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Round The World
Sri Lankan-LTTE War
RESOLVE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AS WELL
By Monish Tourangbam,
(School of International Studies, JNU)
New Delhi, February 06, 2009
As the 48-hour ultimatum given by the Rajapaksa government
to the LTTE to free the civilians comes to an end, with no
positive response, the fate of the civilians is vulnerably
uncertain.
The Indian establishment had clearly welcomed this
presidential announcement as a good step towards the safety of
the civilians. But, the LTTE Political Head B. Nadesan has
instead termed the offer, as a measure to “deceive the
international community”. And, possibilities of solving the
humanitarian crisis proved abortive with the Sri Lankan Human
Resource and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe
announcing there was no LTTE response.
In lieu to better the bilateral relations between the two
countries and to allay the concerns of domestic elements in
India, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee recently
visited Sri Lanka. Giving word to India’s denouncement of
terrorism in any form anywhere in the world, Mukherjee
reiterated that the LTTE was a banned terrorist organization
and there will be no reprieve for the group.
The Sri Lankan government’s onslaught on the Tigers has
coincided with attacks on India’s commercial capital, Mumbai.
This has contributed to New Delhi’s unflinching support for
the Rajapaksa administration in its fight against agents of
terror. At the same time, the fate of the civilians trapped in
the war zone is the major concern of the international
community and the UPA government specifically. During the
visit, a discussion of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan
took place. The amendment was made after the Rajiv Gandhi-J.R.
Jayawardene Pact in 1987, which aimed to provide devolution
and autonomy to the Northern and Eastern provinces. Rajapaksa
assured Mukherjee that this would be the ‘area of his urgent
attention” and he would try to “explore the possibilities and
improve the conditions there”.
He also conveyed India's readiness to participate in the
reconstruction of northern Sri Lanka "to overcome the ravages
of war" and also to "lay the economic and political
foundations of a strong peace in which all communities feel
comfortable" in the island nation. "I stressed that military
victories offer a political opportunity to restore life to
normalcy in the Northern Province and throughout Sri Lanka,
after 23 years of conflict," Mukherjee told reporters in
Colombo. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan government has
reassured him that they would respect the "safe zones" and
minimize the effects of conflict on Tamil civilians.
Mukherjee did well in playing down the “Tamil Pressure” as a
factor of his visit to the island nation and emphaised on
India’s singular concern with the safety of the civilians and
the necessities of diplomacy but domestic events, no doubt,
made it impossible to delay his visit.
He acknowledged Rajapaksa’s goodwill of extending a
personal invitation to an all-party delegation from Tamil Nadu
led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and AIADMK
leader J Jayalalithaa to visit Sri Lanka and see for
themselves the situation on the ground and to persuade the
LTTE to lay down arms and join the democratic mainstream.
Even as the DMK announced its satisfaction with the visit of
Mukherjee to Colombo and the commitments he made, things are
heating up in the streets of Tamil Nadu. A 26-year-old man, K
Muthukumar set himself on fire at a central government office
complex in Chennai on Thursday last after shouting slogans
against the war in Sri Lanka. Emotions ran high at the venue
where his body was kept, with social and political activists
and students setting fire to the effigies of Rajapaksa and
Congress leaders and raising slogans condemning chief minister
Karunanidhi and the Centre. BJP and Nationalist Congress Party
have backed a newly-formed Sri Lankan Tamils Protection
Movement's call for a general strike in the State on February
4 seeking ceasefire in Sri Lanka. The bandh will coincide with
Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.
Political parties in the State have been pressurizing the
Centre to push for a ceasefire in the island nation and ensure
safety of Tamil civilians caught in the crossfire between the
LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. Fearing unrest, the State
government on January 31 closed all government and private
colleges and hostels for an indefinite period. Elsewhere in
Tamil Nadu, protesters torched a state-owned bus near Vellore,
while 225 people were arrested in Thanjavur when they tried to
lay siege on the Air Force station. They were protesting
against the alleged use of the Air Force station for sending
arms to Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan army has had a “string of victories” with
reports pouring in of successful offensives in the Visuamadu
area. Visuamadu and Puthukkuudiyiruppu are the two remaining
settlements of the Tigers in the Mullaithivu district. The
Rajapaksa government having successfully captured Kilinochchi-
the administrative and political headquarters of the LTTE, the
Elephant Pass at the mouth of Jaffna Peninsula and the total
control of the A9 Highway, the fight to the end is obvious.
According to Sri Lankan army Chief Sarath Fonseka, almost 95%
of LTTE no longer exists. At least in territorial terms,
Fonseka's claim cannot be challenged as Mullaittivu was
regarded as LTTE's last bastion.
As the offensive against the LTTE nears its final days, the
humanitarian fallout of the fight is raising major concerns in
New Delhi. According to official estimates, there are around
1.2 lakh civilians trapped, who are being used as a human
shield by the Tigers. But, according to the International
Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), an estimated 2,50,000 people
were trapped in a 200 sq.km area which is seeing intense
fighting. The ICRC reported huge civilian death toll in the
Wanni region and said that intensified fighting and violence
was creating hurdles in evacuation of the wounded.
Despite the government’s attempt to demarcate a “safe area”
and lead the civilians to safety during the 48-hours ultimatum
only a 100-odd civilians managed to escape. But, in a bid to
garner support for the continuation of its assault on the
flagging Tigers, the government expressed confidence that
entrapped civilians would have the confidence to move into the
safe zones as the Sri Lankan army continued its march into the
last two remaining settlements in Mullaithivu.
With the international community condemning the LTTE for the
humanitarian crisis, the onus seems to be on the Tigers to
release the civilians from the war zone. Human rights groups
with signatories including Sri Lankan Democracy Forum, South
Solidarity Group, U.K. and Committee for Democracy and
Justice, U.K., has strongly accused and condemned the LTTE for
the use of civilians as human shields.
As the Sri Lankan army moves forward planting its flag of
military victory against the LTTE, the way in which the
government resolves this humanitarian crisis assumes
importance. It will be significant in future political efforts
to bring about inter-community harmony, assuage the
dissatisfaction of the Tamil minority and thus serve as an
antidote to terrorism. ---INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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