The Failed Peace Trap

by Vettivel

Peaceful protests

Tamils fought for their rights using peaceful means from 1948 until 1977. All these efforts were suppressed by the Sinhala state which used “terrorism” against its own non-violent citizens. The Tamil non-violent protests were shattered by Sinhala thugs. The Sinhala state military killed Tamils without any opposition from the international community. After all non-violent efforts failed, the LTTE decided that using force is the only option to safeguard the Tamils from Sinhala state terrorists. After two decades of war, Tamils finally achieved a region that is free of the Sinhala state terrorists, where the inhabitants can finally have physical security.

Once they proved their strength, Tamils then agreed to find a negotiated solution, and accepted Norway-mediated peace talks. If the Sinhala state had been successful in their military operations, there would not be any ceasefire at this time.

Weakening the non-state party

The co-chairs created the peace trap to weak the Tamil party in the negotiation process. This is what they have done since the start of the peace process. In 2003, they hosted a co-chairs meeting in the US with the participation of the Sinhala party, but declined entry to the Tamil party. In 2006, the EU banned the Tamil party, and they still want to be members of the cease-fire monitoring mission. How can one observe neutrality when they have banned a party in the conflict? Now Japan wants to do the same thing, and then the Sri Lankan government. Are they thinking Tamils are utter fools or slaves to accept this injustice? The peace talks are obviously in crisis now, but the co-chairs, who engineered the peace trap, are ready to punish the Tamils for the failure of these talks because the Tamils are not state actors.

The ban on the LTTE by some countries such as Canada and the EU was counter-productive, and it has strengthened the Sinhala hawks, and encouraged the Sinhala government to use dirty paramilitary tactics to terrorize Tamileelam and its inhabitants. The co-chairs want the Tamil leadership to talk peace while the Sinhala government continues to hunt down Tamils. This is the well known tactic used in other parts of the world such as the Middle East. During such talks, the bigger powers let the state actors use dirty tactics, even those directed against the civilian population, while keeping the oppressed party at the negotiation table with their hands tied. At one point, the freedom fighters will be completely weakened, and they will have no option other than accepting whatever solution is offered. The co-chairs basically want to see the same drama in the Tamil-Sinhala negotiations.

1977 electoral mandate for a separate state

Fortunately, the LTTE did not toe the powerful nations' line, and they stick to the mandate for a separate state given by the Tamils in the 1977 election. In other words, the LTTE has not fallen prey to the international 'peace trap,' Wickremesinghe's 'safety net.' This is why some nations want to brand the Tamil leadership as “terrorist,” which is defined in their own convenient terms. Only the word “democracy” is lovable, if it does not spell rights or freedom, and “peace” is acceptable only if it beneficial for the powerful nations. What the international community has failed to understand is that the concept of Tamileelam was a mandate given by Tamils through an election.

Oh yes, the mandate was given through a democratic election by the Tamil people, but this fact may be conveniently ignored by the superpowers. A separate state for Tamils is not an LTTE invention; it was the TULF that many people now accept as a 'moderate' party that put this decision forward and won more than 90% support from the Tamils for such a mandate. Even now elected Tamil parliamentarians fully support the LTTE, but the co-chairs do not want to listen to this democratic voice.

Selling the island abroad

The superpowers just want to punish the Tamils, not the Sinhala government because they have invested money on southern Sri Lanka. The only achievement the Sinhala-dominated power-mongers have had since granted independence is that they have colonized the Tamil homeland, and successfully sold every sector of Sri Lanka to foreign countries. The superpowers have sold weapons and related material to the “peace loving” Sinhala government which has fought a “war for peace”, and destroyed the Tamil inhabitants. 

Unfortunately, the superpowers have not gotten the outcome from the war they desired . The Tamil tigers managed to defeat the Sinhala lions. The ceasefire arrived only after the Sinhala lions were completely defeated and saved from destruction by Indian intervention.

Did any of the superpowers, including Japan, the US, Britain, or EU pressure the Sinhala government when Tamils were massively displaced from Jaffna? Did any of these superpowers raise their voice when Tamils were crushed by the Sinhala army, navy or air force?

When the peace process was initiated after heavy Sinhala military loss, these superpowers put on their peace masks to put pressure on Tamils. All they have done so far for Tamils is to gave some money to maintain their refugee shelters. Even during the ceasefire, they do not want to give enough money to build infrastructure or houses. The superpowers want to confine the Tamils in refugee camps in order to make them lazy slaves. This is what they have done in many countries. It is OK for them if the Sinhala state army thugs roam around and terrorize the Tamil residents or occupy Tamil land in the name of High Security Zones. It does not matter to the superpowers if the Tamils are kept in refugee camps forever because the aim is to make the people lazy, non-combative, and dependent on rations from the superpowers. If they keep this trend up for 10 years, the people eventually forget about their rights and will accept anything granted. This is what the superpowers and the Sinhala government want. This is part of the hidden agenda in the peace process.

No implementation

After six rounds of peace talk, none of the agreements reached during talks were implemented. Even P-TOMS, meant only to rehabilitate the Tsunami victims, was also torn up by the state terrorists through their so-called “legal” system. Was the LTTE responsible for any of this failed implementation? Whose fault is it? Why do the co-chairs want to ban the LTTE for the failure of the peace process? The answer is simple: because no one other than Tamils will raise their voice if the LTTE is banned. The ban on the LTTE hurts Tamils, and it destroys the trust they had on co-chairs and International community. Tamils know this is the last part of the international community's peace drama.

In the next stage of this drama, the co-chairs will fund another “war for peace” that will be waged by the Sinhala thugs. At the same time, the international human right organizations will release reports against the Tamil Diaspora for funding the Tamil tigers. When Tamil children and civilians are killed by Sinhala terror state, foreign states will say “it is measured self-defense.” This what some states said when Israel bombarded Lebanon, so it will not take much time for them to release such comments when Sinhala state terrorists hit Tamils home.

Tamil rights

The international community drama did not cause any damage to relationship between the Tamils and the LTTE. Tamils appreciated the LTTE because it did not fall prey to the co-chairs' peace trap, and it refused to give up the mandate given by the Tamils. Some countries' ban on the LTTE further pushes the Tamils toward the LTTE. In reality, Tamils now trust the LTTE much more than before. Tamils know that only the LTTE can get their rights back. The co-chairs' money may help to get food for some days, but self respect and dignity is much more valuable than one-time food alms. Even after the Tsunami, Tamils asked for boats, not food.

In world politics, it is acceptable even if a state kills UN observers, because these kinds of incidents usually considered ' accidents.' But people in Palestine or Lebanon should not throw a single stone against Israel, because it will be considered “terrorism.” It is OK for a state to invade and kill more than 40, 000 people in Iraq to search for invisible weapons of mass destruction. But, no-one will invade a country like North Korea, even if they obviously have nuclear weapons. This is the world we are living in.

Power

The very basic fact is that either a nation should have a very friendly neighbor or be powerful enough to attack the neighbor. Otherwise, the nation will not survive. These facts are enough for anyone who wants to understand the world “justice” and power system.

As long as Tamils are powerful enough to defeat Sinhala thugs, they do not need to worry about world politics. If Tamileelam wants to survive, it should have very friendly relationship with Tamil Nadu, and be powerful enough to defend against any Sinhala terrorist attack. The rest of the world is nothing if these two conditions are fulfilled.

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