A grand opportunity for Britain

The issue of the LTTE being proscribed in Britain is considered even more important today than the life and death struggle that is going on in the sands of Jaffna. The ability of this former colonial power to influence events here after half a century since they left our shores is not due to any perfidious machinations, but because of the British tradition of tolerating revolutionaries and rebels — even if they be terrorists — as long as they do not threaten the security of Britain.

With global terrorism spreading its tentacles throughout the world, particularly among western European nations, Britain could no longer turn a Nelsonian eye towards terrorist groups operating within Britain and the Terrorism Act of 2000 was enacted. A British High Commission spokesperson, Ms. Alison Kemp, was quoted in a weekend paper saying that British Home Secretary Jack Straw was drawing up a list of terrorist organisations that would be proscribed under the new law, which comes into force later this month. The decisions would be made on the criteria set out in the Act and taking into consideration factors, including the nature and scale of a group’s activities, the threat it poses to Britain, the extent of its presence in Britain and Britain’s commitment to support the international community in the fight against terrorism, the spokesperson has said.

In considering the proscription of the LTTE, there is no doubt at all that the LTTE is on the top rungs in the list of international terrorist organisations in the world today and has been proscribed in some countries and other countries are keeping strict watch on it. Reputed scholars have detailed the global scale of its operations and described how it has evolved over 18 years into a Frankenstein monster. Only the totally deaf, dumb and blind in this age of communications can deny that the LTTE is a terrorist organisation. British citizens themselves have been victims of these ‘liberation fighters’. In the mid - eighties when the LTTE exploded a bomb in an Airlanka Tristar on the tarmac of the Colombo International Airport, it accounted for an entire British family — father, mother and daughter on their way to the Maldives for a holiday. Both Sri Lanka and India would have supplied the British government of the gory details of innocents killed in this 18 years by the most vile and despicable terrorist organisation.

Meanwhile, there are Tamil groups, Tamil political parties as well as a so-called peace lobby pleading with the British government not to proscribe the LTTE. These Tamil groups, like the Lady of Riga, have attempted to take the Tiger for a ride and their leaders have come back inside her. But they still continue to pursue the policy of backing the Tigers in the hope that the terrorism unleashed will compel the Sri Lankan government to grant their demands that keep on escalating.

We are not certain on the action that is being considered by the British government. We are also not familiar with the details of the British Terrorist Act of 2000. But since action is contemplated under the British Terrorist Act, it is imperative that the LTTE should be judged solely for its terrorism and that Sri Lankan politics has nothing to do with it.

It is being argued that banning of the LTTE by Britain will scuttle the so-called ‘peace process’. The ban on the LTTE in Britain cannot adversely affect peace negotiations in Sri Lanka. It will, on the other hand, convince the terrorists that terrorism is an outmoded and outdated form of achieving objectives, and peaceful negotiations is the only way out. Yasser Arafat no longer speaks of ‘carrying an olive branch in one hand and a gun in the other’. If Britain refuses to proscribe the LTTE, it will be holding up the view that Arafat should still be carrying the gun in one hand.

The consequences of a British proscription will have a dramatic and immediate effect on ending LTTE terrorism. Sources of funding terror will dry up and with it terrorism too will come to an end. On the other hand, refusal to proscribe the LTTE will only result in a global hurrah emanating from the icy Nordic wastes and reverberating in the Antipodes with the consequent outpouring of funds from these countries into the terrorist war chest. More innocent Sri Lankans — Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims will fall prey to terrorism.

The counter argument is that LTTE proscription will amount to the Sri Lankan government refusing to consider the demands of the Tamils and scuttling negotiations.

Britain as well as other western nations have held talks with the Sri Lankan government as well as the main opposition party, the UNP. They are well aware of the constitutional guarantees that have been agreed upon by both parties. With international mediation and involvement, it is apparent that the Sri Lanka government cannot walk away from the negotiating table giving away nothing. The concern that every Sri Lankan government since 1983 has been showing to international opinion should make it clear that the Sri Lankan government’s parameters fall inside the parameters set by western powers.

A grand opportunity has come the way of Britain to take a decisive step in stopping the carnage that has been going on in this island for 18 years.

Your comments to the Editor