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| Sunday, 19 October 2003 |
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Will Desha Hithaishes make Prabhakaran's dream come true? by HEMANTHA WARNAKULASURIYA Mr. Narayan Swamy's first book, Tigers of Sri Lanka, disclosed for the first time that Brigadier Denzil Kobbekaduwa was the first person who handed over weapons to the LTTE to fight the IPKF. Premadasa followed suit. How did such a revered Army General decide to hand over weapons to the LTTE. Before the arrival of the IPKF, General Kobbekaduwa was the most respected and the most feared Sinhala soldier who encountered the LTTE. This item of evidence shows the magnitude of the propaganda carried out by the LTTE against the IPKF. Kumar Ponnambalam was made one of the greatest heroes of the LTTE posthumously. It was Kumar Ponnambalam who filed the first case in Sri Lanka Courts and requested that the IPKF be brought under the jurisdiction of the Sri Lanka Courts. President Premadasa was not by any means, a traitor to the cause of the Sinhala people. When the Indian press targeted him as an anti-Indian with a view to stultifying his image and esteem in the eyes of the Indian people, the Indian press had banner headlines describing his caste. Subsequent to the IPKF being asked to leave, Premadasa attended a conference in New Delhi at which the entire hall was filled with pressmen to obtain a glimpse of the leader, thought to be a rabid anti-Indian, even more so than his counterpart in Pakistan. On being asked quite brazenly whether he was actually so answered with an emphatic "No". Then he was questioned as to why the IPKF was sent out of the Sri Lanka, he answered, "I am not anti-Indian but pro-Sri Lanka". In hindsight we know today that the presence in Sri Lanka, of the IPKF in Sri Lanka, was instrumental in dealing the greatest blow to the LTTE. As much as the food drop scenario by the Indian Air Force strengthened the hand of the LTTE and it also diminished the victory of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in having captured Vadamarachchi. The IPKF, which was brought into the country in terms of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord by President Jayewardene, who had in mind, that rather than drop food the Indians would, instead, bombs on the LTTE. Though admittedly thousands of IPKF soldiers were maimed and the LTTE resistance was strong, yet their presence would have definitely posed a threat to the LTTE. The LTTE was not capable of fighting a lengthy battle with the IPKF as they did with Sri Lanka Army. The attack on the IPKF was thought to be the only way to destabilize the J. R. Jayewardene government. Instead of fighting the common enemy, the LTTE, the politicians of the South would only perceive parochial selfish advantage they would gain by destabilizing the Jayewardene government. At the time the LTTE was fighting for life, their strength oozed out by the IPKF, the entire South led by JVP and DJV began a massive campaign against the IPKF with the resounding slogan - 'Motherland or Death'. This resulted in rousing the passions of the Southerners. 'Drive away the monkey brigade' was the slogan that greeted everyone from walls. Prabhakaran calculated workings of the narrow and myopic Sinhala ethos and got the JVP and DJV to join hands with the most ruthless guerilla leader in acting against the IPKF. We have yet not fathomed the elusive mind of Velupillai Prabhakaran, but we have always become suckers to his plans and designs. Prabhakaran played the anti-India feeling to such an extent that both Presidential candidates, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Ranasinghe Premadasa pledged to the people that they would expel the Indian Army from the shores of Sri Lanka. In the context that Mrs. Bandaranaike was considered a great ally of the Indian political hierarchy this stance on her part was rather paradoxical. Further augmenting this paradox was that Premadasa was nominated to stand for election by the UNP and J. R. Jayewardene who was responsible for having invited the IPKF to Sri Lanka. Both fell for the trap laid by Prabhakaran. The JVP and DJV were the flag bearers of this political conspiracy. When terrorism was making strides in the South both political leaders thought that the only way to nip southern terrorism in the bud was to marginalize or remove the root cause. The root cause was the presence of the IPKF that was taking on the LTTE and Prabhakaran who still remained the Number One Public Enemy in Sri Lanka. The exhaustive analysis by Narayan Swamy of Prabhakaran gives us an insight to the thinking and strategy of this man. The paradox is further strengthened with the perception that Prabhakaran who belongs to the fisher cast in a peninsula where the upper caste Vellala enjoyed hegemony, could become the de-facto king of the Tamil people. Was not he susceptible to the weaknesses of ordinary mortals? How was he in a position keep such a ruthless organization intact sans any sign of dissension among the ranks who, in all probability, are of Vellala caste? Didn't he face the problems other guerrilla freedom fighters and terrorists have encountered. Human nature is such that even an assembly of even a few people cannot work together for a considerable length of time. Then how did Prabhakaran overcome these human frailties, shortcomings, cut-throatism