Tigers' dangerous waywardness

IT IS all too evident that although the State is going the extra mile to keep the country's peace hopes alive, the LTTE is continuing to shy away from the fundamental responsibilities the first round of State-LTTE talks in Geneva cast on it.

By permitting the Norwegian facilitators to deploy a private helicopter to fly to Kilinochchi, the LTTE's Eastern leaders for talks with their Northern top-rungers, the Government has bolstered its image as the party to the conflict which is proving most flexible in the greater interests of peace.

This is as it should be because no avenues should be left unexplored by the State to promote the larger, collective well-being of the country. The Government should rise above narrow, sectional interests and it is doing just that. As far as the State goes, meeting the LTTE for a second round of talks in Geneva poses no problems.

The same, however, could not be said of the LTTE which seems to be going the extra mile to display an utmost distaste and aversion for the negotiatory effort. To begin with, it has continued to engage in destructive, murderous violence, giving ample proof that it holds its CFA commitments and related undertakings in utter contempt.

The number of Security Forces and Police personnel felled by LTTE landmines over the past few days is undisputable proof that butchery and violence is uppermost in the minds of the Tigers. Such conduct falls into an unsettling pattern established by the LTTE over the years.

Just when peace efforts showed signs of getting into top gear, the Tigers ran amok, thereby smashing to smithereens the incipient hopes of working out a political solution. It happened in the early Nineties, it happened in March 1995 and it is beginning to happen now when the State is making a no-holds-barred effort to kickstart the peace process.

The tactic of the Tigers is to hold on to any straw which would enable them to scuttle genuine efforts at bringing peace. The issues raised by them over the transportation of their Eastern leaders smack of such trickery.

We need hardly emphasise the point that the Tigers are on a suicidal course. If, as they claim, the Tigers are fighting for the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people, they should cooperate with the Government in bringing a political solution.

By acting destructively, on the other hand, they are only prolonging the excruciating agony of the people of the North-East. For, it should be clear to the LTTE that war is no option in the context of the National Question. It is the Tamil people who would suffer most by a decision of the LTTE to resume and continue with the military option.

Therefore we call on the LTTE to prove its sincerity and commitment to resolving the problems of the Tamil people, politically. Thus far, the LTTE's track record in this regard has been most dismal.

If the Tigers are really committed to resolving the National Question by political means, they are obliged to prove it by renouncing violence and cooperating with the State to push the negotiatory process forward. If not, we are left to conclude that the Tigers only understand the ways of the wilds.