Home > South-Asia >> Sri Lanka

Catching a tiger by the tail

Sydney Morning Herald - May 23, 2009

Sri Lanka's prospects of peace and prosperity rest with a president's ability to ensure not all spoils go to the victors. Matt Wade reports from Colombo.

There is euphoria on the streets but anxiety in the Hindu temples of Sri Lanka. On Tuesday the dream of a separate homeland for the nation's Tamil minority ended with the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the feared Tamil leader. The army says he was killed in the final hours of the war that dominated Sri Lanka for a generation.

As state television showed footage of Prabhakaran's body, with a gaping hole in the head, many Sri Lankans from the Sinhalese Buddhist majority took to the streets to celebrate.

Wednesday was declared a holiday to celebrate the victory and thousands of people gathered that evening at Colombo's famous seaside promenade Galle Face Green. Most carried Sri Lankan flags. Some had drums and led groups of men and women in victory dances.

"This is a great time for Sri Lanka," said Muhammad Rashid, 21. "I have lived my whole life with this war, so why not celebrate? After nearly 30 years we are free."

Jayanth Ekanayaka, in his 40s, also celebrated. "Prabhakaran was like a cancer in our country," he said. "Now the bombs on buses and at markets will stop."

Prabhakaran formed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1976 and launched an armed struggle for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka's north-east in 1983, claiming Tamil people were being discriminated against by a Sinhalese-dominated government in Colombo. Predominantly Hindu Tamils make up 15 per cent of Sri Lanka's 20 million people, Buddhists more than 70 per cent and Muslims and Christians about 7 per cent each.

Prabhakaran built an impressive reputation as an insurgent, inspiring great commitment from his cadres, who carried cyanide pills to be taken if they faced capture. At his peak, he controlled a third of Sri Lanka.

The Tigers were renowned for ruthlessness. Their tactics meant they were branded terrorists, not freedom fighters, and the organisation was proscribed in about 30 countries, including Australia. They pioneered suicide bombing and are attributed with inventing the suicide jacket, adopted with devastating effect by other terrorist groups.

A decisive moment in the Sri Lankan war came with the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. The anti-terrorism laws that followed in many countries made it more difficult for the Tigers to raise money from the wealthy Tamil diaspora.

Prabhakaran made blunders. His order to assassinate the former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, in revenge for Indian interventions in Sri Lanka's war, turned Indian public opinion against the Tigers, even though India is home to about 60 million Tamil speakers.

During moments of strength, Prabhakaran failed to make political concessions short of a fully independent homeland. Analysts say Prabhakaran's switch from guerilla to conventional warfare eventually proved disastrous when the Sri Lankan Government finally launched a determined and well-funded military campaign last year.

The success of that campaign has entrenched President Mahinda Rajapaksa. But the war – which killed as many as 100,000 people, including 6500 over the past three months – caused great economic and social damage.

Rajapaksa now must come up with a political solution that prevents more sectarian conflict because – as noted by Jehan Perera, the head of Colombo's National Peace Council – the political tensions that caused the war are unresolved. "The political power of Tamils in Sri Lanka remains outstanding and that is going to keep the conflict going on, maybe in a different form," Perera says.

Alan Keenan, a Colombo-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, says there is a deeply rooted sense of vulnerability among Sri Lankan Tamils. "I think Sri Lanka is headed for difficult times, despite so much euphoria among the Sinhalese community. Even Tamils opposed to the Tamil Tigers are feeling insecure and worried about what the future holds. The war has unleashed a whole series of demons."

The scale of the President's political challenge was underscored by the subdued mood among Tamils at Colombo's Kathiresan Hindu temple on Wednesday night. As the mostly Sinhalese crowd revelled in victory a few kilometres across town at the Galle Face Green, Tamils gathering for evening worship spoke of their apprehension.

"I don't want to talk about the war quite frankly. All I will say is that as Tamils we are not happy with what has happened," said a businessman. "So many people have died, they should have stopped. I can't say if things will be better now. That we will only know in time. It depends on if the Government can give the Tamil what they want."

Another worshipper said Colombo was not safe for Tamils. "Everywhere we go police check us. This town is dangerous for Tamils." As he spoke groups of young Sinhalese men carrying national flags drove past the temple on motorbikes and auto rickshaws shouting nationalistic slogans.

An independent Tamil MP, Mano Ganesan, said the root causes of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka were not defeated with the Tigers. "We understand the jubilation of the Sinhalese people at the defeat of the LTTE. But the history of Sri Lanka has taught us to be cautious," he said. "We feel somewhat vulnerable today."

The response to Prabhakaran's demise was muted internationally too. Appalled by the loss of civilian lives as the war reached its bloody climax, several European governments demanded investigation of alleged war crimes by both sides.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary, Palitha Kohona, was disappointed with the international reaction. "A 27-year nightmare has come to an end," he said.

"For the first time in modern history a democratically elected government has succeeded in totally eliminating a terrorist group. We are somewhat surprised that other democracies have not endorsed this victory."

Sri Lanka is under pressure already from India and the US to promptly devolve power so that some of the political aspiration of the Tamil community is realised.

Kohona said the Government's immediate priority was to care for 280,000 refugees camped in northern Sri Lanka and ensure their return home as soon as possible. On Thursday the Government pledged to resettle most of them within six months.

Elections will be held for northern provinces – until recently under Tamil Tiger control – once refugees are resettled. And public servants will need to be proficient in Sinhalese and Tamil languages.

But that won't satisfy Tamil hopes. Peace council chief Perera says Rajapaksa is well placed because of his huge popularity with the Sinhalese majority.

"He has shown he is willing to go to great lengths to defeat separatist forces and he is seen as a patriot who wants the country united. This means he is better positioned than leaders who have come before to offer a generous solution to the Tamils."

But having relied on Sinhalese nationalism to win the war, how far will Rajapaksa go in satisfying Tamil aspirations? The country's prospects of peace and stability may rest on how effectively he resolves this dilemma.

[Matt Wade is the Herald's South Asia correspondent.]

See also:


Home | Site Map | Calendar & Events | News Services | Links & Resources | Contact Us