Current events in Sri Lanka
I’ve wasn’t going to write about the current events in Sri Lanka, but I just wanted to add a voice of support to comments made recently12 by Sanjiva Weerawarana on his blog. I’ve known Sanjiva since mid-2005 when I got involved with the Sahana project that started in Sri Lanka following the Tsunami. I’ve just returned from 6 days in Colombo in late March.
The brief point I want to make is the following. For years, the international community appears to have ignored what has been happening in the LTTE controlled territory in the north and east of Sri Lanka. It was the Sri Lankans that had to deal with many suicide attacks, even some including LTTE controlled jets.
Finally, the Sri Lankans had to take action, and they have. After the global community hadn’t shown any will to resolve the issue. The way that the LTTE have embedded themselves in the civilian Tamil population has made it inevitable that there will be fatailities when going after the LTTE.
However, over the past few months, the Sri Lankan military has effectively reduced the control and influence of the LTTE significantly and restricted them to an increasingly small stretch of land. So much so, the end game is almost here.
My point is that now is not the time for the international community to come wading in and act all righteous about the civilian casualties in the north. To stop the Sri Lankan military now may allow the remaining LTTE to get away, and or regroup. This is the time when the military needs to continue and finish the LTTE off. To stop now, would mean that all of the civilian and Sri Lankan military lives that have been lost to date would have been in vain. They would have been wasted.
No, let the military finish the job, and ensure that all the lives lost were not in vain. To force proceedings to stop now would be akin to stopping the Gulf War in 1991, and then having to go back in another 10 years later to finish the job properly.
The international community has had its chance to assist resolution and failed. Sri Lanka needs to be able to finish what the LTTE started.
On a personal note, it was interesting comparing the state of Colombo from my trip there in late March (2009), to my trip there in September 2005. In 2005, the military presence was transparent. This time round it was as overt as it could possibly be. Countless green sandbag bunkers on every main road, and soldiers everywhere. It seemed to almost be a different city – defined by the military presence. I was staying at the Colombo Hilton in the Fort district, and of course we had the Army headquarters and Government buildings all around us. Of course this meant we were in the safest part of the country. This was clearly a result to the more recent attacks3 against Colombo waged by the LTTE.
As usual a civil war effects the poorest the most. I spent a few days with the LTTE in 2002 and was one of the first civilians to travel from Colombo to Jaffna by road. Similar to my travels in the Balkans in the early ninetes chaos reigned supreme. According to the terms of the cease fire in Sri Lanka we had to pass through Sri Lankan and LTTE customs and immigration at the demarcation line (‘border’) just north of Vavuniya. Of course I had no visa for the LTTE territory but that was rectified immediately with a cash payment. A thorough customs search then back into our car and the 60km trip to the northern border and same procedure again. An back into Sri Lanka proper. Jaffna was a garrison town unlike so of the towns in the Balkans during that war. I spent a few days in the main town in LTTE territory on the way back down. In essence the LTTE were starting from scratch in building a new country. With out commenting who is right and who is wrong it is a shame that the violence has escalated to the point that it has again. The only winners are weapons suppliers
Greg Lauer
29 Apr 09 at 00:05
I agree – both sides are to blame, and it is difficult to point right and wrong.
I’ve been to SL twice now, but haven’t gotten further than the Airport north of Colombo, and Mt Lavinia a little south of central Colombo. I have been on the receiving end of some very interesting conversations about the conflict though. Tales of journeys into LTTE land etc.
I guess my main beef is that this recent round of conflict has been going on for the past 3-4 years, yet the UN has only just decided that it should start doing something about it. That is also sad.
Gavin Treadgold
5 May 09 at 22:27