War and strategy

G. D. C. Weerasinghe

Today we publish the twelfth part of the serialisation of the book 'Conflict Resolution Lessonsfor Sri Lanka'.

During the time the disturbances took place in the South in 1983 quotations from Dr. Hoole's book illustrate as to how the Vellalar had treated people of low castes in the Northern Peninsula.

"The low status of the pariah was strongly impressed on Tharmaratnam one morning as he had been walking to school. A pariah who used to go that way and was susceptible to fits had an epileptic attack and was lying on the road. It was not until some low caste people passed that way that the man received some attention.

When he came to his senses, he wanted some water. When those who had stopped to help asked the people in the neighbourhood for water, it took a long time for it to come. For they, being relunctant to give their cups and thereby have them polluted, were looking out for the shell of coconut in which to serve the water". (page 125)

* Footnote - Daniel (1996, p. 162) reports this practice to be alive and well as late as 1983 when Trincomalee refugees in Jaffna were offered water in coconut shells. The Tamils in the Eastern Province were treated in an even worse manner than the pariahs in Jaffna and were looked down upon by the vellalar of Jaffna.

The point that I am making is that Prabhakaran from Velvettithurai who is said to be a "low caste pariah" has now assumed absolute power and is lording over the vellala people. The vellalar are paying for what they had been doing to non-vellalar over the last centuries. The non-vellalar Prabhakaran will not let go of the absolute power he now wields in the areas under his control.

The claim that he is fighting for Tamil rights is a facade. He is interested only in continuing to be in power. As mentioned earlier, he will never agree to democracy and lay down arms because there looms a threat to his life from the Tamils themselves, due to the countless number of Tamils he had murdered.

The Muslims formed an integral part of the population in Jaffna. They had been there for hundreds of years. In the latter part of 1983 the "Tamil Tigers" ordered them to leave within 24 hours. If they did not leave, the Tamil Tigers said they would deal with them.

All the properties of the Muslims were expropriated by the Tigers. Thousands so driven out by the Tigers from the Northern Province are still living in refugee camps in Puttalam. The Muslims were leading businessmen in Jaffna before they were driven out from Jaffna. This illustrates that the Tamil Tigers were racists.

The Muslim refugees were given all assistance by the Government and the Sinhala people. Before the Muslims were chased out, the Sinhala people were either chased out or killed by the Tigers. Most of the Sinhala people living in Jaffna were in the bakery business or involved in work in garages.

But, we are constrained to offer to negotiate due to international pressures. The Western Powers demand that we negotiate with him and we have to demonstrate to them that there was no discrimination against the Tamils. On the contrary, the real discriminators are the vellalar who discriminate against the non-vellalar Tamils.

We must explain convincingly that the 1983 troubles broke out as a result of the shooting of 13 soldiers in Jaffna. However, we should frankly admit that there was a breakdown of law and order in the South for which the then government should take the responsibility.

This does not mean that there was any discrimination. Former President of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratungasaid that there was discrimination against the Tamils. This was either a misunderstanding of the situation or a distortion of the facts.

The complete set of facts are now before you. The inference that I now make is that Prabhakaran, having captured power, wants to retain it and lord over the others including the vellalar. In order to induce him to come to the negotiating table, he must be militarily defeated.

The present Constitution adequately devolves power on the Provincial Councils. Once the war is over, there could be effective administration through these Councils. But in an entirely Sinhala area such as Akurassa, it is unrealistic to expect a reply in Tamil for a letter written in Tamil.

And nobody has so far defined what is meant by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and where it is stated that Sinhala and Tamil are official languages. In the Southern towns where there are large numbers of Tamil speaking people, replies could be sent in the langauge in which the letter is written. All these matters can be addressed during negotiations and a suitable solution arrived at.

If the Tamil people in Jaffna have legitimate grievances those must be addressed. They claim that they have aspirations and the aspiration was to have a Federal state which cannot be given under any condition. The creation of a merged North-East Province cannot be permitted as non-Tamil citizens constitute a majority in the Eastern Province. The theory forwarded by the Eelam lobby that the East is a Tamil-dominated Province has no factual basis.

