Tangalla triumphs over Attanagalla

Partymen surround President Mahinda Rajapakse after his appointment as the SLFP leader. Pic by Sudath Silva

President Mahinda Rajapakse Wednesday emphasised that the decision to amend the SLFP Constitution, thereby paving the way for him to take over the leadership, was not a decision against his predecessor Chandrika Kumaratunga. He declared that this was the second mandate he received to defeat terrorism.

The change of SLFP leadership takes place in the backdrop of the LTTE stepping up attacks, resulting in considerable losses of men and material on both sides.

The Amendments would automatically make the President the leader of the party. The party also created posts for four senior Vice Presidents, 10 Vice Presidents, General Secretary, National organizer, eight deputy Secretaries and Treasurer

Addressing the SLFP executive committee, at the auditorium of the Petroleum Corporation, adjoining Temple Trees, after the executive committee ratified a Central Committee decision, taken on the previous day, Rajapakse acknowledged that the change of leadership coincided with Kumaratunga’s birthday. "We never planned to effect the leadership change on her birthday," he said. The President expressed the belief that the executive committee members would not believe that the party arranged the take-over process to coincide Kumaratunga’s birthday. He urged party seniors not to believe in UNP propaganda. He cautioned the party against what he termed as political dead ropes given by the UNP.

Ministers Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Anura Bandaranaike and SLFP Treasurer Mangala Samaraweera were notable absentees.

Recalling the then party leader Sirimavo Bandaranaike giving him the responsibility of the Beliatta electorate, Rajapakse reiterated his commitment to party and the Bandaranaikes. He claimed that he hesitated to take over the leadership due to his loyalty to the Bandaranaikes. "We will not forget their sacrifices. Prime Minister Bandaranaike, Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Madam Chandrika Kumaratunga courageously led the party," he said. He emphasized Chandrika Kumaratunga’s role in reviving the party ultimately leading to their return to power in August 1994. "Had it not been for the perseverance of Kumaratunga in 1994, the party could not have been extricated out of the quagmire it was in, since 1977."

Rajapakse said that the Amendment was meant to strengthen the party thereby paving the way for a 50-year coalition rule. The President pointed out the absurdity in not having the party under his control even after securing the presidency. "There were practical difficulties," he said, adding, "you would face the same problem if I held on to the post after the end of my tenure as the President. Think about that." Rajapakse assured that he would quit the leadership of the party simultaneously with leaving the presidency. He also assured that the competent and honest people would always be able to secure any post in the party.

Claiming that he was troubled by the new responsibility, Rajapakse acknowledged that the change would have troubled Messrs Anura Bandaranaike, Maithripala Sirisena and Ratnasiri Wickremanayake.

Island by Shamindra Ferdinando and Franklin R. Satyapalan

Blind leading the blind, CMC in a ditch

 The spectacular chaos over the Colombo Municipal Council election exploded in pandemonium yesterday when the controversial council held its first meeting presided over by the equally controversial Mayor Imtiyaz U. Mohamed.

The uproar which eventually led to fisticuffs started when the opposition demanded the election of standing committee members before the speeches of members could begin.

Responding to this the Mayor said that members should be allowed to speak first. Since there was no agreement he adjourned the sessions for five minutes. When the sessions recommenced a large number of members including members of the Spectacle group called for the election of standing committee members. Later the Mayor who was under pressure left after adjourning the sessions. It was later reported that he was taken to Cinnamon Gardens Police Station for protection.

However the majority of the members stayed behind while the staff members including Municipal Secretary Manel Dharmadasa tried to walk out when UPFA Member Tony Ramzi prevented her by pushing her.

After the Mayor left Opposition Member Dayakantha Perera went to Deputy Mayor S. Rajendran, grabbed him and took him to the Mayor’s chair and made him sit there.

