Issues
The Pen is Mightier than the Gun
It is clear that the world is now convinced that an important element in the resolution of this problem is to show the LTTE where it stands and marginalize it because it will not come into the democratic process. The Hindu (Editorial, 2nd June, 2006)
This is a revised and updated version of an article written by me and published in the Daily News of 14th June 2006 during the height of the ethnic conflict and shortly after the attack on the then Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka by a LTTE suicide bomber.
True that!
Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1839),an English Author coined a metonymic adage ‘The pen is mightier than the sword ‘ for his play Richelieu The play was about Cardinal Richelieu and the line in Act II Scene II was as follows:
True-This!-/Beneath the rule of men entirely great,/ The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold/The arch-enchanters wand!-itself a nothing!-/But taking sorcery from the master-hand/To paralyze the Caesars and to strike/The loud earth breathless!-Take away the sword –/States can be saved without it.
As the gun has now replaced the sword in modern warfare the saying is that the pen is mightier than the gun. If this is not true how is it that the journalists today have become the most feared people by many rulers in the world. A spate of attacks on journalists in recent times, have been reported in the media from all four corners of the world.
I wrote at that time in the year 2006, thus:
“Solution:The time has now come, when the Sri Lankan nation comprising of the Sri Lankan people from all races and creeds and the international community should learn to call a spade, a spade. The LTTE led by its leader Velupullai Pirapaharan has subjected the Sri Lankan Nation which includes our Tamil brethren to lies, terror, torment and evil.
“The recent violent incidents perpetrated by the LTTE such as using child soldiers to gun down 12 unarmed civilians, sending a brainwashed pregnant mother to be, as a suicide bomber to kill the army commander and attacking a shipload of 700 unarmed soldiers at sea among other incidents, while feigning to talk peace, indicate the falsity of their intentions to pursue the peace initiative.
“The question then arises, are we to return to a full scale armed conflict or a fully blown war to tame the Tigers? In the writer’s personal opinion and the majority of free men in the world the answer would be a resounding ‘no’. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Among free men there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet”.
“Lincoln in his message to the Congress on July 4, 1861 further said: “…ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets.” Then, what would be the answer to terminate the brutal activities of the LTTE in the name of a purported liberation struggle for the Tamil people? It is a fact that all races in Sri Lanka have lived together in peace and harmony as brethren for quite a long period of time until a band of persons under the leadership of Velupullai Pirapaharan formed the LTTE in May 1976. If one were to type the name ‘Prabhakaran’ in the Google search bar all the information about the man and his cult would be accessible.”
Two hundred year jail term
How the Tigers advocated peace and come into the democratic process with a leader like Pirapaharan was only too obvious from the portfolio of information available on the internet. The Interpol had designated this person a wanted man. An Indian court had sentenced him to death for the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. The High Court of Colombo in Sri Lanka had sentenced him to 200 years for setting the Central Bank building ablaze using explosives which killed hundreds of persons.
Gang leaders all
It was obvious that many in this country and abroad including the Tamils were for a long time struck with fear to voice their anger and suffering under the brutal dictatorship and tyranny of the gang leader, who controlled their lives and held the Sri Lankan Nation to ransom by fear and tyranny.
A similar fear psychosis was seen during the times of megalomaniacs and tyrants such as Hitler and Pol Pot. Hitler declared himself to be the saviour of the German people and engaged in genocide of the Jews. Millions died due to the madness of Hitler. Innocent children and women were gassed to death. The world watched in utter horror and helplessness. Anyone who spoke up or protested was assassinated by the Gestapo.
The pistol gangs of the LTTE accomplished this task without any hindrance to the amazement of the Sri Lankan people who watch in desperation at the inability of the intelligence network of the Sri Lankan Government to curb such killings. One of the reasons for their inability at the time was the assassination of top intelligence officers and the cry of the protection of the human rights of those arrested or detained for investigations during cordon and search operations.
Innocent child killed in womb
The people who rose to protect the human rights of persons who were detained for investigations were dumbstruck to raise their voices for the innocent child in the womb of the pregnant Tamil mother to be, who was made a suicide bomber,
Pirapaharan plays with his son while speaking with some of his cadre: "It was in the interests of Pirapaharan who was wanted for criminal activities and sentenced to death in India to prolong the so called 'ethnic crisis' and live in luxury throwing grand birthday fiestas for his progeny rather than work or negotiate for the welfare of the Tamil people"
or the 12 innocent unarmed civilians killed by Tiger child soldiers as a training exercise in military warfare. Do they hear the wails of the families of those unarmed innocent civilians killed in sport?
It was in the interests of Pirapaharan who was wanted for criminal activities and sentenced to death in India to prolong the so called ‘ethnic crisis’ and live in luxury throwing grand birthday fiestas for his progeny rather than work or negotiate for the welfare of the Tamil people.
Money flows in
Funds in the meantime came pouring in and the leaders of the LTTE lived in luxury travelling under State protection to other countries to wine and dine and spread fear among the Tamils abroad and extort further funds.
