Dear President! Do you really think LTTE will lay down arms?

by R. Jayadevan

(October 23, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The present President is no different to his predecessors. His comments: ‘I wish to once again very clearly call on the LTTE to lay down their arms and surrender. They should act in this manner and enter the democratic political process. Our aim should be to ensure the democratic political rights of our Tamil brethren’… must be considered as opportunistic statements to satisfy his extremist bandwagon – JHU likes in the south.

Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranayake branded the LTTE leader Pirabakaran as a megalomaniac wanting him to be eliminated to find a solution to the conflict. Her euphoric uncle General Anurudha Ratwatte went further after taking control of Jaffna following his Jayasikuru military operations by stating that the army had driven the Tigers from Jaffna and the remaining Tiger terrorists only have a choice of jumping into the sea. The latest LTTE’s suicide mission (22/10/2008) in Kankesanthurai targeting two Sri Lankan ships bear testimony to the unrealistic and over exuberant statements of Anurudha, and LTTE is still live and kicking in the so-called liberated Jaffna peninsula after twelve long years of the so called liberation by the government forces.

The LTTE is an embodiment that evolved from the deep rooted frustration of the Tamil people against the Sri Lankan government. Though the LTTE is an abhorring force which acts against its own people, the arrogance of the extremist in the political establishment of Colombo is preventing it to become a spent force. Though the Tamil people on the whole detest the LTTE, they are unable to fully disown it due to the intransigence and failures of the successive governments to seriously find a political resolution to deal with the root causes of the Tamil problem.

Mahinda Rajapakse appointed the All Party Parliamentary Committee (APRC) headed by Dr Tissa Vitharane two years ago. The APRC process has proved that it is only providing lip services to the President by playing panthus (balls) to make it a wasted exercise. The President’s insincerity was visible as he made every effort to deny the APRC from considering far reaching options to achieve consensus on many issues to resolve the conflict.

The President’s determined effort to undermine a bipartisan agreement with the opposition UNP; his deep involvement with the extremist JHU and the likes and his party’s inability to present a proposal beyond the unacceptable district level devolution confirmed his insincerity and his indifference to resolve the conflict peacefully.

Having engaged in processes to undermine the peaceful resolution to the conflict, the President under compulsion now says that: ‘I am firmly committed to a just enduring political solution’ to the Tamil question in Sri Lanka and further stress that ‘am clear that there are no military solutions to political questions’.

A President who was against durable peace emerging through empowerment of the aggrieved minorities have become a self made dove overnight by these insincere overtures to appease the international community and in particular India. Heavy words such as ‘firmly’, ‘committed’, ‘just’ and ‘enduring’ have been used to convince them and whether these have any real meaning in his real practical approach to resolve the conflict is a laughable matter.

He has also created an entrenched situation by his heavy manipulative, covert and military agenda to project that he is a beacon of hope to resolve the conflict. Unless there are compulsions in an international level, he is only there to appease his political bedfellows like Champika Ranawake’s of the JHU and Douglas Devananda’s like on the Tamils side. JHU national organizer Patali Champika Ranawaka reflected this very clearly (at the same time the President made his blank utterances) when he said ‘he strongly believes the president will never betray the country and will not stop the war until the north is saved from terrorism.’

In his interview with N Ram the President further states: ‘all hardships faced temporarily by our brothers and sisters in the North will be brought to an end in a short time.’ One would ask what moral right the President has to call the Tamils ‘brothers and sisters’. The so called brothers and sisters know very well, they can release themselves from the LTTE if they are embraced politically as brothers and sisters by the President and not by military dictates. They are sick and tired of listening to overtures of the Presidents and Prime Ministers for many years now, and these have never brought peace for them.

The President’s demand for the LTTE to surrender its arms is another prelude to prolong this war and punish the Tamil society as a whole. According to the army commander Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka, the LTTE should be wiped out before end of this year as he does not want his successor to carry the burden of terrorism after his retirement. If that is the determination the government has, why should the President now appeal to the LTTE to surrender its arms? Sarath Fonseka will be saying goodbye with his retirement at the end of this year and the President will remain for another three years waiting to see LTTE disarming, whilst the Tamil civilian population will be stampeded by both the government and the so-called inhuman liberators-LTTE.

The Generals like Anurudha and Sarath will leave their offices after making euphoric statements but Tamil suffering under both the government forces and the LTTE will continue indefinitely. Before his exit Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka has to accomplish one more important task like his predecessor General Anurudha Ratwatte to handover the Kilinochchi Pattuna stroll amidst the blasting magul berra’s (wedding drums) and Kandyan dance like what happened after Jayasekuru Operations of the government forces during Chandrika Kumaratunga’s regime. - Sri Lanka Guardian