Later the Deputy Mayor called for a discussion but it was rejected by the members. Mr. Rajendran then said he had to refer the matter to the Municipal Commissioner and the Legal Department. However Opposition Leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara responded by saying that the law gives the Deputy Mayor power to conduct the sessions. Mr. Rajendran then said he was ready to commence the sessions. At that moment MMC Ramzi started ringing the quorum bell. While he was doing so UPFA member Ajantha Liyanage pushed him resulting in fisticuffs. While the two members were so engaged Mr. Rajendran and Ms. Dharmadasa left the chambers.

Later Mr. Nanayakkara said the opposition would resort to elect its own Mayor citing the law. He said when the Mayor does something illegal the members can elect a new mayor. He said the whole thing was a conspiracy of the UNP. He also blamed Municipal Commissioner Dr. Jayantha Liyanage saying that he was helping the UNP.

“We will take disciplinary action against the Commissioner and the other staff members” he said.

The opposition also accused former UNP councillors of directing the mayor from outside the chamber. Dr. Liyanage dismissed Mr. Nanayakkara’s claim saying that no one can conduct the sessions when Mayor adjourns it.

“ I am not working for the interests of the UNP as I am from the UPFA,” he said.

The next session of the council is due within 15 days.

Daily Mirror By Yohan Perera

A peak into the Kingdom of the Sun God

Catapult Thangavelu on the Kappang Highway

How Olav Jacobson and Jan Larson along with their Sri Lankan guide-cum-driver gained acceptance to visit Wanni and even see some places including a suicide bombers’ camp in this bandit territory is a mystery. We have it from reliable sources that the permission to visit certain sites within the territory became a contentious issue between two groups in the LTTE leadership and finally the weaker one had to yield to the stronger, more because bad international publicity was feared during a major leadership tussle in Wanni.

Jacobson and Larson are not Norwegians; they are believed to be Danish and are Nordic anyway and suddenly Sri Lanka is big news in Scandinavia. The Norwegians have failed miserably in their peace facilitating process. The Tigers do not want the Swedes, Danes and the Finnish and now, who else is left to talk to the two contending parties; Maldivians, Mauritians and Mauritanians? The truth is that they don’t want to talk to anybody because they can’t talk; they lack the conference and the forum skills, let alone any ideas about what democracy means.

Jacobson and Larson thought it was the right moment to explore the mood in Wanni, aware that several western journalists were already eying for assignments in Sri Lanka. They did not waste time wondering whether to or not to, but jumped the KLM flight and made it to Colombo. After making the right contact among the guide-cum-driver fraternity in the capital, they made their way to Wanni.

Their primary goal was to find why the Norwegians failed in Wanni after making close friendships with some of the Wanni leaders especially Zoo-Paa. They were also fascinated with the way the Sun God, a recluse in arms guarded by children – other peoples’ – was ruling the territory. Not even the Irish leprechauns are armed and yet they guard pots of gold. While Wanni is a tragic reality, the other is a lovely myth.

One early afternoon Jacobson, Larson and their driver arrived in Omanthai and passed through the government point without any difficulty. At Tiger Point in Kilinochchi they were rigorously questioned and permission had to be sought from the headquarters. Since whites are gods in Wanni and seen as good propaganda potential and despite some opposition to their visit, they were allowed in with information about where to stay and whom to meet but advised strongly not to stray around on their own.

They warned them that men from a rebel group had infiltrated into Wanni and may face some personal danger. While the journalists were given somewhat decent accommodation, the driver was directed to the servant’s quarters, country food and pre-World War II amenities. Such was the state of the facilities for the lesser humans, the smaller job of convenience had to be performed behind the bush; the major was to be in an old-fashioned outhouse down the end of the compound where one could watch the stars as a diversion.

That night when the driver answered a minor call behind the bush, he went all blue at the sight of an armed sentry whom he nearly sprayed with human brine. She was hardly seventeen and giggled at his predicament but obliged by moving away to give him the privacy he preferred. She told him, however, that he could have done it outside his door. He dared not ask any questions from her for fear of being suspected as a spy or even as a Karuna infiltrator. In Wanni, justice is instant and the trigger delivers the sentence straightaway; no records are made and no one talks about it.

