Monday, July 17, 2006

perils of tolerating terrorists


lebanon is learning at a huge cost the consequences of tolerating a terrorist group. after hezbollah kidnapped two israeli solders (after killing three) in a cross border raid on 12th (last wednesday), israel started attacking lebanese infrastructure (including power stations, fuel storage, bridges, and air port). about 100 people (almost all civilians) have died in lebanon so far. continuing hezbollah rocket attacks have killed about 12 civilians in israel.

while israel's actions may be disproportionate (peaceniks in sri lanka should do well to compare that with sri lankan government's restraint in the face of far greater provocations), they are also understandable. even if this crisis is resolved, as long as an armed terrorist group like hezbollah controls southern lebanon future flare ups are inevitable. terrorists who refuse to give up violence will always prefer violence to get what they want. their lip service to democracy, freedom, human rights, and justice, will always remain suspect as long as they do not explicitly give up armed struggle. all those who believe that they can buy peace by appeasement should be ready to suffer the same fate as the lebanese.

if this is true about hezbollah- a group that engaged in normal politics, contested elections, tolerated opposition to an extent, and maintained an extensive social service infrastructure for the benefit of population under its control - how much more will it be true about liberation tigers of tamil ealam? ltte does not tolerate any opposition, it annihilates them and it insists on being the sole representative. its idea of politics is preventing people voting by force. and whatever welfare services people under its control have access to ( from education to heath ) are in fact maintained and paid for by the government, with ngos (mostly ingos like unhcr, not the peacenik ones) pitching in a little bit.

terrorists and peace
appeasing terrorists will not result in peace here anymore than in lebanon. as long as ltte remains what it is, peace wont dawn here. no peace agreement will work if there isn't any effective way to control breaches by ltte. make no mistake, like hezbollah it will choose violence to get what it wants, when it wants, agreement or no agreement. after all, for an organization that routinely kills innocents as a policy, breaking a clause or two in an agreement is nothing.

it is only by facing down the terrorists and not giving in to their violence that we can effectively defeat or contain them. that does not mean we should try to defeat them militarily in an all out war. given the limited resources of the country (sri lanka is not israel) that would not work. rather it means refusing to bow down to ltte demands as long as it engages in violence, and deny people freedom, democracy, human rights, and justice. we should make that clear to them at all times, whether they are actively engaged in violence as they are now, or they are engaged in negotiations. while we should try to keep ltte at the table as long as possible if they come, we should also refuse to appease them.

it is up to them to decide, whether to continue with violence that will not bring any results (since we will face them down if they go down that path), to stagnate in a truce (that will progressively weaken them) while refusing to change, or to change fundamentally giving up terrorism permanently.

it is only when there are legitimate democratically elected representatives who are willing to work peacefully that sri lanka can satisfactorily address the very real and legitimate tamil grievances. trying to address them trough the self styled sole representative who believes in terrorism will only postpone (if that) violence, as in lebanon.
--

ps
. its interesting to observe the bias in western media at times like these. i am not referring to the normal and understandable pro israeli bias, which they sometimes consciously try to avoid. rather i am referring to west centric world view. for instance, when reporting on evacuations of foreigners from lebanon all reports concentrate exclusively on western tourists and expatriates. even though statistics indicate that sri lankans alone (about 80,000) outnumber the reported number of western foreigners in lebanon. i am sure there are larger numbers from other third world countries. of course this is as it should be, main consumers of western media are western public and when it come to cnn international and bbc world the same sort of people as those being evacuated. it is our fault to believe that they cater to a wider audience.

10 comments:

Keshi said...

**appeasing terrorists will not result in peace here anymore than in lebanon

and it's appaling to find out that alot of Sri Lankans shamelessly believe in the LTTE!

Keshi.

Komisiripala said...

Hey there...

Didn't you know that the LTTE are the sole representatives of the oppressed and abused tamil minority in Sri Lanka? No really, they are. Coz no one else is left alive. Everyone was systematically executed and LTTE says Govt Forces/Karuna did it and the western media bought it.

Sinn Fein went to Wanni. Must have gone and smoke some serious shit for them to condemn the collective actions of their own government and the rest of the EU. The way I understood it was that it had to be unanimous to pass and since Sinn Fein is SUPPOSED to be part of the process they could have objected blah blah blah. I guess Prabha likes to hear the things he believes...

