Rebels have been routed for good, says Sri Lankan Tamil MP

(Allan Jacob)

Sri Lanka is finding its feet a year after the rout of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The sesssionist struggle for a Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country by the Tiger rebels may have come to nought, but many Tamils are happy about the government’s reconciliation efforts with the minorities. With development projects in full swing, there is no indication of the dreaded outfit regrouping, according to a senior Tamil MP.

Political will and military muscle may have ensured there are no more tears from terrorists in the tiny tear-drop shaped country, south of India. Critics, however, accuse the government of human rights violations and for the plight of thousands of refugees displaced by war. ‘‘There is no room for violence in the new Sri Lanka, the focus is on growth and civil harmony,’’ said Tamil-Muslim Member of Parliament Abdul Cader of the opposition United National Party, a political veteran of over two decades.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, he dismissed reports of an LTTE revival, and of funds flowing in for the group from sympathisers in Canada, the US, India, Britain and Australia.

The leading Tamil politician, who has never lost an election, said the Sri Lankan government under Mahinda Rajapaksa was reaching out to the minority Tamils, who make up about 10 per cent of the population. The Sinhalese are in majority with 82 per cent, while the Lankan Moors comprise a little over eight per cent of the populace.

Only on Wednesday, Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa chaired a cabinet meeting in Killinnochi, where ironically, the slain Tamil Tiger leader held his first and only press conference in
April 2002.

Speaking in the town, the president, said: ‘‘If not for terrorism the district would have developed long ago. The terrorist who destroyed the northern railway line. We have to obtain foreign loans to restore all this devastation. Who will pay for them? The entire nation will.’’

‘‘The country comes first, it belongs to everyone, and the president is sending out a message that unity is paramount and we should progress together — Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Buddhists...’’ said Cader, who lauded efforts by the government to resettle Tamil refugees.

The IMF predicts a growth rate of 5.5 per cent for the country this year. It attributes such  growth to improving domestic demand and potential export growth after the end of the war and the global economic recovery, which is now taking hold.

President Rajapaksa has been facing the heat in recent months from the United Nations, which recently set up a three-member panel to probe war crimes purportedly committed by the army on Tamils in the last days of the conflict in May last year. Over 7,000 perished as troops made a final push for Tamil leader Prabhakaran, who met his end on May 19.

Cader, who claims to be a nationalist above all else, said Tamils and the Muslim minority were fed up by the gory past and the lack of development, a price the country paid during decades of conflict.

The LTTE began its ruthless struggle for a Tamil state and carried out a series of attacks from the early eighties. A largely defensive Indian Peace Keeping Force was deployed on the island in 1987 to disarm the rebels, but made a hasty exit after three years. Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a female suicide bomber in 1991. This turned Indian sentiment against the group, which had backers in the state of Tamil Nadu. Then Lankan president Premadasa met his end in 1994, again at the hands of a suicide bomber, a killing strategy the group had perfected. More political assassinations followed and a Norway-brokered peace deal in 2002 didn’t last.

Rajapaksa’s ascent to power in 2005 changed the dynamics of the game. The gutsy leader matched the LTTE firepower with more guns and ammunition for his troops with Chinese help, as a wary India watched, until the denoeument last May. ‘‘We don’t want to see such violence again. There’s work to be done and countries in the region like India and China will play a major role in reconstruction efforts,’’ said Cader.

As for the president. ‘‘He looks good to rule for another 15 years.’’