Until late that night the two journalists were engaged in conversation with two of the leaders who hardly spoke English but were aided by an elderly interpreter. It was all about the touchy and sensitive issue of certain sites which the journalists wanted to visit. Their credentials were strong and the two ‘developing factional’ leaders found it hard to come to terms with each other until the ‘emerging one’ made the decision.

Incidentally the Tamil spoken in Wanni is coarse, parodied mockingly as Wanniyan, the Tiger mother tongue. Nothing is expressed in polite terms. Every one communicated in harsh terms using a great deal of choice expletives. It certainly seemed an area where violence ruled in language and in action. There were times the interpreter himself had trouble with words that threateningly flowed from the tongues of the big men there. No one talks about Sangam literature in Wanni; in Wanniyan everything Indian is taboo.

In the morning even before the local roosters had their dawn say, the driver was asked to meet the boss man of that place and was warned not to keep him waiting. It turned out to be quite a harangue and rant about where he came from, how long he had been a driver and whether he had been to Wanni before and also how he came to meet the suddhas (the whites). Satisfied with his explanation, he was told 30% of his fees for the services to the Danish guys would be charged as taxes to be paid to the Wanni coffers; that was quite a slice but the driver would have protested at his peril.

Soon after breakfast accompanied by the elderly interpreter and an armed guy barely 16 years old, the party went to certain places already identified to them driving in their Lexus. The road was so bad that the occupants felt they were being massaged all through the drive. Their first call was at the camp for suicide bombers.

The girl soldiers called themselves the Black Tigers and seemed eagerly waiting for the day they could blast themselves to eternal glory causing utter mayhem for the cause of Tamil liberation or go for a traitor sentenced for execution in this manner. It was obvious they were brainwashed from a very young age, even drained of all human feelings by abuse and imparted with a myth of heavenly salvation that awaits them once their deed was done. It is a twofold myth inculcated into a human being who is rendered into a robot: personal salvation and liberation for the Tamils. Their humanity ended the day the LTTE laid hands on them.

All that they uttered in high-flown rhetoric that even impressed Olav and Jan unfamiliar with the Tamil language was pure indoctrinated stuff, planted into pubescent minds first emptied of normal childhood and adolescent instincts. The world is supposed to believe that the Sun God of Wanni loves children; so did the witch in the Hans and Grethal story and she had her own agenda for them, and the similarities are utterly ghastly and grisly.

These young ladies, however, appreciated the packets of chewing gum and ballpoint pens Olav and Jan gave them with childish babble and burble and the elderly interpreter turned a blind eye; may be that was the first time he saw these young people in a light-hearted mood.

Something that struck the driver with surprise while going about within the bounds strictly allowed to them was there were a number of Sinhalese workers inside the Wanni territory. Recognizing the driver as one of their kind, a worker engaged in a painting job, greeted him in Sinhalese. He felt rather taken aback and felt he had to say that he was a Tamil from upcountry, not Jaffna. His years of growing up in the central hill stations and schooling in Sinhala helped him to take that position. It seemed necessary for him to do that; just a strong intuition. After all they were in a scary strip of land where human feelings have been wiped out and replaced with ruthless brutality pursuing a mythical dream riding the horses of horror and pestilence.

A little further they saw what was more like an Alice in Wonderland spectacle. A number of elderly men and women and some very old and frail were being drilled to be in readiness to fight, as the Drill Sergeant another teenaged brat told them, to fight the Sinhala enemy. They were not drilling with guns but with sticks and staffs. Their facial expressions were pathetic.

They had to agree to be drilled otherwise the chances were that they would be summarily executed; this was authentic Pol Pot in action in Wanni. It was clear the journalists were taken to this site to impress on them that the civilian people wanted to be trained to give their share in the liberation struggle. If that was indeed the intention, then it was counter productive.

