Death & Reconciliation

(May 19, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) One of the bloodiest insurgencies the world has seen in recent times may have ended. Colombo announced on Monday that its army had shot dead the
top leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), including Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed, many of them by suicide bombers, and lakhs of people rendered homeless in the three-decade-long ethnic conflict. The end of the LTTE, which killed former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, comes as a relief for New Delhi also.

Colombo may have reason to be happy about its military success against the LTTE but it must refrain from adopting a triumphal approach towards the minority Tamil population. The end of the LTTE must be seen as the beginning of a new phase, in which Colombo's emphasis should be on winning the trust of the beleaguered Tamils who have experienced the worst of the war.

The Rajapaksa government has been arguing that a political solution to the ethnic conflict is possible only after the military defeat of the LTTE. It rebuffed the international community's call including appeals from US president Barack Obama and the European Union for a ceasefire to avert civilian casualties and went ahead with the war.

UN agencies have accused Colombo of bombing civilian clusters, hospitals and refugee camps. The onus is now on Colombo to convince the international community that it cares for the Tamils as much as it does for the Sinhalese and is serious about protecting the political and cultural rights of the Tamils.

The immediate task before the Rajapaksa government is to extend a helping hand to the thousands of Tamils living without food and medicines in makeshift camps. The LTTE was not the cause of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

It was a product of decades of Tamil anger against chauvinistic policies promoted by successive Sri Lankan governments. If the root causes of that anger are not treated, a new and equally brutal nationalist military outfit might emerge in place of the LTTE.

The grievances of Tamils turned violent and acquired a separatist character only after decades of peaceful struggle failed. This is a moment of reckoning for Sri Lanka. At stake is the idea of a multi-ethnic, multilingual and multi-religious nation that doesn't discriminate among its citizens.

Colombo must not shy away from taking the help of the international community, especially India, to reconstruct Tamil homelands and rehabilitate the massive refugee population. Simultaneously, it must announce a road map to address the political concerns of the minorities as promised by successive governments and begin a process of reconciliation. The world is watching and willing to help. -Courtesy: Times of India

-Sri Lanka Guardian