Ayesh Madhawa De Silva.

The governments all over the world have started to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”case-studyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Sri Lanka as a paradigm for defeating terrorism. Sri Lanka is seen as a unique example of how to dismantle a terrorist group militarily. That the present government succeeded while the others failed is evident. Within an year in power, and after two futile attempts at talks with the LTTE, the present government headed by His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa was faced with the Mavil Oya (Mavil Aru) provocation that no self-respecting government could have accepted. Thus the government abandoned the earlier approaches on realizing that the military option was the only option available to it.The previous governments had been presented with equally humiliating situations.Thus, when the foreign minister Kadirgamar was assassinated, Mrs.Chandrika BandaranayakeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s administration did not have a courageous vision, a capacity to fight, or an ideological position enabling it to defend itself.

Furthermore, the present government headed by His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa understood the vital importance of securing public support for recruitment to the army.

His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa put an end to the dual policy of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”war punctuated by cease-firesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. His government generated strong public support by explaining its position. i.e., the government would fight to the end, ignoring the cease fire agreement signed in 2002 between the LTTE and the United Front Government led of Hon. Ranil Wickramasinghe. The government orchestrated its victories to recruit the support of the people; success generated success day by day. The government show-cased and respected those killed, maimed and injured in the battle as war heroes.

The Sri Lankan government has essentially extinguished the formidable military power of the LTTE in the country. However, its political enemies inside and outside its shores are not vanquished. Sri Lanka needs to develop strategies to fight the domestic and foreign Elamist support base politically, economically and diplomatically. The foreign community itself has been inundated by propaganda focusing on alleged short-comings of the government, while obfuscating the true nature of the LTTE. Therefore, to shift the public opinion in the West, we need understand how the LTTE operatives succeeded in hoodwinking the international community and even the UN agencies.

Prabhakaran was AsiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s most recent master of terror. The CIA name the LTTE as the most ruthless terrorist group. They engaged in mass murder, ethnic cleansing, use of human shields, use of child soldiers and suicide bombings targeting civilians. In comparison to Al Qaeda, the Talibans, the Hezbollah, the Naxalites etc., the LTTE is the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”AƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ team who assassinated the most number of political and civic leaders. If they had chemical, biological or nuclear weapons they would use them without any qualms. The LTTE had unleashed 30 years of terrorism and seemed invincible. However, in 3 years they collapsed under the unwavering vision and the mission of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa. Unlike under previous governments, Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the secretary of Defence, coordinated the Sri Lankan armed forces, the navy, air force, police, the intelligence service and other kindred capabilities. The determination of the present government, the justness of its cause, and the gallantry of the fighters roused the people and the fighting forces.

The government built bridges to the Tamils. It criminalized the LTTE by highlighting its atrocities, extortion and the mass hostage-taking orchestrated by Prabhakaran. Sri Lanka has become a living laboratory of how to dismantle a terrorist group military, with minimum casualties compared to the futile efforts of many powerful countries trying to eliminate terrorism.

His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa has three major challenges after defeating terrorism. He has to economically develop the country especially in the north east areas. Already a huge sum has been spent in de-mining, laying roads, settling people and initiating businesses. Indeed, it is to inject a new life to Sri Lanka. Secondly, he must make the Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and Burghers think and act as Sri Lankans. Sri Lanka belongs to all its inhabitants. Thirdly, the lawlessness, weapons, and corruption that he has inherited after four decades of strife have to be controlled and good governance has to be instituted, even though this may take time.

His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa is a visionary leader heading a team building a bright future for Sri Lanka. All Sri Lankans must join with him to build bridges among the different communities. We already see this in multi-ethnic Colombo which can be an example even for Killinochchi ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” an ancient Buddhist site and bird sanctuary then known as Giranikke.

Ayesh Madhawa De Silva.

• Student ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  the Royal College Colombo 07.
• The president of the students’ club of Alliance Francaise De Colombo , the French cultural center Sri Lanka. (2005-2010).