Gajalakshmi Paramasivam

19 October  2019

WHO OWNS THE WAR?

What is the difference between Fact & Truth? Former has form and the latter is the experience through which the Fact was born. Likewise the difference between Judgment & Justice. Also between war victory & war.

This morning’s news included the Sydney Morning Herald report ‘Mark Latham settles defamation dispute over terror tweets’. It was about ‘out of court settlement’ between Mr Latham and Mr Nizamdeen. To my mind, the knowledge of the status of Mr Nizamdeen – that he is the nephew of a Sri Lankan minister – would have contributed to the decision to ‘settle’. Mark Latham is known to be hasty in expressing that which is in his mind – already packaged and preconceived. But from Nizamdeen’s angle – he lost the opportunity to have the experience of Australian weakness and therefore to become more global than he currently is. He lost also the opportunity to help other Muslims who are wrongly charged by Australian authorities. When we experience the weakness of the other as pain – we become common. That is what family is about. Accepting money separates us. We then hire or deal with each other through specific bilateral agreements – we confirm that we are not family to that extent.

The LTTE accepted money from MGR – who was Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and was bound by the laws of politics. Any money given for the ‘common cause of Tamils’ ought to have been confidential. The fact that it was apparent – confirms a lesser purpose – including to ‘show’ Tamil Nadu power.

Dr Wickremabahu Karunaratne in his Ceylon Today article headed ‘LTTE a Conventional Fighting Force’ confirms this weakening in his own way:

[Last year it was reported in Australia, the arrest of NSW student from Sri Lanka on terrorism charges. It was not surprising because of many experiences at the universities of NSW where there were weak administrations naturally infected by the NSW Police]

I identify with the above reasoning through my own experiences. At least one Australian in the area of the Court said that I was from where the ‘bad Tigers were’. But by accepting that the Tigers’ reputation was mine also – I am able to work the Tamil community as an insider. That is the way of Belief. Once we do that – our truth brings us the truth that we need. Dr Karunaratne concludes as follows in regards to LTTE:

[If Dharma were to prevail,  the same law must apply to the other side – which is the government of Sri Lanka especially in the case of politicians who are promising freedom from law to their side in the war]

Dharma is the pathway of Truth. Beyond our level of ownership – Truth leads us. If we had upheld the truth then that experience would be positive for us. In this instance if government officers who did not follow the law are protected by the President – then that lawlessness gets protected. If power was used through Discretionary powers of the then Defence Secretary on the basis of truth – that Truth will protect when that Defence Secretary becomes President. But LTTE was defeated with the help of other nations who have been ‘forgotten’ by the Rajapaksa government that takes all the credit. The Dharmic outcome of all this is mental retardation unless we oppose such regimes as per our own truth.

One who claims victory in war is only custodian of that land area. One who owns the whole war – is the real power that would prevent future wars.