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”.