Not too late to correct the miscalculation by the US, UK, EU, Scandinavia regarding the LTTE

Fundamental to the appreciation of the conduct of war by the SL government and the Security Forces, was the attitude and the tacit assistance of the West in their relationships with both parties to the conflict. The most important error of judgment by the West was the belief that the LTTE represented the true aspirations of the Tamil people, and therefore had an equal right to be heard in negotiations. The intervention of the Scandinavians in particular as honest brokers, has proved in hindsight to be counterproductive, and one could argue resulted in a great loss of life of both communities in Sri Lanka indirectly.

Lets us not go too far back, but to the negotiations the current Govt. pursued in Europe a misnomer called ‘Peace Talks’. They failed not because of the bad intentions of the Govt. but the obvious disinterest of the LTTE. If the West came out strong with an ultimatum to them to drop their arms, and their cadres then about 40,000 lives would have been saved in the past three years, much more than half of them were soldiers I might add.

It is now apparent and shamefully still not accepted by them, the West was fooled by the Diaspora who funded the war, maintaining LTTE was a legitimate outfit despite the official bans for cosmetic reasons. The obvious violence in terms of indiscriminate suicide and other bombings were not enough to persuade the West on the error of their judgment. I remember only a muffled condemnation of the terrorist bombings was the result of each attack. They even seemed to condone the attack on off duty serviceman in the case of the Digampathana attack where over 100 service personnel died near Sigiriya on their way home on furlough.

What is hard to rationalize is that the victory over the most brutal terrorist outfit on the face of the earth has not been followed by one word of congratulations from any of the Western powers! What kind of duplicitous behavior is that? Is it hard to accept, are they sad that VP and his mob have been totally routed and massacred? However much I disagree with the War, I cannot see nor has any party shown any other workable option as they were all tried and failed, and so the only reasonable option, that of the complete vanquishing of the LTTE was all that was left.

I appeal to the West, that they are gradually losing their influence over this area by this act, and as there are other allies to rely on it is they who are showing Sri Lanka the path to China and Russia, not the latter who have come here. It is surprising that no forward thinking is taking place, as a growing Tamil militancy in the West will be the result, this will affect the Western nations more than Sri Lanka. Tamils by their indoctrination and their past experiences have not seemed to integrate to the host communities as much as the Sinhala Diaspora have done. I make this comment as someone who has lived in the US and UK for 33 years, and am sorry to see how the Tamil Diaspora has completely hoodwinked the strategy of the West towards Sri Lanka.

It is not too late to make amends. Due to the perceived connivance of all INGOs and the UN agencies with the Tamils in Sri Lanka, even at the latter stages of the war, the SL govt. is obviously wary of allowing them unfettered access to the displaced people, for fear of stoking resentment leading to future militancy, by indirectly alleging their rights have been violated. So please don’t play games with people’s lives.

I am in no way a SL govt. supporter, but I do support the elimination of the LTTE, and that the rules of engagement have to be compromised in this regard. Debate that argument before calling on Human Rights investigations, and a whole host of allegations, which will only drive the SL authorities further away from Western influence. Be realistic, they will not result in any prosecutions. You only have to look around you to see how worse atrocities have not even had a hearing. There is absolutely no question that the SL authorities don’t care a toss, and my fear is that the West part in this will embolden them to more destruction of individual freedoms that have nothing to do with Tamils. So in the interests of Human Rights, do not take an ethnic line, as it will backfire on all peace-loving peoples of Sri Lanka.

There is still a small window of opportunity to get back into line, by providing the relief that is needed, first to alleviate the suffering of the displaced, and then rebuilding the infrastructure of the North. Don’t sit in the balcony and complain that the govt. is keeping people in camps for too long if you have not helped in rebuilding the infrastructure to have them resettled in what is now a mine littered landscaped full of the debris of war. This is a democracy, and the President is astute enough to court the Tamil vote in the North, so he can say he is truly a leader of the whole nation. He will therefore do his utmost to help these people not put them against him. If it is good for the people, why hinder the progress even if you don’t like the morality of the people who currently lead. After all a week is a long time in..