Three decades of incessant conflict

By Anjali Sharma

(May 02, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) In 2006, LTTE could have never imagined that the fighting which started as a mere skirmish with the Sri Lankan Army over its attempt to block water supplies to the Sinhalese farmers in eastern Sri Lanka would eventually turned out to be their Waterloo. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the violence that accompanied the civil war witnessed death and destruction at an unprecedented level throughout the country. Millions became refugees and thousands perished in the ethnic conflict between the Sinhalas and Tamils of Sri Lanka, which began in the early 1980s.

Many earlier governments in Sri Lanka did try to negotiate peace with the Tamil rebels but the efforts on both sides, at best, remained half-hearted. It appeared that successive governments in Sri Lanka failed to realise the gravity behind the single-point agenda being aggressively pursued by the Tamil militants - the creation of a separate state or 'Tamil Eelam' in the north-eastern part of Sri Lanka. Or even if they did, the political and diplomatic exigencies at home and abroad prevented them from decisively crushing the irrational demands of the rebels.

In late 2005, the polity of Sri Lanka took a definite turn from the earlier soft approach being adopted by its westernised elite towards the separatist forces, when Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as the country's president. Hailing from the small southern town of Hambantota, he is often described as a hardliner and ardent nationalist. His ability to utilise the notion of nationalism as the most effective and the simplest way to mobilise the population of southern Sri Lanka has made him a populist leader.

The Sri Lankan Army's consecutive successes at the battlefield can be attributed to President Rajapaksa's capacity to arouse nationalist sentiments in a way that has ably transformed every offensive against the LTTE into a full-fledged war. The victory of Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party in every provincial and local council election over the past two years could be seen as popular endorsement of his military campaign.

Sri Lanka's future doesn't seem as bleak as is currently being portrayed in the international media. Managing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises is not an easy task for a tiny country, still the government is making efforts. India, which has just announced a humanitarian grant of Rs 100 crore, and international agencies like the United Nations and the International Committee of Red Cross have come forward to provide relief to the millions of refugees. The conditions in the refugee camps was adjudged as one of the best in the world by none other then Indian spiritual guru Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar during his recent visit to Sri Lanka.

Besides relief measures, the government of Sri Lanka has long-term plans to permanently end the conflict. In order to prevent the regrouping of the separatist forces in the country, the Defence Ministry is planning to refurbish the Army with state-of-the-art weaponry and sophisticated training facilities at home and abroad. There are also plans to raise their numbers to 3 lakh soldiers. A restructuring plan for the war-ravaged, North 'Uttara Vasanthaya' has been chalked out on the pattern similar to the one being followed in the recently-liberated eastern province.

As for the LTTE, the game is finally over. Its military capability has been completely vanquished. LTTE chief Prabhakaran, Intelligence chief Pottu Amman, head of its Department of International Affairs 'KP' or Kumaran Padmanabhan and Political Chief B. Nadesan are the only prominent people left alive. Prabhakaran's 24-year old aeronautical engineer son, Charles Anthony, is still a novice though he was thought to be the progenitor of the insignificant but lethal 'Air Tigers'. Currently, most of them, along with 400 cadre, are believed to be hiding behind the 20,000-strong human shield consisting of Tamil civilianss in the coastal district of Puttumatalan in Mulaithivu. Their escape routes via sea and air has been put under heavy surveillance, while the land route has already been taken over by the armed forces.

Prabhakaran's cynicism and intransigent attitude are chiefly responsible for the current plight of the Tamils of Sri Lanka. Though the Tamil cause was genuine and their suffering real, the methods adopted by the LTTE to redress the same were inappropriate and uncalled for. Countless concessions and political packages offered to please Prabhakaran went in vain who, then and even now, blindly believe that the only solution of the ethnic problem plaguing Sri Lanka is the creation of the separate racial mono-ethnic dictatorial state of Tamil Eelam.

However, the conventional defeat of the LTTE does not pronounce that it's the end, not at least till Prabhakaran is alive. Terrorist organisations work beyond borders, unlike national governments whose jurisdiction remains confined to their respective territorial boundaries. There are plenty of pockets of support for the LTTE. The challenge before Sri Lanka is to destroy the wide and complex international network which serves as the 'lifeline' of the Tigers. It has a strong presence in Britain, Switzerland, the US, Canada, Malaysia, Thailand and, of course, India.

As local sympathy for the LTTE has been dwindling over the years due to the sufferings and hardships endured by the Tamils under its control, the LTTE has of late, been depending upon the Tamil diaspora for most of its funding and smuggling operations. The strong presence of this section in foreign lands compels the politicians in these countries to refrain from being too harsh towards the Tamil cause. Therefore, the challenge before Colombo is to convince the world that the LTTE is as dangerous as say, the al-Qaeda, and that the influence of the sympathetic sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in their midst is not good for their own democracies.

The overall humanitarian situation is grim in Sri Lanka. The war-ravaged Northern Province is abandoned. Even the recently-liberated Eastern province is facing the problems of ethnic divide and law and order breakdown. The Chief Minister of the East, Pillaiyaan, accused the government of insufficient delegation of power and finance. The way forward is long and arduous which is not going to end merely with a military win over the LTTE. Restructuring and development are the words easier said then done. The GoSL knows what to do but how to do it is not clear. Future and hope are the only two things left needed to be rebuilt in the devastated towns of the Northeastern Sri Lanka which were once the epitome of the Tamil heritage. Everything else is broken.

-- The writer is Associate Fellow with Observer Research Foundation

-Sri Lanka Guardian