The other battle

It is possible that the LTTE is finally close to military defeat. India,given its own problems,cannot but breathe a sigh of relief that this long-running ethnic-terrorists conflict may soon end but,given history,it must also recognise that a merely military defeat will not be enough to keep the LTTE down.

The onus is now on the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to capitalise on their armys success. Sri Lankan Tamils should not feel like they have been defeated; this victory can only be spun as such if the government in Colombo abdicates its responsibilities. Sri Lanka,given its human riches,should have been South Asias brightest star; instead,the historical wrongs suffered by the Tamil minority and the unrelenting,inexcusable civil war have served to keep its potential unrealised. The ghosts of the riots of 1958,1978 and 1983 have not been exorcised; as in India,unless dealt with openly by its political leadership,the wounds left by the violence will continue to fester. Until the Tamil language and ethnicity are recognised as being as related or unrelated to Sri Lankan nationhood as the Sinhala language and ethnicity,the wounds will never close. Rajapaksa must make it clear that the mistakes that his predecessors in the Freedom Party and their counterparts in the UNP made will not be repeated,that mainstream politics in Sri Lanka has left that behind,and has learnt the costs of not being sufficiently inclusive.

Indias politics needs change,too. Consider the latest statement by the leader of the Pattali Makkal Katchi,S. Ramadoss: he called the UPA,of which the PMK is a constituent,mindless and callous and added that scheming bureaucrats and unconcerned decision-makers in New Delhi were remaining silent while the honour and self-respect of the Tamil nation were at stake. This is sadly typical of the ethnic chauvinism displayed by the nominally progressive Dravidian parties on this issue. Any temptation to shore up alliances in Tamil Nadu ahead of the elections at the cost of long-term settlement of the Sri Lankan problem should be avoided. The Tigers have destroyed mainstream Tamil politics in Sri Lanka; their infection of mainstream Tamil politics in India must cease,to end their threat permanently.