"Peace for War"- paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2005, 15:23 GMT]
Pointing out the recent efforts by the Sri Lanka Government to strengthen its military apparatus, and the failure to demonstrate political will and capacity to setup a joint institutional mechanism with the Liberation Tigers to obtain aid to assist the tsunami devastated people, the popular daily Uthayan in Saturday's editiorial said, Sri Lanka's President is making use of Peace to prepare for war.

Ms Kumaratuinge's acts of sending Military Officers to Iran for the purchases of arms, the news about the move on the part of the Air Force to acquire Air Crafts from the US, and her decision to visit Pakistan Tuesday, with the intention of entering into a defense pact, ignoring the grave necessity to take forward the task of creating a common structure, for the recovery and reconstruction necessary to lift Sri Lanka after tsunami, reveal a mindset obsessed with military chauvinism," said the editorial.

"Ms Kumaratunge first became the President as an angel of peace but sooner she got the power she unleashed a monstrous war on the Tamils aimed destroy Tamil Nationalism. She earned using her doctrine "War for Peace" the pride for her historic achievement of inflicting the worst harm and misery on the Tamil people.

"Fortunately her Government was toppled by the United National Party which brought a temporary halt to the two decades of war. A Cease Fire Agreement was born.

"The UNP Government that tried to make this a permanent feature was sent home 4 years prior to the expiry of its term of Office. Ms Kumaratunge seized power with the help of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinistic out fit - the JVP," the editiorial summarized the background to her subsequent entry to hold the highest reigns of power.

"Ms Kumaratunge is attempting to make use of the present peace atmosphere to prepare for another round of war. She is seeking to place the sagging economy on a firmer footing first with the assistance provided by the International Community.

"It is certain, that if this trend continues it will result in a great tragedy for Sri Lanka," the editorial warned.