PRABHAKARAN AND HIS PIECE
(1998 December 09)
Most of the Tamil racist parties either believed or pretended to believe that Prabhakaran had said in his speech
on the 27th of November in Vanni, that he wanted peace. In the English translation of his speech, released by the
so-called LTTE International Secretariat in London, which was published in "The Island" of 2nd December,
he had only said "We have not closed the doors for peace", and these parties together with the NGO's
demanded that the government should respond positively to this "peace call" of Prabhakaran. The UNP,
which had earlier agitated for unconditional negotiations with the LTTE, also joined the bandwagon.
Before we analyse Prabhakaran's speech we have to look into the background in which it was made. It was clear for
sometime that a number of interested parties were busy with applying pressure on the government to commence negotiations
with the LTTE. The UNP, most of the Tamil racist parties, the NGO's, the Bishop of Mannarama
, the British high commission and Mr. Fatchette, the big business community, had been
talking of negotiations for some time. The LTTE released the captain of the ship 'Irish Mona' and several others
as a green light for negotiations. Most probably, the LTTE has been under pressure from
one or more international powers to start negotiations. Thus Prabhakaran's speech should not have come as a surprise
to those who have been following the developments in Tamil racist politics.
However Prabhakaran is not interested in what the international powers want him to do. What he is expected to do
by these powers is to negotiate with the government to obtain the maximum under the present conditions, in between
the regional councils of G. L. Peiris and Neelan Thiruchelvam and a confederation, and then enter the so-called
democratic process perhaps paving the way for the TULF and the other 'moderates' in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
A confederation and an Eelam would follow subsequently. But Prabhakaran is not interested in such schemes. He is
fighting for an Eelam as he has mentioned in his speech. The words " we have not closed the door for peace"
have been included only to hoodwink the pressure groups. Prabhakaran is not interested in the policy of 'little
now and more later' of the other Tamil racist parties who want to establish an Eelam through a Federal state. He
is interested in Eelam and only Eelam.
Prabhakaran has made it clear that there is nothing to negotiate. At least in this respect he is not as dishonest
as the others are. Those who are of the view that the PA and the UNP should first come to an agreement on what
can be negotiated will have to be asked, over and over again, what is the problem that is expected to be solved
as a result of the negotiations. Those who are of the view that there is an ethnic problem should first tell us
or define what an ethnic problem is and then show that there is an ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. Is it a question
of the so-called grievances of the Tamils? What are the problems that the Tamils have in this country merely because
they are Tamils? Once these questions are asked and the answers given to them are analysed, it would be clear that
there is only one conclusion that the patriotic elements, if there are any, in the UNP and the PA can come to.
The PA and the UNP can agree only on one matter. There is nothing to discuss with either the LTTE or any other
Tamil racist party.
Let us see the problem through the eyes of Prabhakaran. The following quotations are all from the speech of Prabhakaran
as translated into English by the so-called LTTE international secretariat. It is interesting to see that in his
speech Prabhakaran makes it clear that he is not satisfied with what his western sponsors are doing for him and
Tamil racism. Probably he wants more aircrafts from his well wishers. This is what he says: "What dismays
us is that the countries which lead the civilized world are reluctant to raise their voices against the uncivilized
forms of oppression unleashed against the Tamils." Apart from the fact that these words were spoken by a murderer,
of so many innocent people including the Bhikkus at Arantalawa, who cannot be called a civilised person by any
stretch of imagination, what is the oppression he is talking about? If the Tamils in the north are being oppressed
today it is because of him. The moment he stops fighting and hands over the arms the Tamils in the north will be
able to live like any other citizen in the rest of the country. For example, it is Prabhakaran who is preventing
normal travelling to and from Yapanaya.
On the other hand if the western powers are prepared to assist Sri Lanka by preventing arms being supplied to the
LTTE, Prabhakaran would have been destroyed long ago. Those outdated theories on the guerrilla being supported
by the people are not valid. Prabhakaran is not a fish in a sea of people. He uses people as a human shield. On
many occasions, people have had to obey him simply because he is armed. In this respect the LTTE is not very much
different from the JVP of 1988-90 era. Prabhakaran's strength is in his arms, which are very much superior to what
the JVP had. So the question is who supplies him with arms and who helps him to transport them to Yapanaya. Or
at least who turns a blind eye or why the satellites do not send signals, when ships carrying arms for the LTTE
sail from one continent to another.
Are we to believe that the LTTE is such an efficient unit that it can finance all its requirements through the
income it gets from its fleet of merchant ships, drug business etc.? Recently it was revealed that the LTTE is
having training camps in South Africa. Some people may try to create the impression that
these stories are not correct and that its not necessary to train Sri Lankan Tamils in South Africa when they can
be trained here. Are we so sure that it is only the Sri Lankans who are being trained? Also with the support from
the big powers it is not such a difficult proposition to transport trained people, whether Sri Lankans or not,
from South Africa to Sri Lanka.
Prabhakaran is very clear on what he wants to achieve. He says: " We aspire to live peacefully with freedom
and dignity, without the interference of anyone; in our Motherland where we are born and bread; in our own soil:
in our own historical homeland which belong to us............. We are a national formation with a distinct
language, culture and history. We, therefore, demand that we should be recognized as a community of people,
as a social formation with distinct characteristics. We have the right to determine our political status. On
the basis of the right, we aspire to chose freely a political model suited to us to govern ourselves. This
is what our people are demanding and fighting for". (emphasis added).
