There is no war that is not eventually funneled in the direction of peace, genuine or flawed. It is the quality of the political effort attending on the closure of a war that determines whether the denouement will be satisfactory to all concerned. Going by present indications, Sri Lanka has announced that combat operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have reached their conclusion and troops have been instructed to stop using heavy caliber guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons in the war zone, which could cause civilian causalities. The security forces will confine their attempts to rescuing civilians who are held hostage and give foremost priority to saving civilians. The announcement came as there is a growing concern internationally about the plight of civilians still trapped in a 10 sq km area, which the LTTE occupies.
However, the decision does not tantamount to a cessation of hostilities or a ceasefire due to ‘international pressure’ as speculated by some sections of the media.
The security forces will continue the humanitarian operations to rescue the remaining 15,000 -20,000 people held hostage by the LTTE while avoiding the use of heavy caliber weaponry as a strict measure coinciding with its zero civilian casualty policy.
This is indeed a moment of reckoning for the LTTE, which has had a fascist stranglehold over the Tamils in northern Sri Lanka and has been designated a terrorist organisation and proscribed in more than 30 countries.
Ceasefire Offer Rejected
The guns fell silent after the Sri Lankan government first rejected the LTTE offer of “unilateral ceasefire”, saying that the fighting would go on so long as the remaining LTTE men did not surrender. The pressure from India, the UN, the US and the European Union must have played a role in Colombo’s decision besides the fact that its military objective has almost been achieved.
The surrender of two key LTTE leaders shows how fast it could all be unravelling for the terrorist organisation. Taking Tigers prisoner is rare at any given time, and the detention of Daya Master, a former media coordinator, and George, an aide to S.P. Thamilchelvan, the chief of the LTTE’s political wing who was killed in 2007, will be regarded as a key success. But on Wednesday too, there came increased international pressure on Colombo to spare a thought for the thousands of civilians believed to be trapped in the Tigers shrunken territory. The Sri Lankan authorities and the Tigers refuse to heed calls for cessation of firing long enough to enable civilians to escape into the safety of crowded refugee camps. Sri Lanka argues that a ceasefire would give the LTTE a chance to recoup at a time when they are facing the end to a 25-year-long conflict.
Sri Lanka could no longer ignore the massive humanitarian crisis that had been getting worse with every day passing. The military offensive that began in January 2008 resulted in the rebels getting confined to a small no-fire zone after the Tigers’ de facto capital, Killinochchi, was captured early in 2009.
Tamil civilians who are trapped in the war zone and are being used as a human shield by what remains of the LTTE’s bruised and battered leadership. It may not be entirely inconsequential that the Sri Lankan Army has been prompt in pointing out that “conclusion of combat operations” does not mean that it has declared a ceasefire with the LTTE. What it means is that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the defence forces “to end the use of heavy calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons which could cause civilian casualties”. That, of course, is a step in the right direction, not least because Rajapaksa cannot disown responsibility for the safety and security of the Tamil civilians.
Agony of the Sri Lankan Tamils
As the LTTE faced one defeat after another during the last three years from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces — initially in the Eastern Province and finally in the Northern Province — the irrational side of the LTTE supreme Velupillai Prabhakaran’s personality erased his rational side. His shocking use of the Tamil civilians in order to delay the final end of the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism campaign undertaken by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces is driven by this irrational streak in him, which now dominates his personality.
As many as 80,000 people had crossed over to the government-controlled safe zone, taking the total since January to a whopping 1,50,200 civilians. In large part, it is the treatment that the Rajapakse government metes out to these hapless people who are in acute penury that will determine the success or failure of the Sri Lankan government’s professed resolve to absorb the Tamil masses into the country’s mainstream and to prevent the country from slipping into Tamil militancy again.
The prolonged agony of the Sri Lankan Tamils caused by the final bout of Prabhakaran’s irrationality and loss of lucidity in thinking has to be ended. The Sri Lanka Armed Forces, which have shown patience till now and deliberately slowed down their operations, cannot be faulted if they have come to the conclusion that the time has come to liberate the no-fire zone too from the clutches of the LTTE by undertaking limited operations with small arms and ammunition even at the risk of some collateral casualties to the civilians.
India’s Support
India must also step up humanitarian aid considerably to ward off a catastrophe. Even in the context of the emotional bond between Tamils of Sri Lanka and India, a major Indian humanitarian effort would help erase the deep sense of hurt that prevails in a section of Indian Tamils over the Indian government’s “inadequate” response to the situation. That this feeling has been consciously nurtured by some political leaders for electoral gains in undeniable. At the same time, India must push hard for greater devolution of power to the Tamils in Tamil-majority districts as the ultimate solution after the current end-game has been played out.
It would be best for New Delhi to stick to its stand and not succumb to domestic political pressure. The ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka is an internal matter, and therefore, it would be prudent for India or any other country to refrain from interfering. However, this does not mean that our Government should not offer humanitarian help to rehabilitate the Tamil refugees and insist that they get equal rights and opportunities as their Sinhala brethren.
In claiming the LTTE has legitimate goals and its commander, Prabhakaran, is not a terrorist, M Karunanidhi, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and DMK leader, has triggered controversies at multiple levels. For a start, he has severely embarrassed the Congress by exonerating the man held guilty of masterminding the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. That aside, he has exposed the vulnerability of the UPA Government — and perhaps of any Government at the Centre — to sectional and parochial world views of regional parties. It was parties such as the DMK that reduced the UPA’s coalition dharma to a joke, by replacing Ministers at will and running independent fiefdoms in Ministries they controlled. The consequences of imposing regional political agendas on foreign and economic policy are, of course, of another order.
Need of the Hour
The gathering crisis, however, offers an important opportunity to Sri Lanka to demonstrate that it will measure up to its constitutional obligations to the Tamils as full and equal citizens of the country. It could do this by facilitating all possible relief to those Tamils who have escaped from the clutches of the LTTE and taking extraordinary precautions in its impending military offensive to reduce civilian casualties. India has already sent medical missions and large relief supplies to the Tamil population trapped in what could be the catastrophic finale to a gruesome civil war that has lasted nearly three decade.
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