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by K.T. Kumaran

“There never was a good war or a bad peace”, is wisdom from one of the Founding Fathers of America, Benjamin Franklin. Images being beamed into our homes for the past several days from Lebanon and Israel is evident to this.

A tenuous peace hung over Lebanon after decades of war. It ceded in seconds by rising dark smoke back to the sky from burning Beirut.

Some of the 90,000 Sri Lankans working in Lebanon also are caught in the cross fire. They have become yet another group of citizenry that’s been ‘failed’ by their state during the time of dire need of assistance.

Majority of these workers are women employed as housemaids. Major foreign exchange is earned from these migrant workers. The workers and their families were critical of GOSL inaction in their case on BBC’s “Sandhesaya” recently.

In the meantime President Rajapakse watched Lebanon burn and played his music of peace loving to visiting Indian journalists. It’s reported that he expressed pain over Israel’s bombings of Lebanon and complained that the West was silent over the killing of innocents.

However, Sheela Bhatt who was a member of the Indian women press corps writes in The Indian web portal Rediff that, “the President indirectly pointed out that if he had emulated Israel’s offensive on the Hezbollah bases and gone to war with the LTTE to weed them out of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, India and European countries would have protested strongly and intervened.”

Why the images being beamed from the Middle East didn’t compel the President to talk about showing sympathy to the innocent civilians of North-East dying every day is horrifying. Perhaps he never thinks of the civilians in the North-East. Instead what crossed his mind was, “aha, what if I can wage war with LTTE in a similar way.”

Comparing the Lankan and Lebanon situation is preposterous, except for the suffering of the civilians.

But some sections of the Colombo press and commentators also seemed eager to step into a “sovereign state” view of things and pondering the scenario for Lanka if she is Israel.

An NGO activist cum columnist of a Colombo daily wrote on July 25th, “The massive Israeli attacks on Hezbollah guerilla targets in Lebanon are evidence of the license that is given to legitimate states in their ruthless wars against non state actors.”

The news of air attacks in Verugal in the East was titled, “Israeli jets hit Tigers” in another Colombo Daily on July 28th.

All this is in the month of July. It is a time of the year when the enduring fate of the island and her scattered mass is revisited by remembrance of 1983.

The pogrom 23 years ago, the two decades that followed and the subtle peace prevailed prior to the intensifying of the current low intensity warfare reinforces, “There never was a good war or a bad peace.”

Most of the SL press sounded an alert status and continue to maintain that the 1983 riots was a spontaneous response to killing of soldiers in Thirunelvelly by the LTTE. And this July is engulfed with an upsurge in the killing of innocent civilians in the North-East. This rarely gets mentioned in the Colombo press and the President seemed to have swept that under the rugs when he was in the company of women press corps from India.

This clearly is the strategy of GOSL security establishment. Rajapakse’s fallacy of showing concern for the innocents in Lebanon but saying he’s restrained in North-East of the island due to international outcry is evident by his silence on the ongoing suffering of innocent civilians of North - East. He and his advisors clearly understand that a low intensity warfare will not bring in a forceful intervention by India and Europe.

Israel says no to an immediate ceasefire. As time goes by their unfolding military might will decline the Hezbollah they believe. Like Israel, the Lankan hawks too think that the wind of time is in their sail. That is as the low intensity campaign takes root, LTTE will suffer and/or make mistakes that will vilify them further in the eyes of the international community.

But then again, the most of those affected by this campaign are innocents.

Allowing treatment for Daya Master in Colombo is a gesture this month but yet again has been carried out as a photo op by GOSL. One set of President’s coalition protested in front of the hospital where Daya Master was being treated and wanted him arrested. The Point Pedro native and Teacher taught English to cadres and later became LTTE Spokesperson. He was never a cadre himself. Many such events are shown as peace loving dove Rajapakse being tangled among extremists.

The President is not in a position to assure and provide safety to his people, whether they are migrant workers in Lebanon or internally displaced persons in Trincomalee. Even knowing that conditions across the straits may be harsh is not holding back those seeking a voyage out of violence encircling them. People are traveling to Thalai Mannar and sailing to Rameswaram out of fear of living in places like Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Mannar.

Publicity stunts and words of comfort to visiting dignitaries without solid action is a hallmark of this President. There is no expression of solidarity to ordinary citizens who live in fear and tend to leave the country in fear. The visiting women corps, [which included Ms. Narayani Ganesh, daughter of late Tamil Actor, ‘King of Romance’ Gemini Ganesh, as a Senior Editor of Times of India] also failed to press the President as to what safeguards are in place for ordinary citizens in the North – East of the country.

Richard Armitage, Vietnam veteran and former deputy of Secretary of State, who compared the destruction of the Chavakachcheri market in 2002 by the retreating Sri Lankan armed forces to war ravaged Vietnam, spoke on the crisis in Lebanon on the National Public Radio of Washington DC on July 26th. He says US officials and diplomats must use “all the levers” in finding a solution to the crisis, including talking to the “enemies”.

For GOSL, what was agreed in Geneva in spring needs to be acted upon and tables to sit and talk should be set.

President Rajapakse has a mountain to climb to be seen amidst his actions backing up his words. The time consuming all party conferences is being held since the aftermath of the 1983 riots to now under various presidents without arriving at any consensus.

Every day the undeclared war goes on is a day of colossal costs for those getting affected. It may be an ordinary civilian or a member of GOSL armed forces. It’s a loss to a family. The plight of the people - mounting civilian death toll, internally displaced persons and barely recovering from destruction in nature’s path from the tsunami speak for themselves.

Stopping the present killing of innocents and reining in on paramilitaries plus hawks of his own coalition should become paramount for this President. Above all is showing compassion to ordinary people of North and East. These are urgent priorities. In whatever solution, all communities in the island have to live side by side. A permanent peace and “truth and reconciliation” must arrive soon. An illusive peace could shatter the lives of another generation after a decade. A clear aspect yet, to learn from Lebanon – Israel.

[Photo: Courtesy of TamilNet]