Colombo, Jaffna, Peace and Conflict

Between Eelam and War: Where’s the solution?

By The Titular Republic

This conflict has no end. The path of injustice taken by this nation heralds war, destruction and suffering. The “blood-shattered landscape” will scream and her children shall become slaves to fear and hatred. Why?

The present government hopes to destroy the LTTE by militarily; with superior numbers, weapons and strategy. Even though it may be militarily feasible to destroy the feared Tigers of Lanka in this fashion, it will not heal this broken nation. Will a person who has identified every Tamil as a possible suicide bomber, who has supported the violation of Tamils fundamental rights, who has come to believe he has nothing in common with any Tamil, who has come to believe that Sri Lanka, from Point Pedro to Dondra, is a ‘sacred, Sinhala homeland’ be ever able to accept a Tamil as a human being, a fellow citizen and a comrade-in-arms in the struggle for survival? Will the Tamil, who has been killed, mutilated and raped in the name of unity ever reconcile freedom and justice with a united nation? Will the Tamil who has seen his children dead for the cause of a separate nation be still? Will the Tamil whose lands have been colonized, whose rights and humanity stripped; whose only crime is being Tamil, ever trust the majority of a united Lanka. Will the Tamil who has been treated as a second-class citizen ever feel ownership of a united Sri Lanka? This problem cannot be solved by military means alone. From this pit of hatred, mistrust and enmity another Tiger and another chauvinist, murderous government will emerge. The “voice of strife” will only be “dumb” when the Tamil and Sinhalese accept each others as brothers of Lanka and not as pariahs intruding in a foreign land. . The policy of the present government, certain previous governments and that of the Tigers merely kindles the fires of enmity and violence.

However, if the Tigers do succeed in creating a ‘Tamil homeland’, woe to its subjects. For the Tigers do not tolerate citizens- Eelam will be solely governed by the ferocious paw and fang of the Tiger. “The freedom to shape our political destiny” is a struggle carried out by the Tigers in the name of their God- Power. On whose altar the mangled bodies of Durraiappah, Rajani, Rajiv, Mahathaya etc. lay. Not to mention the average cadre, whose brains have been washed out and replaced with the worship of Power. This “theoretical vacuum” and “intolerance” will create a police state analogous to Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. The Tamils in Eelam will have no rights at all. The will of the Tiger, guided by Prabarkaran, will never permit any dissent and all freedom will be squashed. The illusion of a free Eelam under the Tigers may be enticing but it is not possible. The bitter reality of an Eelam will settle on the Tamil: a nation without freedom, a nation without economic equity, a nation built on violence and a nation in which the humanity of man does not exist, there will only be room for the supremacy of the Tiger. Thus will the cries of this land not cease.

The military solution has failed in the last 24 years- over 60,000 of our people have been killed, our economy is in shambles and our people have no hope. Another avenue must be pursued. Let us learn from Northern Ireland and recognize the necessity for a political solution based on the equal treatment of all citizens.

Only when “the stranger becomes a brother” can this land be healed. The Tiger will not change. The only solution is to rise, child of Lanka, and vote; for justice, equality and freedom. Only then will the Tiger be defanged and unable to terrorize. Then we “shall sing of Lanka in the brave new days that come” where the “voice of strife is dumb”.