CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Has Prabakaran failed the Tamil cause

Shenali Waduge

What can we make of certain quarters of the Tamil community especially those we know as the Tamil Diaspora suddenly coming forward to pin the blame on the LTTE & its leader as advancing troops are on the verge of claiming control of the LTTE de facto capital Kilinochchi? Never have we heard sections of the Tamil community actually find fault with the LTTE so publicly, but the interesting scenario here is that these criticisms come at a time when it is crystal clear that the LTTE has finally been checkmated by the troops. Yet can we realistically picture the LTTE on its last leg of a 30 year terror campaign or a Prabakaran perhaps shocked that his people, the financiers of the LTTE's war chest are all deserting him - has the jungles become jinxed?

Like it or not the Tamil Diaspora numbering over 800,000 must accept accountability for their role in funding the LTTE's terrorist campaign. Maybe a few were forced to contribute but we cannot discount that others wholeheartedly contributed to the LTTE "cause". So what should we make of their role & did they not remorse each time the LTTE struck killing Parliamentarians, Presidents, Former Prime Ministers of other countries, Religious dignitaries of all faiths, innocent men, women & children sometimes even babies slaughtered mercilessly & even Tamil leaders numbering over 55? In silently acknowledging the LTTE's one man rule structure, haven't the Tamil people accepted a system of governance that is not democratic? There is enough evidence to reveal what happens to any dissenters.

It is interesting to note how many of LTTE's Diaspora supporters actually propose to settle down in an Eelaam set up by Prabakaran - giving up life in a democratic system in the foreign nations they presently reside in. This scenario is somewhat difficult to picture. In which case we can but wonder whether this war scenario which entices global players to enter & whisk their way into public life condoning the Governments in power, actually has a larger plan in mind & the war only a cover up just as the invasions in Iraq (for oil), in Afghanistan (for a gas pipeline) & Georgia (oil & natural resources)!

India conveniently merged the North & East through their Indo-Lanka 1987 Accord obviously with the natural harbor (Trincomalee in the Eastern province) very much foremost in their mind. The LTTE thus demanded 35% of land & 78% coast for their Eellam. The historic demerger of the North & East now leaves LTTE with a very diminishing area to call their Eelaam & possibly that will become zero demand when the troops are able to fortify Kilinochchi & take over Mullaitivu.

Currently there are many articles appearing over the web & other publications where some Tamils are acknowledging the way they falsely sought refugee status & now after 30 years when the tigers backs are against the wall, they are claiming that the Sinhalese were good people after all. But, after 30 years of negative propaganda against the Sinhalese as people engaged in ethnic genocide is the world ready to accept this new position articulated by some Tamils? May be some should acknowledge finally that the "ethnic" discrimination scenario was merely a smokescreen.

Though the LTTE made a comfortable USD300million annually as profit none of the money ever trickled down for the ordinary public to enjoy - the LTTE never even fed the masses in the North or the East - the Governments of the day fed not only the Tamil people but also the LTTE members. None of the LTTE's illegitimately raised money ever made their way to the families of even the 30% who make up the LTTE child soldier or any development programs that should have uplifted the lifestyles of the people in the North.

It has been convenient for the Tamil community now to begin blaming the LTTE & its leadership not for the present predicament but for "failing them" - their promise of an "Eelaam" which evidently means that there are some quarters who still envision a separate state, while some others are thinking of engineering a new leader possibly to accept another form of struggle which invariably is likely to drag the innocent Tamil people of the North towards sacrificing another 30 years of misery.

It does beg the Tamil people, the ordinary who have suffered all these years depending on the LTTE & the Diaspora who gave them neither a separate state nor any comforts to say they would rather live in peace, get on with employment befitting their status & provide an environment where they can educate their children instead of having them end up in the Wanni jungles closeted from normal life.

We cannot dismiss that the Prabakaran led rebellion in the early 80s would have ended up similar to the fate suffered by the JVP in the 70s & the late 80s if not for the conniving of India. It served India well that its Southern State of Tamil Nadu where over 65million Tamils (80million Tamils globally) reside would support an artfully designed covert operation involving the youths of the North to engage in an armed struggle with the Government of Sri Lanka. Though Tamil support accounts for only 5.6% of the Total Indian population, the Central Government has been entrapped by the Southern Tamil leaders in view of their legislative presence for far too long using the carrot of LTTE to whisk the Central Government as it sees fit.

