Comment

An end to the 25-year-long military stalemate in Sri Lanka appears near at hand, with government forces poised to decisively crush the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north and east of the island.

If the Tigers’ last stand is broken soon enough and without serious loss of civilian lives, it could mark a defining moment in the blood-stained history of contemporary politics in Sri Lanka, and in India’s diplomatic relations with its southern neighbour with which it shares a mythological past dating back to Ramayan times.

The LTTE, which once legitimately represented Sri Lankan Tamils’ aspirations for a “homeland” as a foil against Sinhala chauvinism, has over time morphed monstrously into one of the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisations that today kills not for a political cause but for its own perpetuation.

It has systematically silenced all moderate Tamil voices in Sri Lankan politics and thwarted even well-intentioned attempts at fashioning a political settlement to the ethnic conflict with help from overseas mediators. Having held the Sri Lankan Tamil population hostage to its campaign for a Tamil Eelam nation for over 30 years, the LTTE appears, in its last days, to be using them perversely as human shields.

The Tigers have truly turned man-eaters, which is why there is little sympathy at their imminent extinction even among those who support the Sri Lankan Tamil cause.

However, across the Palk Strait, in Tamil Nadu, where Sri Lankan Tamils have traditionally enjoyed extra-territorial political support, the Tigers’ last roar is being echoed in a chorus of aggressive political rumblings and Tamil chauvinistic sentiments. These will pose grim challenges for India in its articulation of a coherent Sri Lankan policy, particularly if many more civilian lives are lost in the Sri Lankan military’s final push or if Tamil refugees land on Indian shores.

The past fortnight has seen a political mobilisation in Tamil Nadu against the Sri Lankan military offensive and demanding Indian government intervention to end it. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, whose DMK party is a part of the UPA, moved a resolution in the state assembly urging the Centre to take steps to end the “war” in Sri Lanka.

Opposition parties and extreme-minded political affiliations have called for a State-wide general strike todayin support of the Sri Lankan Tamil cause.

On the streets of Tamil Nadu, more radical forms of protest are finding expression. One hot-headed Tamil activist immolated himself in Chennai, and his funeral became a political platform for the articulation of fiery sentiments. Ominously, there have been reports of Indianflags being burnt, and of random attacks on Sri Lankan commercial and consular interests in Tamil Nadu.

Although the LTTE no longer enjoys the kind of widespread support it did prior to its 1991 killing of Rajiv Gandhi, themood seems to be again turning ugly.

All these will likely pose enormous challenges for India’s government, which appears to have finally formulated a Sri Lankan policy that is both strategic-minded and morally upright. Having shamefully provided moral and material support for the LTTE killer machine in the 1980s, India paid a heavy price for its military intervention on behalf of the Sri Lankan government.

Only after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi did it wake up to the monster it helped spawn. Today, the India’s diplomacy is far more artful, disavowing any support for the LTTE while simultaneously holding out for a politicalsolution of the ethnic conflict.
Now that the Sri Lankan military is on the threshold of a famous victory against the Tigers, India which knows a thing or two about terrorism originating from foreign soil, must remain steadfast in its policy despite the intense pressures likely from the Tamil political spectrum. Snuffing out the Tigers provides the best chance to begin anew in Sri Lanka.