Sri Lankan government's current strategy against LTTE
Sri Lanka on 4th February celebrated the 60th anniversary of its independence from the British rule. Prior to the British, the Portuguese and the Dutch administered the country and left their legacies. The country became a Republic in 1972 and changed its name from Ceylone to Sri Lanka. The British brought Tamils from Southern India for tea plantations. Tamils are Hindus and speak Tamil, while the Sinhalese are mostly Buddhists and speak Sinhalese. The Sinhalese constitutes roughly about 75% and the Tamils about 18% per cent of the total population of about 22 million. History has it that during the 60s and 70s, the governments dominated Sinhalese politicians who attempted to marginalize the Tamils by suppressing their language and cultures and the Tamil minority did not approve such policies. Although, since 1983, Sri Lanka has been engaged in a civil war between Sinhalese and Tamils, from 1987 the militant Tamil group, the most important of which is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), has been at arms in an armed conflict that had cost thousands of people of whom many were innocent civilians. The civil war in Sri Lanka has so far displaced half a million people internally and over a million people are externally displaced. At least 5,800 people have been killed, over thousands were abducted and hundreds are missing in the last two years alone. Because of the consquences of the civil war, Sri Lanka is considered one of the "world's most politically unstable countries" by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. The Economist labels Sri Lanka a "flawed democracy" in its 2006 rankings. Present policy: fight to finish of LTTE:
Sri Lanka's President insisted on 4th February his government was winning the war against Tamil Tiger rebels as the island marked its 60th anniversary of independence after a bloody weekend of violence. Kicking off a display of military hardware along Colombo's sea front promenade circled by stiff security, President Mahinda Rajapakse also brushed off threats of foreign aid cuts due to the worsening ethnic conflict and human rights situation. Monday's celebrations went ahead despite threats from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and following two bomb-attacks over the weekend that killed 34 civilians and wounded nearly 200. Tamil rebels killed 12 civilians and a soldier on the day. According to the defence ministry, the rebels -- who are fighting for an independent ethnic homeland in the Sinhalese-majority island -- have lost at least 908 fighters since the beginning of the year, compared to just 36 government soldiers killed. At least 139 civilians have also died during the same period, according to both sides. The worsening fight as well as mounting international concern over the human rights situation has led to threats of cut in foreign aid to the island. President Rajapakse, however, appeared to brush off such warnings by asserting that Sri Lanka has "established new relations with our neighbouring states, Arab states, and Buddhist states." "Our neighbouring states trust us. Our problems and issues are also problems and issues of our neighbouring states," he said. Last month, the government pulled out of a tattered truce with the rebels. Many believe that under pressure from the government's coalition partner JVP, it has been abrogated. Some Sinhalese majority held the view that the ceasefire agreement provided too many concessions to Tamils, in particular the notion of lines of control with large chunks of territory in northern areas accepted to be under the LTTE and the acceptance of two armies are denounced. Is the government winning the war? Many analysts believe that hard line policy of the present government would not eventually work for the following reasons: First, military solution does not work in an ethnic civil war. The causes of civil war must be removed and most of them arise from political and economic deprivations. They are resolved through political dialogue. Ethnic wars were seen in the Balkans in the 1990s and each one was resolved through dialogue. Second, the LTTE has been around for over three decades during which it has taken control over large tracts of land of territory. It is doubtful whether an organization with military and administrative machinery can be eliminated militarily. Third, the international community seems to be against the existing hard line policy of the government; they want a negotiated settlement. They expect that government needs to take decisive steps to re-activate the political process that could lead to political solution. Furthermore, the abrogation of Norway-inspired ceasefire agreement of 2002 and the escalating violence followed a thinly veiled warning from Japan, the island's main financial backer, that it may review its aid policy unless there was a decline in the level of violence. Japanese special peace envoy, Yasushi Akashi who visited Sri Lank for peace efforts 16 times told reporters on 31st January that, if the violence in Sri Lanka continue to escalate at current rate, Japan could be forced to cut the financial aid to Sri Lanka. The United States and Britain, Sri Lanka's former colonial ruler, last year announced aid cuts to the island citing human rights violations and high defence spending by the government. The US has also stopped selling military hardware to Colombo. Fourth, one of the features of the conflict has been the violations of human rights at a high level. Human Rights situation in Sri Lanka has come under criticism by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as the United States Department of State and the European Union, have expressed concern about the state of human rights in Sri Lanka. Both the government of Sri Lanka and the separatist LTTE are accused of violating human rights. If the national government does not adequately address the issue, it is believed that at some point, international humanitarian intervention through the UN may likely be invoked. Finally, a considerable optimism that LTTE can be effectively defeated has been marred by the blasts on 4th February. Conclusion:
Centralization of power by majority ethnic groups largely alienates minority ethnic groups. It is counter to democratization of administration. Ethnic identities are hardened by armed conflict. As conflict escalates, each ethnic group (Sinhalese and Tamils) comes increasingly to hold enemy images of the other group. Ethnic conflicts are different from ideological conflicts. The conflict needs to be resolved through political dialogue. The author is former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
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