War is over?

The government propaganda is designed to resume tourist business as fast as possible. The horror of what's happening in a region where independent reporters are banned can only be gleaned from information by Red Cross doctors:

"You ban foreigners and their cameras from Tamil towns like Mulliavaikal, which was bombarded recently by the Sri Lankan army, and you lie that the 75 people killed in the hospital were blown up quite wilfully by a Tamil suicide bomber."
link >>

HI Bev,
Like you and I imagine every one else, I too hope that the war is over.
However,I have my doubts.
There are sure to be lots of LTTE cadres that slipped out from the war zone with the civilians and plenty of others that managed to avoid bing in there in the first place.
Some of those will decide discretion is the better part of valour and just keep quiet.
I hope they all do .
But, I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of them were planning to be still active in whatever manner that they can.
The few that are left may not be able to confront the government directly any more but still able to plant bombs as they have in the past.

As I said, I hope not... but it's quite likely.
Rod.

Over? I doubt it.... maybe the head-to-head fighting, the LTTE is known for thier other ruthless tactics - so expect to see continuing instabilty and, unfortunately, maybe suicide bombings in colombo and the South - which, aside a few small attacks, has been largely untouched topographically. I feel it's far from over........

Chief of LTTE Mr. Pabhakarn is died?

I also got an sms from a friend in Kandy today saying the war was over and there were some celebrations. They have seen reports of Rajapksa's speech in Jordan saying it was over and the report that the LTTE would lay down their arms. I then heard that the LTTE had made this conditional on various things the government won't agree with and it seems as though fighting is still going on.

The last report I have seen says that nobody has seen Prabakharan for some time. Maybe he is dead, maybe he got away, who can say?

It seems to me that people in SL who don't have access to BBC, CNS or Al Jezeera do believe that the thousands of deaths have been nothing to do with the army. That is what happens when you assassinate your leading journalists I suppose. I have emailed BBC web pages to a few friends but they seem determined to believe what they have been told. I doubt they are aware the USA is planning to withhold a massive loan it has promised because of the government involvement in the killing of its own people just because they happened to be in the way. And there is talk of charging Rajapkse with war crimes accordsing to a report in the London Times.

My faith is restored though by reports from various friend there who tell me that almost everyone is involved in fund raising and donating. One friend, young and out of work with a baby to support, told me he had given a bag of rice - I understand what a sacrifice that was for him. As after the tsunami, the ordinary people are doing whatever they can to help. That is what the real Sri Lanka knows is right and proper, whatever the religions of those involved.

Perhaps the war is over but the future remains even more uncertain than it did just a year or so ago.

The war may be won militarily but the peace will only be won by conciliation and discussion. There is not much chance of that happening in a climate of triumphalism.

Unfortunately the Sri Lankan government has shown a ruthlessness of purpose that will be very hard to change overnight. I think that we can expect a continued hard line approach to opposition of any kind. The development of the power of the military in order to fight this war means that the same military will be anxious to have an equally strong role to play in the peace. This is very dangerous for democracy and I fear that the remaining vestiges of free speech and freedom of movement for some groups will disappear in more emergency powers. The camps for internally displaced persons ( the British used to call them concentration camps when we invented them !) will be a festering sore for years to come.

Meanwhile the outside agencies, concerned parties such as Britain, the US, the UN and Norway are getting bad mouthed continually, the Red Cross are being called liars and servants of the LTTE and at the same time observers are not allowed in to report what has really been going on. All this is resulting in the worsening diplomatic isolation of Sri Lanka.
The President of Sri Lanka is no Nelson Mandela. He has to maintain his power through the stength of the state machine and has shown how ruthless he can be. The seeds of the future have been sown but I fear that the the crop that will be reaped will be more years of tragedy and conflict.

See this link for an editorial that warns of the risks to the tourist trade.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5340065/The-defeat-of-the-Tamil-Tigers.html

Ian

woohoo. i really hope so. LTTE is the worst thing happened to Sri Lankan tamils. Now they have no bargaining power at all.

And is possible a new generation of disgruntled Tamils could step in and continue the war by using guerilla tactics , so the whole cycle begins again if the root grievances are not addressed by the govt.

Well, the government is no knight in shining armour, and I'm not sure they will treat the Tamils fairly, now that the war is over. On the other hand, no one can claim that the LTTE was really looking out for Tamil interests...