By M. Rama Rao
Sri Lankan troops have pushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) to the wall and thus it is sure of achieving ‘total victory.’ But the endgame may not be the end of the troubles in the island if the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa does not show some magnanimity in ‘appeasing’ the long suffering Tamils of the country.
It is only to be expected that the final assault on the LTTE has become a poll issue in India, particularly in Tamil Nadu. But the political parties in the state have been needlessly dramatising the issue and even making a mockery of themselves by their instant flip-flops. Their antics will reduce the effectiveness of any role that they expect India to play in shaping the events in Sri Lanka, presumably in favour of the Tamils. In Sri Lanka too, the decimation of Tigers has offered political dividend to the ruling party in the provincial council elections.
The hysteria being whipped up by some Tamil Nadu politicians in support of the LTTE supremo, Velupillai Prabakaran, is unjustified. He does not deserve any sympathy from any quarter in India, be it in Tamil Nadu or New Delhi. The demand that he should be tried in India also looks out of place because of India’s poor record in successfully prosecuting high-profile criminals and terrorists.
With military victory in clear sight, Colombo has made a bad start by heaping scorn on some well-meaning appeals by the international community for ceasefire in the operations against the LTTE rebels so that the civilians who were escaping from war zones did not suffer. Colombo misconstrued these appeals as being meddlesome and needless interference in its internal affairs.
Similarly, when a trio of European leaders decided to visit Sri Lanka—the foreign ministers of the UK, France and Sweden, Colombo closed doors on the Swedish minister triggering a strong reaction in the European Community. And when David Miliband (Britain) and Bernard Kouchner (France) visited him, President Rajapaksa curtly told them ‘to stop lecturing him’, according to Thomas Fuller’s despatch in the New York Times from Colombo.
Sri Lanka needs a great deal of assistance from the international community as it faces the gigantic task of rehabilitating the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians who have fled from the rebel-held positions to save themselves from crossfire from the Lankan army on one side and the LTTE on the other. The LTTE has obviously been using the fleeing civilians as human shields, preventing them from moving to safer areas, as has been shown in some video recordings.
Sri Lankan Army and Air Force were not above board as The Times of London reports that UN satellite images clearly show a safe haven for up to 150,000 civilians fleeing fighting against the Tamil Tigers was bombed. These images were taken between February 5 and April 19 and are of the area where the army has pinned down the Tigers along with thousands of civilians. These are the strongest evidence yet of violations of international humanitarian law or war crimes, according to human rights activists.
The international community would expect and demand some kind of monitoring role to ensure that the aid sent for the fleeing civilians reaches them. That will require, first and foremost, that there is no exchange of fire between the army and the rebels, especially around the areas designated for the civilians. Both the army and the rebels have to genuinely honour their commitment if they announce ‘ceasefire’—there can be no excuse for its breach.
The defeat of the LTTE is not synonymous with the elimination of its ‘ideology’. If that ‘ideology’, with extreme violence as its base, survives Sri Lanka cannot be thought to have become free from any security threat from pro-Tamil groups.
The Sri Lanka government continues to concentrate on its military strategy when it would have improved chances of total elimination of the violent ideology of the LTTE if it had simultaneously started taking steps to address the long-standing grievances of its Tamil minority. It will require that the government stops pandering to the jingoist sentiments of the Sinhalese, including the monks who appear to be active in communal politics.
Also it is far from certain that the ‘root cause’ that led to the creation of the world’s most ruthless militant organisation, the LTTE, will also disappear with LTTE’s defeat and capture of Prabhakaran alive or dead. It is believed that much of the present LTTE leadership, including Prabhakaran, has so far managed to escape from the bullets and guns of the Sri Lanka army. Even if all of them are killed or captured, there will no vacuum for taking up the leadership for the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka—respecting the rights that minorities in most other countries enjoy. The LTTE built up a large following because it was able to project the Tamil fears about discrimination, both real and perceived, against them by successive Sinhala majority governments.
Colombo has a long history of overlooking Tamil demands, going back to the early days of independence from the British when the Tamil workers in tea gardens in Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then called) were treated as either stateless persons or Indian citizens. Colombo has often been accused of being rather disrespectful towards their language and culture.
It is possible that the Tamils of Sri Lanka exaggerate some of their fears, but it cannot be denied that the island nation has been living with a policy that can, in the Indian political context, be called the opposite of ‘minority appeasement.’ It will look as though the country has seen nothing but a rule by the majority, of the majority and for the majority, as a result of the Tamil minority finds its language and culture discriminated while they always had difficulty in finding employment in Sri Lankans. Political and economic package which in essence means Thirteenth Amendment Plus should provide a way out of the imbroglio.
As a Good Samaritan and next door neighbour, India will like to see return of lasting peace and ethnic harmony in the island nation. The Tamils instead of looking to India should come to grips with their problem and approach the negotiating table with President Rajapaksa. A solution to the three decade old problem will be easy to find if there is a mood of national reconciliation and there is no penchant to play a China –Pakistan Card or Iran card.
