Lanka groping for real-time answers to Tamil Sudoku

What is the Mahinda Rajapakse government willing to do and when?

by Malladi Rama Rao

(September 07, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the non-state terrorist group, is no longer the mighty Tiger it once was. The sustained military campaign has made them either move out or be edged out of the places in the north where they had established their hold by acts of commissions and omissions of Colombo, Chennai and Delhi.

No powerful voices are being heard in support of Pirapaharan and company in Northern Sri Lanka and across the Palk Straits in Tamil Nadu. Even the Tamil Diaspora, who are the enthusiastic supporters and financiers of the Tigers have become silent as if numbed by the army push and by the plight of fighters for a 'homeland.'

And the United States, the El'dorado for the impoverished people of the Third World of which Sri Lanka and its northern region are a part and parcel, has been reticent, confining itself to an occasional homily. What had happened to the pro-LTTE lobby since, in the words of Colombia University scholar, Ahilan Kadirgamar, 'systematic lobbying by the LTTE has reached out to more members of the US Congress than the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington has.'

Sweet music

All this should be sweet music to President Rajapakse and his advisors. And they have proved that the state cannot allow any challenge to its authority unanswered by non-state players who operate on the fringes with AK-47s. Success on the war front confers new responsibilities and duties on the state. The world will be watching Colombo closely to see its responses to the emerging situation.

On their part, President and his team will do well to remember that subduing an insurgent group like LTTE is not a one off-affair. Tigers have so many front organisations, which are flourishing besides naval and air wings. One suicide bomber is enough to create mayhem and put to naught the gains in the battle field.

A short cut to 'political nirvana' is, letting the gene out of the devolution bottle. The All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) appears to be getting ready with its final take. Whether the APRC will offer a new wine is a matter of conjecture at this stage. The devolution talk has passed through a tortuous course down the years particularly after the Thimpu conclave. So expectations of a quick dividend will be neither here nor there. Nor for that matter any conviction that after battlefield reverses the LTTE would disintegrate and disappear.

Food for thought

As they grope for 'real time' answers' to the Tamil Sudoku, the strategy planners will, I hope, find enough food for thought in the deliberations at the recent Asia Society meeting in New York on the theme 'Sri Lanka at Sixty'. Almost all speakers examined the larger issues of Sinhala nationalism and Tamil nationalism and how to make these conflicting currents integrate into the national mainstream.

While unhesitatingly holding LTTE terrorism as the root cause of failure of the Sri Lankan state, the distinguished panel was unanimous that defeating the LTTE militarily would not mean that 'the problem of Tamils in Sri Lanka will go away'.

'The core of the Tamil problem is political and it should be addressed politically,' said one scholar. Agreed another saying, "Sri Lankan government must make a distinction between LTTE and other moderate Tamil civilians. Equating genuine Tamil demands with LTTE's terrorism is dangerous.'

Some speakers - some of them distinguished academics from Sri Lanka itself, took Sri Lankan ministers and the army chief to task for their 'war cry.' The reference was to the repeated statements that this time around 'It (war against LTTE) will be a fight to the finish.'

Such statements are irresponsible and have led to an opinion gaining ground that all Tamils are LTTE activists. This is patently unfair to the Tamils, who have been at the receiving end of the LTTE for their convictions as also boldness to stand up and be counted at grave threat to their lives and in most trying circumstances.

Chauvinism

For a state like Sri Lanka in transition, chauvinism of any variety is bad. Over the years both Sinhala chauvinists and the LTTE have become complimentary to each other. One needs the other to survive. So, as highlighted by the Asia Society panel discussion, the government in Colombo should turn its focus to checkmate Sinhala chauvinism which feeds on majority Buddhist communalism. Otherwise the gains from taming the LTTE war machine will get frittered away.

The issue here is not whether the Rajapakse government, like all its predecessors, is playing into the hands of Sinhalese nationalists. The issue is what the Rajapakse government is willing to do and in what policy and time frame. Unfortunately, the government has not come out with any clarity thus far with all its energies limited to the twin agenda of 'war to the finish' and local elections in the east and north. It also gives the impression of being bogged down in political games of one-upmanship vis-…-vis JVP and UNP.

In my view, President Rajapakse is in a position to use the devolution gene to put the 'traditional concerns' in the much larger national and historical perspective. Past cannot be undone. What can be undone are fears that the past actions had perpetuated. There is no set formula.

Probably, one way of addressing the issue is making the Tamils feel genuine partners in the governance of the country. All this while breathing life into regional and local structures of governance which are at the cutting edge of the delivery system whether it is a Tamil or Sinhala dominated area.

Sinhala chauvinists may not like my suggestion but one way of securing a talking point with huge political potential is creation of a number two slot for the Tamils through an amendment to the statute. That will not be construed as a tokenism though power politics have been reduced to tokenisms across South Asia of late.

In so far the question whether it should be an elected post or a nominated one is concerned, it is a matter of detail. Experience, however, suggests that the number two should not be elected.
- Sri Lanka Guardian