Bruce Haig does more damage to Tamils in Sri Lanka by helping the LTTE

Given that LTTE acts of terror were carried out inside the country, with the exception of the politically stupid murder of Rajiv Gandhi in India in 1991, and that the war is now over, it is probably time to drop the single-source vetting of former members and associates of the LTTE as terrorists; particularly when all members of the Tamil community in the north of Sri Lanka were associates of the LTTE in one way or another - Bruce Haig, retire Diplomat.

Bruce Haig, retired diplomat, writing in the Canberra Times today, has done a very undiplomatic thing by openly supporting the world’s most ruthless terrorist organization banned in 32 countries, the LTTE, and showing his hand in attempts being made by several Australians, including retired Justice John Dowd, to transform a set of brutal terrorists into freedom fighters.

It is surprising and unfortunate that a diplomat of Bruce Haig’s calibre, has thrown his support behind such a terror group like the LTTE.

It is unfortunate for the Tamils living in the North and East of Sri Lanka who, more than any other, after nearly 30 years of rule by a mass murderer who ruled by the gun, Prabakaran, now has to face the reality of a return to those dark days, thanks to the likes of Bruce Haig and some of his Australian friends within and outside the Tamil Diaspora.

It is surprising that a diplomat, who has been in so many postings in many parts of the world, including Sri Lanka, should make a stupid statement like “particularly when all members of the Tamil community in the north of Sri Lanka were associates of the LTTE in one way or another”.

No doubt Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka will have a few choice words for Bruce Haig for this travesty of a statement alluding they were willing partners of the LTTE (by saying the Tamils were associates of the LTTE), when these very same Tamil people were in fact the ones who suffered most in the hands of the LTTE throughout their reign of terror.

Canberra Times readership, in Australia and elsewhere, should question Bruce Haig’s grasp of facts and the state of his mind, should he wish the readership to believe that the Tamils who suffered so much in the hands of the LTTE, were supportive of the LTTE who tormented them for nearly 30 years.

They should ask whether Bruce Haig is saying that the Tamils of the North and East had masochistic tendencies and that they took pleasure in gratification gained from pain, deprivation, degradation, inflicted or imposed on them by the LTTE.

The readership should ask Northern and Eastern Tamils whether they considered being associated with the LTTE meant the acceptance of forceful conscription of child soldiers as young as 8-10 years, the forceful conscription of one male or female from each family as LTTE fighters, the forceful takeover of houses, land, money, jewelry, even food items, drugs being delivered to hospitals, and several other deprivations and degradations.

The readership should ask Bruce Haig whether these were happy times for the Tamils in the North and East of Sri Lanka, thanks to the LTTE.

Bruce Haig seems to be saying that the LTTE should be exonerated for the crimes they committed inside Sri Lanka as the war is over now. He also seems to be saying that except for the “politically stupid murder of Rajiv Gandhi in India in 1991”; other murders they committed within the country should be viewed differently.

If something is not a stupid act, it needs to be wise act. Is he saying that other killings were not politically stupid and they were all wise acts?

Is he saying that the killing of President Ranasinghe Premadasa by the LTTE was a wise act? Is he saying killing of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragarmar by the LTTE was a wise act? Is he saying that killing of scores of other Tamil politicians by the LTTE, persons who wanted a peaceful resolution of the conflict, were wise acts?

Is he also saying that the LTTE killings of thousands of innocent women, children, old men and women, hundreds of Buddhist monks, Muslim priests, Muslim people praying in Mosques, cold blooded murder of hundreds of policemen who had surrendered to the LTTE, were all wise acts?

Bruce Haig and those who are known LTTE sympathizers like Justice John Dowd, appear to be spearheading an international move to de list the LTTE as a banned organization in 32 countries. They wish people to believe that the LTTE is something of the past, and that crimes they committed inside the country are really not crimes.

John Dowd and several hundred Tamils from Sydney and adjoining counties participated in an event held at the Ryde Civic Center in Sydney Sunday 02 October 2005 in support of the Tamil Resurgence events being held by fellow Tamils in the North and East. The event was organized by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), an umbrella organization of Tamil groups in the region.

The event addressed by John Dowd had a large than life size cut out of terrorist leader Prabakaran, as seen in the photograph shown below. Interestingly the Tamilnet version of this same photo did not show Prabakarans’s photograph. Could Bruce Haig explain why?

Who are some of these Diaspora activists? Arunachalam Jegatheeswaran who filed a lawsuit against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a Melbourne court, and an uncle of Brami Jegatheeswaran (Brami Jegan) who ran for a senate seat in NSW from the Greens Party of Australia is one such person.

