Compassion vs. Hypocrisy: Sri Lanka's South unites to help North
We Sri Lankan citizens make up a nation most unfairly
treated by the so- called "International Community" that represents only
the Western countries in recent times. Any
discernible person would perceive this on seeing the large crowds
thronging at places where aid is collected for the war affected people
in the North. Thousands of men, women and children are seen handing over
food, clothes, sanitary goods, toys, etc, to the best of their ability.
At present, there are over dozen such aid collecting
programs sponsored by the state and non-state institutions. Aid
collecting centres have been established in every major town, whereas
vehicle conveys are traveling across the country receiving donations
made even at the remotest village. No one had to ask them to make
donations; it is the spontaneous response of the Sri Lankan citizens to
the sufferings of their own brethren. One cannot see any racial barrier
to their compassion, but there is a firm resolution on their faces. A
resolve to stand against all odds and to help their brethren is clear on
every face.
Never in her 2500 year old documented history, has Sri
Lanka fought a war aimed at destroying another nation or to exploit
wealth of the others. Never has she committed despicable crimes like
helping terrorist movements in neighbouring countries, or driven
millions of people to their death by starvation by maintaining economic
blockades. The war she has been fighting during last quarter century is
to free her own citizens from the clutches of the most barbaric
terrorist outfit known to mankind. Yet, it is so unfortunate that the
so-called international community has been so miserly in lending its
helping hand to the people of this Third World nation to end its misery.
Sri Lanka's war against terrorism has been often
misinterpreted as genocide against the Tamil minority. The Western media
has been using a variety of adjectives when commenting on Sri Lanka's
war, to convince the world that it is not a war against terrorism, but
one between two ethnic groups. Ironically, none of those adjectives can
be found in their reportage on Iraq, Afghanistan or on the Gaza strip.
The terrorists who use child soldiers in combat, pioneered suicide
bombing, enjoy the most abominable orgies of violence in ethnic
cleansing raids are being shown to the world as a rebel group fighting
for the rights of the Tamil people.
Throughout our effort to combat terrorism, the
International Community has been pressuring all governments in Sri Lanka
to negotiate with the terrorists. This absurd policy of treating a
terrorist outfit and a democratically elected government as equals has
robbed us of our opportunity to rid the country of terrorism more than
once. Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved but for this
duplicity. Unfortunately, we are being asked to undergo the same
predicament once again.
Dirty tricks of Tamil Nadu politicians during election
time are understandable as cheap politics. They have no other option
other than taking their voters for a ride on communal sentiments, as
they had done no other service to their people. Feverish clamouring of
the false Tamil "Diaspora" who is agitated over the possibility of
losing their asylum status can also be understood. They need no Eelam
but to live their luxurious lives in Western countries at the expense of
continued sufferings of the Sri Lankan citizens.
What is not understood is the interest of the Western
powers to stop us from eradicating the terrorists that have committed
horrendous crimes against us. Some want us to give amnesty to the
terrorists, some asks us to let a third party to take care of the
terrorist leaders, some wail for a ceasefire, some have made it a habit
of making the most absurd comments on our war time and time again.
The government of Sri Lanka has let all foreign media,
foreign envoys, UN workers, etc. to meet the people who had been
recently liberated from being hostages of the LTTE. They have listened
to the sufferings undergone by these people from their own ears. They
have met thousands of parents whose children had been forcibly
conscripted by the terror outfit. They have seen thousands of others who
had been maimed by the same terrorists they want to save from the
approaching military defeat. If they have any knowledge about the short
history of this conflict they should be able to understand that the
terror outfit we have been fighting with, seriously lacks scope to
engage in any meaningful negotiation process. Ironically, we hear the
same story, "genocide against Tamils", and warnings for "both parties",
"ceasefire", etc. This barefaced denial of reality does not deserve any
other description than hypocrisy of the first degree.
The pictures here show how the people in the South
have joined hands to help their brethren in destitute. This response of
our people is not stage-managed or something unusual. It is something
they have inherited from the 2500-year-old history and rich culture; a
history of getting together and helping each other when in need.
What we seek is empathy, not sympathy, from all
discernible people in the world over. We want them to understand the way
we feel about being forced to live with the most brutal form of
terrorism for nearly three decades. We want them to understand the
frustration that we are in, for being so unfairly labeled as a racist
nation, and as a group of barbarians who enjoy killing each other.
Finally, we want them to fathom, the extent of despair we have about the
behaviour of the so-called Western human rights champions.
The general idea among the common people in Sri Lanka,
whose voice is rarely heard in the Western media, is that the whole
international opinion about Sri Lanka is based on one big lie created by
those so-called independent media and other opinion makers. The
behaviour of some Western diplomats towards Sri Lanka reminds us of the
medieval inquisition of the Catholic Church. Their wrath over others who
question their views is like of those priests who had ordered burning
people at the stake if they find their victims guilty of trivialities or
questioning unproven orthodoxy.
We would like to ask whoever who sees this pictures
whether they have seen similar responses in other country's that are
engaged in internal conflicts or global wars of terror. Do they
represent a nation that is plagued with racial or religious hatred?
What we request from the Western world is to help us
finish the job we have started and bring peace to our nation. If Sri
Lanka loses this time, the whole world will be lost.....by the
encouragement given to terror. Moreover, her fate would go into the
annals of world history as the best example of how the western dominated
civilization sought to destroy nations...Perhaps, the beginning of its
end.
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