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| Sunday, 14 November 2004 |
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LTTE's plan that failed by K. Godage The LTTE has taken a page out of the story of India's partition and how a civil war was provoked to alienate the communities and create the impression that separation was inevitable. 1983 July was not a gift to the LTTE; it was the LTTE's greatest achievement. They were able to provoke the Sinhalese (criminal elements led by some Sinhalese political thugs created mayhem -- every Sinhalese did not set upon every Tamil). The country fell into Prabhakaran's trap. The Sinhala politicians perhaps had of course not read India's recent history and more particularly of how Jinnah's strategy to divide British India had succeeded. He plunged the country into chaos by creating a civil war. When the LTTE blew up an army convoy killing 13 soldiers they plunged a knife into the heart of this country. They would no doubt have expected the south to react in the manner they did and that certainly has been their single biggest achievement. The reaction in the South was emotional; the happenings of that week shocked the nation. It was a challenge to every human instinct -- the silent majority was indeed ashamed. The LTTE only succeeded on that one occasion to provoke a major reaction in the South. They tried every trick in the book. It would be recalled that just a few months after July '83 the LTTE committed an unbelievable sacrilege when they desecrated the precincts of the sacred Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura and mowed down over one hundred pilgrims; that certainly shocked the country but that was it; there was no reaction against innocent Tamils. The LTTE mowed down three bus loads of Buddhist monks killing over 100 of them at Aranthalawa in the Eastern Province but again they failed to provoke a reaction, next came the bombing of the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, once again there was no mass reaction against innocent Tamils; the LTTE butchered a large number of men women and children in a number of villages in the Eastern Province -- the last being Gonagala, but once again they failed to create a civil war situation. They sought through their actions to alienate the two communities to show the world that there is no option to partition. Yes they have sought at every turn, as a part of their diabolical policy, to divide this country. Macabre success The LTTE's many successes have been macabre. The LTTE's success at poisoning the minds of Tamil youth can be gauged from the fact that their suicide cadres number in the hundreds. Who else has achieved or is it inspired such a commitment? Perhaps only the Japanese Emperor during the Second World War, when they considered their country surrounded by hostile forces. Yes thousands have sacrificed their lives for the cause. Twenty years have elapsed since Black July of '83 and all those born after that in the North and East have only known war. Those who were impressionable teenagers in '83 are now grown men and women. They have all been subject to systematic brain-washing by the LTTE. They have injected their minds with absolute unadulterated hate for the Sinhalese. Tamil children of the North and East have been easy prey or the LTTE; and this has been also due to the myopic policies of our Southern politicians, including Prime Ministers and Presidents. The presence in the North of an almost entirely Sinhala Army was another factor. We virtually drove the Tamil youth into the arms of the LTTE. Another success of Prabhakaran and the LTTE has been the elimination of all opponents and bringing the principal Tamil political group under their jack- boot to force the acceptance of its claim to be considered sole representative of the Tamil people; for a Tamil to contest this claim is to take out a death warrant. The irony of this situation has been that not only governments of this country but also the western democracies representing the international community have accepted and acquiesced in this position without any protest, leaving the Tamil people without any say in the matter. Incidentally many critics of the involvement of the 'international community' state most unfairly that they seek to see this country divided on ethnic lines for that would set in motion the disintegration of India also on ethnic lines. Churchill it would be recalled, (he hated Gandhi and all Indians) supported Jinnah to divide British India fonton religious lines. A powerful India is perceived as an emerging threat to Japan and the West. Quite implausible of course. Paranoia in the South However the paranoia in the South and the lack of understanding and an unwillingness to concede Tamil rights has also helped the LTTE to spread their message of hate of the Sinhalese which propels the struggle against the State. 'Majoritarianism' coupled with the hard-line attitude of myopic Sinhala politicians from the time of FR Jayasuriya and KMP Rajaratne; (long forgotten but the damage they did lives on) lent credibility to Tamil claims of discrimination and that they had revolted to establish their claim to being treated as equal citizens in every respect and that if that could not be conceded that they be allowed to separate and decide on their own destiny. Much has happened since the days when Sinhala nationalism reared its head after 400 years of colonial suppression. The world too has changed since then; Globalisation and the Information Revolution has made the world a smaller place; Human Rights including minority rights have been enshrined in the world as has Democracy and the rule of law. Nationalism and sub-nationalism had their time and place. Everyone now concedes that ours is a multi-ethnic, multi religious and multi-cultural country, which is heavily interdependent. Our strength should come from our diversity and the need of the hour is integration. The LTTE's effort to create a Civil War has failed. Incidentally many persons who should have known better described our conflict as a 'Civil War similar to the American Civil war or the civil war in Burundi or the civil war in Bosnia as stated before more Tamil people live amongst us in the South than live in the North and East. The LTTE has till now had it almost entirely their way. Never have they compromised. They have studied our leaders and know full well how weak they are. They have exploited this weakness to the maximum. No insurgent group has ever had it so good. Premadasa's government saved them from the IPKF. Successive governments have strengthened them. Hence it is that the 'international community also climbed on board to strengthen them. In conclusion it must be stated once again that though the LTTE's many attempts to create a Civil War has failed. They continue to resort to using the weapon of fear against the people in the South. They have indeed succeeded in this regard because our politicians have made concessions through fear of assassination. It should be recalled that Balasingham when asked why the suicide cadres were not being disbanded had the audacity, impertinence and temerity to state ominously that they could not be disbanded until they achieved their goal! meaning what? style='mso-spacerun:yes' Sadly this statement of Balasingham admitting the use of terror was not condemned by the Human Rights conscious, anti-terrorist, democratic western community. Yes the LTTE is still using terror tactics and the Black Tigers to blackmail us and scare us into submission but surely the LTTE must know that in this post 9/11 world they would be shooting themselves not only in the foot but in the head if they once again resort to naked terrorism. One option left They are today using the one option left -- pushing as much as they could for the ISGA which would pave the way for their separate state. They must be made to fail once again. It is incumbent on the leaders in the South to ensure this by offering to the Tamil people, not just the LTTE, a set of constitutional proposals which has the endorsement of India (and perhaps of the Donor group) which addresses the legitimate grievances of the Tamil people (not the aspirations of some of them). and the international community should exert pressure on the LTTE to negotiate on the basis of those proposals. India font- US and the western countries where the Tamil Diaspora reside have the capacity and the ability to make the LTTE agree to a reasonable settlement within internationally accepted norms. |
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