"Tiger" Prabhakaran’s roar drowns calls for peace

The speech, delivered in Tamil, was broadcast over the Voice of Tigers, the LTTE’s clandestine radio, and within hours, English translations were faxed from the group’s London offices to newspapers here. An annual event, the “Heros’ Day” speech is eagerly awaited by the Sri Lankan establishment, Tamil politicians, journalists and analysts in the absence of other access to Prabhakaran, it is now the only indication of his thinking and is generally regarded as the LTTE’s policy statement. This year, as in previous years, he once again reiterated his determination to carry on with the armed conflict against the government in order to achieve his Eelam. “Let us continue to struggle to expel the enemy forces who have occupied our sacred land,” he exhorted his cadres on Thursday.

In a bid to force him to capitulate, president Chandrika Kumaratunga has been following the twin strategy of a relentless war against the LTTE and the development of a political solution to Tamil demands the expectation is that once militarily weakened, the LTTE will of its own come forward to participate in a negotiated political settlement. However, the strategy has obviously not had the desired effect so far. “The speech is consistent with what he has been saying over the years, that what he wants is a separate State,” said TULF leader M. Sivasithamparan. Although Prabhakaran also reiterated in the same speech that the LTTE is for “a political situation through peaceful means”, there was no real indication that the Tigers are indeed prepared for talks.

Instead, by harping on the sanctity of the demands articulated more than a decade ago by Tamil parties at the India-organised Thimpu conference right to nationhood, to self determination and for the recognition of northern and eastern Sri Lanka as the Tamil homeland the LTTE has asserted that it will settle for nothing short of Eelam.

Kumaratunga has offered a near-federal form of government in which powers will be shared between the centre and regions within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, and has proposed to put the concept of Tamil homeland to a vote in a referendum in the concerned area. “It is questionable whether the Sinhala political parties will agree for a political settlement on the basis of Thimpu principles when they are not even prepared to recognise the Tamils’ right to a homeland… We do not anticipate that the Sinhala chauvinists will renounce their policy of oppression and be prepared to do justice to the Tamils. We have not launched this liberation struggle with such expectations… freedom is not a concession gained from the enemy but a sacred right which has to be fought for by shedding blood and making sacrifices,” Prabhakaran declared yesterday.

However, some Tamil political parties co-operating with the government but unhappy over its proposal to decide the homeland issue through a referendum believe that if the government grants the merger of the north and east, Prabhakaran could be brought to the negotiating table.

“Prabhakaran’s statement is a hint that he is prepared for talks if the government relents on the merger. It is now up to the government to take the initiative,” said Suresh Premachandran of the EPRLF. However, he said, it is an entirely different issue whether the LTTE will negotiate sincerely or use talks as a tactical weapon in its struggle for Eelam. Going by Prabhakaran’s most recent statement in which he has vowed to fight on, it is more likely to be the latter.