Birds of Freedom - Disgrace to female species
The act of savage brutality displayed by the Birds of Freedom, the female fighting unit of the terrorist organisation of the LTTE should be condemned by every right thinking peace loving person.
As a female myself I can not even begin to comprehend how any other female can brutally knife and hack to death another female. The thought of those Birds of Freedom using weapons to butcher members of their own sex defies belief, how could any sane person kill a pregnant woman and the life that is growing inside her womb. It is unethical, callous, barbaric and cruel.
It repulses me to think that these repulsive female tiger cadres have named themselves after a genre of beautiful creatures such as birds who commit no harm. I stand corrected perhaps the variety of birds they have modelled themselves after are the "scavengers" of the bird world such as the vultures who have an evil reputation. Similarly the LTTE birds of freedom are evil beings can positively be branded as the scum of this earth.
As reported in the press, that the massacre at Ampara was done in retaliation for the death of 21 civilians killed by an air raid by the Sri Lankan air force is absolute poppycock. It is a universally known and well documented fact that the LTTE’s popular ploy is to surround their bases, camps and bunkers with innocent civilians for use as human shields, because in the event of a raid they can always complain vociferously that the Sri Lankan government is killing innocent Tamil civilians. For too long the LTTE have used civilians as human shields and then cried wolf and now we are immune to their hollow cries and we are familiar with their battle tactic of deploying civilians as human shields. I have no hesitation in offering my absolute sympathies to the families of those that dies in the bombing attack but none the less the blame for that massacre too lies squarely on the shoulders of the LTTE for using those innocent people as human shields.
For women to be able to execute such despicable violent acts of genocide against other humans defies sane comprehension. I hope that the screams and tears and pleadings which were uttered by the dying villages will continue to haunt the vile LTTE creatures that perpetrated these acts in the name of Eelam. These women are a disgrace to the sisterhood and the whole female species. It is the bounden duty for every single women’s group to condemn this attack and Sri Lanka’s very own Radhika Coomaraswamy the UN’s special rapporteur on Women can set an example by denouncing the Birds of Freedom for the macabre act of annihilating innocent villagers in the name of their utopian dream of Eelam.
Every single villager that died in the Ampara massacre sacrificed their precious lives in the name of Sri Lanka. They stayed to the very end at the border villages safeguarding the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. They may not be decorated war soldiers, some of them mere home guards with the rudimentary knowledge of operating a small gun but their heroic acts to stay on in these border villages to secure even an inch of land deserves our utmost respect. These are the true sons and daughters of Sri Lanka for they never fled in the face of danger instead stood against the enemy and paid the ultimate penalty with their lives. Let their deaths not be in vain but be taken as a lesson on how to better equip and safeguard the border villagers who are our last hope in safeguarding the land which the Eelam fanatics are keen to claim as their own.
Tina Edwards
Middlesex
Propagating Hatred
Mother Lanka weeps and bleeds when her children sow the evil seeds of hatred among them. Thus facilitating racial and religious disharmony. These elements are genially helped by some laity and clergy. What a shame! Sri Lanka should form an organisation to fight this kind of trouble makers in the name of religion or ethnicity. After all can anybody claim that he or she chose to be born to a particular religion or race, if the answer is negative then why talk big of ones birthright.
First and foremost we are Sri Lankan, we shall live and die Sri Lankan, nobody can deny the fact. Don’t we have enough frictions among ourselves as it is which is devouring the prime youth of this country for 18 years. Do we have to start a new friction and kill each other until we are totally destroyed.
We implore to the national leaders. Wake up! Nip it in the bud, before it worsens and creates another ethnic issue.
Come on, face it, every community has its good and evil members, no community can boast saying that our race is the most perfect one. The real followers of any faith be it Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims or Christians does not teach a man to hate man. If it is love, love, love which is taught then why hate. Nobody lives forever, all will die, let us get together and make tomorrow a better place for our coming generations. The Millennium SRI LANKA is for Sri Lankans who will love his fellow compatriots not kill him. Politicos and Clergy beware, do not incite innocent people to gain cheap fame and power. Spread, sow the word of LOVE and you shall harvest rich dividends for all.
M. Roshan Razak
The pensioners’ plea
During the course of the speeches in Parliament on the proposed Pensioners’ Welfare Trust Fund on 9-9-99, all the members on both sides of the House who spoke on the subject pointed out the inadequate and paltry sum of pension that is paid to the pensioners.
But the question is whether the government will pay heed at least to this unified voice of both sides of the House and make provision for the payment of a realistic pension to the pensioners, and whether those members, at least, who spoke very eloquently will pursue the matter and see that justice and fairplay is done to the pensioners.
The Wanasundera Commission appointed by the government recommended that whenever increases are given to those in service the payment to the pensioners should also be increased in keeping with the increases paid to those in service as in other countries. But this has not been done so far.
The B. C. Perera Committee appointed by the government recommended that those in service should be given an increase of 40% of their salary and those who had retired should be given 30% of their pensions. Though the 40% increase had been given to those in service, the 30 1/2 increase to the pensioners had not been given to the pensioners. Only an increase of 10% had been given.
The reason for not paying the pensioners their increase is attributed to the expenses incurred for the war. But when it comes to a question of giving amenities and facilities to the Members of Parliament the war expenses are not remembered or spoken of. Besides, Members and Ministers, some even with their spouses, go abroad on the expenses of the government. There in no talk about war expenses at that time.
The late Dr. Dr. W. Dahanayake was a member of parliament for a long period and had been a Minister and even been a Prime Minister though for a short time. He did not go abroad except once and that too on the insistence of the Prime Minister of that time, to India. There was no war during his time and he could have travelled many times, But he did not do it.
It is very pathetic to see pensioners struggling to make ends meet. And to add to this the older the pensioners the lesser the pension one gets. It is also very tragic to see that pensioners who had retired earlier with over 35 years of service drawing less pension than their subordinates who had retired after them with less number of service.
It is hoped that in view of the speeches made by the members of parliament on both sides of the House during the Pensioners’ Welfare Trust Fund discussion, the government will act fairly and justly and make provision in the budget for the payment of a realistic pension to the pensioners instead of raising the war expenses bogey like the dog raising the same leg on whatever part of its body it is hit.
Arul,
Colombo 13.
The voters alone shall throw out Govt!
The retired Supreme Court Judge K. M. M. Kulatunga is perfectly correct when he declared at a public forum that it is the citizenry alone who shall vote out a government and their action is a reflection of their acute suffering in their homes, at work-places and the market-place and on the highways. No thanks to absurd governance! It is not the press that determines this, but their own personal inconveniences and suffering.
Therefore it is quite nonsensical that the PA government should seek newspaper support to turn away the minds of the citizenry, which means to effectively "whitewash misdoings," when it would prove to be a useless exercise! It is also patently clear that the government of Kumaratunga is extremely fearful of a General Election defeat. Is it that they have more than their seats in government at stake? Then, what is actually at stake?
A brief glance at the local history reveals that victories at General Elections were won in the manner of tidal waves by the Opposition forces, despite a press that "whitewashed" the governments in power, in 1956, 1970 and 1977. Now it could well be the turn of the People’s Alliance.
Politicians with a clean record and genuinely honest endeavour behind them need not fear!
Rohan Jayawardane