He is the brother of Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar -- known as AC Shanthan, who was jailed for two years for aiding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the notorious Tamil Tigers militia outlawed in Britain as a terrorist organization.

Shanthan, the founder of the British Tamil Association was found to have acquired electrical componentry and military manuals for the LTTE.

According to defense intelligence sources in Sri Lanka, Jegatheeshwaran, a technical consultant by profession now living in Sydney, Australia is revealed to have been a close associate of late Prabakaran. Evidence has also surfaced exposing Jegatheeshwaran's close involvement since 2001 with high profile members of the now military defeated terrorist outfit including its international wing head Castro.

His involvements with the LTTE include designing and construction of key 'military' infrastructure facilities to the terror outfit. Jegatheeshwaran was born in Sri Lanka and later had obtained Australian citizenship in year 1987.

Bruce Haig seems to have joined Brahmi Jegatheeswaran and her family in not attaching any concern for the murderous activities of the LTTE, and the fact that they had been responsible for the worst form of human rights violations in recent history, and the death of more than 100,000 people as a consequence of the violence perpetrated by them.

Perhaps Bruce Haig also thinks that the Sri Lankan authorities have fabricated intelligence information about the true face of Meena Navarangi Krishnamoorthy, another known LTTE activists, the person held in high esteem by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

She was a hard-line activist of the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO), the international youth wing of the LTTE that functioned under Castro, the international co-ordinator of the LTTE and under the personal supervision of the LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran. She also received a 06 months military training whilst in the Wanni, of the then LTTE dominated area. She married a fellow terrorist named Irasurathnam Dayakaran alias Kuveran in the year 2007.

Bruce Haig probably thinks that another LTTE activists, Dr Sam Pari, spokesperson for Australian Tamil Congress and who has had close links to the LTTE including to one of the high rankers of the LTTE, its international head Nediyavan and other LTTE cadres, is a freedom fighter.

Dr Pari is another LTTE supporter who has addressed Tamil resurgence meetings with cut outs of Prabakaran gazing down in benevolence, although he has the blood of hundreds and thousands of innocent people on his hands.

Dr Pari, like Justice John Dowd, may be taken as supporting terrorism and violence practiced by Prabakaran, considering he did not pursue a non violent method to win political demands. Her speeches could be interpreted as extremely inflammatory and an incitement for a return to violence. She has not mentioned a non-violent political struggle to win their demands.

Not saying so could be taken as resorting to violence as a means to achieve their demands. It could also be viewed as promoting further segregation amongst Australian Sri Lankans, and impacting on the cohesiveness of the Australian society.

The LTTE rump is still active, and it is unfortunate that the likes of Bruce Haig and Justice John Dowd are giving them oxygen to grow into extreme elements that used violent methods to fight their political battles.

Tamils in Sri Lanka could do without Bruce Haig and John Dowd. They know that these two retired people who have nothing better to do than sowing seeds of discord and disharmony amongst Australian Sri Lankans, are likely to delay and even derail the process that is about to be put in place for the Sri Lankan Parliament to agree on a political solution sought not just by the Tamils in Sri Lanka, but all other communities in the country.

They are all tired of terrorism and war. Unlike Bruce Haig and John Dowd, and their Tamil Diaspora activists who are spewing venom from far, Tamils in Sri Lanka want concerned people to act as honest brokers and assist the reconciliation process amongst all communities in the country, and help them to find a political solution.

Bruce Haig, with his experience in Sri Lanka could have been one of these honest brokers to help the Tamils and other communities in Sri Lanka.

He has become a broker. Perhaps honest too. But he seems to have become an honest broker for the LTTE, to facilitate their objective of being decriminalized, and transformed from Wolves to innocent Sheep, and fooling an unsuspecting world that they have turned a new leaf.

Anyone supporting a terror group may also be regarded as a terrorist, and such people could be a considerable threat to the security of Australia. Wolves donning Sheep’s clothing should not deceive the security authorities in Australia. They need to take a stand and punish such people.

Australian Sri Lankans would like to urge Bruce Haig to stick to his Olive farming and leave Tamils in Sri Lanka to work out a political solution together with their fellow citizens. The greater the interference from persons like Bruce Haig and John Dowd, the more difficult it will be for these communities living in Sri Lanka to find a lasting, mutually agreeable political solution.

If Bruce Haig thinks that Tamils are being victimized and are suffering, he should know that he is only exacerbating their pain, if indeed they are suffering, and he is delaying a political solution.

Tamils living in Sri Lanka no doubt would like to tell Bruce Haig to butt off and leave them alone to work out a political solution with their fellow citizens.

- Asian Tribune -