...just wanted to applaud your efforts, Preeti, to bring more substance to Madam Secretary. They are noticed and appreciated!

Preeti,
Great article. But, I beg to differ on one statement you've made in the blog. That the Tamil Tigers want an independent Hindu Tamil state. This is completely off base. The Tamils in SriLanka voted overwhelmingly for an independent Tamil state called 'TamilEelam' in the 1977 general elections. Tamil Tigers came onto the scene in a big way after the 1983 Tamil pogrom. The conflict had become violent since then. The last round of negotiations mediated by Norway failed after the SriLankan government withdrew unilaterally from the ceasefire in January of 2008.

Hello
Thanks for writing this article. First, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (or LTTE)is fighting for an Independent state called Tamil Eelam (NOT Hindu state - there are lot of Christian and muslims who speak Tamil). This liberation war is puhsed upon Tamil youths by the Sinhalese leaders around 1977. If there were "intelligent" Sinhalaese leaders who could have done a courageous act and gave Federalism (with powersharing at Center) then there would have been peace all along (without this armed conflict). What you are seeing today or I should say how the Sinhalease leaders behaving today is the typical response to Tamil people's demands from 1948. This will never change. Now Sinhala leaders have ignored Western countries and becoming friends with other countries who will support their racist agenda. China, Iran, and Pakistan are their best buddies. India unfortunately did not learn the lesson from JR Jayawardne (former President of Sri Lanka and mastermind behind the humiliating defeat for Indian Peace keeping mission). NOW the ball is in Western countries' court. Are they going to let Sri Lanka become another terrorist state or they are going to do something about it? Secretary Clinton and the White House have released enough statements. NOW we Tamils like to see some concrete action to solve this problem. Tamil people asked in 1956 to live with dignity and peace. In my view it is too late for any political solution within one country. After a humiliating visit by the British and French Ministers (and denial to Sweden's Minister), hopefully these countries will make a very strong decision to deal with Sri Lanka and save thousands of Tamil civilians. Disappearance has already started within these displaced people. I will be very curious to see what US, UK and EU is going to do about this situation. Are they going to let Iran, China and Pakistan dominate Indian ocean? If so, US can forget about being a Global leader and forget about South East Asia. India will have tough time surving, because China will have a huge Naval base in Southern of Sri Lanka. With Pakistan in Sri Lanka, India will have to face the danger through Southern front (Tamil Nadu side).
In top of all of this, humanitarian disaster is happening NOW and this will have a Global effect on economy.

Sri Lanka has always played the Tamil card to win votes whether Tamils asked for autonomy or not. Prapaharan had to be the one to challenge the brutal regime, sadly his "Tamil cause" turned into a "curse" for Tamils since Rajiv Ghandi's death, again It was the only incident LTTE supposed to have committed outside of Sri Lanka,not sure if it was proven either. Nothing wrong with the Sinhalese community apart from this mammoth Survival issue comes in between the Sinhala/Tamil communities whether one likes it or not. Tamil life anywhere in Sri Lanka remained in the hands of "good or bad Sinhalese" some save Tamils others beat the hell out of them unless Tamils lived in the North of Sri Lanka. North is so under funded there are no jobs. It is so easy to spark violence and riot by the mobs who goes on the rampage in the South no restrictions or repercussions they face. It could be pushed under the carpet as yet another mistake ie 1983.
Fellow Sinhalese do realize that Tamils are victimized for nothing still very reluctant to speak due to fear and never bothered until Prapaharan took drastic steps in the rest of the country that again hurt the "Tamil Cause".
LTTE has never been a threat outside of Sri Lanka, only within, Sri Lankan politicians abused their power all along. I am by no means justifying terrorism at the same time I feel when the Govt of Sri Lanka is got aided by IC with all the modern technology to fight rebels left with no choice to put their point of view accross. Sri Lanka got independence from the British in 1948. Tamils screaming from this little paradise island since 1958 has been a far cry not significant enough to be heard. It was neglected to such an extent I find it very hard to blame the rebels to have taken law in their own hands. Sri Lankan Govt was in a comfortable position to carryout what ever the policy and get it endorsed by the IC misleading all along. Sadly so much suffering, desperation and sacrifices Tamils made went on for 61 year period, now even the basic human rights of these innocent civilians getting ignored. The only way I see Tamils can live with dignity in Sri Lanka is in their own territory under self rule. There is a significant cultural and language barrier that would be in the way for any other form of peace proposals, it has been been a marriage of convenience made in hell. Tamil speaking and Sinhala speaking can only live side by side but not in a united Sri Lanka that is my belief. Thank you for the opportunity to
spell it out under such a horrifying situation for Tamils.

