I was trying to work out how big an area seven square miles is. This is what is left of the state the LTTE wanted to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. And this is the area in which over 200,000 Tamil civilians are supposed to be crammed into, according to the UN and other humanitarian organisations.
In an impassioned article published in this and other newspapers last week, Arundhati Roy accused the Sri Lankan government of committing possible genocide by not agreeing to a ceasefire, thus endangering the unfortunate Tamils trapped in the fighting. The iconic Indian writer and human rights champion has also alleged that the army is deliberately targeting these people to eliminate them. Harsh words, but are they true?
The Sri Lankan government has consistently insisted that it has done everything possible to avoid inflicting civilian casualties, and has repeatedly asked the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms to avoid further bloodshed. What Ms Roy failed to mention was that the LTTE was deliberately using the trapped civilians as human shields. There have been numerous reports from independent sources, including the UN, that the Tamil Tigers were shooting into groups of fleeing civilians. Many have been killed. In one horrifying incident, a female terrorist blew herself up at a reception centre, killing several Tamils as well as security personnel.
While accusing the government of atrocities, Ms Roy was silent about the LTTE's awful record of violence and human rights abuses. This is the group that pioneered the use of suicide bombing, and has inspired other terrorists by its sheer viciousness. Its worst excesses have been committed against its own people. Tamil families in the North have been forced to hand over one child each to the LTTE; here these children have been indoctrinated and trained into becoming ruthless killers. Civilians are not allowed to leave the areas controlled by the LTTE on pain of death. Dissenting Tamil voices have been systematically silenced. All these excesses have been documented, so to avoid mentioning them is to give a one-sided picture of the conflict. I hold no brief for the Sri Lankan government. Its record on the issue of media freedom has been appalling. And for many years, successive administrations in Colombo have discriminated against Tamils. But the real split between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils began in the Fifties when separate schools were set up for the two communities, and Sinhala was declared the official language. This policy was designed to marginalise the Tamils, who, under the British, had an edge because of their fluency in English. The resultant resentment caused much friction between the two communities, and the current civil war broke out in 1982.
Over the years, Prahbakaran, the sinister LTTE leader, eliminated all other Tamil opposition groups, claiming his organisation spoke for all Tamils. But in reality, it remains an undemocratic, brutal gang that has terrorised the very people it purports to represent. And as long as it held wide swathes of territory, it did not feel the need to negotiate seriously. Its leaders ran a state within a state, and were content at being rulers of an impoverished and helpless people. The hundreds of thousands of Tamils in the diaspora, pushed overseas by the fighting, contributed (or were forced to contribute) to the cause. An efficient gunrunning operation kept the LTTE armed and dangerous.
However, the balance tilted about three years ago when 'Colonel Karuna', the commander of LTTE forces in the east, was persuaded to defect to the government, together with his forces. Simultaneously, sanctions began to bite as Western countries cracked down on LTTE funding and gun-running. Better patrolling by the Sri Lankan navy succeeded in blocking many arms shipments. And the army under General Fonseka, an officer who was almost killed by a suicide bomber a couple of years ago, moved a massive concentration of forces to the north.
This combination of overwhelming force and international condemnation of the LTTE has resulted in the present endgame. Observers have been puzzled by the slow rate of progress over the last few weeks. While the official reason given is the desire to minimise civilian casualties, my Sri Lankan friends tell me it's because President Rajapaksa wants the final victory to coincide with the Sinhalese New Year that falls next week. In fact, last year he made just such a promise to the nation.
While many international NGOs and observers have been demanding an immediate ceasefire, the reality is that an army seldom stops when victory is in sight. More importantly, the army's military successes have been widely welcomed across the country. Even Tamils who live in the tea country in the hills, and in and around Colombo, would like to see the fighting come to an end. Above all, the poor civilians trapped in the war zone would like to see peace finally return to the island.
One disturbing element is the establishment of 'welfare villages' for the refugees who have managed to escape. Here, they are kept under guard for months while overstretched government agencies make sure no LTTE agents are trying to infiltrate into the rest of the country. Many have accused the government of creating concentration camps, and prolonging the suffering of the refugees. However, it is difficult to see how else the government can defend the country against determined LTTE cadres, given the mayhem suicide bombers have already caused over the years. Most of their victims have been ordinary Sri Lankans, so there is little opposition to these so-called 'welfare villages'.
Years of warfare have driven the two communities apart. Yet, during the four months I spent in Sri Lanka recently, I did not get a sense of any hatred of the Tamils among ordinary Sinhalese. Many friends have expressed their horror at the ongoing violence, and the suffering of the Tamils. Nevertheless, the army's victories have been greeted with firecrackers across much of the island. Above all, people just want the war to end. Emotionally and economically, they are completely drained by the unending violence.
Perhaps there are lessons in this conflict for Pakistan. As the Taliban slaughter their victims at will, we see a nation divided on how to face this existential threat. Many commentators and politicians hedge their condemnation of the killers with 'yes, but...' This ambiguity is reflected in our half-hearted approach to combating the extremist menace. In Sri Lanka, opposition parties and the ruling alliance are united in wanting to see an end to the civil war, and have supported the army. There is little doubt that many terrible things have happened in this long and brutal war. But surely a clear-cut result at least holds out the hope for a peaceful resolution; and this in turn could help address the genuine complaints the Tamil population has.