Wherever they went they only saw teenagers some in Tiger fatigue but most though armed with real guns yet in sarongs and slippers. From whatever the elderly interpreter tried to convey to the group, it appeared there were about 7500 armed cadres, may be a little less and not more, and more than half of them children. This is a horrible state of affairs. The whole area, they saw was littered with bunkers, counting whatever was visible to them, and many built in concrete like mini fortresses and made to last decades. There must be an intricate network of tunnels linking all of them.

It is said ever since certain recent incidents in Wanni, Zoo-Paa takes his walks inside these tunnels and for which he got specially equipped with Norwegian-made night vision glasses and tunnel lamps. But he and all other Tiger leaders are not allowed to get anywhere near the Groundhog Hole where the Sun God lives 364 days of the year; 365 during leap years. The privilege of visiting him there has only been extended to a British citizen Anthony Bala, something that has irked and irritated Zoo-Paa for sometime now.

While moving around they kept their eyes for any of the leaders even though they were told that they were all there in their various quarters like monastery monks and hardly left them; they are paranoiac about Karuna infiltrators. The visitors could not say whether they were above or below the ground but the interpreter seemed to have told them that ever since the Kebettigollewa massacre, Zoo-Paa has been staying in his luxurious underground shelter, which has a periscope fixed to it to scour the skies for enemy aircraft.

Zoo-Paa has a Sinhalese houseboy to provide his daily shave and manna. He will not trust anyone else near him with a razor close to his throat, even a relative. During his last visit to Oslo he had picked up a few razors of the jack-knife type from a flea market when he chanced on one believed to have been used by the barber of a Norwegian crown prince before the First World War. Zoo-Paa’s people have been specialists in this art for several generations and their roots go back to Thiruvarur in India; that’s the same as that of the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, M Karunanidhi.

Their visit to an orphanage had a message of its own; poignant and painful. It was a heart-rending Wanni melodrama for the visitors. It was too proper, too clean, too efficient and quite a remarkable window display to show the world that the Sun God loves all children and Wanni is a young peoples’ Shangri La, the way it was conceived as an earthly paradise of a permanently happy land in James Hilton’s 1933 novel, Lost Horizon. The Tigers should have named it Sham-bhala sans the mystic meanings of it.

On their drive back to Colombo most of the way the shell-shocked journalists and their driver were silent. They stopped over in Maradankadawela for refreshments and again in Atttanagala to visit the Bandaranaike Samadhi, and later for dinner. Olav and Jan compensated the driver with Rs.30,000.00 the amount the Tiger tax collector strangely but significantly called Mathew collected from him as a tax on his three-day wages.

Seated opposite to me in the teashop, resting her chin on her left palm with her elbow at ninety degrees to the tabletop and firmly posted, and with an expression that indicated both surprise and concern, Punchi Puli acca listened to my tale with rapt attention. She wondered how I had come to know in such detail about the visit of the journalists. I had to remind her that on Kappang Highway there are great many sources that have their links inside the Wanni Bandit Zone.

Just about everything that happens there gets reported to the outside world and we are all living in times when even our integrity has a price and all that matters is our very survival. As people begin to realize that the Wanni bandits can spell the extinction of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the survival instincts take over. Yesterday it was Karuna but who will be the next, and this is what is speculated highly today. After all even the Norwegians were given a thundering slap on their faces.

Punchi Puli acca said she had heard enough for one day. She didn’t want her absence to be noted for on this day she had spent over an hour listening to the visit of two journalists and their driver to Wanni. This visit she said was most significant because two of the leaders were most unhappy about it especially to have been allowed to see the orphanage, the suicide bombers camp and where the old and the frail were being drilled.

When she left, I wondered whether all that I told her was indeed an incredible dream; perhaps a vision in a trance that unfolded the tragedy of our time and a nation of people about to become history because a modern day Pied Piper of Hammelin had moved its children and young people into the wilds to feast them to the devils.

