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SRI LANKA’S FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS PRABHAKARAN, WANTED FOR INDIAN PRIME MINISTER RAJIV GANDHI’S MURDER A GREAT PATRIOT
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister said Velupillai Prabhakaran the man wanted for the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was a patriot of the island nation. Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando, a senior member of the ruling United National Party dominated government and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s hand picked candidate for the post of the Secretary General of the United Nation’s in 2006 said, “Prabhakaran has proved himself a better patriot of Sri Lanka than many of the buffoons who pretend to be patriots.” Tyronne Fernando, who claims that he is a descendent of a Sinhala hero named Puran Appu, interviewed by the pro-UNP/LTTE newspaper, the Sunday Leader, December 15, said, “As a descendent of a Sinhala patriot Puran Appu, I consider the so called Sinhala patriots of today short sighted and “humbas veerayas” (pseudo heroes)” A Christian, who once declared that a mystic St.Jude’s statue he possessed was so powerful that it could stop the strong monsoon storms deriving from the Bay of Bengal, Fernando warned the majority Buddhists of Sri Lanka, “Things have changed over the years. Sri Lanka cannot be considered as belonging only to the Sinhalese and the Buddhists.” And then he insisted, “Sri Lanka is a multi racial and multi religious society.” Colombo’s Sunday Times recently said, “ (Indian) Foreign Secretary Sibal said that 'there are several legal constraints that prevent India from further involvement in Sri Lanka's crisis.' Though he did not open the entire can of worms, he did say that the messy issues of extradition and other legal complexities and nuances that are related to Prabhakaran's conviction in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination has kept India's hands relatively tied, in its approach to the current conflict resolution process.” India’s shadow Foreign Minister of the Opposition Congress party, Natwar Singh told a recent delegation of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, "As far as our (Congress) policy is concerned, we will catch Prabhakaran and hang him -- for the murder of Rajiv Gandhi." Analysts say Tyronne Fernando made this statement in response to the Indian attitude to Velupillai Prabhakaran. The Sunday Island of Colombo also had this to say about Fernando’s statement: “Murder and cause murder; send young ones to their death butchering harmless and innocent men, women and children, infants too; order everyone to wear a cyanide capsule; attack the sacred Bo Tree and the Dalada Maligawa, and then be declared a true patriot. That’s patriotism according to the minister. “Tyronne Fernando continued to say in the interview that "he considered it was remarkable that LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran who sat with a suicide cadre and had the last supper before launching an attack, is now seen having supper with the government". “We missed seeing that supper. Was it a secret meal enjoyed? “What I take most objection to is the use of the analogy of the last supper. The last supper carries the connotation of gentle Jesus sitting with his disciples for the last time to sup with them, knowing full well that one would betray him and cause his death, another would deny knowing him. The Last Supper has pathos but grandeur too, captured so beautifully by Leonardo Da Vinci. “And our minister uses the Last Supper as a yardstick to measure the magnanimity of the LTTE leader. How can anyone compare the thosai and vade dinner that Prabhakaran is supposed to share with his suicide killers before dispatching them on deadly missions of murder and wanton destruction, to the breaking of bread of Jesus with the twelve disciples a day or two before the crucifixion. Was that by chance the comparison, and prediction the minister wished to make? Who would be crucified this time around? So is the minister being really clever with his talk of buffoons predicting a coming event? “We reading public know who the buffoons are — holding mirrors unto themselves. The LTTE, none of them, are buffoons by any means. The newspaper writing about Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando, “speaking in glowing admiration of Prabhakaran” said, “Of course everyone has the right to place his personal hero on a pedestal and sing his praises. But to make it a political statement, to be a voice of the government saying things was a bit much.” (EOM) (27/12/02 go2lanka.com) |