Someone should seriously point him out for who he is. If it is someone from the Tamil community who is openly contemptous of him, lets see how long THAT freedom of speech lasts in Eelam. An egomaniacal sadist can never be convinced he is wrong, s/he believes themselves to be right always and thats how they are able to sleep with the knowledge that 65000+ peoples deaths and blood are on him. Stalin comes to mind. Lo and behold... so does Prabha.

sittingnut said...

keshi :
you are right about that . :-)

komisiripala:
nice to see you back :-)

agree with most of what you say.
but i think most ppl do see p's lies ( a lot don't as keshi says, but majority do ) . lets hope they will act on it .

ashanthi
what do you believe ? do you seriously think ltte fights for freedom ?

You need to rise above rehtoric and get more into why things happen.
so why do things happen here ? care to give your explanation.

On average, in fact above average, practically all Sri Lankans have come to hate the ltte. Just as they hate the GOSL, it's army, it's ploice and authority on the whole in Sri Lanka.
how did you come to that conclusion? care to give details :-)

The relationship between the ltte and Sri Lankans is one of fact, necessity and as a result of racial and religous violent bigotry.
are you still still trying to justify ltte ? if so be more clear.

For all the comments I've read about appeasing terrorists - it's a damn shame I haven't read anything about appeasing racists and religous bigots. Which, it would appear is going unabated on this blog, courtesy of Sittingnut, whom I also luv dearly.
where did i or anyone appease 'racists and religous bigots' here? care to point out.

this blog will alway challenge anyone who espouse racism, religious bigotry, and/or terrorism. even you if need be. :-)

sittingnut said...

ashathi machan :-)
You're just picking fights and keeping your blog going
really ? i read my comments and i don't think so.

You want me to say that the ltte have done bad things.... the ltte have fucking fucked up and done bad things
thanks . lets hope you continue to do so. and not find excuses for their 'bad things'.

they've even said so themselves.
where ? except for rajive murder ?

Does it really matter if I say they've done bad things too?
yes. i and lot of others have a low opinion of ppl who excuse terrorists.

now lets read your next sentence ....oops! a hope too far ? :-)

one man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter
not so . freedom fighters do not kill innocent ppl as policy. freedom fighters do not kill fellow freedom fighters who work non violently . freedom fighters do not use children as weapons. etc.
if you think so you have a problem.

ltte get all the way through to army headquarters and blow up the Chief of Defence?
what is your point ? are you saying they did not kill him ?
may be they did not bomb the bus either according to you ?

I only ask that you balance it by acknowldging that the ltte did not arise as a result of peace, joy and happy times in the land of Lanka.
whatever was the cause of ltte, that does not excuse its acts. and the causes are not probably what you think. they are not fighting for tamils they just pretend to . it is you who think they do, not most tamils.

Maybe then you might know why "children" join the ltte or get recruited or are forced into recruitment. Who's the enforcing ltte recruiter? Someone who used to live in the refugee camp next door to the HSZ - say maybe five years ago? Someone who got molested, raped
let s forget your unsubstantiated exaggerations and quotation marks for a moment, but answer this: do you think that excuse the ltte ?

...bashed up at a nearby Police station like the balloonman?
police station? :-)

you drive past those police stations every day
yes i do. and do you know how many ppl get killed in them for a year ? 1? 2? 5?
are you condemning all police for handfuill of incidents?
do you know how many get killed in sustralian prisons ?

You want details? I don't think you have the guts to deal with details. Furthermore it's far too dangerous for you to find out these details. In order for you to read these reports you'd have to risk your life so why would you.
lol :-D
admit the fact. you do not have details.
you are increasingly getting sillier in your excuses .:-)

I don't approve of it but reality certainly tells me why it is happening across the length and breath of Sri Lanka. The devil,s/nut is in the detail. Do you have the courage to look him in the eye?
did i say there is no child abuse here? did i excuse it? no
only you as i have said before try to use other kinds of child to excuse, or to not to discuss, ltte's child abuse. that is wrong. shame on you

as for details, i have seen them ( and the devil in them too :-)) . if you have any i have not seen, why not bring them out ? where are they? why are you afiraid to bring them out ?
may bc you do not have them? may be bc you are lying ? :-)

However, can I add one thing, Morq certainly does try to show the other side of the coin. He holds up a mirror and again even though you hound him all over the blog saying that he is an ltte supporter - he certainly is not.
you are free to believe what you want but fact are facts.
in each case where i accused him of anything i had facts to back me up, and i referred to them in my comment . pl point out where i had not.

