Sigh of relief with LTTE defeat
by P. Krishnaswamy
People of all three communities are heaving a sigh of relief as the
three decade long war has now ended, after the total defeat of the LTTE,
but much has to be done with regard to restoration of democracy in the
war torn areas, including disarming of armed groups, TULF leader V.
Anandasangaree told the Sunday Observer.
With polls to the 28 Pradeshiya Sabhas in the North and the Jaffna MC
round the corner, armed groups that are continuing their undemocratic
and anti-social activities, including extortion of money, kidnapping and
intimidation of people, should be disarmed. People who want to come out
openly and do politics are reluctant due to the active presence of these
armed groups, Sangaree said. People of the war torn areas suffered
untold hardships in the hands of the LTTE. They are now happy but
somewhat disappointed over the presence of other armed groups. Unless
all these groups surrender their weapons to the government security
forces, restoration of democracy in full in the North and East will not
be possible, he stated.
Commenting about the total defeat of the LTTE and restoration of
peace, PLOTE leader T. Sitharthan said he was quite optimistic that the
current ambience of communal harmony and brotherhood will lead to a
better future for the Tamil community. The afflictions and hardships
which the Tamil people suffered during the 30-year-war cannot be
expressed in mere words. Thousands lost their lives, thousands were
maimed and several thousands have lost everything except their lives,
Sitharthan said.
He further said:
“Prabhakaran’s whole or nothing” rigid attitude has left the Tamil
people as a community that has been destroyed economically, culturally,
numerically and educationally.
Tamil youths who joined the militant movement believed that they were
fighting for a just cause but, unfortunately, Prabhakaran turned it into
a terrorist struggle detested by the whole world. After the 1983 racial
riots,the whole world sympathised with the Tamil people.
He killed all Tamil educationists, political leaders and
intellectuals and the fact remains that not a single Tamil leader was
killed by the Sri Lankan security forces. He eliminated other Tamil
political parties that fought democratically seeking a just solution to
the ethnic problem. He did all this because he wanted to be recognised
as the sole representative of the Tamil people the world over”.
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