Thursday, May 21, 2009

Will tamil militancy rise again?

IMHO I don't think so for the following reasons.

1) Almost all the top leadership of LTTE is gone.
2) Tamil people who supported tamil militancy back in 1980's had not experienced any war, but now they have. I don't think those people would want any more war.
3) Even guarilla style attacks by any remaining LTTE cadres would not be possible. Our Special Forces have become very lethal over the years and Sri Lanka is a small island with no crossable borders.
4) TamilNadu does not look like much enthusiastic about a Tamil Ealam.

So in my opinion any power devolution to address the tamil militancy problem is not required anymore. Devolution of power away from the western province should take place, but any devolution should be equal across the whole country, North and East should not be treated in any special way just because there was an uprising.

7 comments:

Rine said...

Hi

Its a thirty year war so we can't really call it an uprising. The key to the devolution has changed with the destruction of the LTTE. However, we should ensure that we provide the Tamil citizens the same rights as the Sinhalese. That their grievances which existed prior to 1983 are settled and their new grievances which has arisen as a result of war are also put to rest. Else, we run the risk of another militant organisation emerging. And this country really can't handle that in terms of the economy and loss of human life.

Voice in Colombo said...

If you expect a clear "Yes/No" answer; I vote for "No". Your reasoning is acceptable enough. Beoyond that, there need to be few more points added.

1) Sinhalese people has learnt it the hard way that "Tamils deserves equal rights and respect" within this country.
2) Therefore; we will not see the Sinhalese politicians will use "Racism" as a tool to get votes, like they did in 50's, 70's or early 80's. (Of course, we have the JHU but, I'm talking about the politicians of two major parties)
3) There is no room for another 83 to happen, because of that.
4) Tamil politicians has also learnt it the hard way, that "short cuts to power" can end in disasters. Amirthalingam, Kumar Ponnambalam, et al will vouch for this statement, from where ever they live now. They became the victims of the beast they have fed.

On the other hand; compared to few decades back Tamils are enjoying more rights today. Extremists might see small inequalities existing still; but those issues can be ironed out without an armed struggle.

In that sense; there will be no room for another armed struggle in Sri Lanka for a sperate state for Tamils; at least for next 50 years (I can't predict beyond that).

Those Tamil Die-Ass-Pora, who are vowing to continue the struggle will join the history as the biggest bunch of jokers! How can you get a seperate state in Sri Lanka, without even stepping into the country? They will shout for another one or two weeks, and shut up and get back to work when they start to feel starving.

Liberal Lanka said...

@Rine

//However, we should ensure that we provide the Tamil citizens the same rights as the Sinhalese. That their grievances which existed prior to 1983 are settled and their new grievances which has arisen as a result of war are also put to rest.

Absolutely. What I mean is sinhala dominant areas should also get whatever devolution the North and East would get.

And about rights I think I would better explain myself with another post. What we need is an equal society where everyone have the same rights and that includes the tamils. Society is not divided only along racial lines. For example what about gays in our society who have faced more grievances for a much longer time. Just because they don't take arms doesn't mean there are no grievances.

Liberal Lanka said...

@VIC

Yahoo, so we two agreed to something at last right? :)

seriously, I doubt the point 2 and 4. Politicians will learn but don't count they would always place country before them.

Unknown said...

The so called ethnic problem and grivences of Tamils are just a trojan horse of the power hungry elite Jaffna Tamils's in order get power. The homeland theory is a monumental myth. The NE areas were poulated and civilized by Sinhalese before the invasions from South India.

One of the major grivences put foreward by Tamils is the Language issue. This has also been addressed in the 1978 constituion.

There are no particular grievances affecting Tamils in the North and East in Sri Lanka. Having worked for more than 15 years in Eastern province I got the first hand experince that the Sinhalese are the most deprived community in the Province. This is same with other provinces as well. Therefore, the armed forces victory shoud be a harbinger to develop all the provinces equally not confining to the NE.

In this case special previledges in the name of devolving power to the NE is out of question.

Rine said...

Hi LL,

Totally agree with you on equal devolutions for both areas! :)

Look forward to your next post!

Sam said...

It is all depend on how far distance to the future you are looking at. I’m defiantly sure there won’t be Tamil or any other uprising in near future. But there are two important factors, that haven’t changed yet.
1) Self Segregation in large scale. Not small areas like Wellawaththa I’m talking about. But large areas such as Akkareipaththu or far north of the country or far south of the country. Those types of self segregations are breeding grounds for trouble. (Proposed political devolution also based on self segregation)
2) India. We always had to face some kind of threat from India, once every couple of hundred years. It is just matter of time until we face another direct or proxy war mothered by India (if concept of war excises till then). In such an horrible event, I can guarantee they will claim things like, North and East is “their” land, because they indeed had their own country until early 2000s, etc..

There is another important factor, Policing. If we did not standardize our police, I will guarantee there will be another trouble sooner than we think, most probably a top to bottom type of one (a coup perhaps) That is what I am most scared of.