Beginning the end of war with Tamil right to self determination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2008, 08:06 GMT]
Those who peruse the demands raised by major political parties in Tamil Nadu may notice that the focus is merely on stopping the war but nothing said by any on the fundamental issue of the sovereignty of the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka, the question on which war has been thrust upon the Eezham Tamils. Any meaningful way to end the war and the suffering of the masses in Sri Lanka should therefore begin from recognizing the right to self-determination of Eezham Tamils and the integrity of their homeland, writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi.

All wars end at negotiation table, but how to end a war?

We don't live in the times of the Second World War when mere capitulation of Germany, death of dramatis personae or surrender of Japan ended the war. Military victory is of no meaning and is a boomerang in our times.

A suitable postmodern ideology to recognize the rights of peoples and a convincing credibility in its implementation are what counted today. The current money crisis of the so-called International Community and of those who are tagged behind has actually nothing to do with economy. It is essentially resulted by the loss of credibility in their global policies. They are losing a war on the global front.

Unfortunately Sri Lankan president Rajapaksa, his conventional military commanders and the Sinhala chauvinists behind them don't seem to realize the hard truths of contemporary times.

The Sri Lanka president is trying to sell a deceit to Eezham Tamils, Tamil Nadu, India and elsewhere that a political package will be meted out once the LTTE is defeated militarily. There may be organs of vested interests in India to blow a media image of him, but people couldn't have forgotten so easily of his talks of Panjayat Raj solution (village level local government), or of the century old successive deceits of the Sinhala polity to Tamils.

Can war be stopped by external pressure in our times? Yes, it may be possible in the case of small countries that have already pawned their interests to powers, but it is a half-backed solution.

The surge of agitation to stop the war in Sri Lanka, joined by all political parties in Tamil Nadu has become a mind-boggling question to many those who face as well as watch the Sri Lankan crisis.

Apart from the spontaneous and genuine sympathy of the people of Tamil Nadu and the political compulsions of parties when the elections are around the corner, there are also speculations about hands working behind the present scene in Tamil Nadu, trying as a last resort to nullify the Tamil national question in Sri Lanka by pre-emptive measures of inadequate solutions.

Those who peruse the demands raised by major political parties in Tamil Nadu may notice that the focus is merely on stopping the war but nothing said by any on the fundamental issue of the sovereignty of the Tamil nation in the island of Sri Lanka, the question on which war has been thrust upon the Eezham Tamils.

Any meaningful way to end the war and the suffering of the masses in Sri Lanka should therefore begin from recognizing the right to self-determination of Eezham Tamils and the integrity of their homeland.

The genuineness of this beginning and guarantees to it only may pave way for positive talks on political modalities, demilitarization and end of war.

Soon Mahinda will be sending emissaries to Delhi and Chennai to sell the age-old deceit. The political parties in Tamil Nadu and the Tamil groups in the Rajapaksa camp in Sri Lanka should keep in mind that this is not the narrow question of the LTTE, but a question of utmost historical importance not only deciding the fate, well-being and prestige of all Tamils but also the security of the region.

Whether one likes it or not the LTTE is a manifestation of a society at a given time, circumstances and compulsions. Its aims are local, confined to its vision of liberation of a people. It is not an international organization with global ambitions for the international community to make fuss. The future of the LTTE has to be decided by the very society that created it and not by anybody else.

Centuries of historical and geographical heritage, a century old political legacy of struggle in the colonial and post colonial times and more than three decades of war have made the right to self determination of Eezham Tamils a foregone conclusion.

Those who claim Sri Lanka a Sinhala country may well have it happily. But, let them concede Eezham to Tamils peacefully.