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
Let Sri Lankan Armed forces
Let Sri Lankan Armed forces to finish off what they started. In the meantime, you wipe off your Crocadile Tears, keep your mouth shut & just wait!. Remember our past king Dutu Gemunu even defeated Tamil King Ellara from Taml Nadu. Who is Prabhakaran to our present king Mahinda Raja? Gamini
It is India that started the
It is India that started the terrorism here not the tamils in Sri Lanka. One tends to forget the Indira and Rajiv era where terrorists were trained in India and the story is well documented. One must also understand due to tamil leadership always looking up to India and TN to solve problems(some may be real some are perceived)the majority Sinhalese being only a fraction of tamil population(world over) also have genuine fears being wiped out from the only land they have. Even today politicians like Jayalalitha are talking of carving out a homeland for tamil in Sri Lanka. One may just dismiss them as "JOKES" but it is not a joke for the Sinhalese. The day the tamil leadership stop going to India for help, playing the brothers across the Palk strait card and consider Sri Lanka is the homeland for all citizens the problem will be over.
However Sri Lanka playing the China/Iran/Pakistan card worked well and with the Hambanthota harbor project it could be a vital balancing force against Indian and Western hegemony .
One should not forget the fact that had we defeated LTTE in 87(Thanks to famous Parippu drop it was not to be) the emerging ideology certainly is true. But today it is a different scenario where the armed forces have a upper hand and can check any small cells developing effectively. Though ideology will remain, without a land mass to operate within Sri Lanka it is not going to be a easy task. They may form a government in exile like Tibetans that is all there to it. Even that is only possible if another country gives space to operate which is unlikely as it stands now.
The re emerging theory is being spoken in may places and it is a typical psyops of the separatist forces and must not fall pray to it.
None of the governments
None of the governments previously in power represented the voice of Sinhalese as much as this government. Other governments DSS, SWRDB, JR, Sirima B, CBK had a feudalistic base to their beggining.You can see how inefficient they were at solving National issues.Sinhalese were confused and JVP was a by product. Tamil leaders were equally opportunistic and they created LTTE.
This government has so far heeded to the majority's voice. Sinhala voice is loud and clear. Finish the terrorism off. Solve the issues of Tamils with a focus on peaceful multicultural society under one country. Develop the economy. There seem to be a good number of Tamil leaders around the decision making process as well.
For more than 25 years in my life, that is the one message I have heard from the Sinhalese and Tamils. Tamils who live in SL knows it and others please be educated.
The biggest misleadings in
The biggest misleadings in this millennium....
1. INTERNTIONAL COMMUNITY : who are these people?, are they really represent all the countries?, are they against or support the terrorism? What is the benefit they gain by peeping into another's problems?, Are they all saints, with no sins done at past or present?
2. INTERNATIONAL MEDIA: Are these people really International or doing the political agenda of respective countries they belong? Are all the news they provide, true? Why these people do not report the humentarian work done by Sri Lanka Army? Why they did not report on the Ghaza civilians k illed by Israel?
3. NGOs: What are the profits these organizations gain by mediating in war-hit countries? Are these organizations really non profitable? Aren't there any influences to these NGOs from their funding countries? Are they really worry on displaced people?
It is up to us to exclude these misconseptions, and ELIMINATE TERRORISM FROM SRI LANKA.
MIND YOU, By acheving this, The biggest benefit will gain by INDIA!
Sarath India has enough
Sarath
India has enough problems to be solved so that the writer Rama Rao should pay particular attention to them and think of workable strategies without meddling in unnecessary affairs. Sri Lanka has enough people to deal with their affairs. Ram Rao appears to be much worried over Sri Lanka's ties with China, Libya and Iran. What the hell you suggest is that Sri Lanka should not build up ties with those countries? There is no hard and fast rule that Sri Lanka should dance to the tune of India. As our close neighbor, we regard India as one of Sri Lanka's friends that extends its support when necessary. Apart from this, Sri Lanka does not like to be imposed conditions specifying that you should do this and that in this way and that. Further, he talks about LTTE ideology. What is LTTE’s ideology? Does the writer believe that LTTE has an ideology? LTTE’s ideology is based on mass killing the poor villagers that lives in the North and West in Sri Lanka and massacring political leaders, snatching children as young as 12 or 13 years old from their parents and getting them mobilized to fight with SL armies, with the help of the international community and other LTTE supporters who have migrated to countries like UK, USA, Canada, and Norway, engaging in fund rising and money laundering to strengthen LTTE military power, taxing poor Tamil people and with the taxed money, LTTE leader and his aides leading luxurious lives, training and preparing suicide human bombers to kill government ministers and other important people and so on. That is the ideology of LTTE which the writer appears to be naive of these matters. With the destruction of LTTE and its leadership, the so called ideology will naturally find its way to the grave yard. Don’t worry about it. By now Sri Lanka has had enough experience concerning this problem more than anyone in the world so I suppose, predictions that have been made based on writer’s perception concerning the future of this problem do no hold any significance or relevance to crux of the matter which needs to be addressed cautiously when the right time comes. Rao’s attempt at this is similar to getting an astrologer to write a horoscope for the unborn.
