A quarter century old dialogue of the deaf

by Gamini Weerakoon

(October 19, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The well known Sri Lankan yarn about two stone deaf villagers crossing each others' paths and extending greetings has been re-enacted during the past quarter century in the attempt to find a political solution to the Tamil problem.

The yarn goes: Two sons of the soil on meeting on the road had extended the traditional greetings with one of them inquiring: Koheda yanne? (Whither bound?) The other with a bag of coconuts slung across his shoulders replies confidently Malle pol (Coconuts in the bag). The inquirer says: No, no I asked: Koheda yanne and the other replies Malle pol. And so the two deaf inhabitants of the village continue to bawl at each other, each repeating the same thing.

Deaf ears

When terrorist violence broke out in the early '80s in the north the J.R. Jayewardene government declared that terrorism would be wiped out militarily. Policemen and soldiers were being targeted and government forces responded by going after them. A military solution was the answer, they said.

Then came another school of thought. Government forces in doing so were violating human rights. Terrorist violence was only the symptom of the deeper malaise: grievances of the Tamil people. Typewriter strategists on reading books on how the Malaysian Communist guerrillas were contained and Mao Tse Tung's essays on guerrilla war, pontificated that a guerrilla war cannot be won by military means but only by 'winning the hearts and minds' - a political solution.

The government argument was that a political settlement could only be done after terrorist violence was eliminated and that it could only be done by military means because of the intransigence of the terrorists. And so the argument of a political solution as against a military solution has raged for 25 years.

Indian sponsorship

Meanwhile the issue went beyond our shores across to the Palk Straits. The New Delhi pundits and Tamil Nadu agitators without whose financial and military assistance, the rag-tag bands of youth could never have been turned out to be a ruthless fighting machine called for a political resolution of the problem while Tamil youth were being trained in military warfare in India.

New Delhi beat its drums of peace (and war?) generating much sympathy for Tamil expatriates leaving the country. Non Aligned India though tilting towards Moscow at that time was being eyed by Western powers. Its burgeoning middle class was becoming a potentially big market for the West and its regional dominance in South Asia was conceded by these powers.

What New Delhi said about Sri Lanka was accepted and so it was for most South Asian countries except Pakistan which was a major ally of the United States. The Western powers too adopted the slogan of a political resolution of the Sri Lankan problem and there was no military solution.

Human rights violations were looked upon with much concern. The age old saying: Silent enim leges inter arma - Laws are dumb in times of war - was a belief of the hoary past.

Mahinda breaks gingerly silence

And so the dialogue of the deaf continues. LTTE supporters together with India and the 'international community' is crying out; No military solution. Only a political solution to the problem is possible.

President Mahinda Rajapakse who has been talking about a political solution very gingerly and occasionally, now convinced that military victory is close at hand is talking of a political solution after defeating terrorism.

But few outside his party and faithful and certainly outside Sri Lanka are buying his formula. To LTTE fellow travellers what Rajapakse is pushing for is a military solution. If he eliminates the military prowess of the LTTE, the political solution will be one which he dictates. History shows that political solutions after military victories are those that victors dictate and not of the conquered.

The victories of the Allied Powers after World War II over Germany or of America on Japan are examples although the victorious boast of how generous they had been. Thus the LTTE and its supporters, if they are defeated could claim that the political solution offered is a military solution and justify a continued guerrilla struggle.

The government can claim that once the back of the LTTE military power is broken, the 'match is over.' But the dialogue of the deaf will continue.

History repeats?

Meanwhile, New Delhi is flexing its muscles menacingly. 'No military solution' it is being proclaimed. Will history repeat itself like it did in 1987 with Indian intervention?

Firstly the experience of Bangladesh where invading Indian forces helped create a new state and the Sri Lankan adventure where an attempt was made to create a subservient North-East Province with a pro Indian administration failed. Pirapaharan 20 years ago said it quite clearly that he does not want to head a client state. With Karunanidhi, the Tamil Nadu chief minister making dire threats to the Congress government of Sonia Gandhi if India does not intervene in Sri Lanka and the fact that he has enough of parliamentary seats to bring down the government, Sonia Gandhi has an unenviable choice.

What Velu wants

Even if her government falls she will need Tamil Nadu support to form a new government. On the other hand India is now a nuclear power and seeks to be a Global Power with a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. It will be unbecoming of a Global Power to intervene in a small neighbouring country to settle domestic political compulsions.

However most of the pundits on this issue seem to avoid answering the question on whether Velupillai Pirapaharan wants a political solution. He has bumped off Rajiv Gandhi and Ranasinghe Premadasa who held talks with a political solution as the objective. He nearly killed Chandrika Kumaratunga who too as a peace dove tried to coo with the Tigers.

He rejected the federal proposal worked out under the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration and backed by the international community with pledges of billions of dollars for its implementation. And there have been no reports of him personally making an appeal for a political solution as the government forces get near to his headquarters at Kilinochchi.

So what does Velu want? He most probably is depending on his godfather Karunanidhi to make New Delhi bail him out at least temporarily.

Mahinda's solution

Meanwhile Mahinda Rajapakse wants a political solution but he has no concrete solution to offer. He expects the people to believe that the All Party Conference comprising of volatile and combustible forces such as the JHU, JVP, TMVP and EPDP to get together and work out a compromise solution!

We might as well expect George Bush and his neoconservatives to sit down with Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, Hamas and the Israeli government and work out solutions to the global problems that are assailing us.

In Sri Lanka how long can the dialogue of the deaf continue? - Sri Lanka Guardian