It’s Over for LTTE

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), undoubtedly a terrorist organization, has still a hope that the international community, especially the United Nations, would prevail upon the Sri Lankan government to change its strategy against the group seeking an independent homeland for the Sri Lankan Tamil minority. However, Colombo this time has had a different plan, independent of what the international community would have it act. After all, as we have said, the LTTE is a terrorist organization, and its hands are stained with the blood of many an innocent Sri Lankan citizen, including its top leaders. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the Sri Lankan government should on Sunday reject outright the so-called unilateral ceasefire declared by a heavily jolted LTTE leadership. In a statement, the outfit had said: ‘‘In the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and in response to the calls made by the UN, EU, the governments of the US, India and others, the LTTE has announced a unilateral ceasefire. All the LTTE’s offensive military operations will cease with immediate effect.’’ This was in the wake of UN humanitarian chief John Holmes calling on the LTTE ‘‘to let out the remaining trapped civilian population and lay down arms’’, and on the government of Sri Lanka ‘‘to exercise maximum restraint, including no use of heavy weapons’’. A UN statement quoted Holmes as saying: ‘‘We need a new humanitarian pause to get aid and aid workers into the combat zone. We must have access to all IDPs (internally displaced people) wherever they are, and the screening process must also be made more transparent.’’ However, Lakshman Hulugalle, director-general of Sri Lanka’s Media Centre for National Security, said: ‘‘The government position has been that there will be no ceasefire until LTTE lays down its weapons and surrenders. There is no change in the government stand.’’ Sri Lanka, encouraged by a series of victories against the LTTE, had earlier vowed not to kowtow to any international pressure for a ceasefire until the terror group was completely defeated and civilians under its control fully rescued. While the Sri Lankan government on Sunday called the LTTE’s unilateral ceasefire ‘‘a joke’’, yesterday it declared an end to all ‘‘combat operations’’ for the sake of the trapped civilians — a move perfectly well-timed.

We support the stand and decisions of the Sri Lankan government. Let it be very clear India has no business to meddle in the internal affairs of a sovereign country, which Sri Lanka is. As for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, India, especially the State of Tamil Nadu where the Karunanidhi-led DMK’s politics over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue has turned from bad to worse, would do well to remember that the Sri Lankan Tamils are Sri Lankan citizens bound by the sovereignty of that country, not Indian Tamils or citizens. Ethnicity is one thing, nationality another, and the former cannot override the latter; otherwise independent nation-states will cease to exist. Also, India has no right to advise the Sri Lankan government on how to deal with its Tamil populace — because if India does so it will tantamount to advising a sovereign country on how to deal with its own citizens. We must also remember that it is not the Tamil minority that the Sri Lankan government wants to stifle, confront or defeat, but the LTTE which is a terrorist organization and must be defeated if it does not surrender and joins that country’s democratic process. The DMK, or for that matter any political party in India, should not make a joke of itself by raising the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. It is for Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka alone, to decide. And yes, how many Sri Lankan Tamils support the LTTE brand of terror? THE SENTINEL