Achieving Tamil Eelam

by S. Makenthiran, Feb. 15, 2009

The success of the Singhalese armed forces in occupying most of the Tamil homeland of Eelam in the last two years has taught Tamils some lessons. Eelam Tamils have lost the conventional war and their ancestral homeland. Eelam Tamils by themselves cannot prevent the hostile Singhalese armed forces from invading and occupying Tamil Eelam. The LTTE and Tamils have been waging a war of liberation for the last 25 years without success. The Tamils have the expertise to manage an independent Tamil Eelam. However, they do not have the military capability to hold  their homeland against a determined Singhalese army.  The borders are vast and  human resources insufficient to defend our homeland against our perpetual Singhalese enemies.

The revolt of Karuna and Pillayan did weaken the LTTE immensely. The traitorous Tamils like Douglas Devananda and Anandasangary have always been a source of weakness for the Tamil cause.  Betrayal by Tamils themselves has been always a problem.  The LTTE has been successful in carrying out repeated guerilla attacks in the Eastern Province although th Singhalese army has occupied it.    Even today (15 February 2009), in Amparai, 12 STF personnel were killed by the Tigers in an ambush.  In Vanni, although badly battered, the LTTE is still holding out around Puthkudyiruppu under the command of Prabaharan and has dealt some successful counterattacks. Many Tamil civilians have been killed by the indiscriminate bombing by the Singhalese.  As the Sri Lankan government has banned all independent journalist from visiting the war front, the true situation cannot be ascertained.

There is every possibility of the LTTE carrying out guerilla attacks in the North.  If over a prolonged period, the LTTE carries out successful guerilla warfare, the Singhalese army may crack up. There are reports that the Tamil Tigers are spreading out in the jungles outside the areas around Puthukudyirupu held by Tigers. This may be a nightmare for the SL army.  Nevertheless, it may be difficult for the LTTE to hold the territory. It does not seem militarily possible to establish an enduring Tamil Eelam.  We do not have the human resources to withstand  a vastly numerically superior enemy. We will always be subjected to attacks and invasions by an enemy using human sea tactics. It is doubtful whether the Singhalese occupying army can be driven out by the Eelam Tamils alone.

Tamil Nadu Tamils have come out in full support of their  Eelam Tamil brethren.  Blood is thicker than water.  The central government under Congress has been, unfortunately, supporting the Sri Lankan government even to the extent of antagonizing the 70 million Tamils in India.  There is increasing support emerging in India as a whole due to sympathy with the predominantly Hindu Tamils. The Christian Eelam Tamils are fully backing the Eelam struggle, and the Indian Christians sympathise with them.  Advani, the BJP leader has given open support to the backers of  Eelam Tamils. 

It is to be hoped that in the forthcoming general elections, the BJP will win and Advani will emerge the  Prime Minister in India.  The election of Barack Obama as the President of USA may bring about some changes in the Tamils’ favour.

As the international community has been indifferent to Tamil aspirations and sufferings, our only hope is that the Indian Central Government will turn in our favour after the general elections due to a change of government.  India must realize that the Eelam Tamils will always support Mother India and the Singhalese have always been hostile to their interests.  Congress is doing a great disservice to Eelam Tamils and to India’s unity by  supporting Sri Lanka’s murderous regime.

Eelam Tamils have to make a paradigm shift in their objectives. Tamils cannot live under Singhalese Buddhist majorityanism. President Rajapakse has placed Vanni Tamils in concentration camps behind barbed wire.  Tamil youth are being taken away from the concentration camps and killed. Young Tamil girls are being taken away and raped.  Pregnant Tamil women are reported to be forced to abort. Hospitals and refugee camps even in declared safe areas are being bombed. A permanent  split of the country is unavoidable.

The solution open to the Eelam Tamils is to demand a federation with India and not within Sri Lanka.  Eelam can have their own state Chief Minister and legislature and their own police force as in Pondicheri, Goa and Tamil Nadu. Eelam must form part of the Indian Union.  This is the only alternative if our people are to be saved from concentration camps, refugee camps and internal displacements. Tamils cannot be living as refugees under trees in jungles in their quest for Eelam.

The Singhalese Buddhist extremists claim all Sri Lanka for themselves and threaten to chase the Tamils to India.  By God, we will join India and Eelam should become part of the Indian Union. If the Andamans and Lakshadipa, which are over thousand kilometers away, can be part of Indian Union, why not Tamil Eelam which is only a swimming distance away?

Let  Tamils live in peace in the merged Northeast Province and the Singhalese in their other seven provinces. The very presence of a few Indian army personnel in Eelam will be a deterrent to Singhalese aggression.  India is a superpower and an emerging economic powerhouse.  Let us say goodbye to a decadent racist failed Singhalese Sri Lanka and join Mother India.  The Tamil Nationalist Alliance, as the accredited representatives of Eelam Tamils, should take the lead.