Let’s forget Rajiv; we need your help : Balasingham begs India…

After fifteen years of his killing, the Gandhi family received another note of condolence for late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi from the killer himself. The "Doctor of Terror", Anton Balasingham the so called chief negotiator of the LTTE expressed his sincere condolences to India on behalf his "Naughty boy", Terror chief Velupillai Prabhakaran during an interview in a TV channel on Tuesday the 27th of June.

"As far as that event is concerned…I would say it is a great tragedy… a monumental historical tragedy… which we deeply regret, and we call upon the government of India and people of India to be magnanimous to put the past behind…" – Balasingham

Although the above statement of Balasingahm is very much disappointing for the terror sympathizing media people who always waited happily till LTTE claims the responsibility for their crimes; the LTTE leadership has decided it is much wiser at this moment to admit responsibility at least for this single crime.

It is evident that the LTTE leadership desperately wants the Indian people to forget and forgive the "naughty boy" once cajoled by them for behaving so badly. I won’t do it to you again, but please help me to continue with my terrorism in  Sri Lanka; the "naughty boy" seems to beg form India.

"We have made pledges to the government of India that under no circumstance will we act against the interests of the government of India." – Balasingham

Obviously not at this moment, the LTTE knows that the whole world is getting lined up against terrorism. Hence, Prabhakaran wants to convince the Indian government, that he is the "sole representative" of Tamils in Sri Lanka only and never in Thamilnadu;  He needs only his Elam and that he has on interest what so  ever in Tamilnadu. He further assures the Indian government  that he will confine his terrorism to Sri Lanka, only. Well , the Indian government can be sure about it.

It is of course very interesting to see that Prabhakaran being brave enough to admit at least a one single crime that he committed. Unlike other terrorist organizations in the world, that competes with  each other to claim the responsibility of their attacks; the LTTE leadership has never had the guts to admit it’s own deeds. Obviously , no other terrorist organization has ever done shameless crimes such as hacking pregnant women, children and unarmed civilians to death , selecting  pregnant women to be suicide cadres, choosing children as one way fighters and etc.

To conclude, it is worth quoting the editorial of the "Daily News" on 27th June 2006 for the comprehension of all peace loving people in Sri Lanka as well as India

There is one important lesson that we learn, un-learn, re-learn and sometimes forget or are forced to un-remember: the LTTE does not want peace, does not understand peace, does not know the basic principles of democracy and civilised conduct.

Let the nation and the international community understands this: no amount of international pressure, no amount of cajoling, no amount of olive-branches and no amount of suffering for the people he purports to represent will persuade a madman to drop his guns

Read thee full text of the article published on The Hindu on the aforesaid interview:

Courtesy- The Hindu

We killed Rajiv, confesses LTTE

Fifteen years after a LTTE suicide bomber killed Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur, the Tamil rebel outfit on Tuesday admitted its responsibility for the crime and delivered a public apology.

In an interview to a TV network on Tuesday, Anton Balasingham, LTTE ideologue and one of Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s confidants, executed a major shift of policy, describing the May 21, 1991, killing of Rajiv Gandhi as "a monumental historical tragedy".

"As far as that event is concerned…I would say it is a great tragedy… a monumental historical tragedy… which we deeply regret, and we call upon the government of India and people of India to be magnanimous to put the past behind… and to approach the ethnic question in a different perspective," Balasingham said.

Asked if the LTTE could promise that it would not commit such acts again, Balasingham added Thus far, the LTTE has denied that it was responsible for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi. Reacting to the LTTE admission, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said: "It’s good that after so many years they (LTTE) have admitted to having killed Rajiv Gandhi.

For India, it was a national tragedy because Rajiv Gandhi was the most popular leader of his time. Now the question is of fixing responsibility for the crime."

In another interview, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma said it would be impossible to put the past behind, as Balasingham suggested, because India had "rule of law" and it could not be seen to be condoning the politics of violence by rehabilitating the LTTE.

The belated LTTE admission of guilt has less to do with genuine remorse than the compulsion to drive a wedge between India and Sri Lanka, say analysts who have followed the LTTE for years.

