The Tiger threat

"WE declare here at Thimpu, without rancour, and with patience, that we shall speak at Thimpu, or for that matter anywhere else, on behalf of the Tamil nation or not at all. And we call upon the Sri Lankan government to state unequivocally, whether it is prepared to enter into a rational dialogue on the basis of the framework set out by the cardinal principles enunciated by us at these talks."

This was the statement made by the joint Tamil delegation, on the concluding day of the second phase of the Thimpu conference, on August 17, 1985.

Nineteen years after walking out of the first international attempt to solve the separatist conflict, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has brought the Thimpu principles enunciated by it, and other Tamil parties back to centre stage.

For several weeks, the build-up to the annual Heroes Day speech by the LTTE leader, V. Prabakaran evoked responses ranging from the paranoid ("he will declare independence") to the dismissive ("there will be nothing new in it"). When the speech was made, as usual, on November 27, it did not spell out either course of action. Prabakaran, in his own way, just pushed up the stakes

In a thinly concealed reference to the Thimpu principles, Prabakaran said: "None of the major Sinhala political parties is prepared to recognise the fundamentals underlying the Tamil national question and none was prepared to accept the northeastern region as the historical homeland of the Tamil-speaking people, that the Tamils constitute themselves as a distinct nationality and that they are entitled to the right to self-determination, including the right to secede." He went on to appeal to all political parties "to declare publicly their official policy on the fundamentals of the Tamil national question, particularly on the core demands of the Tamil's concerning homeland, nationality and the right to self-determination".

With this salvo, Prabakaran has seemingly set revised terms of reference for resuming the deadlocked peace talks. His parting shot, however, carried a touch of finality. Terming the stalemate - since the LTTE's unilateral pullout in April 2003 - as a "political void", the "indefinite" continuation of which would "seriously undermine" the LTTE's "liberation struggle", Prabakaran held out a firm warning. "There are limits to patience and expectations," he said and made an "urgent appeal" at "this critical moment" to the government to resume "unconditional talks without dealay" on the basis of the LTTE's proposal for an interim self-governing authority (IGSA) for the north-east.

Indicating his next course of action if the LTTE's "patience" wears out, he said: "If the Government of Sri Lanka rejects our urgent appeal and adopts delaying tactics, perpetuating the suffering of our people, we have no alternative other than to advance the freedom struggle of our nation." Though, on the face of it, speech leaves a lot of things unsaid, it shows no change from the past position but adds a new dimension to it by seeking the political parties' stand on the Thimpu principles.

It was directed as much to the international audience as to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The LTTE had "been making every endeavour" to seek a negotiated settlement since it signed the ceasefire agreement in 2002 but the six rounds of talks - between September 2002 and March 2003 - "turned out to be futile and meaningless," Prabakaran said.

He said the LTTE was "not satisfied" with the three successive draft proposals submitted by Ranil Wickremasinghe's government on an "interim set-up". Terming the political negotiations between Tamils and Sinhalese "for more than 50 years" as a "bitter historical experience" he said: "We had talks on linguistic rights, on equal rights, on regional autonomy, on federal self-rule and entered into pacts and agreements, which were later torn apart and abrogated." The LTTE, he said, "is not prepared to walk the path of treachery and deception once again."

Criticising the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance's (UPFA) key ally, the Left-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as "an anti-Tamil political party steeped in a muddled ideology of racism, religious fanaticism and orthodox communism," the LTTE leader dismissed President Chandrika Kumaratunga's linkage between an interim and a final solution - a position reflected in Indian policy statements as well. He said there were various reasons for her to do so - "to satisfy extreme racist elements", to "impress" the international community and "to prolong negotiations indefinitely to talk on a most intractable and complex issue". According to Prabakaran, "it is apparent from the inconsistent and contradictory statements" that the government "is not going to offer the Tamil people either an interim administration or a permanent solution".

Blaming her for "taking punitive action" against the Wickremasinghe administration for agreeing to discuss the ISGA proposals, Prabakaran said "the ethnic contradiction" between the "Sinhala and Tamil nations became acute" after the snap election in April. The elections, in which the UPFA won a majority, he said, "paved the way for hegemonic dominance of Sinhala-Buddhist forces". The President "embraced" a "racist political party [JVP] ... as the most important ally and partner in her coalition government" and the government was "constituted by an unholy alliance of incompatible parties articulating antagonistic and mutually contradictory views and policies on the Tamil national question," he said.

Prabakaran's belligerent speech, the first since the rebellion by `Col', Karuna earlier this year, spells trouble for President Kumaratunga's decade-long efforts to unite a divided nation.

V.S. Sambandan