Government feeble over terrorism

Sri Lanka is recognized by cricket and Jayasuriya. Differently, Sri Lanka is also identified by LTTE and Prabhakaran. Both confronted in Lahore. Presently LTTE is going through an existential crisis in Sri Lanka because of the prevalent armed force action. At this time, attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team can be taken as a great opportunity by LTTE to negotiate with the Lankan Govt. The whole attack was allegedly conspired by Harkat-ul-Mujahideen creating favourable conditions for LTTE. Fortunately, they did not succeed in captivating the cricket team.

Consequentially this unfortunate incident has raised numerous questions allover. For instance, what should be a democracy’s ideal way to deal with terrorism? Amid dividing societies, section centric power-mongering governments, violence as the only effective tool for negotiation; what significance does the ‘civil society’ hold? If the Govt. monopoly is killing people through its policies on the name of Democracy, what becomes a difference between the so-called Democracy and simply gunning down people for no reason? These questions become even more important as LTTE and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen share a good rapport from the times when Harkat-ul-Mujahideen was called Harkat-ul-Ansar. Harkat-ul-Mujahdeen was a member of the International Islamic Organisation then and also was a key player of Al-Qaeda known for smuggling drugs and weapons between other Islamic organizations.

It was in 1993 that the Indian Navy got to know about a ship that was carrying arms. The ship was going to Sri Lanka from Karachi with LTTE leader Kittu on voyage. LTTE comprehension about Indian Navy led to burning of the whole ship in the sea itself. Also, it was revealed that the Pakistani terrorist organizations took LTTE’s regular assistance for smuggling heroin between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were also supported by ISI and Navaz Sharif openly. During that time Harkat-ul-Ansar was responsible for smuggling weapons to Palestine. LTTE was an active support all through because of its nautical strength.

In the 90s, LTTE was the only powerful organisation known for shipping arms and weapons of destruction. Between 1995 and 1998, ISI provided LTTE with anti-aircraft weapons and missiles. This action was however opposed by the Lankan Govt. and as an afterthought, pressure was created on Pakistan. This wasn’t the end of their age long relationship. Post 9/11, when Pakistan and Afghanistan faced deployment of US Army, smuggling weapons to Palestine happened via Myanmar and southern Thailand. Had LTTE become weak during all these events, it wouldn’t have used cricketers as bait for negotiation like it did now.

The present unfortunate incident has reminisced of the 37 year old Munich Olympic in which 11 Israeli athletes and the coach was held captive by a Yasser Arafat backed terrorist organisation called ‘Black September’ demanding release of 234 Palestinians. Jayasuriya was born two years after that incident and he definitely must not have gauged the possibility of an almost similar incident that happened some days back.

This episode has raised many questions before India. Is Pakistan ready for a democracy? Can America’s pseudo military and civil aid promoting terrorism and hampering Pakistan’s growth, justified and legitimate? And in the course of such happenings there is a starry world of cricket on one hand and on the other stands the enticement for Democracy through elections. Can they co-exist? We have more Muslims than Pakistan has, but divisive politics is prominent. India has more poverty than America’s combined population. In this light how can economic development be envisaged? Is all this a conspiracy to beat power and politics? Questions are many but the solution lies only in uniting the Nation. Calling off IPL is easy, building trust in the Nation is not.