The ceasefire with no cease on firing

"FOUR soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were injured in two separate grenade attacks in Trincomalee and Muttur since early morning Wednesday.

With these casualties the number of soldiers injured in grenade attacks and firing increased to six and policemen to thirteen since Tuesday following the general shut down called by Tamil District Tamil Peoples Forum (TDTPF) condemning the killings of LTTE cadres at Chelvanayakapuram on Sunday, police said." (From the TamilNet July 13, 2005)

There comes a time when it is necessary for those who see the obvious fallacy of certain practices, rituals or beliefs to challenge even the most sacred of cows. Respect attached to anything cannot be accepted in the face of the obviously sinister.

As the record of killings by the LTTE keeps mounting each day, it is natural that to raise the question whether we do have a ceasefire in place or not.

The MoU signed between Ranil Wickremesinghe and Velupillai Prabhakaran, did put what is still a temporary end to open war, with all its losses in terms of life and property of the people. We are often of being in a state of a permanently suspended peace and war.

"No war No peace" has become almost a catchword to describe the present situation, which is between the high tide of tiger violence and the possible outbreak of open war.

One is not interested in talking of the personalities involved in bringing about the prevailing Ceasefire Agreement and those who facilitated this "No War and No Peace" situation.

Enough and more praise has been showered upon the CFA and those responsible for it, even by those politically opposed to those who made this possible.

Peace at hand at last, was the silent hope of all. But it is increasingly evident, that this CFA is one which has tied up both hands of one party while setting completely free the hands of the other. With such facilitation enabling one party to ceaselessly violate the ceasefire, one wonders what the real purpose of all this is.

The bloody reality

There is no open war today, but there is certainly no peace at all. This is not an invitation to resume open war. But a demand that if there is a ceasefire it should be honoured by both sides, or else there is in fact no agreement to rave about.

The recent spike in killings and attacks on security forces and police personnel, the deliberate targeting of those in the intelligence services of the armed forces and police, the undeterred killing of civilians who belong to, or have been, members of Tamil political parties that oppose the LTTE, are not acts in compliance with the CFA, despite the LTTE's silence about these and not taking responsibility for them.

The stamp of the Tiger is clear in all these, a fact the Cheshire cat smile of Thamilchelvan cannot erase. That is the bloody reality of today. It is a reality one has to awaken to and see the steps necessary and possible to curb this deadly trend of increased bloodshed getting completely out of control.

A convenient ruse by the LTTE to get around the ceasefire that is brazenly violated by them, is the well practised chorus, echoed by members of the TNA too (what else could the spineless and frightened stooges do?) that whatever killings or attacks on LTTE cadres by its own rebel Karuna faction, is done with the knowledge and/or encouragement of the Sri Lankan security forces.

This is repeated often enough it to be ringing in the ears of the Norwegian facilitators, and Nordic members of the SLMM, to the point that they are converts to that belief.

In truth this violence is the result of an internecine struggle within the LTTE and is a problem to be solved by them.

Neither the LTTE nor the SLMM has any right to talk of armed militias who should be disarmed, when the CFA only referred to the disarming of Tamil political parties that had abandoned terror and come over to the democratic process, but required to carry state issued arms to protect themselves from the LTTE.

This requirement does not apply to the Karuna faction non-existent when the CFA was signed, and is most likely using the arms they were issued when working together with the Vanni leadership.

The split personality

Explaining the LTTE's present behaviour we are told by none other than Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala, with considerable experience in dealing with situations of unbridled violence and conflict resolution that the LTTE is going through a period of politico-military schizophrenia; a situation when it is not impossible for the Government to engage in direct negotiations with the LTTE.

I will not question or contradict Dr. Dhanapala's diagnosis of the LTTE's current behaviour, from the point of view of conflict resolution.

However, I cannot help fear that although one sees it only as schizophrenia now, there is no saying that the condition would not deteriorate until it leads to severe manic depression demonstrated in a permanent state of rage and violence, even against one's imagined opponents or threats.

It is true that our people do not want a resumption of open war. But at the same time it is wrong for the people to be held hostage to a peace that is not a reality, and does not seem to be in the near or distant future, as long as this schizophrenic tiger claws away at whatever is left of peace.

Some countries that overtly supported the Tsunami Relief Council or P-TOMS now state openly they will not give donations to be handled by this ever stalking tiger.

They are wise after the event, but certainly not too late. It is time that policy makers here too, however dedicated to the idea of bringing the tiger to dine at the table of democracy, gave more second thought to the message sent by the countries legally prevented from donating to the TRC or reconsidering their earlier decisions in the light of new developments here and elsewhere.

The Government took a welcome step in stating it will not yield to any ultimatum by the Tigers with regard to protection when traveling in government held areas. It is ironic for the LTTE to seek protection from the very troops and police they kill each day.

The government may soon be firm about not having personnel to be released for such protective duties, at the rate they are being killed by the LTTE.

The more such bold decisions are taken it is more likely the tiger may shed its schizophrenia even in stages. There is no need to abrogate the CFA that is not being observed by the LTTE. But steps are needed by Colombo to prevent the flow of funds to strengthen the LTTE's arsenal.

As the LTTE's killing spree keeps growing it may be necessary to officially treat the Tigers as terrorists once again. That is a thought to chew upon today.