The Position Of Flexible Leverage…
By Chandi Sinnathurai
03 December,
2008
Countercurrents.org
The rhetoric of war in Sri Lanka is pre-eminently occupied with the idea of wiping the Eelam Tamils off. Warring for peace is an ideology that was propagated by Chandrika Bandaranaike, and it seem to under gird the continuing praxis of the Sinhala state.
On the ground, the propaganda seem to suggest that the Cingalam Armed Forces is advancing into the Tiger heartland. This however, cannot be verified by anyone other than the State. Tamil territories in the East are being occupied by Cingalam, but not without the Tamil 'rag and bone' dealers, such as Karuna and Pillaiyan. Interestingly Karuna has returned from Britain having served time for immigration fraud. Now he is appointed as an MP by the Rajapaksha regime. Pillaiyan, a former child-soldier now installed as Chief minister of the east. Karuna and Pillayan are at each others throat and Rajapaksha is enjoying his role as referee. The occupation of Trincomali and Jaffna and Batticaloa is a sorry state of affairs. It is regrettable. But, the occupation is not without its intricacies. Rajapaksha regime is not only driving a wedge between the east and the North by playing the provincial card. But it is also carefully orchestrating animosity between the Tamils and the Tamil-speaking Moslems, particularly in the East. Colonising the Tamil territories with Sinhala thugs began at the inception of independence by the so-called "Father of the Nation" - Don S. Senanayake. It continues even today as an open-secret policy.
There are those who still think that the idea of a Federal State would give a chance for peace. India is believed to favour that option. On the other hand, there are others, who will want to see the cosmetic tinkering on the constitution. Federal state? Could there exist TWO SOVEREIGN Nation in such a federal set-up? In other words, will this idea lend itself to an actual independence short of an autonomy? These are old questions that beg for new approaches and fresh pragmatic re-viewing.
But sadly,
Talks, from Thimpu to Oslo were based on a strategy of circumventing
core issues. Duplicitous and fraught with diversions they were.
The Sinhala state is continuously clamouring for the Tigers to disarm.
Let's turn the Tables. Why won't the Cingalam disarm first and peacefully
pull out of the Tamil territories? Such a simple gesture will stop
the war instantly and will make a world of difference!
All what
is glaringly evident is that the Sinhala State is not interested in
appeasing the Tamils. They want to wage 'peace' through means of war.
Cingalam want Tamils to cow down and to toe the line.
And for such a demeaning approach, the LTTE leader V Prabaharan is
saying, hell or high water, NO WAY. As long as there is an onslaught
on the Tamil race, Tamil nation, Tamil language, Tamil culture, Tamil
home land, we will fight…Fight on the beaches, fight on the
land, fight even in the air.
In other words, the threat of Cingalam occupying and colonising Tamil
territories will not diminish the spirit of Resistance.
One echoes the words of Fanon: "He [the native] is overpowered but not tamed; he is treated as an inferior but he is not convinced of his inferiority. He is patiently waiting until the settler is off his guard to fly at him." The Wretched of the Earth
That determination
to survive is there in abundance in spite of all the suffering.