that is encountered in any such organization? However, Prabhakaran did encounter all these difficulties and there were even times when his faithful followers reneged against his authority and leadership. Uma Maheswaram was one such person. Prabhakaran had to leave Sri Lanka and spend about seven months in Tamil Nadu when he became the target of the Sri Lanka Army and the Police. In fact he disowned his own creation - the LTTE as some of his trusted lieutenants betrayed him. He joined the TELO - another guerilla group amid continuous attacks by the Sri Lanka Army and the Police that devastated the LTTE. The victories for the LTTE and other terrorist groups were few and far between. When Uma Mahaeswaran was axed for having sex, it made members furious with Prabhakaran. At this stage Prabhakaran had virtually lost his prestige with his group. As Narayan Swamy relates, "For once it seemed the tide was up against Prabhakaran. Some of his closest friends stood by him like a rock. But many appeared to have become his critics. Prabhakaran's request that he be given overriding powers in the group was turned down. He did not hide his disgust. 'I have done so much for the movement, but no one recognizes it.' He complained publicly and some members continued to target him. Tears welled up in his eyes and he announced he was calling it quits. Then he left the LTTE and joined TELO. When Prabhakaran returned to Jaffna in February, 1983 the LTTE had virtually lost its supreme position while other groups were emerging and fast becoming powerful. This struggle would have ended in a dismal failure if not for the fact that the Southern brothers of Prabhakaran in three to four days by their extreme racist program of the Tamil people made out the LTTE as being the great champions of the entire Tamil people by having internationalized by cause of separatism.. The ethnic riots of July 1983 engulfed the Southern part of the country and made the plea of separatism the most accepted and just demand of the Tamil people in the eyes of the world. Anita Pratap, and Indian journalist, had the most number of interviews with Prabhakaran and helped him to internationalize the separatist issue. She was given this privilege to interview him so many times in return for her having sensationalized and serialized the 1983 riots before the world. A puny rag tag band of terrorists was metamorphosed as the most ruthless guerilla military outfit in the world. The Indian Government which would never accept the bifurcation of Sri Lanka State, was constrained to train terrorists on Indian soil in order to please politicians in power in Tamil Nadu. MGR and Karunanidhi had both competed with each other to patronize Prabhakaran - now the undisputed hero of the Tamil Liberation Movement. In fact Prabhakaran cajoled them to believe in a Tamil State comprising the State of Tamil Nadu, Mauritius and Sri Lanka as the only way the Tamil people could have a country of their own. Again into the scene came the Sinhala chauvinists. The utter short sightedness and irrationality of the Sinhala people came to the fore. Killing the Tamils for them was a solution to the problem. The government forces bombed Jaffna and flattened it without realizing that even if one goes through the short history this is the ideology of an imbecile. Prabhakaran, on the other hand, survived not only due to his abilities but because the Sinhalese as a race are the easiest to be taken for a sucker to achieve his goal. It is only an infantile mind that would conclude that that Prabhakaran would agree to anything less than a separate State. This is his goal. If the Sinhalese, as some claim, are intelligent, they would logically come to conclude that they would have to defeat Prabhakaran. Even if they cannot defeat him militarily or at least try to defeat him politically or internationally. At the moment he seemed to be cornered. World opinion has taken a dramatic turn against him. The liberators have become ruthless terrorists and even the UN would uphold a resolution to erase terrorism from the face of the earth. At the moment his attempt to get his organization be de-listed as a terrorist organization has failed. Thus it would appear that the present moment represents the only chance to defeat his life long dream and instead have him accept something very much less than a separate State. But again the Brahmanic curse on this resplendent Island of Sri Lanka seems to be working overtime. Thousands have got together to defeat the peace process. As in the past twenty years rationalist chauvinists have banded themselves as 'Desha Hithishe Viyaparaya, similar to the 'Deshapremi Janatha Viayapraya' of a few years ago. Prabhakaran must be dreaming that this movement will gather momentum and create racial tension, and the resultant panic in the South will make the Government to go back on its offer. The emerging scenario will be a victorious Prabhakaran bound to tell the world at large that the only way they could obtain justice from a Sinhala Government is to have a State of their own called Tamil Eelam. The DJV in this context will be the happiest since both democratic parties, the UNP and SLFP will be thrown overboard resulting in JVP ruling the fragmented southern part called in the name of Sri Lanka and Prabhakaran, the supreme leader of Tamil Eelam. |
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