Ranil’s regime rots in rebels’ rut - By H. L. D. Mahindapala reporting from Melbourne, Australia.(April 23rd 2003 go2lanka.com)

According to the latest information, reported in the Sunday Leader, (April 20, 2003) the Tamil Tigers are insisting that their demands, raised in Hakone, Japan, be fulfilled before participating in the proposed seventh round of talks to be held in Thailand, between April 29 and May 2. Their refusal to participate in Thailand has nothing to do with SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Thailand is free of it, according to Thai health authorities. But it has everything to do with the Tamil Tigers once again deciding to dictate terms to Ranil Wickremesinghe, this time on the pretext of “pending the resolution of contentious issues that have arisen subsequent to the talks in Hakone, Japan.” Threatening to pull out of the talks is the newest and the most effective weapon in the hands of the Tigers. The only other weapon in its history has been brutal violence. Ranil has surrendered to both. This confirms Ranil’s “impotence”, as stated by the Tamil Tigers in their press release of April 12. Ranil’s “impotence” is visible each time Prabhakaran violates with impunity the agreement he signed with Ranil promising to usher in peace in our time. Ranil cannot even threaten the withdrawal from talks, following the LTTE tactic, for fear of losing the confidence of the international community. Domestically too, he is powerless to use the LTTE tactic because his future in politics depends on keeping up appearances of a man in a hurry to produce peace – a feat that can be achieved only by surrendering to Prabhakaran. Simultaneously, he is aware that cannot afford to let the LTTE pull out of talks at this stage. That would be an admission of failure and his opponents back home would pounce on him saying: “We told you so!” So he has no option but to protect his back by crawling to the negotiating table, with G. L. Peiris crowing that the talks have not collapsed despite the serious violations of the Ranil-Prabhakaran agreement. So far Ranil has managed to prolong the jaw-jawing, without the talks advancing in any positive direction, by using two weak ploys: 1) ignoring all violations of the LTTE and 2) by surrendering to its demands when it comes to the crunch. G. L. Peiris, however, boasts that it is the “skill” of negotiators like himself that is keeping the talks going. Meanwhile, Bradman Weerakoon, in thanking the departing Norwegian Ambassador, Jon Westborg, advanced another reason when he said that the previous talks collapsed because there were no international mediators. According to him, both parties are held together by the presence and the participation of the international mediators. NGO pundits present yet another reason when they claim that the LTTE is reined in after September 11and cannot back off now. But the hard reality is that the LTTE is in the talks because it is winning the war which it could not win on the battlefield, thanks to their “impotent” patron Ranil. At no time before had they ever had “a willing coalition” (Ranil + Norwegians) to pull their chestnuts out of the fire. Though they criticize Ranil’s “impotence”, they know that his “impotence” has great benefits to them. They know that Ranil is dependent on them for his future and he could be made to dance to their drum beat. It is a symbiotic relationship in which the LTTE will continue to suck the blood out of Ranil until he has no life left in him. Ranil’s two weak ploys (mentioned above) were on display for all to see in some of the major incidents that threatened the nation’s security and sovereignty. Take, for instance, the shocking tactics of Ranil’s regime in surrendering to the LTTE demand to disband the elite LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol), soon after he invited the Tigers for peace talks early last year. Sinha Ratnatunga, the Editor of the Sunday Times, in his report to the Gulf News (18.4.2003), wrote: “The deep penetration unit (LRRP) were members of the Sri Lankan army supported by members of rival groups of the LTTE. They carried out a series of successful operations against guerrillas before the peace talks began. Soon after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe invited the guerrillas for peace talks early last year, the unit was disbanded in the most controversial manner. Police led a raid on the apartment where the unit was based in the outskirts of the capital. The army officer concerned was detained by the police and later released. Some of the informants who worked with this unit have been later gunned down both in the eastern province and in the capital. The latest victim was from the eastern province two weeks ago.” If Prabhakaran fears anyone it is the LRRP. They were that close to decimating the leadership of the LTTE when Ranil pulled them out and exposed them as vulnerable targets to the LTTE. Prabhakaran is still paranoid about the LRRP. Last week Anton Balasingham was crying foul saying that the LRRP is roaming the wilds of Wanni to target his dearly beloved fascist leader. To assure Prabhakaran’s safety, in return for his safety from the Tiger suicide bombers, Ranil’s first major move after becoming prime minister was to offer (in the manner described by Sinha Ratnatunga) the severed heads of the LRRP as sacrificial pooja to appease the fascist killer – the man whom Ranil fears most, knowing the fate of the previous UNP leaders who fought Tiger terrorism tooth and nail. This naked surrendering to Prabhakaran, exposing Ranil’s “impotence”, is packaged and marketed as “confidence-building”. But in return for this “confidence-building measure” what has Ranil’s regime got from the LTTE so far? Sweet “llareggub”, isn’t it? (It’s a word coined by the poet Dylan Thomas and it is meant to be read backwards). Consider also the instance where the LTTE was caught red-handed smuggling arms in the seas off Delft, just at the time the talks were going on Berlin. The self-proclaimed “skill” of negotiator G. L. Peiris was to sit with Anton Balasingham (he is the only person who calls Balasingham “Dr” now) and to concoct a communiqué blaming “a lapse in communication” as the cause of the disaster in Delft. The objective was to appease the LTTE by diverting attention away from the smuggling arms in violation of the Ranil-Prabhakaran agreement and to blame the faulty communication lines – and Peiris seriously expects the public to believe it! He thinks he is smart. But his smartness is as good as all the failed propagandists of disintegrating regimes. Peiris is doing himself and his reputation a great disservice when he tries to imitate the stunts of Goebbels. Consider also the consent granted to install a radio station in the Wanni. It was done by violating every law in the book. A foreign agent (Norway) smuggled it in without paying duties. The Peace Secretariat, headed by Bradman Weerakoon, aided and abetted in the smuggling of a powerful weapon that is used to spread racist hatred, violence and fascist terrorism. This must be Bradman’s idea of international community helping to “build confidence” – a euphemism for surrendering to the demands of the LTTE. Furthermore, the reports of the University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna, (UTHR - J) have pin-pointed the fallacies of Ranil’s regime abdicating its moral, legal and constitutional rights in the deluded belief that a fascist regime of terror can ensure a lasting peace for the war-weary people of Sri Lanka. It is generally agreed by all political analysts that such a peace will be as durable as Ranil’s tottering regime. Now, apart from UTHR, there is a chorus of voices rising even from the ranks of the pro-Ranil NGOs, questioning the validity and the effectiveness of Ranil’s regime turning a blind eye to abductions, extortions, killings of LTTE opponents, smuggling of arms, recruiting children, illegal taxes, postponing the core issues at talks etc. The tragedy is that, in the name of “confidence-building”, Ranil’s regime has deliberately undermined and weakened the constitutional, the legal, the administrative and military structures, along with the territorial integrity and sovereignty, without getting a substantial return. Against all odds, he is going round chanting the mantra that the international community is behind him. But if he has such powerful friends abroad, how come he is forced to surrender each time the LTTE presses its demands? How come the ground realities have not changed in any meaningful way to convince the nation that he has a chance of bringing peace? How come each move made by the LTTE has flattened him to the ground and reduced his image to that of a born loser? Certainly, having Bush and Blair on his side is all well and good. But how many votes have Bush and Blair in his electorate? (Mahindapala is a former Editor in Chief of Colombo’s Sunday Observer and a senior journalist of the country who was very close to the former UNP leaders the late Dudley Senanayaka and the late R.Premadasa)