By Malin Abeyatunga, Melbourne, Australia

After the tragic 9/11 terrorist attack on the world Trade Centre in New York and Pentagon in Washington killing around 3000 innocent civilians, then President George W Bush (Jnr) declared war against Al-Qaeda. Recalling Bush’s comments on terrorism, he said “Terrorists are always  terrorists  wherever they are”  and “We have no business with Terrorists”. Well, what he meant was the Al-Qaeda Terrorist outfit led by Osama bin Laden and his associates and not the most brutal terrorist outfit LTTE as branded by the FBI. Although Al Qaeda and LTTE were banned as a terrorist organization in the West (The west I refer hereafter mainly refers to USA, UK, Canada, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany and few other EU countries), the west allowed the LTTE activists to operate in these countries freely and openly to assist LTTE’s terror in Sri Lanka and they are allowed to continue to do so even now albeit LTTE military  wing has been conclusively defeated by Sri Lanka.. What a sad situation for Sri Lanka who was fighting a deadly terrorist outfit with international “Double Standards”. Sri Lanka was the first and the only country in the world that defeated terrorism conclusively on their own soil.  

However, the fact remains that two world’s most dangerous terrorist leaders i.e. Prabhakaran and Osama bin Laden are no more. It took powerful USA and his allies with all that state-of the art communication systems and war machinery almost ten years to get at Osama bin Laden at the expense of thousands of Afghan and Pakistani civilian deaths. But President  Rajapaksa ‘s Government and its leadership finished not only Prabhakaran  but the whole LTTE ground operational hierarchy in Sri Lanka within less than three years without any external support or most modern communication and war machinery. In fact suffice to mention that Sri Lanka had to fight Prabhakran on the ground and the influential Tamil Diaspora supported by the west out side the war arena (International Community) all by herself despite the constant threats by the west to Sri Lankan Government to stop the military operations against LTTE. Sri Lanka did kill not only Prabhakaran but the whole hierarchy single handed whereas as USA killing Osama is a joint effort by the west and Pakistan.

When you compare and contrast Prabhakaran and Osama one can easily award the cup to Prabhakaran-LTTE as the most dangerous terrorist and the most brutal and deadliest terrorist outfit in the world. If I am given a question in an exam “Compare and Contrast Prabhakaran -LTTE and Osama - Al-Qaeda my answer would be as follows:  (Prabhakaran herein  means him and his terrorist outfit LTTE and Osama means him and Al Qaeda)

• Prabhakaran was fighting from an illegally captured and occupied land in the North and East of Sri Lanka whereas  Osama after being chased out from Afghanistan, he didn’t have fixed abode;

• Prabhakaran and Osama bin Laden-  is  one man show;

• Prabhakaran fought to carve out a separate state for the Tamils and his enemies were the Sri Lankan Governments and Sinhalese Buddhists where as Osama’s enemy was the west headed by USA;

• Prabhakaran fought with  a well equipped conventional army (land, sea and air)with a defacto regime in the North and East where as Osama led a guerilla warfare from the rugged mountains in Afghanistan and operating through his worldwide network with Al Qaeda and it’s associated other terrorist oufits like Jemmah  Islamiyah;

• Prabhakaran’s target was the Sri Lankan Government forces and the Sinhala Buddhists and Osama’s  target was the the west led by USA and UK;

• Osama’s Al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attack killing around 3000 innocent people. When taken into account the total number of civilians killed by Osama covering all embassies and hotels he targeted I believe the number wouldn’t exceed 5000 civilians (correct me if I am wrong please). (Extracted from Googles- 9/11 around 3000 and maimed around 4000; Kenya around 212, Morocco 16, Casabalanca 45 included 14 suicide bombers, Bali 202 and 240 maimed) but Prabhakaran over the last 30 years would have killed easily over 10000 civilians and maimed thousands; (not included personnel from GoSL armed forces)

• Osama targeted  western symbols of power where as Prabhakaran indiscriminately targeted economic centres like the Central Bank, Communication Towers, Oil Refineries, Country’s main international airport, commercial planes and Tourist Hotels;

• Prabhakaran thro his suicide bombers and remote control bombs destroyed country’s main Bus Terminal and the Railway station, public transport including commuter trains and busses ( not once many times); airplanes killing thousands of daily commuters maiming the same number for life but Osama  destroyed the public transport only once and that was in UK;

• Prabhakaran targeted not only Sinhala Buddhists but Muslims, both popular Sinhala and  Tamil political leaders, Government Ministers but Osama was not inclined that way as his only enemy was USA and UK and few other countries in the west;

• Prabhakaran killed two heads of State namely Sri Lankan President Premadasa and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and maimed ex President Chandrika. K for life but Osama did not kill any heads of States like LTTE.

• Osama didn’t go to towns and villages and killed innocent civilians but Prabhakran  sent his cadres to villages and towns bordering his captured territory sl aughter thousands of innocent civilians in the Sinhale villages using swords, kris knives machetes (to save bullets) –an operation of ethnic cleansing of the Sinhalese;

•   Prabhakaran indiscriminately sl aughtered in hundreds of  old and frail, young men and women, children, pregnant women, unborn babies in LTTE threatened villages but  Osama did c stoop to that lowest ebb;

• Prabhakaran used suicide bombers to explode bombs in busses and trains, Main bus and train terminals, ships transporting food, medicine and other basic requirements to the people in the North and East:

• Prabhakaran conscripted kids young as 10 years old for his child brigade and entrusted them on killing missions but no where it says that Osama had conscripted kids to carry his atrocities;

• Prabhaakaran’s LTTE robbed the food, medicine and other basic requirement sent to the ordinary civilians to feed his own fighters but I doubt Osama did that;

• Whilst Osama used suicide bombers to destroy few  American embassies; Twin Towers, Pentagon and few hotels etc. Prabhakaran is on official record with the UN having used the highest number of suicide bombers to kill people (not forgetting the fact that LTTE’s innovative suicide bomb kit  is being used by Al Qaeda and other terrorist outfits in the world);

• Osama did not attack  religious places but Prabhakaran did. His LTTE destroyed two  most sacred Buddhist religious places i.e. Dalada Maligawa and Sri Maha Bodhiya, many Buddhist temples, Muslim mosques and desecrated cultural heritage like the Talibans did to Bahmin Buddha statues in Afghanistan;

• Osama did not kill Christians while they were praying in the churches but Prabhakaran killed over hundred Buddhist devotees who were praying in  the Sri Maha Bodhiya premises and almost hundred Muslims who were praying in a mosque;

• Osama did not kill any religious clergies purposely but Prabhakaran did. His LTTE executed 39 Buddhist Monks who were on their way for a Meditation retreat;

• LTTE summarily executed 639 policemen  who surrendered at the request of the then President but I haven’t heard that Al Qaeda has done such a massacre;

• Prabhakaran used almost 280000 Tamil civilians as human shields to protect himself, his immediate family and the top men in the LTTE but Osama has used only one woman as hostage to protect himself. As reported by the print and electronic Media, she was killed by the American forces (which amounts to 100% of the hostages killed to get Osama) but Sri Lankan forces saved almost 280000 civilians held hostage by Prabhakaran and his LTTE terrorist outfit;

• Prabhakaran  ordered and took an  oath from every LTTE tiger that he/she will swallow the cyanide pill given to them without being surrendered  to Government forces but Prabhakaran and his son Charles  didn’t swallow the pill but instead tried to escape from army ass ault. Osama did not apply cyanide pill strategy  for his fighters.