Round The World
New
Delhi, 28 April 2009
LTTE End Near
TIME TO BUILD TAMILS’ CONFIDENCE
By Monish Tourangbam
(School of
International Studies,
JNU)
As the LTTE suffers one military
setback after another, a small and ever-shrinking strip of land is all that
remains of the territory held by the rebels, who at a time held
whole swathes of northern Sri Lanka, running their own police force, schools
and courts. With the Sri Lankan Army putting the Tamil Tigers on the run, President
Rajapaksa’s only line of reception to the LTTE is to surrender or perish.
Emboldened by the unprecedented military victories that it has received against
the Tigers this time around, the Sri Lankan establishment is not ready to accept
anything less than the complete surrender of the remaining LTTE cadres.
The
Rajapaksa administration has been receptive and wary of the international
concerns regarding the condition of the civilians trapped in this “fight to the
finish”. Nevertheless, it is in no mood to give any breathing space to the
flagging LTTE and has put the blame on the rebels for selfishly using the
civilians as human shields, to prolong its final defeat. Even as the Sri Lankan
government announced the end of combat operations with heavy weapons, and
shifted its focus on rescuing the trapped civilians, it also declared at the
same time that its security forces would leave no scope for the LTTE to revive.
The Sri Lankan Navy is also reported to be engaged in continuous surveillance
and patrolling of the north-eastern seas. These activities might be seen as a
preventive action to thwart any attempt of the LTTE leader Prabhakaran to
escape through the sea-route.
On
the one hand, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry continues to report the advance
of the troops toward the last LTTE hide-out and says that the Tamil Tigers is
intensifying its violence on the civilians in the hope of survival. On the
other, the pro-LTTE TamilNet has, in a report, charged that two Sri Lankan Air
Force fighter bombers bombed civilian targets in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal after
formally announcing that it would stop using heavy weapons or carrying out air
strikes.
The recent election to the crucial
Western Provincial Council in Sri
Lanka was being closely watched. The ruling
United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by Rajapaksa and the United
National Party (UNP) of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were pitted
against each other. The province, which consists of Colombo and its suburbs with a large
percentage of minorities, has traditionally been a stronghold of the UNP. But, the
UPFA’s victory has given additional confidence to Rajapaksa in his campaign against
the LTTE and is being seen as a mandate from the people to annihilate the
outfit.
Indeed, the electoral success of the
ruling alliance in this province comes on the heels of the support it got in the
elections held to the provincial councils in the past months, beginning with the
new Eastern Provincial Council (September 2008), after the liberation of the
East from the LTTE. This was followed by successes in elections in the
North-Central, mid-country Sabaragamuwa, Central
Province and North Western
Provinces.
These electoral victories are largely
being viewed as approval of the Rajapaksa administration’s success in driving
out the LTTE from the East, and later from its strongholds in the North,
including its administrative centre Kilinochchi. As of now, the LTTE is
precariously holding on to merely eight sq.km of land still under its control
in the NFZ.
In a further blow to LTTE’s
shattered spirit, there have been cases of its officials surrendering to the
government. With the numbers of civilians fleeing the NFZ increasing, the
military is upbeat over the impending defeat of the Tamil Tigers. As to the question
of Prabhakaran’s fate, it is worth recalling that Rajapaksa had dismissed any possibility
of his government pardoning him since he had refused to give up arms and
surrender. The President maintains that there is no way out now but for Prabhakaran
to face the consequences of his acts. As such, the hunt for this prized target
is still very much on.
The fate of the trapped Tamil
civilians in Sri Lanka
has expectedly turned into an emotive issue in Tamil Nadu what with a good 39
Lok Sabha seats in its kitty. Leaders have changed their stand towards the LTTE
and the ongoing crisis in Sri
Lanka like chameleons. In addition to the
Congress and its ally the DMK giving contradictory views on Prabhakaran, the AIADMK
supremo, Jayalalitha, has done a complete U-turn by coming out openly for an
independent “Tamil Eelam” (homeland for Tamils) in Sri Lanka.
In a case of outright political
opportunism, she said it would alone solve the decade-long ethnic strife in the
island nation. “Separate Tamil Eelam is the only solution. Sri Lanka will
not ensure equal status to Tamils. If the AIADMK-led alliance is elected in all
the 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and
Puducherry, we will work for formation of separate Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka,"
she said in an election meeting. But, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK
leader M.Karunanidhi managed to score some brownie points, as his indefinite
fast coincided with Sri
Lanka’s decision to halt combat operations
with heavy weapons. His indefinite fast luckily came to an end only
six-and-a-half hours later, thanks to Rajapaksa.
Recently, Foreign Secretary Shiv
Shankar Menon and National Security Adviser M K Narayanan met Rajapaksa in Colombo and expressed India's concerns over the killing of civilians
and the need for a political solution to the crisis--something New Delhi has been stating repeatedly.
According to sources, even though
Rajapaksa was “receptive” to India's
concerns, he was non-committal over the issue of ceasefire, merely stating that
Colombo's main
concern was the safety of civilians. The Sri Lankan government has largely
maintained its position by stopping operations short of a ceasefire. Indeed,
the government has shown displeasure with some section of the media who they
say have misinterpreted the government declaration as “cessation of
hostilities” and a “ceasefire”. Moreover, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry, in a
rebuff to various media reports, has said that the latest decision is not in
response to international pressure but more a result of what it calls the
“world’s largest hostage rescue operation.”
But amidst the sounds of military
triumph and glory, the importance and essence of a political roadmap to solve
the issue should not be lost to the Rajapaksa administration. The mandate that
he has received from the people in terms of electoral victories should now be
used to chart out a coherent political strategy to end the ethnic mistrust and
take the Tamil minority into confidence. In future, more and more Tamils should
be encouraged to join the Sri Lankan Army. Unless the ethnic issue is dealt
with and resolved, the military victories will only be illusionary, and the
conflict will give birth to many more Prabhakarans. –INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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