According to the Treaty entered into by the King of Kandy with the Dutch in 1762, the King conceded "one gawwa" to the Dutch from the Eastern Ruhunu border. This was to prevent the other Imperial Powers such as the British and the French from entering the Kandyan Kingdom through the Eastern Province.

The North, the West and the South were under the control of the Dutch. By seizing control, the Dutch sealed off the Kandyan Kingdom. The Northern Province had already been captured by the Dutch.

The British sent the envoy - John Pybus (1762) to the King of Kandy. In spite of the Dutch control of Eastern Border, the British succeeded in sending a mission to the Kandyan Kingdom. Another mission was made under Hugh Boyd (1784). The British sent yet another mission under Robert Andrews in 1795.

Pybus' description of the manner in which he was conducted through the Kandyan Kingdom is as follows: he had been carried blindfolded for several days over mountains and through forests till he finally reached Kandy.

There he had to wait three days in a closed room before the King granted him audience and this occurred on three different occasions. The provision of accommodation, transport and victuals was the responsibility of the King.

Hugh Boyd's visit to the Kandyan Kingdom is set out in the Book "The British intrigues in the Kingdom of Ceylon" authored by Professor Vimalananda Tennakoon. "For his precipitate advance without receiving formal instructions from the Court of Kandy, he had to pay very dearly.

The transaction of business of any kind with foreigners, including the sale to them of provision, in time of peace let alone war, without the explicit permission of the King-in-Council, came under the category of treason. Under these conditions, the entire body of villagers on learning of his approach, left their homes and hid in the wilderness, fearining summary punishment by the King's Court.

When the Court convicted any citizen for the sale of provisions or the acceptance of money as the case might be in the absence of any rigid customary penalty, the final and supreme authority for the pronouncement of the judgement lay with the King.

He might confiscate the offender's property and punish him with death or in the alternative, he might pardon him at his discretion." These quotations are reproduced to show with what sagacity and astuteness the Kings of Kandy treated these Imperialist adventures.

Elimination of Tamil leaders

Prabhakaran has captured power and it is my view that he will not relinquish it for any reason. As we know to accomplish his goal he decimated all other Tamil groups. He started with the well-known, democratically elected leader. Mr. Alfred Duraiappah, the Mayor of Jaffna who was the first he eliminated in 1976.

Thereafter, he killed all Tamil leaders starting with TULF leaders Appadurai Amirthalingam and V. Yogeshwaran. Two of the TULF MPs who escaped to India were reliabally believed to have been murdered by the LTTE.

A number of TULF MPs while they were engaged in discussion at Bauddhaloka Road, Colombo 7 were shot at by the LTTE. Some died and some survived. Mr. K. Alalasunderam, ex-TULF member for Kopay was killed in 1985 by the LTTE. Mr. Alalasunderam was killed because he was planning to hold a cricket match with the forces.

Later, the Tigers wiped out Members of the TELO. Prabhakaran told the 'Hindu' newspaper that he wiped out Sri Sabharatnam, the leader of the TELO. A year later in 1987, the Tigers went on the rampage killing over hundred members of the EPRLF and the TELO. The LTTE murdered EPRLF MP for Batticaloa district - Sam Thambimuttu in 1990. He killed Mahendra alias Mahattaya his own deputy.

LTTE nearly succeeded in killing Douglas Devananda who escaped the murder attempts over 10 times. Now his target is Karuna Amman. Fortunately, the Government is not in the hands of Premadasa, Kumaratunga or Wickremasinghe.

The only democratic Tamil leader who has escaped his gun is the respected V. Anandasangari. There is a set of MPs who had formed the Tamil National Alliance. They are permitted to be alive because they are the puppets of Prabhakaran who carry out his orders.

It should now be clear from Prabhakaran's actions that his only goal is to be the leader of a fascist state in the North of Sri Lanka. It is however reasonable to believe that he will be murdered by some Tamil whose relations he has murdered if he lays down his arms.

