There is much hullabaloo over the appointment of ex-IGP Victor Perera as the Northern Province Governor. Some NGO kingpins are in the forefront of a campaign to have him removed because of the high incidence of human rights violation in the country during his tenure and his failure to bring perpetrators to justice. (By the way was he the only IGP who was responsible for such lapses?)

We had nothing kind to say about Victor Perera when he was IGP. In fact, we used to inveigh against him almost at every turn for human rights violations such as the mass eviction of Tamil civilians from the Colombo lodges last year, abductions and attacks on the Opposition and the media. We also lambasted him for his servility to political potentates and injustice that efficient police officers, especially the PNB sleuths had to suffer under his watch.

But, we, in our small way, refrain from lending our humble voice to the on-going campaign against him as those who are baying for his blood have a hidden agenda and are silent on the suffering of people at the hands of terrorists.

Why is it that those who are out for the former IGP's scalp have turned a blind eye to the doings of a former sergeant of the Sri Lanka police, who has been appointed 'IGP' in the Wanni? Nadesan is his name. He, in his capacity as the LTTE's 'IGP' is responsible for a plethora of crimes such as killings, abductions, child conscription, violent suppression of dissent, extortion, illegal incarceration of people, gun running, drug trafficking and deliberate attacks on civilian targets in the areas where the LTTE is active.

But, none of the human rights activists opposing war objected to Nadesan's appointment as the political wing leader of the LTTE, with which they want the government to have negotiations urgently. Since the NGO bosses are worried about the people of the North, who, they think, will be adversely affected by the former IGP's gubernatorial appointment, they must also take up the cause of the people of the Wanni who are suffering under the jackboot of real monsters.

The opposition of the NGO hit men to Victor Perera's appointment does not really stem from his track record. They have ganged up against him as the appointment of a governor for the North compounds the difficulties of the LTTE on the political front at a time it is mired in a military crisis. We bet our bottom dollar that even if the government were to appoint someone else as the Northern Governor, they would still oppose his or her appointment on some flimsy pretext.

Victor Perera may be a failed IGP but he does not have a history of crime. If the NGO kingpins consider such a person unfit for the post of the Northern Province Governor-they are entitled to their opinion and we hold no brief for him-how can they demand that a federal unit be established in the North and the East under the LTTE led by Prabhakaran, sentenced to RI by a Sri Lanka court and wanted by Interpol and the Indian judiciary for the assassination of former Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi? He is responsible for killing thousands of Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims and a large number of political leaders. In 1990, he had the entire North ethnically cleansed of Muslims. He has also owned up to having killed Mayor of Jaffna Alfred Duraiappah himself. He is a murderer on his own admission, isn't he? Can such a person be considered a representative of any community?