The Continued Militarization of Sri Lanka

My opinion about the situation in Sri Lanka is different to many sentiments expressed here. Sri Lankan situation is not satisfactory beyond any doubt. However, the situation is not as grave as some of the pro LTTE comments here. Should the military be scaled down from the northen and Eastern areas? Yes, most definitely. SL government should take evasive action to un-arm the para-military groups in the first place. Otherwise, it would not be different to US army leaving Afghans in the hands of Taleban. Sri Lankan situation is unique and different to any other situation we find in most countries. If you try to narrow it down to a mere descrimination against the tamil people, we would not be doing justice to a peculiar political situation. Majority of businessmen in colombo, Sri Lanka are either tamil or muslim. Not only these businessmen conduct their businesses without any descrimination, but also, a lot of their clients are in fact sinhalese people. Most tamil people think highly of education; some of them can speak all 3 languages fluently. Even during the times of war a lot of tamil people had their education freely and fairly. This does not mean tamil people are without any issues. On one hand, tamil people have a lot of administrative barricades. Finding a tamil speaking officer in government offices is one of the huge difficulties they face, and I'm sure there are many other issues that the country would need to address in due course. On the other hand, a lot of issues they face are due to the low income level of their families. What we actually need in the country is a pragmatic plan to address all the grievances of low income sectors in the country. As we experience in most developed countries, generation of wealth and upliftment of living standards would make most of the tamil people switch their focus from discrimination to something more pertinent and relevant to their lives. Even though the discussion on descrimination would continue, the main focus would switch to something more advanced like savings or retirement plans.

Thanks Gibson for a great article on the current status and future implications in SriLanka. Recent US govt. activities seem to indicate a cover-up of atrocities committed by the SriLankan army. Wikileaks further substantiates deliberate silence and facilitation by US state officials in the massacre of Tamils which could easily have been prevented. The Congress must call an investigation into the handling of the affairs of Sri Lanka by US officials, including some of their business pursuits in SriLanka.

Its also a real pity the comments section of this article is overwhelmed with unsubstantiated vitriolic by pro-LTTE ultra-nationalist Tamils based overseas.

Thank you Bibson for your brave and  neural article. It seem like Sri lanka president people did war crime, State terrorism, crime aganist humanity in .   if Sri lanka president  hands were clean then why are these thugs so scared for un open unpartial UN monitored international investigation to find truth?

It is a pity this article is rife with conspiracy theory, sweeping statements, is poorly researched and lacks analytical rigour. It is typical of the well meaning fly-in-fly-out journalists who have written extensively on the conflict in the Western media and who fall easy prey to misinformation by either the pro-LTTE Tamil migrant lobby, or human rights lobby groups like the ICG. This author claims that figures are not publicly available. Wrong! If you do thorough enough research, which you have not clearly done, you will note that the Sri Lanka Navy recently opened 25 new satelitte camps along the northern coastline to interdict and monitor illegal fishing from southern India and also the prospect of LTTE reinfiltration from southern India. The troop number stationed in the north are large, that is without question, but the army is also heavily involved in national development, not just the provision of security. In addition, there have been reports that several thousand Tamil police constables have been recruited to serve in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, where many Tamils live. In a recent interview, the leader of the Jaffna-based Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, or the (EPRLF), T. Sri Dharan, a progressive and moderate Tamil party, which is anti-LTTE for good reason, said that the percentage of support for the LTTE among Tamils is around 15% of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka. This is a very significant point you should take note of. While tensions remain between certain sections of the Tamil polity in the north, to suggest that the army is seen as oppressors is a sweeping exaggeration. There will be elements within Tamil society who do not like the presence of the military, but when the military was taken off the streets prior to the Presidential election in 2010, the  incidence of criminality dangerously spiked, and this led to public calls for the military to be redeployed in strength to restore law and order, which happened. The reasons for troop deployments in the north are varied, it would therefore by useful to avoid simplistic explanations for a complex equation. You should read the commentary written by the Point Pedro Institute, based on the Jaffna Peninsula, and also not rely so heavily on human rights groups with questionable agendas for information to compile your story. I hope you will keep this in mind next time you write on Sri Lanka's affairs.

Thank you Bibson for your brave, honest, and neural. It is Pure war crime, State terrorism, crime aganist humanity, genocide, ethnics cleaning and massacre. if their hands were clean then why are these thugs so scared for un open unpartial UN monitored international investigation to find truth?

Leve the Tamil to live in Srilanka.. if not .. SL gov need to resolve the issue..