British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who have undertaken a diabolical mission to save, on a flimsy pretext, a bunch of separatist terrorists being pursued by the national military of a sovereign State, will find themselves in the exalted company of Hitler and Prabhakaran in the annals of world history.

Yesterday, they failed yet another time to make the Sri Lankan government end its war on terror.

That Miliband and Kouchner, who are opposing Sri Lanka's war, are not driven by humanitarian concerns at all is clear in that they are not campaigning against the US-led war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq alone war has resulted in deaths of over half a million children. That is the human cost of getting rid of a single dictator and effecting a regime change. In 1996,US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, as we pointed out the other day, had the temerity to say it was worth the price.

If the soft hearts of Miliband and Kouchner are really melting for humanity, they must rush where their services are needed most – Iraq and Afghanistan – together with their US counterpart Hillary Clinton.

War is hell. And we don't need any hoity-toity foreign do-gooder to tell us that. But, there are times when countries have to face it the way the civilised world did vis-à-vis Nazi terror. Hitler had to be halted in his tracks and the Allied Forces stood up to that maniacal killer, who had to commit suicide. Is there any difference between Hitler and Prabhakaran? The answer is an emphatic No. Monsters who, blinded by rage and hatred, disport themselves in wanton destruction of life are the biggest danger to mankind. As Miliband and Kouchner are well aware, the victorious Allied Forces did not stop at the outskirts of Berlin to negotiate a ceasefire with Hitler hiding in a bunker.

The UK and US have offered handsome bounties for the capture of bin Laden and his fellow criminals and are carrying out air strikes even on the Pakistani territory, regardless of civilian casualties. It was only recently that Hillary Clinton forced Pakistan to step up attacks on terrorists. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is making a frantic effort to stop Sri Lanka's counter terror offensive, wants the war against Al Qaeda and Taliban fought with might and main in Afghanistan so that London will be safe!

Sri Lanka has demonstrated that terrorism, however elusive it may be, is not invincible. A delay of just six months on the part of the government to wage this war would have enabled Prabhakaran to expand his terrorist rule beyond the North and the East, as evident from the huge armouries captured by the advancing troops. Stockpiles of LTTE's weapons are also believed to be hidden in Tamil Nadu.

What Miliband and Kouchner need to be told is that no solution other than the partitioning of this country is possible with Prabhakaran, who has ordered his cadres to shoot him dead if he settles for anything less than Eelam. If Miliband and Kouchner are convinced otherwise, they ought to extract a pledge from Prabhakaran that he is willing to give up Eelam. The question is whether the visiting foreign ministers fond of Tigers want Prabhakaran to compromise his position and perish at the hands of his cadres.

Miliband and Kouchner may not push so hard for a ceasefire during their stay in Colombo and settle for the government's refusal to stop war, but make no mistake, they are all out to scuttle the war and save Prabhakaran and other criminals. They will resume their Save the Tigers campaign after leaving the country.

But, that will be too late. Prabhakaran will be really lucky if he could hold out until next Monday!