Few options for Prabhakaran

The bubble of invincibility of the LTTE has burst with the fall of Kilinochchi the epicentre of its power. It would be interesting to see how the outfit is going to recover from this massive debacle which has not only dealt a mortal blow to its pride but also has rubbished the popular belief of its omnipotence and resilience.

The military juggernaut is now rolling towards Mullaitivu where the Tiger leader is believed to be hiding after having made to eat humble pie and eat his own words when he claimed that hopes entertained by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to capture Kilinochchi was a day dream.

The only option now left to Velupillai Prabhakaran is to surrender himself and his cadres after de-commissioning their weapons and taking on the offer of President Rajapaksa to come for talks. Already the LTTE spokesman S.Nadesan has made overtures in this regard although how genuine it is, is another matter altogether.

For the history of negotiations with the LTTE is replete with deceit and duplicity right from Thimpu to the recent effort in Geneva and it was plain to all except the purblind that talks were used as a cover to buy time for the outfit to rearm and regroup.

A glaring instance of this charade was provided during the second round of ‘peace talks’ in Bangkok when the LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham professed to give up the demand of an interim administration only to renege on this pledge a few months later.

The last round of negotiations in Geneva was terminated on some flimsy excuse viz. the composition of the Government delegation, clearly reflecting the lack of seriousness attached by the outfit to a negotiated settlement.

Therefore the LTTE had already proved its dishonesty by pretending to agree to a political solution only to withdraw from talks on spurious excuses. President Rajapaksa too gave the outfit a chance only to realise the futility of such a project. Mavil Aru was the last straw.

Since then the President has called the shots and insisted that the LTTE lay down arms and give up violence before talks. This was non negotiable. However he stopped short of imposing a ban hoping against hope the outfit would reform. But such hopes have proved short lived with the LTTE not responding to any overtures.

On the contrary it has inflicted even more misery and privations on the innocent civilians under its control and resorted to unprecedented human rights violations. In short the LTTE has fulfilled all the requirements that justifies a ban.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had repeatedly called for the organisation to lay down arms as a pre condition for negotiations. This it has so far failed to do. And from past experience it is wishful thinking to expect so.

What is more it is today holding the civilian population under its control hostage subjecting them to a living hell. The conscription of under-aged youth and the drafting of civilians and some 8,000 GCE O/L students to augment its killer machine have all given the lie to the outfit’s claim of being the sole representatives of the Tamil community.

Besides, those who have fled from the Tiger gulags have spoken of the torture and atrocities they had to endure at the hands of the outfit and the heart rending tales of the civilians who had sneaked into Government areas only demonstrated the beastliness of the organisation.

Now smarting under the severe onslaught it has suffered at the hands of the Security Forces and with the fall of its citadel of power the plight of the civilians could only get worse. This is leaving out the brutal killings and bombing of civilian targets in other parts of the country.

Therefore there is hardly any reason to expect the Tiger to reform nor mend its ways. It has proved that it cannot be trusted and the time has come to further ostracise the outfit internationally.

The Government must ensure that a ban would not allow for a political vacuum that would shut the door for a negotiated settlement. Measures should be taken to start a dialogue with the democratic entities in the Tamil polity so that space is created for a feasible solution acceptable to all communities.

It has been President Rajapaksa’s constant refrain that a final solution lay in a political settlement and he had reiterated this time and again. The statement made by the President following the historic victory of Kilinochchi that this was not a victory of one community over another, or the South over the North has reinforced this view.