National Secretary of the Socialist Party of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Devage, reports on the recent defeat of the LTTE in the north of the country and what it means for the Tamil people
The war against the Tamils which was restarted by Mahinda Rajapaksha is now nearing the end of its objectives. It was marked by capturing the Kilinochchi which was the Tamil Tigers capital city, the centre of their administrative state within a state. The Sinhalese leaders try to portray this as their greatest victory in their three decade long war against the Tamil people.
The Rajapaksha regime was supported by Iran, China, Pakistan, Israel and India to launch a renewed war against the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE. It was given material and practical support by the US imperialist intelligence services to target LTTE positions. It shows that the Sri Lanka Tamil liberation struggle is being suppressed by a global coalition of reactionary leaders and forces. When the Indian central government pretended that to listen to the Tamil Nadu opposition who were vocal in their criticism of some aspects of the murderous war by the Sri Lankan army. But they finally abandoned dialogue with the south Indian opposition and moved forward with their real policy on the National Question of Sri Lanka. After capturing Kilinochchi, the Indian central government shows its willingness to accept the Sinhalese majority government's opinion. The BBC World Service reported that the Indira congress has appeal to hand over Prabhakaran to India.
Meanwhile Sinhalese Buddhist society celebrates "The victory of Kilinochchi". The capture of Kilinochchi by the military was justified by claiming it was part of the liberation of the Sinhalese and wider society in Sri Lanka. When we contrast the last three decades, this recent celebration of the victories of the SLA represents the peak of war mongering by the Sinhalese community. As result of this situation Sri Lankan society moves towards a disastrous situation now that the military forces are capturing the north area. The opinion grows among the Sinhalese majority that the only solution for the Tamil national question is war, to literally crush the LTTE and drown the hopes for Tamil freedom in blood. What they do not see is that this opinion will be like a boomerang back against the Sinhalese society – its repercussion cannot be understood by communal forces. The Wanni people's cry for freedom is being trampled by the blind madness of communalism.
The governments ultimate target is to capture Kilinochchi and the Mulative jungle region and to use these victories to win elections that are coming up.
Though the forces captured the city of Kilinochchi, consolidation of its control cannot be done by military forces alone. Though the LTTE lost its control area, they will use hit and run guerilla methods with the aim of destabilising the occupation and disrupting wider Sri Lankan society. The government's military effort to crush the national struggle will create a heavy pressure on Tamil people across the island, as the repression by the state forces grows. No political solution means that peace is always out of grasp, like in Iraq and Palestine.
We, the Socialist Party of Sri Lanka, face a difficult period as a result of war and communalism. The main bourgeois opposition forces keep quite in this situation, not many people are willing to come forward and speak out. The anti-war movement is small and is isolated. It is hard to make the case for an anti war position, but it must be done. We will link the struggle for the Tamil?s democratic right for self determination to the disgusting racist policies and massive war spending of the government, which is driving up inflation and causing misery for ordinary people. The message is clear, the defeat of the LTTE will not result in the complete defeat of the Tamil resistance. It will change its form and take on new tactics. We believe that the resistance must be a mass one and organised alongside Sinhala workers who are willing to fight against the government. Linked to a general struggle against the capitalist nature of the government and how they exploit us all to fund their war, we can begin to make headway to demonstrate that a different kind of politics is possible.