In this context, I quote the great leader of Germany - Otto von Bismarck who said, The great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by blood and iron. In war we cannot have a half-hearted approach. There must be a total and complete commitment by the nation to destroy this cancer. Our fight is against the Tigers and this should be made clear to the Tamils.

And the war must be fought totally and unconditionally. We cannot have half measures in a war. During the Second World War we too assisted and suffered the consequences of the war due to the British involvement with the war. Initially, our rubber estates were destroyed by the slaughter-tapping of rubber which was done to provide maximum rubber to the British war-efforts. We were paid for this in foreign currency after the war. On many occasions we received nothing.

There were total blackouts in our houses during the war as all windows or places through which light could escape had to be covered with a black cloth. Car lights had to be covered. A group of officers called Air Raid Wardens ensured that these orders were carried out. In case any light was visible, they warned the inmates of the house. If we were able to do this to help the British war-efforts, we should be able to make better sacrifices for our own war. We must join together and use all our efforts to defeat the fascist Tigers.

We must make sacrifices such as forego cricket matches, football matches, international exhibitions etc. as done during the time of the last war. If we make such sacrifices, we should be able to wipe out this cancer from Sri Lanka for ever. The Sinhala, the Tamil, the Muslim and the Burgher people will be able to live in amity, as they have done for the last so many centuries. The war could be won in months if there is a bold commitment.

Humanist approach to the problem

During the Second World War, most countries were overrun by the Germans. Leaders of such countries were evacuated to England along with the respective governments. Governments in exile such as the Dutch and the Norwegian governments were ruling their countries while in exile in England. Due to the situation that prevailed at the time they called upon the British Government to supply food to the Dutch and the Norwegian people as the government had a responsibility to do so.

Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of the British Government at the time was leading the war against the German and the Allied Forces. He said the Germans had overrun these countries. It was therefore, the duty of Germany to feed the people whom they had overrun. On this basis he refused food aid to Norway or Netherlands.

But, what is the situation in Sri Lanka? The Tiger racists claim that they are in control of a small part of Sri Lanka. The CFA signed by the then Government in 2002 acknowledged this fact.

This is a very serious diminution of the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan Government over a small part of the country. This agreement was entered into without it even being shown to the then President of Sri Lanka. It was also rumoured that the Agreement was not even shown to the Cabinet.

Tigers claim that they are running a parallel Government. They claim they have their own courts, the police, the armed forces etc. But food and all other essentials such as rice, milk food, flour even cement are being provided by the Sri Lankan Government.

The 'A9' road runs through uncleared areas and reaches the Government area. All vehicles including those that carry provisions to the North have to pay duty when entering the A9 road. This is illegal taxation at the terrorists have no legal right to impose such duties.

The Tigers are collecting millions by way of these so called taxes daily. This is not the end of the story. The Sri Lankan Government pays the Administrative staff who serve in these so called uncleared areas. The Divisional Secretaries and the appurtenant staff are paid by the Government.

This illustrates the government's benevolent and fair treatment to the Tamil people of the North who are suffering under the heel of the fascist dictatorship of the Tigers. Contrast this with Churchill's statement where he said, If the Germans have overrun the countries they must feed the people of the countries they had overrun.

The Sri Lankan Government with its benevolent attitude had been feeding the Tamil people in the uncleared areas that were controlled by the Tigers throughout. It should be the duty of the Tigers to feed the people in the area which they claim is under their control.

Further, the Tigers claim to be the 'sole representative' of the Tamil people. In every country there are different political parties and different political opinion. It is only in the fascist and communist countries that Governments claim that they are the sole representatives of the people.

This is on the basis that no other political party or opinion is allowed to exist. Prabhakaran has murdered all other Tamil political leaders.

It is on this basis that he is claiming to be the 'sole representative' of the Tamil people. Sri Lanka is a small country with a small population and little economic development. Under these conditions, she is liable to be more buffeted by foreign forces.

In view of this, it is necessary to understand how imperialists work so that we can meet these threats.

(To be Continued)