A noble gesture

As the editorial in our sister newspaper The Sunday Observer pointed out yesterday, the Sinhala and Hindu New Year that dawns tomorrow is very significant for several reasons.

The entire Nation will be celebrating the Sinhala and Hindu New Year under the National Flag, as Security Forces have regained the entirety of the territory previously dominated by the ruthless LTTE, except for a limited land area designated as a Safe Zone for trapped Vanni civilians.

The Government of Sri Lanka and the international community have expressed concern for the civilians virtually held hostage by the LTTE in the No Fire Zone, also known as the Safe Zone.

The UN, Co-Chairs of the Sri Lanka Peace Process and other international organizations have urged the LTTE to ensure the safe passage of these civilians to Government-held areas. But in its usual style, the LTTE has not listened to these pleas and instead, aggravated the suffering of the civilians.

It was earlier reported that the LTTE was firing at civilians who were trying to escape and that it was firing at the Security Forces from within the No Fire Zone. As President Mahinda Rajapaksa explained to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, the LTTE was entirely to blame for the suffering undergone by the civilians in the Vanni.

It is the LTTE which is holding the civilians to be used as a human shield. In fact, if not for the civilian factor, the Forces would have wrapped up their mission by now. But they operate on a Zero Civilian Casualty policy which expressly rules out any harm to civilians from their side.

The Government had earlier ruled out any pause in the mission until and unless the LTTE cadres lay down their weapons and surrender.

Nevertheless, the Government is also acutely aware of the need to provide the trapped civilians another opportunity to come over to the cleared areas. The Sinhala and Hindu New Year will be even more meaningful if we can give a better life for these innocent civilians terrorized by the LTTE for nearly three decades.

In the words of President Rajapaksa, he is “deeply conscious of the need to give the civilian population entrapped as hostages by the ruthless actions of the LTTE, the opportunity to celebrate these festivities in a suitable atmosphere and to have uninhibited freedom of movement from the No Fire Zone to the cleared areas.”

With this objective in view, the President has directed the Armed Forces to restrict their operations during the New Year to those of a defensive nature.

This is a major development in the humanitarian mission in the North. Now it is up to the LTTE to respond positively to this gesture without attempting its usual machinations. It must be recalled that the LTTE used a similar pause in January to move some of their heavy weaponry to the No Fire Zone.

The LTTE must realise even at this late stage that theirs is a futile struggle that has brought only misery, not liberation, upon Tamil civilians. This is the end of the road for Velupillai Prabhakaran and his emissaries of terror. It must allow the civilians to leave for safer areas and finally give up its elusive Eelam dream.

As the President added in his statement “the Sinhala and Tamil New Year is symbolic of the amity prevailing amongst all communities in Sri Lanka. In the true spirit of the season, it is timely for the LTTE to acknowledge its military defeat and lay down its weapons and surrender. The LTTE must also renounce terrorism and violence permanently”.

That is the only option left to the LTTE, which has lost thousands of well-trained cadres including many seniors. It can no longer muster a conventional fighting force and even guerilla-type attacks are becoming increasingly difficult thanks to the vigilance and preparedness of the Security Forces and the public. Its leadership is in disarray, supply routes are no longer under their control, weapons stocks are fast diminishing and its international image is in tatters.

The Tigers have tried in vain to affix the ‘genocide’ label on the Northern military operations, but there have been only a few takers internationally.

On the other hand, the international community has been with Sri Lanka in its fight against LTTE terrorism and reiterated their commitment to Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity. The international community and the Tamil Diaspora must continue to put pressure on the LTTE to release the civilians.

The Government is keen to avoid any humanitarian crisis in the Vanni. These civilians are Sri Lankan citizens held hostage by a terror group and the Government is responsible for their safety and welfare.

The President’s order to the Security Forces exemplifies this stance. The Government has stated that it would do everything possible to prevent any harm to these civilians. The LTTE, which claims to ‘liberate’ the Tamil people must allow the civilians to cross over on the Avurudu days and permanently halt its destructive mission so that peace, unity and prosperity can be restored to the whole island in the New Year.