End Game with
End Game with consequences!
During the Indira Gandhi regime, India created the chaos in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Indira Gandhi helped Army General Abdul Rahman to divide Pakistan in to two countries on the basis of language. I.e. Urdu language in West Pakistan and Bengali language for East Pakistan. It is today Bangladesh. She applied the same theory for Sri Lanka by providing money, weapons and training to LTTE to create Tamil Elam in the North & East of Sri Lanka.
Here is the end of the game! Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Pakistani militants and her son Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE. But there is much more to come in the near future.
If Indian politicians ignore the present development in Tamil Nadu, the end game will be separation of Tamil Nadu from main land India. This will lead to Kashmir militants to separate from India. This is what so called International community wants in the future to happen! They do not want to see two emerging powers (China & India) next to each other. Mr. Rama Rao, please think of your own country’s survival rather than messing with Sri Lankan internal affairs. We are confident that our President can handle the matter.
What about the long
What about the long suffering Sinhalese, whose attempts to do some justice to the long neglected rural villagers under the British colonial tradition of "divide and rule" were met with calls fro separatism by piqued Tamils who had been the favored group by the Brits.
Any attempts at Affirmative Action towards the Sinhalese have been met with bitterness from the Tamils who wish to continue their position of dominance. Those who have been and are continuing to follow the LTTE ideology are NOT seeking EQUALITY...THEY WANT DOMINATION, and have pushed the island through 30 years of suffering. Tamil people have suffered under the LTTE too, but 99% of Tamils supported Prabhakaran, willingly or unwillingly.
The TWO COMMUNITIES HAVE TO MEET HALFWAY. Magnanimity has been shown for 25 years by the Sinhalese in resisting all attempts by the LTTE to create backlash in Colombo and the South. The WHOLE COUNTRY has been made to suffer, and it is the Sinhala lads by the thousands who are out there today ready to give their lives to save the Tamils from the LTTE.
Let's look at the equation objectively before asking the Sinhalese people alone to make the gestures, OK?? They have suffered enough TOO!!!
There is only one 'end' to
There is only one 'end' to Sri Lanka’s 'end-game', and that, as the author correctly implies, is a comprehensive socio-political solution that is agreeable to all three communities of the nation. Sooner Lanka’s leaders evolve a solution faster the nation will heal, recover and able to forge forward. Only a serious solution that courageously addresses the difficult issues will bring about reconciliation and lasting peace to the island. Anything less, such as tactical remedies that merely targets to alleviate the suffering of IDP’s and rebuild the economy will only go so far and not solve the underlying structural problems. (If the focus of remediation is only on rehabilitation and economic development, what do you do when a desperate IDP eventually graduates to the next level of Maslow’s Triangle?)
It remains the primary responsibility of the Sinhalese to figure-out ways to make Tamil, Muslim, and other minorities feel as similar equals as do the majority, with the identical rights, privileges and dignity, and not one iota less. Here remains a personal challenge for every Sinhalese: the self inquiry, "what can I do to make my Tamil and Muslim friends feel - in every way (politically, socially, economically, and spiritually) - as equal compatriots and partners?"
Now that the LTTE is gone (almost), the world will be scrutinizing the sense of justice and fairness of the Sinhalese people. There can be no more excuses, and I hope the Sinhalese will rise up to the challenge and disprove candidate Barack Obama's assertion (in November, 2007 at Google headquarters), that "the greatest challenge of the 21st Century is to overcome our inability to accept others who are not like us" (where he used Sri Lanka's ethnic strife to illustrate his point.)
It takes two to tango..
It takes two to tango.. Tamils need to be Sri Lankans first and move in with the main stream political parties and need to shed ethnic based parties and ghettos.. Sinhalese have shown, human decency thousand of years to all new comers to the country ? All we got was global bad reputation based on these morons who have no decency at all.
Sinhalese have aspirations too and rabid dogs need to be put down and not take in to your trust.
What had Tamil politicians
What had Tamil politicians done for the Tamils in Sri Lanka? They had done only get miserable life for Tamils. So I think we don't need the ethnic based politicians or political party for the country. The government must consider her whole people just as one family not favor for each people differently.
We don't have any problem than the westerners had done in colonial era. They used our foolish politicians for make numerous problem of our country using ethnic based tasks. Still some politicians not at least think and worship them. Very sad and shy. The people want only live freely and such morons politicians have many agenda filled with "western geniuses theory".
Only want to get united for develop the country under democracy than in western had.
We must develop our own political system going with our own life style than dancing with out slide morons' teaching. We can do it just like the victory we had, it done with our own method. Not with western "genius guide".
The end game will be when
The end game will be when India is balkanized. Sri Lanka is only a start.
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