Archive for the ‘Sri Lanka’ tag
The Hypocracy of War
Not long ago I wrote briefly about my concerns of the United Nations finally deciding to get involved in the LTTE conflict in Sri Lanka – making the point that the ‘international community’ has ignored this conflict for years, and now, only as it nears its end, has it decided to try and do something.
Today we see the full scale of the hypocracy of this action, by attempting to compare it to recent events in Pakistan.
Up to 15,000 troops have been deployed to take on 4-5,000 militants… The fighting has already displaced some 200,000 people, while a further 300,000 are estimated to be on the move or about to flee, the UN says… “We are feeling so helpless, we want to go but can’t,”… The army has also accused the Taleban of holding the civilian population hostage and blocking their exit… The US says the militants in northern Pakistan pose a direct threat to its security, and has demanded they be confronted. Pakistani military spokesman Gen Athar Abbas said the military’s objective was to eliminate the militants from the Swat valley and also the neighbouring districts of Dir and Buner.
Well, you tell me if that doesn’t sound the same situation as Sri Lanka? The difference?
One country has been ignored by the international community, decided to do its own thing, and gets told off in the final minutes. The other, with a nearly identical situation, is given the go ahead to ‘wipe them out’.
This internal conflict could impact on US operations in Afghanistan so the US is all for this action. The LTTE conflict has no direct impact on the US, so they are more than happy to support involvement by the UN to broker a peace deal. Somehow I don’t see the UN being involved in the Pakistan conflict. What’s the bet Pakistan won’t see a UN inquiry?
Current events in Sri Lanka
I’ve wasn’t going to write about the current events in Sri Lanka, but I just wanted to add a voice of support to comments made recently12 by Sanjiva Weerawarana on his blog. I’ve known Sanjiva since mid-2005 when I got involved with the Sahana project that started in Sri Lanka following the Tsunami. I’ve just returned from 6 days in Colombo in late March.
The brief point I want to make is the following. For years, the international community appears to have ignored what has been happening in the LTTE controlled territory in the north and east of Sri Lanka. It was the Sri Lankans that had to deal with many suicide attacks, even some including LTTE controlled jets.
Finally, the Sri Lankans had to take action, and they have. After the global community hadn’t shown any will to resolve the issue. The way that the LTTE have embedded themselves in the civilian Tamil population has made it inevitable that there will be fatailities when going after the LTTE.
However, over the past few months, the Sri Lankan military has effectively reduced the control and influence of the LTTE significantly and restricted them to an increasingly small stretch of land. So much so, the end game is almost here.
My point is that now is not the time for the international community to come wading in and act all righteous about the civilian casualties in the north. To stop the Sri Lankan military now may allow the remaining LTTE to get away, and or regroup. This is the time when the military needs to continue and finish the LTTE off. To stop now, would mean that all of the civilian and Sri Lankan military lives that have been lost to date would have been in vain. They would have been wasted.
No, let the military finish the job, and ensure that all the lives lost were not in vain. To force proceedings to stop now would be akin to stopping the Gulf War in 1991, and then having to go back in another 10 years later to finish the job properly.
The international community has had its chance to assist resolution and failed. Sri Lanka needs to be able to finish what the LTTE started.
On a personal note, it was interesting comparing the state of Colombo from my trip there in late March (2009), to my trip there in September 2005. In 2005, the military presence was transparent. This time round it was as overt as it could possibly be. Countless green sandbag bunkers on every main road, and soldiers everywhere. It seemed to almost be a different city – defined by the military presence. I was staying at the Colombo Hilton in the Fort district, and of course we had the Army headquarters and Government buildings all around us. Of course this meant we were in the safest part of the country. This was clearly a result to the more recent attacks3 against Colombo waged by the LTTE.