Prabhakaran, unlike the others, is very clear. He has stated his basic premise and the much-talked about aspiration
of the Tamil racists. The basic premise constitutes the Thimpu conditions, which are non- negotiable. Thus the
government has to accept them even before they sit down for talks. After agreeing to the Thimpu conditions what
is left is to decide on the ways and means of transferring power.
Now we get on to the so-called war. Prabhakaran's explanation is very simple. Having stated his basic premise and
what he is demanding and fighting for, he says: "The Sinhala nation has been denying this just and civilized
demand ............... Now the Tamil struggle has expanded and escalated into a war between two nations. ...............
Today the war has expanded and escalated into a full-pledged conflagration in which armed forces of the two nations
are confronting each other. The Sinhala nation is engaged in war of aggression to occupy Tamils land and to subjugate
the Tamil people. We are fighting to protect our people and liberate our soil from alien aggression."
Prabhakaran not only knows what he wants but also knows that Sinhala nation does not agree with the demand. Unlike
some journalists who claim that they coined the word 'war' Prabhakaran uses that in a precise sense. For him it
is a war between two nations. Those who use the word 'war' to describe military operations by the government to
defeat a struggle by a group of terrorists demanding a separate state should contemplate on what they are doing.
They, according to the usage of Prabhakaran, are already assuming that there are two nations.
The concepts such as occupation of Tamil land, subjugation of the Tamil people, liberation from alien aggression
are based on the false history propagated by the leaders of the TULF and its predecessors or the political uncles
and grand uncles of Prabhakaran. However unlike the Sri Lankan government which has failed to provide a correct
political leadership to the armed forces, Prabhakaran, with the false history created by his uncles and grand uncles,
is precise and definite. He will not discourage people joining the LTTE by telling them how cruel the war is. He
will not send his men to the schools in Yapanaya to preach against the war and will not tolerate any NGO person
if he or she attempts to do that. He does not talk of peace for the sake of peace. He wants to win freedom to a
Tamil Eelam, though it has never existed in history.
The Sri Lankan government has no definite aim for the simple reason that they have not understood the problem.
The political scientists, sociologists in the west have created and helped the Tamil racists to create myths on
oppressions of the Tamils, history of the Tamils etc. Unfortunately the Anglophiles among us still believe these
myths. They refuse to view the problem as something created by the British to suppress the Sinhala Buddhist culture.
The history of the world is not the history of class struggles. It is the history of clashes between cultures and
civilisations. The western Christian civilisation is, today, directly confronting the Muslim civilisation in the
Muslim world. They are compelled to involve directly in those countries as there is no other culture that they
can make use of. In India they use the Muslims against the Hindu civilisation and in Sri Lanka Tamil Hindus are
used to attack the Sinhala Buddhist culture. Prabhakaran is really fighting somebody else's 'war'. He will be kicked
out eventually whether he delivers the goods or not.
When Prabhakaran speaks of an aspiration, the government talks of grievances of the Tamils and a package to solve
those so-called grievances. The armed forces do not know what they are fighting for. As far as they are concerned
whether Prabhakaran is defeated or not the package will be given. Then what is the purpose of fighting? The soldiers
have to be armed not only with weapons but also with an ideology. Providing political leadership means formulating
the aims and objectives and supplying the ideology and leaving the rest to the armed forces.
What does Prabhakaran expects to achieve through negotiations. He is very clear again. "We have not close
the doors for peace. We are open to the civilized method of resolving conflicts through rational dialogue. Since
the Sinhala leadership lacks the political will and sincerity to resolve the problem we favour third party mediation
for political dialogue. We want the political negotiations to be held in an atmosphere of peace and normalcy, free
from the conditions of war, military aggression and economic blockades. We are not stipulating any pre-conditions
for peace talks. We are suggesting the creation of a climate of peace and goodwill to hold peace talks, a congenial
environment in which our people must be free from the heavy burden of suffering imposed on them. We hold the view
that political negotiations cannot be free, fair and just if the Government utilizes the military aggression on
our soil and the restrictions imposed on the economic life of our people as political pressures."
Prabhakaran wants third part mediation, probably under pressure from a mediator, in order to start 1995 type negotiations.
He says he is not stipulating conditions, after he himself has imposed a number of conditions including the Thimpu
conditions. He wants political negotiations to be held in atmosphere of peace and normalcy free from war conditions
which means that he wants the army to be withdrawn from the north. After imposing all these conditions he says
he is prepared to engage in initial talks to discuss the removal of pressures and to work out a basic framework
for negotiations. It will be another farce similar to the so-called talks held in 1995. Prabhakaran is not interested
in any peace. He wants only a piece or perhaps pieces of the country and it does not come as a surprise to most
people..
However Prabhakaran has not failed entirely in his attempt to surprise us. It is interesting to note that contrary
to the opinion of the NGO lobby and of the other Tamil racist parties Prabhakaran admits that "Sri Lanka is
a Buddhist country". Also he states that, "so far, not a single voice of rationality is heard from the
Sinhala national against the war. ....... From politicians to the monks, from intellectuals to the journalists,
everyone calls for the intensification of the war." We were under the impression that there were a few intellectuals,
journalists, politicians and even monks among the Sinhala people who spoke against the 'war'. In Prabhakaran's
view either they have not spoken against the war or they are not Sinhala people. We shall leave it to these ladies
and gentlemen and the monks to find out from the "LTTE international secretariat" when they go to London
next time for a conference on war and peace or some such thing on a pre-paid ticket, what Prabhakaran really meant
by that statement.