EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MIRROR, SRILANKA

 

‘Justice has been done’

It really is a quite pertinent question as to why the US; which celebrates the death of Al Qaeda supreme Bin Laden moved to send a fleet of ships to rescue ruthless LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in the last days of war against terrorism in Sri Lanka. When that failed and the LTTE was annihilated the Obama administration bemoaned the death of the LTTE leader and his organization and pushed UN Secretary General to prepare grounds for a possible intervention.
A position in stark contrast to that adopted by successive American Presidents when faced with the scourge of terrorism on its own soil;  certainly, no one grudges the US and its allies the right to launch a war on terror, given the necessity to rid the world of the inhumanity that terrorism stands responsible for. The threat terrorism spreads through civilized nations can never be tolerated- be it in the US or in the tiny island, Sri Lanka. Unlike the US, Sri Lanka suffered heavily for over three decades, watched its economy crumble, its innocent civilians butchered by the madness that was the LTTE and ironically enjoy the empathy of countries like the US.
However addressing the American people President Barak Obama, justified his right to arrest the scourge and spoke of ordering the director of the CIA, ‘to make the killing or capture of Bin Laden the top priority of our war against Al Qaeda’. Again, a necessity that we, as a people that has suffered under the LTTE can relate to. Yet, it is the principle behind the duplicity with which the administration deals with the terrorism in the US as opposed to that in Sri Lanka that must be condemned.
‘As a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed.  We will be relentless in defence of our citizens and our friends and allies.  We will be true to the values that make us who we are. Justice has been done,’ he added.
No one grudges Washington the triumph of victory. While the death of a human being is not to be celebrated; the death of one who posed a threat to millions of innocent people cannot be. But it is sad that Mr. Obama’s administration does not believe in granting the same privileges to countries like Sri Lanka; which too could not ‘stand idly by’ when it faced the same threat. Colombo too had to be ‘relentless in the ‘defence’ of its citizens and ensure that ‘justice’ was done.
Just as Mr. Obama celebrate the ‘professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve’ his country, so must the Colombo administration.  The controversial UN report is a case in point. It is imperative that he understands as he vows never to ‘waver’ in his ‘commitment’ to do ‘whatever it takes’ to prevent another attack on his shores, so must the government here. These are responsibilities that governments cannot give up on- these are duties that bound Statesmen to their countries and their people.