THERE IS no military solution, go tell that to NATO. I might also add, "Go tell that to President Sarkozy of France." For, he will be sending additional French troops to Afghanistan soon! Every conflict has a solution however long it takes. That end, is the very end of the conflict itself. The World wars, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the Vietnamese war against Cambodia’s Pol Pot, the Peruvian war against the Sandinista did have the end of defeat for the enemy and was followed by the restoration of peace. Why prevent Sri Lanka from following a similar course especially when the government, the majority of citizens and the soldiers are yearning for the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the dawn of peace in the country?

 

US Army soldiers from K troop, third squadron, third armored cavalry regiment detained an Iraqi teenager after a rocket propelled grenade attack on U.S. troops in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on Monday, March 31, 2008. (AP) Can our NGO bosses justify the invasion of northern Iraq by Turkey; a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), with NATO supplied arms and killing of Kurds if there was no military solution to their problems? If there is no military solution, why is NATO fighting in Afghanistan even after Al-Qaeda extended an invitation to talk peace? If there is no military solution why are the allied forces fighting in Iraq at an enormous cost of men, material and money? It is not a matter of friendly war games in these two countries. It is of paramount importance to kill as well as debilitate the perceived enemy before he kills others. It is also propelled by the desire to impose a solution economically and politically favourable to the invaders of both Afghanistan and Iraq. We saw this starkly illustrated in Kosovo.

 

The province of Kosovo within Serbia had an ethnic and a religious problem, which degenerated to a terrorist problem. The UN and NATO forced the Serbians to talk peace with Kosovars. It took them nowhere and Kosovo was brought under UN control, but as terrorism continued unabated, the Serbs fought back with equal ferocity. NATO then ignored all niceties of diplomacy, flouted international law and guarantees of territorial integrity, and cast aside the UN itself, and unilaterally resorted to a military solution. NATO bombed Serbia continuously for over two months into submission. It destroyed roads, bridges, communication centres and TV networks, schools, hospitals and government buildings and factories. It killed many Serbian civilian citizens. It captured the perceived enemy, the Serbian President Milosevic. In short, this military adventure was a success and had the eventual solution in the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo from Serbia. Economically this solution was favourable to NATO as oil from the Caspian Sea could be routed through Kosovo and access was now available to exploit the vast mineral resources in Kosovo. Politically, as a new ally of NATO, Kosovo could be pitted against Russia if and when necessary, as evidenced by the huge US army base being constructed and expanded in camp Bondsteel within Kosovo. So who says there is no military solution to problems? Is it the case that military solutions ought to be pursued and are acceptable only if executed by NATO and the European Union (EU)? No, the rich and the mighty are not the sole inheritors of this planet.

 

Vellupillai Pirapaharan believes in a military solution, and in fact, he recently announced that he would obtain a Kosovo-type solution for his Eelam. One ought to accept his obdurate consistency in resorting to both terrorist and military action to create his dream Eelam. Velu appears to be convinced that the profits to be won by war outweigh the risk and losses incurred. As far as we know the NGOs, the INGOs, the foreign VIPs and other human rights hypocrites have yet to tell him directly that there is no military solution, and that he should lay down his arms and seek negotiation. Only Anandasangaree has directly and publicly told him that there is no military solution and that he should seek peace by laying down his arms. This advice has been ignored by the warlord. Given this situation, why should a democratically elected government not meet force with force and defeat the enemy?

 

Nearly two centuries ago a savant advised his countrymen that all those who desire peace should prepare for war, Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. This applies most cogently to the modem world as it is beset with insidious terrorism on all fronts. The objective of the present military campaign of the government is simply the defeat of LTTE terrorism in our land. It is clearly not directed at Tamils. This is verifiably true, because the security forces are engaged in mortal combat only in the areas under the control of the LTTE. The Tamils living elsewhere live as normal a life as other Sri Lankans, enjoying the same social benefits of free education and healthcare and suffering the same economic hardships. The majority of the people, the entirety of the security forces and the government of the day do believe that the LTTE can be and ought to be defeated. There can be no peace so long as Velu controls the land and retains armed cadres ready to kill and destroy property at his behest. The eastern province is an outstanding example of prevailing peace after the LTTE guns have been silenced. It will certainly take time for the eastern province to revert to democratic normality by way of elections to local bodies. In the meantime we should expect demands and posturing for positions of power and prestige by various interested parties based on communal ethnicity. One can only advise our misguided politicians that the economic and social development of the eastern province is for all persons living there and therefore cannot be confined to one ethnic community as against another. This was the sectarianism we had under the LTTE. This was what our soldiers got rid of at great sacrifice. Therefore we simply cannot go back to this state of affairs. The local eastern politicians should grab this opportunity to usher in a political culture de novo wherein every one counts. This process will be greatly helped if the TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) cadres surrender their weapons voluntarily and are then provided security by the government.

 

I do believe that there is a military solution to our terrorist problem. Military force is necessary to eliminate terrorism and the persons prosecuting terrorism in our country. I do accept that our security forces have the capacity, ability and the motivation to defeat the LTTE as they did in the eastern province. Once this is achieved, there will be the space available to initiate a political arrangement that will satisfy, if not all the people all the time, at least most of the people most of the time. This is the democracy of everyman as practiced everywhere.

 

In the case of Serbia/Kosovo, NATO acted as the prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner in punishing the Serbs for the mistakes of their politicians. We see a similar posturing taking place in the case of Sri Lanka’s mortal combat against, what the FBI has declared to be the most ruthless terrorists in the world today.