Fight to win!

Its bad news from the North again. The LTTE terrorists have attacked army detachments stationed at Mankulam and Kilinochchi resulting in over 320 soldiers being killed during the last four days. The LTTE clandestine radio has admitted that they had lost 250 cadres. In the midst of heavy fighting the losses cannot be accurately estimated and the Kill Ratio tends to be overestimated by both sides to their favour. The other bad news is the loss of a Lionair plane transferring passengers from Jaffna to Colombo carrying 48 passengers and a crew of seven members.

With military censorship on the press and other media we have to depend on information supplied by the Defence Ministry. The public is entitled to know what is happening to Operation Jayasikuru on which colossal investments in funds and human resources have been made. Last week parliament approved an increase of Rs 12.2 billion to the Defence Ministry vote raising the budgetary allocation for defence this year to a staggering Rs. 56. 2 billion. Even if more funds are required for defence which is priority No 1 of the nation today, it will undoubtedly be granted but results have to be shown. This year the progress in the fight against terrorism has been minimal or negative.

As pointed out in earlier editorial comments, this North- East conflict is now 15 years old and it is time a determined effort is made to end it soon. With the government and the UNP squabbling about negotiations with the LTTE and the LTTE itself indicating that its intransigence remains unchanged by rejecting the government’s Devolution Package — the furthest any government has gone in the process of devolution of power — only the military option remains. But it appears that the strategy of opening up the main highway to the Jaffna peninsula is stalled and scant progress has been made this year.

We have said before that the government should review its political , diplomatic and military strategies to bring an end to this conflict. Chandrika Kumaratunga government’s political and certainly diplomatic strategies have been successful. The status given to the LTTE and other terrorist organisations which were considered as liberation movements by many in the west, including foreign powers, has been reversed. Today, the LTTE is being considered a terrorist organisation and the speeches made against terrorism by world leaders at the UN General Assembly annual sessions where in certain instances Sri Lanka was mentioned as a country being affected by terrorism, is to this country’s gain.

Even though the world has come recognised the horrors of LTTE terrorism — but those on the lunatic fringe in state media keep calling them liberation fighters — in material terms this country has not benefited from this shift . President Kumaratunga’s stirring rhetoric on terrorism is not enough , She has to seek international assistance to end this conflict soon.

Military assistance in the form of high- tech that could end this war should be sought. Satellite reconnaissance and other high tech defence equipment could be of great assistance to the forces.

As pointed out by our defence correspondent on Saturday

this is not a cricket match where we can be satisfied with an honourable draw. This is war and a war has to be fought not to lose or have a stalemate but to win.

Women in MCC

In the midst of a bloody war, Sri Lanka emerged as world champions in cricket. Thus, it would not be inappropriate for us to talk about cricket despite the debacles in the North.

Women finally made into the holiest of holies of Cricket, the Long Room of the Marleybone Cricket Club which invented the rules of cricket and was considered the Mecca of the game. Women libbers would be delighted but there will be hemming and hawing , twirling of mustaches by those in moth eaten blazers. Of the 13, 466 members 69.8 percent voted for admission of women while 30, 2 percent voted against it.

In the light of the storming of the MCC, the question that bothers us is : Will there will be no masculine preserve left in any part of the world? While feminine company is indeed desirable Man by nature would like to have his own exclusive preserves for a few hours on and off. The MCC was one such comfortable niche for the British men. But that is not to be now.

In Colombo, there are still one or two all male preserves and we do hope our women libbers would not come charging in. At the risk of being bludgeoned by Lankan Libbers, we say that the time is ripe to ensure the fundamental right of men to their own preserves in this country.