The bitter cost of bringing the genie out of the bottle

Do those who vehemently and oftentimes quite hysterically rise to the defence of this Governments self-aggrandizing post-war policies, pause to ask themselves as to why we are now witnessing e treme intolerance directed at the minorities which was not seen even when the !orth and "ast war was at its fiercest# $erhaps some reasoned and calm introspection in this regard is long overdue%

The playing of a dangerous game Good e amples are the post &''( attacks on )indu, *oslem + and for that matter, nonmainstream ,hristian + places of worship by militant groups who remain outside the reach of the law% This Government appears to look blandly on such attacks% $owerful figures within the establishment even offer covert support as was the case when $resident *ahinda -a.apaksas brother, Defence /ecretary Gotabhaya -a.apaksa attended official ceremonies of the 0odu 0ala /ena which is clearly implicated in attacks on mosques% Does the Government think that by bringing the genie unpleasantly out of the bottle at carefully timed intervals, that it can intimidate the minorities as well as embolden its ma.oritarian and nationalist platform, thus preventing the generally decent /inhala ma.ority from rising up in arms against its corrupt e travagance which has impacted most drastically on the daily low1middle income wage earner# 2hatever may be the reason for such twisted policies, it is a dangerous game that is being played% This is precisely why /ri 3anka is fast losing sympathy in the world as we can see not only by the increasingly critical language resorted to by 2estern nations but also by 4ndia and 5apan whose veiled calls to the Government to demonstrate restraint and bona fides, tell an eloquent tale% These are warning signals that /ri 3anka may well recognize even at this late stage% 3ooking to the 3TT" as an e ample 4ndeed the -a.apaksa Government may look to the 3iberation Tigers of Tamil "elam 63TT"7 as an illustrative e ample, as delightfully perverse as this may be% 2hen the 3TT" attacked the Dalada *algawa, massacred 0uddhist monks and worshippers at the /ri *aha 0odhi in 8nuradhapura, in 8ranthalawa and elsewhere during the conflict years, these events led to

seminal changes in international perception% The 3TT" was recognized as totalitarian, decimating Tamil citizens, intellectuals and thinkers who opposed them as well as /inhalese and *uslims% This was a perception that stood to the benefit of the country despite latter-day politicians of the Tamil !ational 8lliance 6T!87 who persist in hailing the late leader of the 3TT" as a hero% 4f being a hero is characterized by dragging the Tamil people down to the depths of ignominy, by persisting in e treme violence for its own sake when a degree of accommodation may have been reached with /inhalese governments and by killing off liberals who disagreed with the 3TT"s policies, then the meaning of heroism may perhaps need to be drastically redefined% !onetheless, the point is that that these acts on the part of the 3TT" irreversibly defined its image as a terrorist organization% -ealising the damage done to itself Throughout those difficult years, the /ri 3ankan army for its own part, had bloody markers against its name particularly in the early nineties when attacks by the 3TT" were met by reprisal civilian massacres in Tamil villages% $erpetrators responsible for these massacres were not generally brought to trial% 4nvestigations only took place in rare cases such as the 9okkadicholai killings of :((: when the deaths of two soldiers and the serious in.ury of another after an 3TT"-placed device e ploded, led to the massacre of si ty seven civilians of a nearby village% 4n *ylanthanai when thirty five Tamil civilians were killed in similar circumstances 6:((&7, eighteen accused soldiers were indicted% 0ut neither case led to serious conclusions% 4n the 9okkadicholai case for e ample, then $resident, the late -anasinghe $remadasa appointed one of /ri 3ankas ubiquitous ,ommissions of 4nquiry which recommended weakly that court martial proceedings be initiated against the responsible soldiers% This was despite strong protests by civil rights organisations that a military court-martial was hardly the appropriate forum to look into e traordinary human rights violations% This court-martial led to the dismissal of .ust the officer in charge on the basis that he had failed to e ercise control over his troops% 8nd in the *ylanthanai case, most e traordinarily, all the accused were acquitted by a predominantly /inhalese .ury with witnesses being intimidated and the case transferred from the "astern $rovince to $olonnaruwa and thence to ,olombo% )owever, even though there were no great trials or compelling .udgments handed down by the courts which acted as a deterrent, the army slowly brought down the number of these incidents by effective internal control, realizing the damage caused thereby to itself% 0y the end of that decade, reprisal civilian massacres gradually became e ceptional rather than the norm even though dark happenings of torture, rape, enforced disappearances and e tra-.udicial e ecutions continued, fostered by state terror as well as 3TT" terror% Damage to ;divine statues and theft 0ut what is singular is that places of religious worship of the )indu community were not targeted even when fighting was at its height% /o is it not ironic that attacks on )indu kovils are being regularly reported after active fighting has ceased in the country following the military defeat of the 3TT" in &''(# This week, the 8ll ,eylon )indu ,ongress 6<ederation of )indu -eligious 8ssociations and )indu Temples in /ri 3anka7 e pressed its ;shock and ;grief over the damage caused to a :=' year old statue of /hri *uthumariaman which had been worshipped in /hri *urugan 9ovil located in >dunuwara in the )ali "la area of the 0adulla District% The cautiously worded