Yet, India's Central Government is unable to desist the antics of the Southern Leaders even as the LTTE for the first time is not shaping up to its formidable force. India has cut out a very sorry picture in limiting its friendly ties to diplomatic niceties with the Sri Lankan Government & all the while appeasing the Tamil Nadu state in exchange for political support. Whether India chooses to take pride or not the fact remains that the LTTE's formidable status elevating it from the likes of the JVP has been India's interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka & more so by turning a blind eye to the arms traffic & shelter provided to LTTE over the years in their own State of Tamil Nadu which incidentally was the location shown by LTTE to blow up Rajiv Gandhi to pieces. Let us also remember how the Indian trained LTTE were able to kill over 2000 of Indian peace keeping soldiers & injuring an equivalent number as well.

While many of us cannot still comprehend what these "discriminations", "differences" "marginalization's" that warrant an armed struggle are we urge readerships to look at what the Tamils have not been denied which is very much tangible in nature. Why would Colombo the capital city of Sri Lanka become the home of a very large number of Tamils if the country suffers from "ethnic discrimination" - {Sri Lanka's Tamil population is 2.4million out of which 800,000 are domiciled overseas) Of the 1.6million Tamils living in Sri Lanka it is believed that over 55% live outside of the North & East - which leaves less than 700,000 domiciled in the North & Eastern parts of Sri Lanka. If Tamils are domiciled in Colombo & suburbs it means that the Tamils own property, send their children to school (private, public & international) & are employed. Many would jump to cite the public sector has very little Tamil presence or even the military.

In this free market open economy very few from all communities desire to join the public sector especially those who desire challenging roles & seek to climb up the corporate ladder instead of indulge in hum drum mundane administration that the public sector has become known for. As for the military - it may be that Tamils may not want to actually join the armed forces thus the lack of representation. When verifiable & tangible proof exists that over 55% of Tamils have no claim to "ethnic divide" we can but wonder why some choose to create a false notion of genocide which is being supported by western interests as well. A country's Government for that matter any country's Government may win elections & come into power but they are unlikely to sustain the same level of support & appreciation as their governance gets appraised by their acts. Likewise, the people of every country have good & bad things to say of the Governments in power but given the democratic framework the people can change Governments at elections, which is unlikely to happen in the case of Prabakaran.

With the Government apparently not paying heed to the calls for the resumption of talks minus calls for the LTTE to disarm, it is evident that their next form of attack is by pressurizing the Government using the IDP & calling upon the Government to ensure that they are unharmed. The world is thus shown a picture that the Government is denying the IDPs their human rights - have they not considered that these IDPs might be in LTTE custody & not allowed to leave & make their way into Government areas where ample stocks of food, medicine etc have been sent & camps set up? We are projected a figurer of 200,000 - can this figure be realistic when there are less than 300,000 in the entire Northern province? Why has the Government not challenged these figures? We are told that only a few hundreds have made their way to Government areas it may be that there are no people to come & these IDP figures are being bloated to discredit the Government.

We are all in agreement that division along ethnic lines is not a solution & is unlikely to succeed. If this was applied it would have meant that the 25,000 sq., miles that make up Sri Lanka would be divided thus : 18,500 sq.miles for the Sinhalese, 3000 sq.miles for the Tamils, 2000 sq.miles for the Muslims, 1250 sq.miles for the Upcountry Tamils & 250sq.miles for all others.

The Tamils themselves are divided by caste / class & even region. The elite Jaffna Tamils, those that belong to the highest class look down on other Tamils - there were times when low castes could not even educate themselves - marriage across caste even regions were taboo. Chairs in schools were differently manufactured to differentiate the castes - some low castes even if they were in high professions were not permitted to enter certain restaurants. All Northern Tamils look down up the Tamils of the East - one of the main reasons why Karuna defected from the LTTE. Even the way that the Tamils in the North & Tamils in the East speak differs. The Thesavalamai laws meant that Jaffna property belonged to only those from Jaffna. Inspite of these divisions amongst themselves Prabakran led LTTE were able to forcefully steer a campaign that did not necessarily break these divisions but brought most Tamils under one umbrella even those who silently disagreed with the LTTE in a campaign to take over 35% of Sri Lanka's land for around 700,000 Tamil populace not before chasing away all Sinhalese & Muslims who were living in the North. The LTTE however was unable to chase out the Sinhalese & Muslims who were a large presence in the East.

