Why won’t the Tamil LTTE unilaterally disarm like the Basque separatist ETA? The LTTE, which was established by Tamil youths in the early 1980s, wants a homeland in northeast Sri Lanka for the ethnic Tamil minority. ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom), which was established by a group of students in 1959, used violent tactics to achieve an independent state for 3 million Basques from France and Spain. Both organisations alleged discrimination by the majority dominated state as the reason for secession and used violent tactics . Both are ethno-nationalist.

However, in March 2006, ETA declared a permanent ceasefire and called for a “democratic process” to decide the future of the Basque areas. The LTTE, on the other hand, has neither disarmed, nor has it entered the political arena. Why not?

Four factors are responsible for the continuing militarisation of the LTTE. First, there is less international pressure on the LTTE to disarm than on ETA. ETA aroused stern international condemnation for its violent attacks on civilians, and in fact lost a lot of support after Islamists bombed commuter trains in Madrid in March 2004. Prabhakaran seems to have grasped that because he did not engage in acts of terror against civilians. After 9/11 Prabhakaran immediately called a unilateral ceasefire in December 2001, and entered into peace talks with the government. They negotiated a ceasefire agreement (CFA) in 2002, which established strategic military equilibrium between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. While the CFA internationalised the conflict, it also legitimised LTTE’s control of parts of the northeast. The LTTE then continued using suicide bombings against Sri Lankan military targets without claiming responsibility.

... contd.