Round The World

New Delhi, 2 February 2009

Sri Lankan-LTTE War

RESOLVE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AS WELL

By Monish Tourangbam

(School of International Studies, JNU)

As the 48-hour ultimatum given by the Rajapaksa government to the LTTE to free the civilians comes to an end, with no positive response, the fate of the civilians is vulnerably uncertain. The Indian establishment had clearly welcomed this presidential announcement as a good step towards the safety of the civilians. But, the LTTE Political Head B. Nadesan has instead termed the offer, as a measure to “deceive the international community”. And, possibilities of solving the humanitarian crisis proved abortive with the Sri Lankan Human Resource and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe announcing there was no LTTE response.

In lieu to better the bilateral relations between the two countries and to allay the concerns of domestic elements in India, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently visited Sri Lanka. Giving word to India’s denouncement of terrorism in any form anywhere in the world, Mukherjee reiterated that the LTTE was a banned terrorist organization and there will be no reprieve for the group.

The Sri Lankan government’s onslaught on the Tigers has coincided with attacks on India’s commercial capital, Mumbai. This has contributed to New Delhi’s unflinching support for the Rajapaksa administration in its fight against agents of terror. At the same time, the fate of the civilians trapped in the war zone is the major concern of the international community and the UPA government specifically. During the visit, a discussion of the 13^th Amendment to the Sri Lankan took place. The amendment was made after the Rajiv Gandhi-J.R. Jayawardene Pact in 1987, which aimed to provide devolution and autonomy to the Northern and Eastern provinces. Rajapaksa assured Mukherjee that this would be the ‘area of his urgent attention” and he would try to “explore the possibilities and improve the conditions there”.

He also conveyed India's readiness to participate in the reconstruction of northern Sri Lanka "to overcome the ravages of war" and also to "lay the economic and political foundations of a strong peace in which all communities feel comfortable" in the island nation. "I stressed that military victories offer a political opportunity to restore life to normalcy in the Northern Province and throughout Sri Lanka, after 23 years of conflict," Mukherjee told reporters in Colombo. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan government has reassured him that they would respect the "safe zones" and minimize the effects of conflict on Tamil civilians.

Mukherjee did well in playing down the “Tamil Pressure” as a factor of his visit to the island nation and emphaised on India’s singular concern with the safety of the civilians and the necessities of diplomacy but domestic events, no doubt, made it impossible to delay his visit. He  acknowledged Rajapaksa’s goodwill of extending a personal invitation to an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa to visit Sri Lanka and see for themselves the situation on the ground and to persuade the LTTE to lay down arms and join the democratic mainstream.

Even as the DMK announced its satisfaction with the visit of Mukherjee to Colombo and the commitments he made, things are heating up in the streets of Tamil Nadu. A 26-year-old man, K Muthukumar set himself on fire at a central government office complex in Chennai on Thursday last after shouting slogans against the war in Sri Lanka. Emotions ran high at the venue where his body was kept, with social and political activists and students setting fire to the effigies of  Rajapaksa and Congress leaders and raising slogans condemning chief minister Karunanidhi and the Centre. BJP and Nationalist Congress Party have backed a newly-formed Sri Lankan Tamils Protection Movement's call for a general strike in the State on February 4 seeking ceasefire in Sri Lanka. The bandh will coincide with Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.

Political parties in the State have been pressurizing the Centre to push for a ceasefire in the island nation and ensure safety of Tamil civilians caught in the crossfire between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. Fearing unrest, the State government on January 31 closed all government and private colleges and hostels for an indefinite period. Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, protesters torched a state-owned bus near Vellore, while 225 people were arrested in Thanjavur when they tried to lay siege on the Air Force station. They were protesting against the alleged use of the Air Force station for sending arms to Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan army has had a “string of victories” with reports pouring in of successful offensives in the Visuamadu area. Visuamadu and Puthukkuudiyiruppu are the two remaining settlements of the Tigers in the Mullaithivu district. The Rajapaksa government having successfully captured Kilinochchi- the administrative and political headquarters of the LTTE, the Elephant Pass at the mouth of Jaffna Peninsula and the total control of the A9 Highway, the fight to the end is obvious. According to Sri Lankan army Chief Sarath Fonseka, almost 95% of LTTE no longer exists. At least in territorial terms, Fonseka's claim cannot be challenged as Mullaittivu was regarded as LTTE's last bastion.

As the offensive against the LTTE nears its final days, the humanitarian fallout of the fight is raising major concerns in New Delhi. According to official estimates, there are around 1.2 lakh civilians trapped, who are being used as a human shield by the Tigers. But, according to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), an estimated 2,50,000 people were trapped in a 200 sq.km area which is seeing intense fighting. The ICRC reported huge civilian death toll in the Wanni region and said that intensified fighting and violence was creating hurdles in evacuation of the wounded.

Despite the government’s attempt to demarcate a “safe area” and lead the civilians to safety during the 48-hours ultimatum only a 100-odd civilians managed to escape. But, in a bid to garner support for the continuation of its assault on the flagging Tigers, the government expressed confidence that entrapped civilians would have the confidence to move into the safe zones as the Sri Lankan army continued its march into the last two remaining settlements in Mullaithivu.

With the international community condemning the LTTE for the humanitarian crisis, the onus seems to be on the Tigers to release the civilians from the war zone. Human rights groups with signatories including Sri Lankan Democracy Forum, South Solidarity Group, U.K. and Committee for Democracy and Justice, U.K., has strongly accused and condemned the LTTE for the use of civilians as human shields.

As the Sri Lankan army moves forward planting its flag of military victory against the LTTE, the way in which the government resolves this humanitarian crisis assumes importance. It will be significant in future political efforts to bring about inter-community harmony, assuage the dissatisfaction of the Tamil minority and thus serve as an antidote to terrorism. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)