What makes the present predicament of the LTTE interesting is when looking at how much the LTTE has lost in comparison to how much it was able to gain. The 2002 Cease Fire Agreement was in fact a gold mine for the LTTE - it had areas demarcated as its own, it was able to engage in procurement of arms easily, its leaders could travel internationally & a foreign monitoring mission that was very happy to take down over 3000 cases of cease fire violations & do absolutely nothing about it. If bombs didn't explode it was because the LTTE was concentrating on fortifying its strength for bigger & larger attacks - that occurred when they gunned down Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister a Tamil himself & later the Chief Government Whip also a Tamil. In just over 2 years, the LTTE has lost a very resourceful province in the East of Sri Lanka, two of its front organizations have been banned, foreign Governments are interrogating LTTE operatives & some have been arrested, an alert SLNavy have diminished easy passage way that brought in arms & ammunition, the SLAir Force has destroyed their offices, equipment storages & even training centers - things haven't been going all that well for the LTTE as a whole though a few lucky attempts have enabled bombs to go off but that too alert passengers have been able to stop major carnage from occurring.

If we can discount discrimination of the type that existed for the blacks in the US or the blacks in their own country of South Africa, or perhaps the tribal aggression in Africa we can but wonder why are there calls for an Eelaam & by whom since we know very well that over half o the Tamil populace actually live amongst the Sinhalese without any problems. That there are problems is goes without saying but these are problems that are applicable to all the communities in Sri Lanka & not relevant only to the Tamils. It is true that Government circulars should be communicated in Tamil to predominantly Tamil areas especially areas where the common language of English may not be too conversant. I would even go so far as to say that some of the circulars in Sinhala should be in an easily legible script instead of the highflown Sinhala language that presently exists.

It is most unfortunate that the world is ruled by a handful of people who decide whether a country prospers or not - look at the present financial status of the world as a result of the bad decisions of these world leaders. We have another set of humanitarian agents who have their ideologies on how other countries should run completely disrespecting the cultures & norms that exist in those climes. Today the world is a slave to terror because a handful has found it an easy means to gain profit. Wars have opened up territories & means for countries to ignore international norms & diplomacies & take over nations & tap their natural resources - we have seen this take place in Iraq, Afghanistan & many other countries are being benchmarked.

The victims have been the public - they pay the taxes, they take on the burdens of plummeting economies & they have to sacrifice their sons & daughters for the wars. We do not really know if Prabakaran was excited by the power of holding a weapon or whether he actually thinks he can create a separate state not for the Tamils but only for those who will hero worship him. None of the attempts for peace ever ended up anywhere because the representative of the LTTE had no say in what Prabakaran's final decision.

The resolution for an armed struggle for aspirations unfulfilled has given the Tamil people nothing other than misery on three areas where things could have been different - can the Tamil people (those that are not living in Colombo & suburbs or those that we know too well as the Tamil Diaspora that funds the LTTE terror) be thankful to what the LTTE & the Tamil Diaspora has given them? Has the people of the North & uptil 2007 the people of the East gained any development emotionally, socially or economically? The LTTE can claim for itself the ability to raise its profit to USD300million annually - the Tamil Diaspora are comfortably living in foreign countries & ensuring their return delays by instructing the LTTE to continue their killing - has any of their money gone to feed their people, buy books for the children or even put up roads & other infrastructure except build fancy bunkers & other fortifications & now the people are left with graveyards of dead LTTE bodies - youth denied their chances reaching adulthood the natural way.

With sections of the Tamil community now blaming Prabakaran for the predicament that bewails the LTTE cause, are the public expected to praise the Tamil Diaspora for their turn a round? Anyone who has contributed to war crimes must face up to their accountability even though they may cloak themselves in a democratic path - there is a thing called justice & that must prevail at any cost. For 30 years we have a small but effective number of people taking on a Government, rubbing shoulders with members of the international community that have been bought over or mesmerized into imagining a genocide situation in Sri Lanka & now when things don't look so cosy Prabakaran is to blame.

It is time for the Tamil people - those overseas, those in Colombo & especially those now hostages of the LTTE think that 30 years of dreaming must be enough to see the reality & moreso the futility behind the faE7ade of ethnic discrimination. Let the Tamil people go back to their hayday when we remember how great they were in their studies, how wonderful they were in their accounts, how versatile they were in their work...why should the delusionary Eelaam belittle all that the Tamil people can take pride in.

For far too long the Tamil people have fallen prey to the calls for an Eelam without them actually thinking how practical such a state would be & more importantly how differently their lives would be - they have seen 30 years of misery not because of the Government of Sri Lanka but because the LTTE, Prabakaran & his troop of foreign financiers choose that they become scapegoats to carry forward their agendas. Let not the Tamil people be fooled any more. Prabakaran is not the only person to shoulder the blame for all that has happened to the country - there is a long list of people whose conscience will know how much of their decision making have left a country having to mourn each time a life has been nullified for no reason.

A grand alliance...a new leadership...these are some of the new calls we hear ....obviously to steer the public into another course of misery.

Let us not be dragged into another 30 years of misery & despair.

Shenali Waduge

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