At this point, the Tigers’ interest would lie in preventing the growing convergence between India and the Lankan government, particularly in the defence sector, which has ramped up Sri Lankan capability, especially against the LTTE.

Balasingham reminded everyone of the fact that India had initially trained the LTTE, asking it to return to a more active role.

The LTTE statement comes as the outfit finds itself with virtually no friends, especially after the European Union banned it last month. -MoD Sri Lanka

Fighting terrorism the British style

by Shamindra Ferdinando

British High Commissioner in Colombo Dominick Chilcott on Friday declared that the international community and the British government expected the highest standards of conduct from the Sri Lankan security forces, even at this moment of provocation – because they were representing and defending democracy. No nation’s armed forces were perfect – but when serious lapses in discipline occurred, they should be investigated fully and the perpetrators dealt with under the law. Emphasis is mine.

Three days later an LTTE suicide bomber blew up the Sri Lanka Army’s number three Maj. Gen. Parami Kulatunga on High Level road near Pannipitiya as he was being driven to Army headquarters. The killer will be remembered Wednesday (July 5) when the LTTE celebrates the annual Black Tigers’ Day in memory of a TULF MP’s son who carried out the first suicide mission.

Contrary to expectations the government did not at least order retaliatory strikes on pre-identified terrorist targets. This would have gladdened the international community. The government ordered limited retaliatory strikes in the immediate aftermath of high profile terrorist attacks beginning with the April 25 assassination bid on Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Government leaders are on record saying that they would pursue what defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella termed as a tit for tat policy. Did the government’s attitude change due to international pressure?

Chilcott chose a well attended party to celebrate the Queen’s 80th Birthday to pressure the government.

"The British Government shares with other governments and the people of Sri Lanka the strongest sense of horror and outrage at attacks on innocent civilians," he said. He welcomed the President’s statesmanlike call for restraint after the assassination attempt on the Army commander. The British Government shared the President’s belief that a tolerant, multicultural society was the best answer to those who foment hatred and ethnic division, he said.

The tone of Chilcott’s talk did not put off the locals from gobbling up and enjoying the British hospitality. What would have happened if Sri Lankan High Commissioner in the UK Kshenuka Seneviratne urged the British to quit Iraq or any other theatre of operations they were deployed in support of the US military?

Britain went ahead with her Iraq deployment despite protests by major EU powers including the French and Germans.

The government appears to have taken Chilcott’s advice seriously. The bottom line is that the Tigers could blow up Deputy Chief of Staff who may have succeeded the Army Chief even without facing a retaliatory artillery barrage. This would facilitate Tigers’ murderous quest for a separate State in the northern and eastern provinces. Wouldn’t the forces be demoralised?

The likes of Chilcotts should advise the London based Anton Balasingham, a former British High Commission clerk to give up violence. The British passport holder and his Australian-born wife Adele promote terrorism despite the group they represented being a proscribed entity in the 25-nation EU. The involvement of the British in helping the Balasinghams to reach the UK via Thailand after clandestinely leaving Sri Lanka during the CBK presidency and a hardcore LTTE cadre’s visit to HMS Chatham during the vessel’s deployment off Batticaloa in the aftermath of tsunami revealed British double standards. Sri Lanka is one of the few countries which backed the British military action against Argentina over the seizure of the Falklands Island in the 80s.

Sri Lanka has a legal right to self defence under the UN Charter. Are we going to give up this right? Are we merely going to condemn LTTE terrorism? Dear Mr. President, take meaningful action before it is too late.

Dear Mr. High Commissioner please take tangible steps to neutralise Tiger activity. The recent EU ban on the LTTE and the British proscription which came into operation years ago had not neutralised the group. The presence of Balasinghams and many other operatives is evidence that the group was largely free to operate. Funds raised in foreign countries facilitate LTTE terror. The UK based Tamil Diaspora remains perhaps the largest contributor.

