Is this a game of relay?

“Truth was the first casualty of war. Journalists on both sides of the battle lines died and military leaders of both sides were blamed. Abduction, assault and resultant emigration of journalists stopped only two months after the war ended.”
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By Thomas Johnpulle

(December 06, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Valvettithurai is a small coastal fishing village on the northern coast of Sri Lanka. The town is near a river mouth called Thondaimanaru. The mouth of the river has the popular Hindu temple Selva Sannithy. Most villagers are Tamil. About 400 kilometres away in the south of Sri Lanka is another coastal fishing village by the name Ambalangoda. The Madu River joins the sea in Ambalangoda. The river has many islets, the largest being Delduwa which has a famous hermitage. Most villagers are Sinhalese.

Valvettithurai produced the Tamil Tiger military and political leader - Velupillai Pirapaharan - while Ambalangoda produced his Sinhala vanquisher - General Sarath Fonseka. Pirapahran was a Hindu and Fonseka, a Buddhist; they were born in the 1950s, one in the North and the other in the South; went to school; joined armies - one regular, the other irregular. Both allege discrimination at the hands of the other community.

Pirapaharan was angered by what he saw as discrimination against Tamil people by successive Sinhala ruling governments. It is said that he witnessed the 1972 racial riots. In 1972 Pirapaharan dropped out of school and founded the Tamil New Tigers (TNT). It later evolved into the LTTE. By early 1980s, the LTTE was a formidable fighting force with ample support from the people. He famously said, “if he (JR Jayawardena) was a true Buddhist I would not be carrying a gun”. His sister continued her higher studies and is now settled in North America. Fonseka recently recalled a childhood event that traumatized him for life. In his own words, “I can still remember how the villagers used to run to a rocky cliff when the Tamils attacked our village. We spent two to three days there until the situation came back to normal.” The incident was the 1958 racial riot which took place when Fonseka was eight (8) years old. In 1970 he joined the army. His sister and brother continued their higher studies. She now lives in North America.

Unbeknown to them, their destinies were intertwined. A bloody war broke out in 1983 after eight (8) years of low level harassing guerilla warfare. Pirapaharan’s outfit was called the (Tamil) Tigers while the regiment of Fonseka was Sinha (Lion). Numbers grew on both sides rapidly and the types of weapons and their sophistication also grew exponentially. Each group vowed to annihilate the other in the battle field.

Meanwhile other Tamil militant groups posed a threat to the very foundation of the LTTE in the 1980s. Pirapahran was instrumental in ruthlessly destroying each and every one of them. By 1990 LTTE had emerged as the only Tamil militant outfit to challenge the Sri Lankan forces. Similarly, a hardline Sinhala militant group staged its second uprising in the 1980s and Fonseka was heavily instrumental in the brutal crackdown. By 1990 there were no Sinhala militant groups in the country. In another very strange twist, from 1987 to 1989, the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE didn’t fight each other. Instead they fought the radical JVP subversives and the Indian army respectively!

Fonseka was posted to Jaffna, the Tamil Tiger heartland in the 1990s. However, the army had no control of the Jaffna peninsula as it was under the rule of Tamil Tigers until 1995. Pirapaharan who used to wear the uniform until his last days led the Tiger charge in some of the bloody battles in the North. His battle tactics were ruthless and he was not the type who would take “no” for an answer. In like manner Fonseka was also a ruthless infantryman. Both suffered battlefield injuries but fully recovered subsequently.

Both Fonseka and Pirapaharan saw no future for their children in the island and sent them abroad for higher studies in 2002. Pirapaharan’s family obtained foreign residency but opted to be together in the last phase of the battle. Fonseka family migrated to the USA by winning a Green Card under the US Diversity visa lottery. Fonseka’s first born daughter married an army brigadier’s son while it was rumored Pirapaharan’s first born daughter would marry the son of a Tamil militant but war broke out before anything could happen.

