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| LTTE's long history of deception | | War-like situation in Sri Lanka | | B L KAK
NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka is burning all over again. A suicide attack on a navy convoy in the north of the country yesterday killed at least 90 people, many of them innocent civilians. In retaliation, the Sri Lankan navy claims to have destroyed several boats belonging to the LTTE. Sri Lanka is on the brink of a civil war. In fact, it is now an academic debate if Sri Lanka is facing a civil war-like situation.
For this has been a terrible year for the country with violence claiming more than 2000 lives so far. Unfortunately, many of the casualties include ordinary people who are caught in the crossfire between the ruthless Tigers and an avenging army. The army has enough reasons to be agitated. It lost 129 of its soldiers earlier this week. The Monday attack has once again demonstrated the nuisance value of the Tamil Tigers and their ability to strike at the government forces anywhere and anytime.
More to the point, the LTTE through its brutal pressure tactics has driven home the point that the Lankan leadership will have to deal with the separatists at their own terms. As is evident from the LTTE’s long history of deception and terror tactics, the Monday attack might have been calibrated with an eye on the upcoming peace talks scheduled to be held in Geneva, Switzerland on October 28. The Tigers are known to have executed such spectacular attacks to get more leverage in negotiations.
But there is another possibility too. Maybe, the LTTE does not want to be part of the peace negotiations, being organised by European countries and Japan, altogether. Maybe it wants to stall, if not completely undermine, the peace process being actively backed by the international community.
On the other hand, the Sri Lankan military leadership is said to be not too keen on the talks with the LTTE either. It has been reportedly in favour of pushing its military advantage in the Tamil areas. This week’s casualties may force the military to revise its strategy and check its excessive optimism. Whatever the reality, Sri Lanka must continue to talk to the Tigers despite the fact that the LTTE has repeatedly proved itself to be an unreliable peace partner.
If Sri Lanka manages to tame Tamil Tigers and resolve the long-running ethnic conflict that has claimed thousands of lives since 1980s besides wrecking its tourism-based economy, nothing can stop it from joining the ranks of prosperous nations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The island has everything — breathtaking landscape, ideal weather conditions and strategic location — that could make it one of the world’s favourite tourists destinations. If only it could have peace!
A setback for the army and the scores are now even. It is good for peace. If and when the next round of peace talks takes place, neither party will be in a position to dictate terms. In recent months, the Sri Lankan security forces had been inflicting setback after setback on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, regarded as one of the most ruthless guerrilla organisations in the world. The LTTE had withstood the fire power of the Indian army for nearly five years when India got involved militarily in the Sri Lankan conflict. Prior to the 2001 ceasefire agreement, Sri Lanka’s military and economic installations were lame-duck targets for the LTTE, which struck whenever it wanted. Such was the firepower of the LTTE.
In Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict, peace is a tool of war and war is a tool of peace. The LTTE has made use of past ceasefire deals to regroup and rearm itself while Sri Lankan governments —probably with the exception of the Ranil Wickremesinghe administration of 2001-2004 — have justified their offensive or defensive military operations as "war for peace".
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