A colleague of Chilcott years ago acknowledged this. David Tatham during a visit to Jaffna late August 1998 emphasised the urgent need to prevent overseas funding of the LTTE. Addressing a small gathering, he said, "What I would urge you to do is to appeal to the Tamil Diaspora-to your relatives and friends living abroad-to help, not in destroying this Island but in rebuilding it. I think you should be asking people living in England, Canada, Australia, wherever to send money to restore civilian life." It was Tatham’s third visit to Jaffna since troops brought it under government control in December 1995. Stressing the need for a negotiated settlement to Sri Lanka’s national problem, Tatham said, "WAR WAS WISHED ON THE GOVERNMENT." Emphasis is mine.

Tatham’s visit came in the backdrop of the assassination of Jaffna Mayor Sarojini, the wife of assassinated TULF MP Vettuvelu Yogeswaran. Referring to assassination (of Sarojini), he said, "We have to build the democratic structures of local government and I know that the murder of your previous Mayor was deplored all over the world. This was a blow to democracy and a blow to representative government and everyone saw this. It was an attempt to impose what you have described as gun culture."

Sarojini Yogeswaran’s successor P. Sivapalan who was among the audience as Tatham attacked the LTTE was killed the following month. Mrs. Yogeswaran was killed on May 17 1998. The LTTE blew up Sivapalan inside the building put up during Alfred Duraiappa’s tenure as the Jaffna Mayor.

I knew Parami Kulatunga for over 15 years. A devoted Buddhist, Kulatunga believed in a negotiated settlement but acknowledged the impossibility of bringing the LTTE back to the negotiating table. He strongly believed in no nonsense approach towards the LTTE.

In the aftermath of two claymore blasts last December National Peace Council Chief Jehan Perera claimed "these are tragic yet inevitable results of the stagnant peace process in which the CFA itself is not being fully complied with. The one-page statement dated December 9 justified LTTE terror. I believe the NPC included the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar too in this category. The international community was worse. The UN Security Council insisted on the implementation of the Oslo-arranged CFA. Japan in a statement issued as the serving UN Council’s country president said that UN Security Council wanted the government and the LTTE to implement the provisions of the CFA and to continue their dialogue to attain sustainable peace and stability. This statement came two days after Ambassador Jayantha Dhanapala and Foreign Secretary H. M. G. S. Palihakkara called for an urgent review of the CFA. Dhanapala said that there would have to be a serious review of certain policies and procedures followed upto now in relation to the peace process. Sri Lanka’s call was ignored. Now the LTTE wants to amend the CFA to protest against the EU ban. Did Kadirgamar die in vain? No one will be able to fill his vacancy. HE WAS PEERLESS. As the international community and the British government expected the highest standards of conduct from the Sri Lankan security forces, even at this moment of provocation – because they were representing and defending democracy, the government did not at least order a limited retaliatory attack. Maj. Gen. Vajira Wijegoonewardene who proposed a genuine crackdown on LTTE activity in the city and its suburbs was unceremoniously removed from his command. Maj. Gen. Wijegoonewardene’s action plan was to neutralise the growing threat in the aftermath of Kadirgamar’s assassination.

For the benefit of Colombo-based peace merchants let me reproduce a report by Sky Television. This was in the immediate aftermath of a series of blasts in London on July 7 last year. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair was quoted by Sky Television as saying, "…I think we are quite comfortable that the (shoot-to-kill) policy is right but of course these are fantastically difficult times." Asked if the instructions were to shoot to kill if police believed a suspect was a suicide bomber, he said, "Correct. They have to be that." This statement was made after British police shot 27-year Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes five times believing the illegal immigrant was a suicide bomber. The London police paid for a holiday for one of their colleagues involved in the fatal shooting, a day after at least four suicide bombers botched a second string of attacks across London. The initial blasts in three subway trains and a bus killed over 50 people. Want to know who personally authorised the vacation for the officer involved in the shooting? Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair, Britain’s top cop. All right thinking people would regret the killing of the Brazilian but hats off to Blair for standing by his men. I hope our top brass would do the same. -Island