 Amid seething tensions between the Tamil population and Sri Lankan security forces, the ceasefire continues to fray in a storm of landmines, grenades and gunfire. There have been clashes at sea and more extra-judicial killings on land. Amidst all these, there was a particularly vicious attack this week, the murder of Joseph Pararajasingham, MP. A veteran politician, he was associated most with his fearless championing of the human rights of his people and of the Tamil cause. As far as the Tamils are concerned, blame for his killing – like that of other sons of Batticaloa murdered this year, Kausalyan and Sivaram, - rests with the Sri Lankan state. The triggers may have been pulled by Tamil paramilitaries or intelligence agents, but it was in service of the state that the killings were executed.
The contempt demonstrated for religious sentiments and common decency
by those who unleashed a hail of bullets within the Batticaloa church –
on Christmas Day, no less – speaks volumes of the nature of the state
the Tamils must overcome to secure our freedom.
Mr. Pararajasingham’s killing ought to give the international community
pause for thought. For too long those advocating the peace process have
skirted around a problem that generations of Tamil political activists
have repeatedly found: the Sinhala-Buddhist state cannot be reformed by
the gentle pressures of global norms or international censure. Let us
see – if matters do not overtake us first – whether the Sri Lankan
state will find, let alone punish, those who strolled into a packed
church in the middle of government-controlled territory, gunned down a
prominent public figure and then made good their escape through streets
thronged with Sri Lankan soldiers and police. We doubt it. But it might
prove us wrong and give some credibility to the idiotic notion that the
solution to the Tamil problem is reform of this Sinhala-Buddhist state
and not its dismantling and the creation of a new or –better still -
two new ones.
It is all very well to talk of peace. All Sri Lankan leaders, even as
they turned the screws of oppression have talked of peace. The last
President, Chandrika Kumaratunga was, so committed to peace, she even
launched a bloody war against our people in its service. Her successor,
Mahinda Rajapakse, is also chanting the same mantra – that he is for
peace, for talks, for equality – that we have heard amid the gunfire
for so long. But what, pray, is he going to talk about? He has already
dismissed our very existence as a political entity, rejecting the
concept of a Tamil homeland and nation. He has already ruled weakening
of the unitary state with a vehemence that his subsequent obfuscation
of ‘unitary’ and ‘united’ cannot mitigate. Notwithstanding this
impenetrable impasse, the global community has been urging talks. We
wonder, is it blind faith in the goodness of man or confidence that
silent guns will suffice for their own interests to proceed that spurs
such calls?
Immediate talks must be held, we are told, for the ceasefire to be
stabilised. True, but what chance progress given prevailing sentiments?
The problem, as many, including this newspaper, have become hoarse
arguing, is the shadow war being waged by the state against the
Liberation Tigers, their supporters and the wider Tamil cause. We
repeatedly pointed out to no avail that the paramilitary problem, left
unchecked, would destroy the peace process and ceasefire, in that
order. We argued that the security implications of the state’s proxy
war would eventually compel a robust response from the LTTE and if
unchecked, a spiral of violence would be inevitable. Now that bloody
dynamic is playing itself out.
Instead of taking concrete and meaningful steps to end the paramilitary
campaign being waged by his military, President Rajapakse is pursuing
international pressure to be brought to bear on the LTTE. But it is not
a question of the LTTE’s will to peace, but that of its day-to-day
security. The Tamils are thus bracing for a regrettable but, under the
circumstances, inevitable escalation of the violence. The international
community’s alarm, dismay and frustration is palpable. But if there is
to be reversal of Sri Lanka’s inexorable slide towards the abyss, key
states must bring pressure to bear on Colombo to unequivocally and
unambiguously implement Clause 1.8 of the ceasefire.
Editorial Tamil Guardian
|
Featured Articles 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
