Who killed cock robin and thousands of Tamil civilians

I, said, Gota and Fonseka in unison

| by Pearl Thevanayagam

Tamil civilians lie on a cardboard box on the ground in the Manik Farm refugee camp - File Photo

(June 19, 2012, London, Sri Lank Guardian) War was over three years ago. Three years on, the euphoria of the government has not abated. All in the name of wiping out terrorism, thousands perished in Mullivaikkal but war victory is celebrated more often than the Trooping of the Colours for the Queen's official birthday which brought the royal extended family, public and the royal guards for a day of pomp and pageant three days ago.

The queen is the embodiment of enduring a very long reign and the public love her. As Head of the Commonwealth and the longest serving monarch after Queen Victoria she is still held in reverence not for conquering countries by sheer brutal force or handing out Bibles and taking over them but for accommodating her Commonwealth citizens and treating them as equals.

General Fonseka is sparing no breath after his release from prison to regurgitate his claim to the war victory hoping to enter the fray in the next presidential election which is not due until 2016 thanks to the executive presidency which the late President Junius Richard Jayewardene introduced and despite promises by successive presidents to abolish continues to give absolute oligarchical powers to the Head of the State. It is quite naïve for the voting populace to expect a party in power to do away with this coveted prize handed on a golden platter. Four years is ample time to stash away the wealth of the nation in Swiss Banks for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his extended family and his cohorts, who form the government to pay for lawyers to plead their cases for war crimes when their turn comes.

Then there is Defence Secretary and brother of the President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who insists that he ordered the killings of LTTE hierarchy and thousands of Tamil civilians who surrendered with white flags as they fled for their lives. If these are not war crimes according to UNHRC could they count as wiping out terrorism and preserving Sinhala hegemony? This was eugenics in unadulterated form if truth be told.

Either way both General Fonseka and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya have established UNHRC's substantiated claim that they committed war crimes and this government needs to account for its complicity in war crimes. Heaping on lies from Day One when UN started investigating with some moronic ambassadors stating that there were zero civilian casualties initially and later admitting several thousands could have been killed by the security forces smacks of blatant and foolish cover-up which no self-respecting government would resort to.

Dubya appears intelligent compared to these jokers and Tony Blair seems genuine when he supported the former on Iraq invasion on the pretext it had WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) notwithstanding the mysterious death of Dr David Kelly who declared there was not a shred of evidence in Iraq of WMD. Tony Blair could not still come up with refuting his complicity into Dr Kelly's death/murder at the Hutton Inquiry although MI6, UK's equal to CIA, was implicated. Evidence is out there his was not suicide as was popularly touted.

War was over years ago. Three years is ample time to kick-start the economy and reconstruct war zones but the government has no money for such trivia. The government needs to be vigilant about the resurgence of Tamil militancy and it had better keep a check on BTF (British Tamil Forum), GTF (Global Tamil Forum) the neophyte of TGTE (Trans-national Government of Tamil Eelam) and the Tamil diaspora for who knows they could be more virulent than the vanquished LTTE. Talk about manufactured paranoia and a weak excuse to position redundant soldiers in the North and East in the serendipitous hope the public would buy this canard.

Democracy, socialism, communism in toto become meaningless unless they transmogrify into action. These fancy pedagogue titles do not cut much ice with the populace unless it sees some tangible benefits such as adequate food, clothing, shelter and health-care. Democracy ceases to exist when a majority of the population are living below the poverty line. Per capita income is not calculated on the majority below average income. It is calculated on an average which spells GDP. One takes into account the upper income bracket along with those with the least income and we all know the divide between the rich and the poor in our country is wider and deeper than heaven and hell.

The contentment of a nation is not embodied in its economic growth but rather in its PQLI (Physical Quality of Life Index) as per UN definition which simplified means how satisfied a citizen is with his/her income and the sustenance for his/her well-being.

First came democracy, then communism and now the Occupy Movement spreading across the world which is agitating and asking for accountability of governments why they are in debt long after all the wars were won. Wars have been lame-ducks of excuses for all the ills that common masses were burdened with. Why should the European Union bail out the lavish spending of Greece and Spain? And why should US Treasury or British government bail out floundering banks?

Political campaigns are dependent on big bucks from big companies which include banks. Barack Obama cannot win a second term in November unless he panders to big-time corporations. And he would wipe the floor with these corporations to stay in power as the first Black to lead America. But at what price?

Cock robin was murdered and from sparrows to fowls claimed a part in its death not unlike Gota and Fonseka. But the death of Velupillai Pirabhakaran, the LTTE leader, and his cadres along with thousands of civilians would remain a conscience on the President and the government and they cannot crow victory forever since their time of reckoning is approaching much too sooner than they thought. Beware the UPR (Universal Periodic Review) in October and the international community is watching.

The writer is Asia Pacific Journalism Fellow at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, California and a print journalist for 22 years. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com