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THE DAY AFTER
A
nightmare that lasted three long decades has come to an
end. Just like the JVP uprising in the late 1980s, the
army showed no mercy and has wiped out the entire
leadership of the LTTE. The army’s plan appears to have
been not to kill just Velupillai Pirapaharan and his top
commanders like Pottu Amman, Soosai etc., but all the
second and third level leaders as well. This they did
and by doing so made absolutely certain that there is no
opportunity for the resurgence of the LTTE under a new
leader. In effect, the LTTE has been wiped out.
Like
in the crushing of the JVP the validity of the methods
used will be debated for years. Again, like in the case
of the JVP the debate would be merely academic. Both
groups, the JVP and the LTTE had lost any sympathy for
their cause by the bloody methods they used in trying to
achieve their goals. Yet for those who still believed
that the LTTE was fighting for the rights of the Tamils,
the sight of 250,000 people held hostage should dispel
that.
In the
last phase of the war a few Western countries brought
intense pressure on the government to halt the military
operations. Their intention, as some hardliners liked to
believe was not to save Pirapaharan but appease the
growing anger of the Tamil diaspora in their countries.
Although publicly these countries claimed that their
concern was for the civilians held hostage by the LTTE,
the real reason was the political clout (in other words
the votes) the Tamils have, especially in countries such
as Britain, Canada, France and Norway. Sri Lankans may
see this as sheer hypocrisy but the priority of
politicians in any democracy is winning elections.
That
is not to say that there is no hierocracy when these
countries lecture about humanitarian expectations and of
human rights. If war crimes are to be investigated the
conduct of some Western countries in Iraq and
Afghanistan would reveal much more than what is already
known. Add to that the total silence when Israel was
bombing the Gaza strip and before that Lebanon. Human
rights and war crimes investigations it appears are
aimed at Third World countries with little political or
economic clout. One should not be too surprised if the
current demand for war crime investigations in Sri Lanka
is yet another propaganda exercise to appease the Tamil
diaspora.
Ironically it is this mounting pressure and the Indian
general elections that forced the government to “speed
up” the final battle. With almost unanimous predictions
that the Indian elections will bring a hung parliament
and the two main alliances in Tamil Nadu would have
immense clout in forming the next government, there was
in a sense an artificial deadline to end the war. No one
will ever know how many civilians were killed in the
last phase and how many would have died if there was no
such deadline.
The
“war” that bled this country for three decades is over.
In those three decades all communities paid a huge price
— 100,000 killed, thousands maimed, and close to half a
million people living in camps.
The
challenge now is to look forward. It is understandable
that the Tamil community will take time to reconcile
with the new realities. Recall, the LTTE had an iron
grip on Tamil politics for a long time. The vacuum left
by its defeat will not be filled immediately. However
the earlier the Tamil community finds ways to articulate
their aspirations to a credible emerging moderate
leadership, the better it will be for the country. The
Sinhalese no longer need to fear that any devolution of
political power would be used by the LTTE as a stepping
stone for a separate state. President Mahinda Rajapakse
has the political clout to implement any form of
devolution he wants. The Sinhalese will trust him to
make the right decision.
There
certainly is a window of opportunity to create a fairer
society, a united country and a strong democracy.
However that window will not stay open for ever.
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