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LTTE End Near:TIME TO BUILD TAMILS’ CONFIDENCE, by Monish Tourangbam,28 April 2009 Print E-mail

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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