If not for the so called ‘Tamil cause (Oscar Wilde said in The Picture of Dorian Gray: ‘I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable’.) espoused by the LTTE, could its leaders have lived in the lap of luxury and travelled around the Globe wasting the time and the funds of the Sri Lankan Government, our Tamil brethren and the international community, who are now beginning to rise from their deep slumber and see things in their true perspective?
An indepth study of the ISGA proposals put forward by the LTTE at the time indicated their need to legitimize the control they had over the occupied areas as well as the entire North-East and gain, administrative, military and financial control over the entire North-East. (even the hyphen between the words North and East has been dropped to indicate that it is one territory).
Their need to obtain supremacy over a separate region of the sea may have arisen from a perusal of the provisions of the Montevideo Convention for separate states, which indicates a separate territory as a pre-requisite for a separate State.
What then, is the solution to the problem facing the Sri Lankan Nation today? At the outset of this piece, I have quoted from the Editorial of The Hindu. Here’s what I wrote in 2006:
‘The answer lies in the marginalization of the LTTE, not by war, but by exercising patience over their brutal, violent
activities. The more unarmed innocents they kill, the more the world will marginalize them and identify their true nature. The Sri Lankan Security Forces must defend themselves and the public. What happened to Hitler and Pol Pot finally is no secret to anyone living today.
“As the Buddha said hatred begets more hatred. It is by kindness the hatred can be soothed. Then one may ask ‘is the Sri Lankan Nation to surrender and watch in silence while the killings go unabated?’ The Government must fortify and provide security to all vulnerable villages and the cities and strengthen its security establishment and intelligence services.
“A civil defence force comprising of retired officers of the armed forces and the police has to be immediately established. Intelligence advisors from foreign security establishments must be appointed. The ability of the LTTE to strike at will, must be reduced using relevant security arrangements.
“Instead of wasting money and time on an unreachable peace, the Government should call upon our Tamil brethren sans the LTTE, here and abroad to come to a negotiating table and voice any genuine grievance they have and remedy such grievances.
“The LTTE must lay down its arms before they are to be permitted to negotiate any issue. If the LTTE wants other armed groups to be unarmed what is their special right to carry arms themselves under the Sri Lankan law? When did they obtain a mandate from our Tamil brethren, here and abroad, to fight a war with the Sri Lankan security forces? As John Locke said: ‘Wherever law ends, tyranny begins’.
“The international funding of the LTTE must be totally weakened by proper dissemination of information on the internet and through our embassies abroad.
“Our Tamil brethren should realize the manner in which a 12-year-old Tamil boy was shot by the LTTE a few days ago for refusing to be a child soldier. Since the LTTE operations began Tamils have died at the hands of the LTTE in vast numbers and the Tamils abroad are terrorized to make funds available for these atrocities.
“Aren’t they funding the killing of their own people? Even Tamil writers and learned men such as Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam have been gunned down by the LTTE without any qualms. It is a shame that our Tamil brethren abroad surrender without a protest and hand out their hard earned money, such educated persons at that.
“Photographs and accurate accounts of all brutal killings by the LTTE must be made available to the international community in vivid detail, no sooner such information becomes available. The true nature of the LTTE then, would be seen by the international community including the donor countries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the media and the Government Information Department have to play a vital role in this matter. Thus by the might of the pen and not by the bullets from the gun will the LTTE be defeated in the near future.”
I also wrote the following poem in memory of that brave soldier, Corporal Yakandawala, the saviour of the then Army commander published in the Daily News of June 1st 2006 thus:
An Act of Cowardice
The heartless devil from the North, who loves himself but none we see,
Dispatched a bomb tied on the belly of a mother to be,
In an act of cowardice despised by the world, which wants to be free
Of such brutes underground sacrificing others but living in luxury,
Chaminda Yakandawala, the hero who rode valiant with bravery,
Saviour of his Commander from certain death to be,
’Old soldiers never die’ there is a saying that they say to be,
As their names are etched in gold in history.’
The Nation salutes its Army Commander, long life to thee,
Unite the Sri Lankan Nation as brothers to be,
The rat in the hole underground beware as doom is near thee,
A CRIME NEVER GOES UNPUNISHED FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.
How true the last part of my poem came to be is known by the entire world. Now the war is over but it was won with the might of the gun. The propaganda war fought with the pen has now begun unfolding harrowing tales of the past and reopening old wounds that are best forgotten. Sri Lanka should now look forward to an era of peace and prosperity through peace and reconciliation through a process of consultations, compromise and consensus. As that great statesman, Abraham Lincoln once said…”…ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets.”
Lakshman Keerthisinghe, LL.B., LL.M. is an Attorney-at-Law and a former senior consultant in the Law Reform Project funded by the UNDP for the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
1 Comment to “The Pen is Mightier than the Gun”
August 15, 2011 at 11:38 am
Amazing article, so nice of The Independent to publish this, when most other articles in the site are from half-baked journalists and peace advisors who care only about their pocket at the expense of the country. I would also like to add that the government has to re-think their strategy and procedure in appointing ambassadors. They need to post those who are capable of defending the country. While this writer looks like quality material, another laywer, the High Commissionaer in London in the last few years was a disaster who couldn’t even answer a simple question from the Channel 4.