POLITICAL PACKAGE=RESOLVING ETHNIC CONFLICT= LASTING PEACE!!!

Winning Lasting Peace After Kilinochchi Victory

JEHAN PERERA

The government has been celebrating the victory at Kilinochchi as a decisive one that heralds the dawn of peace. The day that the troops entered Kilinochchi, President Mahinda Rajapaksa delivered an address to the nation at the Presidential Secretariat in which he praised the sacrifice of the Sri Lankan soldiers and called on the LTTE to surrender and give up their dream of Tamil Eelam. Although the President added that the capture of Kilinochchi should not be seen as a victory of the south over the north, the sound of fire crackers exploding in Colombo and elsewhere signaled rejoicing in the country.
The military and psychological blow to the LTTE cannot be in doubt. During his annual Heroes Day speech in November 27 LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan said that the capture of Kilinochchi would prove to be only a dream of the government. The deadlines regarding the capture of Kilinochchi that the government kept giving and breaking gave a measure of credence to the words of the LTTE leader. However, any illusion that the LTTE had both a plan and the strength to salvage its fortunes in Kilinochchi came to naught with the fall of its administrative capital.

The steady progress of the Sri Lankan military forces has demonstrated that the LTTE can no longer lay claim to rivaling the government in conventional warfare. From the first battle at Mavil Aru in the east two and a half years ago to the latest one in Kilinochchi, the government forces are getting closer to the LTTE’s core in the shrinking areas of its control. With the remaining LTTE cadre and civilians concentrated into this relatively small area, the future battles are likely to be even more costly than the ones that have already occurred, unless the cycle of violence is broken by statesmanship.

Other side

On the other hand, the fall of Kilinochchi is not the first time that the LTTE has had to cope with the loss of an administrative capital in the context of severe military reversal and the loss of its prestige as a fighting force. In 1995 the LTTE lost an even greater prize than Kilinochchi, when it lost Jaffna city in battle with the government forces. As Jaffna is both the most populous and culturally significant of all Tamil areas, the loss of Jaffna seemed to be an irreversible blow to the LTTE. As with the capture of Kilinochchi, there were both spontaneous and government-inspired celebrations about the capture of Jaffna, including the lighting of fire crackers.

The government and most members of the Sinhalese community tend to view celebrations of LTTE defeats as a positive demonstration of high public patriotism and revulsion of the LTTE. It is noticeable that few if any Tamils are part of these celebrations, and may therefore be feeling alienated and not included in them. A reality that needs to be kept in mind is that of ethnic division, in which Sri Lankan army units composed of nearly 100 percent Sinhalese soldiers take control over territories that are nearly 100 percent Tamil in composition and defeating a rebel force that is also 100 percent Tamil.

Today it is generally acknowledged that the victory celebrations of 1995 that accompanied the capture of Jaffna were inappropriate and ill timed. In a replay of the days of Sinhalese kings, those celebrations saw President Chandrika Kumaratunga being given a scroll in Parliament by General Anuruddha Ratwatte that formally declared the capture of Jaffna. Scarcely two months were to pass before the LTTE infiltrated Colombo and brought down the Central Bank building with a suicide truck bomb attack. This was followed by other military reversals, including the overrunning of the Mullaitivu army base with the death of over 1200 Sri Lankan soldiers. Notwithstanding the loss of Jaffna, the LTTE was able to recoup its fortunes and continue with the war.

Future progress

Progress occurs when past achievements are built upon and mistakes are not repeated. Scholars have pointed out that ethnic identity is a primordial attachment that even a globalised society cannot transcend. With provincial elections around the corner the government may feel impelled to celebrate the victory in Kilinochchi over the course of the coming weeks regardless of the feelings of the Tamils. The vote of the majority Sinhalese electorate is necessary to take the government to yet another victory. At the same time the government needs to rise above ethnic and political considerations if it is to restore lasting peace to the country.

Today most reasonable people in Sri Lanka would agree that the LTTE arose as a consequence of a long unresolved ethnic conflict. The LTTE is but a symptom of a deeper problem. Unfortunately the violence and terrorism of the LTTE has been of such an extreme nature that it has come to be seen as the main problem in the country. However, eliminating the LTTE will not eliminate the ethnic conflict. Even if the LTTE is eliminated, the problem that Prime Minister S W R D Bandaranaike and Federal Party leader S J V Chelvanayakam tried to resolve in 1957 through the unimplemented Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact will remain.

Prime Minister Bandaranaike failed in his attempt to resolve the ethnic conflict because he could not overcome the division within Sinhalese society. On the other hand, the virtually untrammeled power of the executive presidency and the success of the military campaign have enabled President Rajapaksa to unite virtually all the Sinhalese people under his leadership. The challenge that lies before the President and his government would be to present a credible political package that could assuage the sense of alienation and loss suffered by the Tamil people over the course of the past sixty years.

Prof. Tissa Vitarana, the Chairman of the All Party Representatives Committee, which has been mandated by President Rajapaksa to come up with a consensual political solution to the ethnic conflict has gone on record that 90 percent of the task is completed. Getting agreement on the balance 10 percent is not possible by technical adjustments and compromises. What is now required is political leadership that adds the remaining 10 percent to the political package and makes a bridge to the estranged Tamils people of Sri Lanka. Winning lasting peace by resolving the ethnic conflict is the bigger challenge that President Rajapaksa and his government will face in the New Year.
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