statement of the 8,), only said that the statue had been ;damaged by undesirable criminal elements% The organization pointed out that it had brought notice of such destruction and theft to ;the appropriate authorities, including $resident -a.apaksa, his brother, the Defence /ecretary and the head of the police but that those responsible have not been arrested and brought before the law% 8nd it was observed that ;failure to take action appears to be encouraging those undesirable criminal elements to continue these criminal acts of destruction and theft% This statement, in fact, asks as to who is responsible for ;divine statues being continuously destroyed and valuable items being continuously stolen in )indu temples# 6,olombo Telegraph, December :&, &':?7% 2ell meaning but simplistic e cuses /o are these statements of outrage and cries for help to be dismissed out of hand as pure fabrications# This is a moot question% 4t is well meaning but somewhat simplistic reasoning to say, as some have done recently, that /inhalese soldiers will not carry out attacks on )indu temples since the 0uddhist and the )indu traditions are closely intertwined in customary /ri 3ankan religious practice% The fact is that ordinary soldiers are not inferred as being culpable% 4nstead, the manifest impunity demonstrated in regard to these incidents and the failure of the police to investigate infers that the perpetrators are a select group, secluded within the government apparatus% 4t is hardly plausible to think that well organised raids with )indu statues being stolen and other statues being damaged can occur otherwise% This was similar to attacks by ;grease-men targeting women in rural communities some years ago% 2hen area people chased the intruders, it was commonly reported that they ran into the nearest army or special task force 6/T<7 camp% Those responsible were never apprehended% 8nd those incidents died down as mysteriously as they had commenced% "nforcing the responsibility of our own Government 4n this scenario, to talk of a Truth and -econciliation ,ommission 6T-,7 predicated on the /outh 8frican e ample is laughable% This is not a Government that recognizes the essential meaning of either truth or reconciliation% 4ts post-war policies offer ample evidence of that truth% 4f there is however a sincere acknowledgment of its own mistakes, then it must first put right these mistakes without being offered the tempting carrot of a T-,% This will only again enable prevarication and obfuscation on fundamental issues regarding adherence to the -ule of 3aw% 8nd the question is not the e cesses indulged in by our onetime colonial masters, the impolite posturing of >9 premier David ,ameron or the undoubted hypocrisy of 2estern governments in preaching to small nations while perpetuating atrocities with abandon elsewhere in the world% The question is also not about the totalitarian character of the 3TT"% That bank of international empathy has now been thoroughly e hausted% 2hat should concern us is the responsibility of the /ri 3ankan Government in regard to the due operation of the law and our duty to enforce that responsibility for the collective good% "ngaging in hyperbole and rantings against outsiders will not serve to detract from that essential duty%