....he might be an ltte supporter because of his phone number in someone's mobile...
??? ltte ? mobile ? you cannot read english can you ? you seem to have not understood the indi's post or what happened . error prone as it was.
learn to read first.

Is it such an outrage for me to ask that you show the pictures of those murdered and killed by the GOSL army, police and even members of parliament as well?
are you sure they were killed by military ? evidence pl
or even if they are not by criminal elements in it? evidence pl.
are you saying military kill innocents as a policy? as ltte definitely does ?evidence pl.

....The fact you gave me the wrong date didn't help did it now
?! you got the wrong date yourself. :-)
and you know i don't believe that stuff

So is this what the ltte who you grew up with, breathed the same air as and went to school with wanted???
?? what !?

When I say, I understand why one group is commiting violence against another, that does not mean in any shape or form that I agree with it. As I said, I would
sooner shoot myself than shoot anyone else.

justifying a crime is as bad as doing it yourself.

for a change and put yourself in my shoes for a change
i am not going to put myself in your shoes as long as you write such comments. they are wrong (size) :-)

I don't feel any compulsion whatsoever to recurity child soldiers for the ltte.
but you think ( and write here ) that it is justified. imo same thing.

Keshi said...

**Someone who got molested, raped bashed up at a nearby Police station like the balloonman?


Ashanthi r u justifying violence? Just cos someone got raped/molested that doesnt give him/her the right to act the same way, does it? Ofcourse u r free to do what u like, but acting in the same manner as the offender did would be our greatest mistake!


Keshi.

Ryan said...

Israel is a sponsor of terrorism as much as Hamas and Hezbollah. Hezbollah, Hamas, Israel, and America are all terrorists. They systematically attack the citizens of Israel, Palestine, and America. America sends six billion dollars a year to Israel to buy arms to kill Palestinians. Do you remember what happened during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans? That money could have saved the city from the flooding. Our government is a robber baron, ought to plunder the planet of its wealth and goodwill.
Long Live Lebanon!

sittingnut said...

keshi:
:-)

ryan :
i don't think terrorists like hamas and hezbollah are on the same level as isreal or america. there is no comparison. if military forces of isreal and america commit atrocities it is more than likely that hose who commit them will be held accountable. as have happened in the past.
in case of terrorists atrocities they commit are what they are . that is why they should never be tolerated.

in this particular case isreal's actions are disproportionate as i said in the post but with hezbollah acting as it did they did not have any other feasible option imo.

i don't think hurricanes are relevant here :-)

ashanthi :
i suppose that means you wont provide the details? :-)

Anonymous said...

"the ltte have fucking fucked up and done bad things in fact they know they've done bad fucking things and they've even said so themselves" - where have they said that!!?? Even with the Rajiv incident they didn't accept responsibility or apologise!

Somehow anybody who says anything against the LTTE becomes a bigot. Some maybe but the vast majority of people who 'hate' the LTTE hate them because they are standing in the way of our country attempting to come to terms with its past and build a better future. Its not the 'Sinhalese South' that is bayig for an ethnically pure state (only a few extremists) but the LTTE who has a as a policy bedrock of their organization an ethnically pure Tamil state. Who are the real racists? I grew up in a multicultural society in Sri Lanka, the only real threat to that is the LTTE...the Sinhala only nutters are by and large on the fringe.

Also with regard to Sri Lankans as a whole not giving a shit about child abuse as was alleged by the nutters before "Unicef says that Sri Lanka is the first country in South Asia with a national plan of action to combat child sex tourism, and now has "a unique opportunity" to lead the way for other countries in the region." quoted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5197648.stm

sittingnut said...

childof25
good points :-)
and thanks for the link

sittingnut said...

anon at 7/23/2006 5:54 am
go post your spam elsewhere.