Thursday, January 3, 2013

SRI LANKA: LTTE

Peace can now be restored, but only if Tamilians are successfully restored to the mainstream

After protracted negotiations failed, Rajapaksa never, even for a moment, relented in venting the State’s fury on the Tigers. The general thinking is that this extreme strategy will not help bring the Tamil minority closer to the Sinhala-dominated mainstream. And the Sri Lankan army behaved much like the Russians did in the early phases of the Chechen rebellion. They used brute force – cutting off all possibilities of a reconciliation. There is growing consensus that the Sri Lankan government needs to learn from earlier conflicts in different parts of the world. The Irish and Chechnya models are just two to have found followers in recent times.

But the good part of this evil business is that regardless of the means that were used, the demise of LTTE means that Tamil parties in Sri Lanka can now contest freely and canvas among a wider range of Tamil population. This could not have been possible till Prabhakaran breathed incessant fire. What is now urgently required is greater social and economic equality. Self-rule alone can help bridge the Sinhala-Tamil divide better than the brute engagement that was witnessed of late. Finally, should Rajapaksa fail, he can always fall back on the good old doctrine of carrot & stick! The least he can do is to ensure that Prabhakaran himself does n’t become a role model!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
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