Tigers of northern Sri Lanka doomed to extinction

By Random Jottings
Courtesy: The Manila Times

(March 30, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Alomst three debilitating decades on, over 70,000 wasted lives later and following immeasurable cost to the economic, social and moral fabric of this indescribably beautiful country that lies, ironically, like a tear drop at the southernmost tip of India, the end game seems nigh in the war between the Sri Lankan government and the blood thirsty terrorist outfit called the Tamil Tigers which for too long believed that the logic of survival is brutality—and in the process gained global infamy for giving birth to the cowardly genre of the suicide bomber.

Ruthlessly led by a sclerotic dictator named Vellupillai Prabhakaran (his early role model apparently was Adolf Hitler whose blueprint for megalomania—Mein Kampf—was his favorite reading, though he didn’t quite manage to get the moustache right!) the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) has been hell-bent on carving out a sizeable chunk of Northern Sri Lanka for its despotic leader to “talibanize” into his fiefdom.

It’s a dream-turned-nightmare bankrolled on diaspora plastic, transmitted by the murderous LTTE chieftain’s misguided Tamil surrogates who mostly live in the desirable suburbs of Britain, Canada and the United States, and with absolutely no plans of ever setting foot on Prabhakaran’s make-believe kingdom.

But all that is fast fading history now, seeing that the Tigers are cornered in a 50-odd square mile plot of mosquito-infested jungle, with grandiose visions of Elam shrouded by the smoking guns of the advancing Sri Lankan troops—with the pistol packing, hubris-driven LTTE big cat not just neutralized, but neutered as well.

So how did the long running conflict get to this defining point so rapidly? The answer lies in the fact that for the first time ever political will and military might have teamed up constructively to map out a strategy to victory.

The tectonic plates of recent ideological history in Sri Lanka shifted significantly at the last general election when the voters gave a resounding victory to a political alliance led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa who vowed to play hardball and bring the fight right to the Tigers’ lair.

Ditched unceremoniously was the previous flawed design of successive governments in dealing with the LTTE. Then the approach to the war in the north predictably started with an analysis, which led to an agenda, then produced a framework and eventually a policy. Meanwhile, the slaughter of innocents went on.

President Rajapaksa made no bones about doing away with the cautious political niceties. He gave his military commanders the muscle and the money to go for a final victory and bring an end to the bigotry of hate that the Tigers’ were cynically fermenting through this conflict. And for good measure, he brought on board as Defense Secretary his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa who was comfortably domiciled in the United States and engaged in the IT industry.

Gotabhaya was, indeed, an inspired choice. He had served with distinction in the Sri Lankan army and risen to the rank of Colonel, seeing action at the frontlines of the war against the Tiger forces when it first erupted. And Prabhakaran believed so too, attempting to assassinate him through a suicide bomber who blew himself up alongside Gotabhaya’s car. But the Defense Secretary survived thanks he says, to his bomb-proof BMW.a

Calling the shots alongside him were the commanders of the Army, Navy and Air Force, all of whom had seen combat duty in the north-east. In fact Gotabhaya recalled, in an interview with The Manila Times, that the current Air Force commander had flown him to the conflict zone many times during his fighting days.

So, for the first time, the war was in the hands of a quartet that had been there, done it and possessed first hand knowledge on how to go about securing the seemingly elusive final victory.

The strategy of Gotabhaya and his commanders, when it came, was brilliant as it was basic— making one wonder why it had never been employed before: attack the Tigers simultaneously and relentlessly by land, sea and air. The sustained three-pronged attack sent the Tigers (augmented by child soldiers press-ganged into service) scurrying with dwindling manpower to cover the various flanks.

Explains Gotobhaya: “Approaching the war professionally has led to our success. The three commanders are capable and totally committed. Besides they have been given full authority and command power because they know best the capabilities of the officers and men under them. And now, finally, we see the end results.”

With the decisive military defeat just a matter of weeks away, the now rag-tag LTTE outfit is playing its usual wild card by calling for a ceasefire—egged on by its Tamil fund raisers ensconced in comfortable and safe exile abroad, and the righteous hand wringing of assorted bleeding hearts from the global village.

But as has been proved previously, this ceasefire call by the Tigers—supposedly for peace talks to take place—is no more than a ploy to re-arm, reinforce and re-invigorate so as to live to fight another day.

Which brings to mind the limerick that goes:

“There was a young lady from Riga,
Who went for a ride with a tiger,
They returned from the ride with the lady inside,
And a smile on the face of the tiger.”

This time around though seems the Sri Lankan government is not taking the bait.

The Tigers of northern Sri Lanka appear doomed to extinction.

(The writer can be reached at rjottings@yahoo.com)

-Sri Lanka Guardian