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May 18, 2009
Tamil Tigers surrender
The Tamil Tigers have reportedly stated that
we have already announced to the world our position to silence our guns to save our people
Many in Sri Lanka are celebrating this victory. This is understandable. However, as Mark Tran argues in the Guardian, we should remember that
the victory has come at a high price in terms of civilan life and damage to Colombo's international reputation. According to UN figures, an estimated 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed between 20 January, when a military offensive pushed back the rebels into a tiny enclave in the north-east, and 7 May.
In Tran's article, it is reported that
"If the Tigers' leadership is removed or killed in a government assault, it's easy to imagine one of the newly energised generation stepping in to fill the void," said Robert Templer, of the International Crisis Group thinktank."The dream of an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka resonates powerfully across the diaspora and will certainly live on even after the defeat of the LTTE as a conventional military force. The deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Tamil civilians – while their family members watch from afar – is a recipe for another, possibly more explosive, generation of terrorism."
With the Tigers, the Sri Lankan government at least knew what they were facing. Annihilating the group may seem an attractive prospect for many in Sri Lanka's government and military. However, the risks of a power vacuum are significant, and there are strong arguments for seeking a more equitable solution, not just because it is the right thing to do, but to allow peace to prevail in future.
I hope that this will be the end of the violence in Sri Lanka. However, it would be wrong to assume that peace will follow the end of the Tigers.
Posted by jon_mendel at May 18, 2009 12:27 AM
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