On "Al Jazeera English".
By David Chater in Colombo

A rash of new posters has recently appeared around Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, criticising Western diplomats.

The caption below the photographs of Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, David Miliband, the British foreign secretary and Erik Solheim, the Norwegian minister of international development, says "Wanted for aiding and abetting terrorism". ...

http://is.gd/wo91

If only things were that simple. We in Sri Lanka have been suffering for over 30 years because of the LTTE. Innocent civilians including Tamils have been their victims in numerous bomb blasts. Their actions have ruined a beautiful country and its economy for more than three decades. Where were all these International figures then? Tamils in the north have been the worst affected because they have been stuck in the milieu of the worst of the conflict. Tamils in the south suffer mentally because of high military presence and checkpoints which are required to prevent the LTTE from bombing more of the country. The LTTE have not only bombed Sri Lanka's Central Bank, it also bombed the Sacred temple of the tooth in Kandy, a world heritage site, it has bombed civilian buses, trains and more.
The Al qaida against which the United States has been fighting a 'war against terrorism' has no doubt been inspired by the LTTE which created the 'suicide bomber'. The LTTE has killed Sri Lankan political leaders including a large number of Tamil political leaders, rendering the Tamils voiceless. The Tamils no longer have decent leadership because the LTTE made sure they were all vanquished.

The U.S. launched a campaign against terrorism after one incident of terrorism. In Sri Lanka we have lost count of the number of attacks by the LTTE.

After more than 30 years, people in Sri Lanka just want the war to end. They just want to live a normal life which they did once and can do again.

It is strange how when there is finally a glimmer of hope to an end of war, International figures who have never suffered the attrocities of the LTTE suddenly want the government military forces to lay down arms and the let the LTTE build itself once again. This is how it looks to a large number of Sri Lankans and it makes us wonder what these foreign governments really want and what their real agendas are.

If Sri Lanka was YOUR country what do you think you would want?

It’s no secret that West has been directly pressurising the Sri Lankan Govt with renewed calls to cease its current military operations against the LTTE. There is also intense shuttle diplomacy between UK, US and Norway in order to get the UN Security Council to pass a resolution compelling the Sri Lankan Govt to call off the military offensive and calling for direct foreign intervention in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka became a "sovereign" state after gaining independence from colonial rule way back in 1948. The fact that Sri Lanka is the "oldest democracy" in Asia too seems to be unknown to many unless it is easily forgotten. The formal meaning of “Sovereignty” is “the power of a State to do everything necessary to govern itself such as formulating, executing and applying laws and state policies, imposing and collecting taxes, making war and peace and forming treaties or engaging in commerce with foreign nations.”

Those who executed Saddam Hussein for murdering 148 people are now begging amnesty for Prabakaran, world’s most brutal terrorist who slaughtered, gunned down and bombed nearly one hundred thousand innocent civilians, Tamil & Sinhalese leaders including two world leaders, Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi & SL President R. Premadasa.
After 30 years of plenty of 9/11 NY incidents here in Sri-Lanka, and six attempts of negotiation with terrorists, SL military is fighting terrorism successfully which now turned into a humanitarian & hostage rescue operation.

However, there is a well orchestrated campaign to discredit the Government and the Security Forces and bring pressure on it to declare a ceasefire by LTTE agents who have sneaked into international organizations and media institutions over a period of time.
At the same time, it’s the Western hypocrisy that strengthens LTTE terror campaign. In the past, when SL forces were successfully fighting terrorism, the proposed ‘ceasefires’ by some of the Western governments allowed LTTE to re-group, re-arm and re-start their acts of terror.

Once again, at this crucial point, they just can’t keep their finger from poking into Sri-Lanka’s internal crisis.
So what more can you expect?

-John Muttiah