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NEWS & LETTERS, March-April 2010
World in View
Sri Lanka Today
It took more than six months after the wholesale elimination of the Tamil Tigers last May by the Sri Lankan military, an operation that murdered tens of thousands of Tamil civilians as well, before the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa began to close the internment camps it had set up to police the surviving Tamil civilians. Then came the January elections between Rajapaksa and his military commander General Sarath Fonseka. Though Fonseka led the military campaign against the Tigers, he campaigned against Tamil mistreatment, hoping to win Tamil support. While winning the majority of the Tamil votes, Fonseka lost the election and was promptly arrested by Rajapaksa.
The election maneuvers between Rajapaksa and Fonseka do not reveal the truth of the Tamils' conditions today. Their major city, Jaffna, lies in ruins. The Jaffna Peninsula, "the cultural heart of Tamil life," saw hundreds of thousands flee over the course of the 25- year civil war, with another 100,000 dead. As well, the Tamil Tigers murdered any Tamil political leader who dissented from their domination.
Newly re-elected Rajapaksa made it clear he has no intention of granting self-rule in Tamil majority regions. The international community, which for the most part turned a blind eye to Tamil demands for self-determination, remains far removed. A bipartisan report from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pointed to the U.S. approach: "With the end of the war, the U.S. needs to reevaluate its relationship with Sri Lanka to reflect new political and economic realities. While humanitarian concerns remain important, U.S. policy toward Sri Lanka cannot be dominated by a single agenda. It is not effective at delivering real reform, and it shortchanges U.S. geo-strategic interests in the region." No doubt "U.S. geo-strategic interests" will be the big winner.
Where a new generation of Tamils will go after decades of war and ruin remains to be seen. They certainly will have to rely on their own thinking and doing, hopefully finding some Sinhalese who will unite with them on the basis of revolutionary self-determination for the Tamils and for all of Sri Lanka.
--Eugene Walker
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