World Unites Against LTTE - Editorial of the Indian Express
| The mischief potential of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was once again evident in the explosion that shook the Sri Lankan Capital on Wednesday. This time the Tamil terrorists have struck in the heart of enemy terrain and at the currently crucial economic target of tourism. However, it would be erroneous to view it as a confident strike. In fact, there is little doubt that the bomb blast was a loud and clear acknowledgment of the Tigers' desperation -- they cannot advance their fortunes in the war they have waged on in flagrant disregard of the dictates of wisdom. |
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The LTTE has never been the same after its loss of Jaffna and, consequently, the control of the northern province about two years ago. The savage assault on the civilians and national property has followed the repeated failure of the force, once projected as invincible, even to recapture access to its erstwhile citadel. And, it has come immediately in the wake of an indication of the increased international isolation of the LTTE and its lost cause. Of dubious conviction may be the conspicuously belated US recognition of the Tigers (with their main or more material base and backing in the West) as a terrorist organisation. The diplomatic victory of the Chandrika Kumaratunga government, however, means that the derring-do of the extremists can only debilitate them further. The prospect is the greater for the fact that the Tigers have lost not on the military front alone, but even more glaringly on the political. The fall of Jaffna towards the end of 1995 followed the astonishingly obtuse refusal of the LTTE to grasp the hand of reconciliation and opportunity extended by Chandrika Kumaratunga after an election that Sri Lanka saw as promising a new epoch. The Tamils' palpable disenchantment with the Tigers, after their determined defeat of her brave peace initiatives, was a prelude to the present predicament of those she and her party then recognised as the most representative of the country's main ethnic minority. Their political isolation -- internal no less than international -- has been increased since then by the care the Kumaratunga regime has taken to make it clear that the LTTE's rejection of the peace option does not mean its own return to a purely military solution to the ethnic problem. Colombo has strengthened its hands considerably by drafting its own proposals for a devolution of powers to meet the minority aspirations and mobilising a modicum of mainstream support for them.
Remains of the LTTE Terrorists
The point that needs to be made now is that the process must be carried forward. For, the only success the blast can score for the Tigers is to stall the process. It is no secret that the devolution proposals still elicit strong opposition in sections of Sinhala opinion and these have found sharp expression recently. Colombo will err egregiously to oblige these objective allies of the LTTE. The response in this regard to the bomb will be watched with interest and concern in India, where the Tigers have little chance of regaining any support although the cause of the island's Tamils still enjoys a measure of sympathy.
