Self-determination will lead to separate state
By Susantha Goonatilake

Usually it is only drowning men who clutch at straws. The straw in the Prabhakaran news conference clutched by our Premier was the passing phrase, "internal self-determination" within a string of other dictionary definitions of self-determination that the Prabhakaran-Balasingham duo spat out in their interview. This interpretation missed the whole thrust of the LTTE's international separatist strategy for the minimum conditions for acceptance as an independent state. Any cursory glance at the LTTE's propaganda material shows this, as for example, those of Tiger legal ideologue Karen Parker.
And what were these conditions? They were all spelled out at the interview, the so-called Thimpu principle - 'Tamil homeland, Tamil nationality and the Tamil's right to self-determination.'

The homeland theory has been dismissed as a sheer fabrication by serious scholars. The best exposure was that of Professor K. M. de Silva's crisp monograph on the topic, reviewing which the Indian journal Economic and Political Weekly called the homelands a "hoax". Mr. Prabhakaran was also asked whether his statement that if he gives up Eelam he should be shot, still stands? His answer was straightforward ''that it stands." So, the goal has not changed.

Once self-determination is granted, within a few weeks a legally-binding separate state could be declared fitting into international criteria for recognition. The other giveaway question was whether the LTTE accepts Ranil Wickremesinghe as its Prime Minister. The answer was that there is a President and prime minister for the South and in Tamil Eelam Mr. Prabhakaran is both the President and the Prime Minister. No previous UNP leader would have accepted that insult without the harshest response.

Mr. Prabhakaran also mentioned in passing that constituents of the "government of the prime minister of the South'' notably representatives of the upcountry Tamils and Rauff Hakeem of the Muslim Congress were to come to his Wanni headquarters.
These ministers of the elected "PM of the South" were already working out separate arrangements - cutting deals - with the un-elected President-PM of the North, with the new would-be state and under a Tiger flag prominently displayed. This was both insurance and a pointer to the future. The new state-to-be would be an expansionist one. When the time comes these present ministers of the 'PM of the South" would switch allegiances to the sole un-elected leader of the North. The new state would thus include all Tamil speaking people including those of the central hills, the Malai-Nadu region, so often found in separatist maps.

The present map itself as famously displayed in "Pongu Thamil" rallies most notably in Trincomalee is even more expansionary, extending far beyond the present North and East. The borders of this map extends close to Negombo in the West; and creeps up to Hambantota in the East. It also eats up territory close to Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.

But for more serious students, these maps of the future expansionary Tamil Eelam State are not new. They are found in the publications of the Norwegian-funded International Alert (IA), an outfit specifically set up 15 years ago to further the cause of Tamil separatism. But the maps have a longer history. I forwarded one of these maps to my brother last week. Back came his e-mail: so what's new?" He had seen some fellow students in England, Tamil racists, already displaying the same map in 1972.

The reason for the interview was plain. As Mr. Prabhakaran said; it was to clear up international "misunderstanding about the LTTE". What this clearing up would finally end up in was also clear in the LTTE's new pre-condition for talks. It wants the ban lifted to admittedly set in motion lifting of bans in other countries. Indian leaders expressed revulsion at Mr. Prabhakaran's interview describing it as outrageous.
The reaction in the western media was also suspicious. It was only in Sri Lanka that a positive spin has been given, especially by the "other PM", that of the South.
The private English language print media have come out with some of the harsh truth, but not the electronic media or the Sinhala media. The Sinhala media, which one would have expected to be more nationalist have become very tamed - as Minister W. J. M. Lokubandara said in a TV discussion. The indirect pressure brought on them is no secret.

The Tamil media on the other hand, from all reports, were spewing out direct Tiger propaganda reflecting the venom in the Tiger war videos now widely being shown all over the North, East and the central hills. Significantly, at the news conference, covered by the state media (largely pro-UNP media) and where many other journalists questioned about the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, no one asked about the killings of R. Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake or Ranjan Wijeyaratne. At the news conference, there were constant references to September I1 attacks on the United States. But no one questioned attacks on our sacred symbols - Sri Maha Bodhi, Dalada Maligawa and more modern symbols - the airport and the Central Bank.

Mr. Prabhakaran cynically condemned September 11th as one "perpetrated on innocent civilians". No apology for his massacres of our non-combatant innocents.
He apologized to the Muslims for ethnic cleansing but not the Sinhalese who met the same fate. His future state will be Tamil speaking only. How far the government is suppressing the truth or is blind to it is seen in the views this week of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) whose leader Ashok Singhal once designated the LTTE as "the armed wing of the Christians". This week a VHP spokesman on a visit to Sri Lanka "accused the Christian clergy of playing a major role in fuelling the Tamil separatist conflict", saying "the more the conflict rages, the more will be the hardship and poverty among Tamils.

And the [Christian] clergy will try to convert Hindu Tamils." The VHP spokesman noted the emergence today of a "de facto Tamil state the LTTE runs in the north.
They have put up a parallel administration with their own penal code, judiciary, banks, police and orphanages," he said. "It is a full-fledged State."

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