Their fates crossed again in 2003 when during ‘Peace Talks’ LTTE requested to remove High Security Zones (HSZs) in Jaffna. As the Jaffna commander, Fonseka refused. It almost restarted the war but timely action by the parties and the facilitator managed to keep peace.

Pirapaharan had no intention of entering politics directly or indirectly. Politics is not for me, he said until 2000. He showed lack of interest in elections and elections were anyway not held in LTTE controlled areas. After losing Jaffna and after his enemies came up with various ‘political’ packages, he decided it is high time he entered politics. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was chosen as his political vehicle and they did well in the elections in the North-East. They bettered their performance in 2001 and in 2002 LTTE declared Pirapaharan as the President and the Prime Minister of Tamil people. Pirapaharan claimed all credit for the 2002 Norway brokered ceasefire agreement which the LTTE entered into from a position of strength. At the 2004 General Election, LTTE brutally attacked other Tamil political parties in an attempt to secure all the seats of Tamil majority districts in the North-East. It was the first and last time elections were held in LTTE held areas. In 2006 war broke out again. LTTE bombed Fonseka in April 2006 and in July cut-off water to ethnic Sinhala and Muslim farming villages triggering war. By this time LTTE had lost it’s most loyal military leader - Colonel Karuna - who defected to the other side.

While holding the ‘Tamil Eelam’ political high office of both ‘President and Prime Minister’ or sole representative as the LTTE called, Pirapahran was at the forefront of battle plans. However, a determined President, a shrewd Defence Secretary who is battle hardened, and a high performing team of army, navy and air force commanders defeated the LTTE from East to North. Fonseka as the army commander led the ground forces. He was given complete authority over the army as Pirapaharan had over his army. In May 2009 the war was over. Pirapaharan and his family died in the war and it was Fonseka who broke the news. One groups of people rejoiced while another group of people mourned.

In another trivial but important comparison, both leaders were guarded by their own selected ‘regiment’. Pirapaharan was guarded by a cadre of around 270 from the Imran Pandian Brigade. He was very particular that this brigade and only this brigade is assigned with his security. Sri Lanka follows a similar approach not by rule but by tradition. A change of this tradition irritated the former CDS during his last days in the post.

Truth was the first casualty of war. Journalists on both sides of the battle lines died and military leaders of both sides were blamed.. Abduction, assault and resultant emigration of journalists stopped only two months after the war ended.

Immediately following the war Fonseka rejected rumours of entering politics but by October it was crystal clear he was in the political fray. In November he declared that he will be running for President. His political vehicle is the United National Alliance (UNA).

In early 1980s Tamil youngsters were over the moon when LTTE showed its capabilities. LTTE was soon against Tamil political parties. They were blamed for being too submissive to the government, family controlled, shuns the downtrodden, ineffective and divisive. For instance the oldest Tamil party, All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) which was a constituent of the TULF election alliance in 1977 was led by GG Ponnambalam, then his son Kumar Ponnambalam and then grandson GK Ponnambalam. LTTE managed to shake-up the Tamil caste system completely. People started to like the LTTE that cut across all social strata and promised everything under the sun. But once under the LTTE rule, people realized they were fooled. It was too late. Today there is no LTTE but the ACTC still goes strong.

History may repeat; this time in the south. Things that we take for granted such as ethnic harmony, may be lost once again if the wrong political choice is made. Peace and harmony should not be taken for granted because the wrong leader may use the many newfound tools at his command to assert his authority. It is said power corrupts; some have been corrupted already with a little power. What more power will do is unthinkable.

Sri Lanka now needs a peace activist as the President, not a ‘war hero’. The present challenge is peace, not war. Electing the most appropriate person with peace skills is the need of the times. Instead of giving people many peace choices, they are presented with war choices.

If this is the time-bomb Pirapaharan left, he may have lost the battle but he certainly won the war.

-Sri Lanka Guardian