Use of coercion to force freedom doomed Prabhakaran

By Philip Fernando in Los Angeles

(May 21, Los Angeles, Sri Lanka Guardian) Seven years ago on May 18th 2002, the then Sri Lankan Government started removing Armed Forces from crucial points in the North in accordance with a dubious Ceasefire. On May 17th this year, the travesty was reversed and we are free of terrorism forced on us. Hidden agendas never achieved anything and use of coercion to wage a freedom fight was doomed from day one.

The Gandhian freedom movement had recourse to high moral principles. But the LTTE shun such methods in exchange for suicide bombs, guns and ammunition gathered by extortion of money, banditry and deceit. Even those self-appointed terror fighters of the West fell for the guile masked by a massive media blitz. It was hilarious to watch US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding ceasefire in the midst of Sri Lanka's valiant fight, about to be won.

Prabhakaran's Epitaph

Velupillai Prabhakaran, often called a 'Supremo', behaved like a God who brooked no rivals. However, he outlived his worldly suzerainty when the evil that he perpetrated caught up with him and the death warrants he issued piled up. Massacre without any compunction had become his trade mark and ultimately his epitaph.

Looking invincible was the avowed goal he cherished most as he exhibited unmitigated revolutionary zeal, undying commitment and ruthless disregard for morality. But it eluded him just like his ability to usher in Eelam to thousands who paid dearly with their lives, money and misguided aspirations.

Unparalleled deception

He outwitted governments and their leaders through 37 years of heated hostility that surrounded him. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had seemingly thrived during dozens of high-profile assassinations, four wars and three ceasefires and many peace processes strung together in an unparalleled morass of crafty deception. They became the most ruthless terrorists, according to the FBI of the United States.

The need for cleansing the political discourse of all traces of brutality which bred an embittering distrust among Tamils is urgent.

Amity and understanding

The large dose of venom Prabhakaran injected into the body politic must be excreted by dialysis in the form of amity and understanding.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his address to the nation on Tuesday urged everyone to know that the day is not far when the hearts and feelings of the mothers and daughters who have, today, been rendered helpless became the collective conscience of the Tamil people.

The whole world witnessed how the civilians were liberated by the armed forces during the last few days of the Vanni conflict. The vulture of Vanni had been vanquished.

The greater battle to winning a durable peace is now on. The sound of a crushed LTTE and the opening up of our hearts to the trapped civilians seen in the few days at Puthumathalan area will remain stored in our collective memories for ever. As the President said the word "minority" went out of our vocabulary for good.

Tamils won and LTTE lost

It is crystal clear that Tamils won as the LTTE lost.

What the LTTE did for the Tamils was minuscule compared to what they extracted from them. No one will ever forget Mayor Alfred Duraiappah-I saw his dead body at the Jaffna mortuary- and many others after him, or the armed tanks that attacked the innocent Tamil people who were fleeing Puthumathalan.

A new chapter in our history has just begun.

-Sri Lanka Guardian