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Journalism of Courage
It is possible that the LTTE is finally close to military defeat. India,given its own problems,cannot but breathe a sigh of relief that this long-running ethnic-terrorists conflict may soon end but,given history,it must also recognise that a merely military defeat will not be enough to keep the LTTE down.
The onus is now on the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to capitalise on their armys success. Sri Lankan Tamils should not feel like they have been defeated; this victory can only be spun as such if the government in Colombo abdicates its responsibilities. Sri Lanka,given its human riches,should have been South Asias brightest star; instead,the historical wrongs suffered by the Tamil minority and the unrelenting,inexcusable civil war have served to keep its potential unrealised. The ghosts of the riots of 1958,1978 and 1983 have not been exorcised; as in India,unless dealt with openly by its political leadership,the wounds left by the violence will continue to fester. Until the Tamil language and ethnicity are recognised as being as related or unrelated to Sri Lankan nationhood as the Sinhala language and ethnicity,the wounds will never close. Rajapaksa must make it clear that the mistakes that his predecessors in the Freedom Party and their counterparts in the UNP made will not be repeated,that mainstream politics in Sri Lanka has left that behind,and has learnt the costs of not being sufficiently inclusive.
