A few days ago Somali pirates took hostage a group of people along with a French-owned yacht in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast. The hostages taken, were Mr. Lemacon, his wife and three–year old son and another French couple. The French government sent a military craft to shadow the commandeered yacht. The French government maintained that it tried negotiations first, but it broke down, because the pirates were determined to take the hostages to land, where a rescue would be near impossible. So the French government sent in a boatful of black-clad special commandos trained in hostage release. In the ensuing fire fight, Mr. Lemacon and two pirates were killed, others were rescued and three pirates were taken prisoner. The French government’s tough line on piracy and hostage taking paid off, but it cost the life of a hostage. Can we do the same vis-à-vis Prabhakaran?

Another hostage taking incident took place off the Somali coast a few days ago. A Danish-owned ship named Maersk Alabama was attacked by pirates. The American crew retaliated with fire for fire, but somehow the American captain of the ship, Mr. Richard Phillips, was taken hostage by the pirates and was confined to a lifeboat with four well-armed pirates. The Pentagon sent in three warships and a surveillance aircraft to the area to force the pirates to hand over the captain. The Americans maintained that negotiations had failed and that the captain was in imminent danger of being shot and dumped in the sea. They then employed their highly trained snipers (known as Seals) to shoot down three of the pirates while the commandos took the last as prisoner and freed the captain. Again tough action paid off and probably has sent the message to the Somali pirates that piracy will in future be confronted with fierce action. Whether this will deter them remains to be seen. Why do Americans want us to engage in futile negotiations with the LTTE? Why cannot we follow their example of tough action?

The biggest hostage-taker in the world is Velupillai Prabhakaran (VP). Young and old, men and women, children and babies, almost fifty-thousand of them, have become his hostages. He does not provide them with anything. He does not give them any food, drink, medicine or clothing. He does not even bother to provide them with shelter. His brainless and heartless cadres give vent to their frustrations by beating up these civilians at random without any provocation. They shoot them like dogs if they attempt to escape from their misery. Can anyone now tell me why this man should be treated any differently to the Somali pirates? Or, for that matter the hostage takers in Mumbai or Beslan? Does he deserve to be treated leniently? Should this murderer of thousands be allowed to live any longer?