this terrorist outfit.

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Comment by Shan on the Maha Vishnu of Mount Road and its Poisonous Pen


The ‘Maha Vishnu’ of Mount Road has been oracular again. 

I am referring to the editorial ‘opinion’ recently by the Brahmin newspaper, The Hindu, admonishing the Sri Lankan government regarding (at the time of this editorial) a proposed de-proscription of the LTTE in order to pave the way for the forthcoming peace talks.

The use of the epithet ‘Brahmin’ is not uncalled for in the case of this particular newspaper, and needs some explanation.

Most of us in South Asia know the diabolical ‘caste’ system imposed on the people of India, through which the Brahmins not only hierarchically and permanently divided the people but also degraded them psychologically, wounded them permanently, from which wounds the victims still not have recovered after 3,000 years. In these 3,000 years the Brahmins arrogated and insinuated themselves into political, social, intellectual and religious domination of India and contributed largely to its pitiful condition over the years whereby every foreign adventurer with a handful of fighters took over any part of India he desired. In almost every case the Brahmins were the prime ministers and closet advisors to these foreigners, betraying their country to the foreign attackers, such as in the case of the Arabs in Sind. And even as the Arabs were slaughtering the non-Brahmin Indians in Sind the Brahmins were helping the Arabs consolidate their power and administrative control over the people of Sind.

Thus the main cause of the decline and perdition of India, indisputably are the Brahmins collectively. And this newspaper’s role is archetypical of that sinister Brahminical conspiracy of 3,000 years. The farther south one travels in India, the more oppressive the influence of Brahmins over the ‘native’ population, until one gets to Tamil Nadu where their power and influence are overbearingly dominant. It is in the light of these facts that one should look at the latest comments of The Hindu about the de-proscription of the LTTE because Eelam Tamils refuse to subject themselves to Brahmin domination.

The opening sentence sets the tone for its fanatical anti-Tamil attitude. “A misplaced trust in the LTTE and its ruthless leader…” A trust is not misplaced unless events eventually prove any deceitfulness. India’s trust in the Brahmins has proved over and over again to have been misplaced by events. But Prapakaran has proved to be a man of his words even when he warns one not to cross him. As for The Hindu epithet “ruthless”, read it as “fiercely combative”. The Hindu thinks that this is ‘bad’ when it comes to the Tamils – it is called prejudice and The Hindu editors are born that way.

The last sentence of this paragraph, almost every word is a cliché, is ‘verbal garbage’ against the LTTE. To quote: “The LTTE is engaged in a desperate search for legitimacy knowing full well that the current of international opinion runs strong it its abhorrence of terrorist organizations which rely solely on violence to promote their agenda.” One cannot say that the LTTE is desperately looking for legitimacy in one paragraph, and later on say in the next paragraph that it is planning to launch a “campaign of violence”.

The second paragraph of this ‘opinion’ starts with the most amazing statement. “This organization (LTTE) has done nothing to prove that it has irrevocably abandoned violence as an instrument of policy or it has irreversibly embarked on a democratic orientation or that it is ready to abide by pluralistic or inclusive solution to Sri Lanka’s social problems”.

What is incredibly inept about the above quoted statement is that it calls for a proof of future state of affairs. Besides, this statement, more aptly should have been directed not at the LTTE but at the Kumaratunga-Kadirgama ‘Klan’ which, evidently, is the darling of that paper. (What is the payback? A Brahmin never harbours any genuine love).

‘Violence’ was not LTTE’s instrument of policy but is self-defence and probably will continue to be. Violence as an instrument of aggression had been the sole province Kumaratunga’s government. And it was that government that pursued, with extreme passion and intensity, the successive Sinhala governments’ policy of marginalizing the Tamils economically, culturally and politically. There was no intention, nor policy, of ‘pluralism’ or ‘inclusivity’, ever articulated by the Sinhala leaders until recently when faced with the prospect of separation. Even now Kumaratunga consorts with the worst racist elements and is committed to a monolithic Buddhist state. LTTE is not fighting against social problems (if any, they are the ancient problems imposed by the Brahmins) but against attempts to liquidate the ethnic Tamils.

“To Accord legitimacy to the LTTE before it is even prepared to consider redeeming itself…” goes the next sentence in that paragraph. Redeeming? LTTE does not (and the vast majority of Eelam Tamils do not) consider itself a sinner, nor does it go the peace talks as a guilty party; LTTE is the redeemer of the Tamils!

Further, The Hindu says that in the interval of legitimacy will be used by the LTTE to strengthen itself and as soon as the talk starts it will be intransigent.

Firstly, the Sinhala government will also strengthen itself, as it has always done, and the LTTE is more handicapped than the government in terms of the MoU to import arms.

Secondly, one has a sense of what The Hindu implies by the word ‘intransigence’. In its jaundiced view any insistence on the just demands of Eelam Tamils is intransigence.

The Hindu uses the phrase ‘track-record’ more than once in its reference to LTTE, pejoratively of course, but its own ‘track-record’ in its reporting of the Eelam Tamils’ struggle had always been, in every sense, despicable.

The Tamils of Eelam should never forgive nor forget this paper’s role. Its virulent malice toward us, its conniving reporting garbled to suit its anti-Tamil agenda, its attempts to sabotage the peace process, are unmistakable proof of its poisoned pen.

One of the first acts that LTTE should seriously consider is to totally ban this paper in Eelam and make its staff persona-non-grata. We cannot have venomous reptiles trying to do what they know best.

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