08-13-2005, 11:26 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In true Tiger colour
K Venkataramanan
News analysis------- To call the assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar a ceasefire violation would be a criminal understatement. The agreement signed between the Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of amil Eelam (LTTE) in February 2002 specifically prohibited political assassinations.Â
The brazenness with which LTTE took out Kadirgamar through a sniper in the midst of a functional truce is nothing short of an abrogation of the truce. Though none in Lankan establishment or the peace-oriented international community will admit it, the LTTE has virtually declared a return to war with this high profile assassination.
For the record, the group denied responsibility, but the Tigers are known for such monumental deception, made with an eye on preserving their 'legitimacy' in the eyes of the Western world, where their bottomless war chest is filled with donations and extortions from the expatriate Tamil community.
The late-night killing has the Tigers' signatures through and through even though it was not a suicide bombing. They had obviously avoided sending a suicide bomber as that would have given them away. More importantly, human bombs have started failing spectacularly because of access control and, as it turned out last year in an attempt on the life of Minister Douglas Devananda, they eventually end up killing cops rather than their intended targets.
The manner in which the assassin had positioned himself in a room in a neighbouring building close to Kadirgamar's residence, the recovery of pieces of evidence that suggest that he had used an 8.3 mm gun with night zoom vision and a seven-foot steel stand to take his position close to a bathroom window and a rocket launcher in the vicinity of the house indicate a level of meticulous planning, reconnaissance and surveillance that only the deadly Tigers are capable of. '
Kadirgamar's killing is not just a terrible blow to the peace process, which was floundering anyway, it also removes from the scene the island's most alert mind that knew every bit of treachery that the Tigers are capable of. He was Lanka's most articulate spokesman and commanded respect in diplomatic circles globally. Many considered him a 'hardliner' where the LTTE was concerned, but few foreign ministry establishments in the world could refute his assessment of the Tigers.
With this assassination, the LTTE has yet again demonstrated that it is sticking to the ceasefire in the military sense only because it gives them ample space and resources to take out its political opponents - more than 200 of its declared enemies, mostly members of rival political parties, former militants who had worked against them in times of war and some of the best Intelligence operatives of the State have been slain in the last three years - with impunity.
One must remember that Tiger politics will forever overshadow any peace initiative and that its terror politics demands that it eliminate its perceived enemies before it can think of participating in a finding a workable solution.
The Tigers are sending out a clear message that they want the ceasefire to end, but they don't want to be seen as doing it themselves. Instead, they set off a chain of events that they hope will compel the Sri Lankan State to go to war. For the present, the Government is not taking the bait.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga is now one of the last remaining Sri Lankan leaders who understand the LTTE in and out, and she has already survived a heinous assassination attempt herself. She has few options at hand except to pursue the pitiless logic of the one-sided peace process kicked off by her political rival Ranil Wickremesinghe three years ago.
Any punitive action can push the peace process, or what is left of it, over the brink and neither the State nor the people are ready for war. There is no hope of support from the international community, as early condemnations from world leaders are invariably accompanied by appeals for saving the peace process, indicating that saving the truce is more important than punishing the Tigers. She has no option but to ask her Ministers and supporters to scramble for cover the next time an assassin comes calling.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?m...~feted~by~party
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K Venkataramanan
News analysis------- To call the assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar a ceasefire violation would be a criminal understatement. The agreement signed between the Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of amil Eelam (LTTE) in February 2002 specifically prohibited political assassinations.Â
The brazenness with which LTTE took out Kadirgamar through a sniper in the midst of a functional truce is nothing short of an abrogation of the truce. Though none in Lankan establishment or the peace-oriented international community will admit it, the LTTE has virtually declared a return to war with this high profile assassination.
For the record, the group denied responsibility, but the Tigers are known for such monumental deception, made with an eye on preserving their 'legitimacy' in the eyes of the Western world, where their bottomless war chest is filled with donations and extortions from the expatriate Tamil community.
The late-night killing has the Tigers' signatures through and through even though it was not a suicide bombing. They had obviously avoided sending a suicide bomber as that would have given them away. More importantly, human bombs have started failing spectacularly because of access control and, as it turned out last year in an attempt on the life of Minister Douglas Devananda, they eventually end up killing cops rather than their intended targets.
The manner in which the assassin had positioned himself in a room in a neighbouring building close to Kadirgamar's residence, the recovery of pieces of evidence that suggest that he had used an 8.3 mm gun with night zoom vision and a seven-foot steel stand to take his position close to a bathroom window and a rocket launcher in the vicinity of the house indicate a level of meticulous planning, reconnaissance and surveillance that only the deadly Tigers are capable of. '
Kadirgamar's killing is not just a terrible blow to the peace process, which was floundering anyway, it also removes from the scene the island's most alert mind that knew every bit of treachery that the Tigers are capable of. He was Lanka's most articulate spokesman and commanded respect in diplomatic circles globally. Many considered him a 'hardliner' where the LTTE was concerned, but few foreign ministry establishments in the world could refute his assessment of the Tigers.
With this assassination, the LTTE has yet again demonstrated that it is sticking to the ceasefire in the military sense only because it gives them ample space and resources to take out its political opponents - more than 200 of its declared enemies, mostly members of rival political parties, former militants who had worked against them in times of war and some of the best Intelligence operatives of the State have been slain in the last three years - with impunity.
One must remember that Tiger politics will forever overshadow any peace initiative and that its terror politics demands that it eliminate its perceived enemies before it can think of participating in a finding a workable solution.
The Tigers are sending out a clear message that they want the ceasefire to end, but they don't want to be seen as doing it themselves. Instead, they set off a chain of events that they hope will compel the Sri Lankan State to go to war. For the present, the Government is not taking the bait.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga is now one of the last remaining Sri Lankan leaders who understand the LTTE in and out, and she has already survived a heinous assassination attempt herself. She has few options at hand except to pursue the pitiless logic of the one-sided peace process kicked off by her political rival Ranil Wickremesinghe three years ago.
Any punitive action can push the peace process, or what is left of it, over the brink and neither the State nor the people are ready for war. There is no hope of support from the international community, as early condemnations from world leaders are invariably accompanied by appeals for saving the peace process, indicating that saving the truce is more important than punishing the Tigers. She has no option but to ask her Ministers and supporters to scramble for cover the next time an assassin comes calling.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?m...~feted~by~party
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