When the dust is settled

Lionel WIJESIRI

It is said that a war can never be completely over until there is nobody left either who took part in it or physically or psychologically affected by it. In the war against LTTE terror, such time will not be coming soon: it will take at least another half a century for the generation who went through the agony to be out of living.

What does the future hold for them after the war? Picture by Rukmal Gamage

The LTTE’s two-decade control of territory is about to end and it is only a few weeks for the curtains to fall on Prabhakaran. First, our hearts should go out to those that have lost loved ones during the war. It also should make us realize that terrorism does not win wars and does not bring down governments. Since attacks by LTTE were against humankind, against civilization and peaceful order of life, they will go down in history as events that we will remember as our common concern. These common tragedies have united the people of our country to support the forces in their fight against LTTE. Especially, the national solidarity in the last two years has shown that the terrorist attacks cannot demoralize the people and deter them from their resolution to condemn such attacks.

The aftermath of war on terrorism makes Hamlets of decision-makers. It poses more questions than it provides answers. There are no copybook answers to these questions because there is no copybook method of dealing with terrorism. Everyone confronted with the menace has to learn from experience, the hard way.

It is time we sit back and take stock of ourselves. What made LTTE grow to be such a violent organization within two and a half decades? Were there institutional loopholes, which gave space to terrorist elements or were there sheer incompetence on the part of agencies who were supposed to deal with terrorist individuals and groups? We need to find answers if we do not wish any more “Liberation Groups” to be born in future.

There is an urgent need to identify issues, which triggered LTTE extremism and terrorism. At academic levels, already a lot of discussion has been done to understand the reasons and dynamics of LTTE violence and terrorism. There is enough material available in print, audio and video. But what is required is a comprehensive study to be undertaken by the research centers or think tanks to consolidate all data available. One should also look into the possibility of conducting joint research studies among South Asian scholars, academicians and journalists on understanding different dimensions of terrorism. Sharing their findings with our policy-makers will also help us effectively to work out a master plan for recovery and reconstruction.

In the education sector it may be good idea for us to establish Terrorism and Conflict Theory as a separate field of study in Universities at postgraduate levels. Such a study could look at the development of ‘modern’ terrorism and the possible consequences of the continuing war on terror. Most important, our future generations should learn to objectively and rationally deal with any subsequent issues of terrorism and seek for a practicable mechanism to eliminate immediately the causes which promote the inadvertent use of force against non-combatants.

Territorial conquest does not offer us the total victory against LTTE. The most important part of the victory will be the gaining of hearts and minds of Tamil people who were once the slaves of LTTE. This would require drastic socio-economic reforms to empower those marginalized communities. Good governance, functional democracy and the rule of law are the three measures vital to achieve this objective.

It is also important that the Government work together with the International Community seeking their assistance to dismantle the LTTE machinery consisting financial, procurement, and shipping network. The chance of LTTE reviving exists if those structures remain for long.

The victory of the war against LTTE is only part of the story. It does not teach us about peace. That part of the tale unfolds only in its aftermath, what happens after the guns and bombs and the madness of violence finally stills. The country will be deep in the throes of a struggle to rebuild a civil society - in the hope that the cycles of violence that have wreaked havoc in its past will not re-emerge to threaten the Nation’s future. I believe that it is as challenging as the war itself.