Challenging the Tiger
TULF Member of Parliament V.Anandasangaree has had the spunk to say that the LTTE is not the sole representative of the Tamil people. Hopefully he is not making a suicidal statement in the sense that it may be one that might well earn him a bullet or a grenade as a reward.

But, looked at dispassionately, this is a very significant development in the current peace process. It indicates that Tamil unity on the face of it, has been splintered -- but then this 'unity' was always very spurious and was a result of the fact that all Tamil politicians who showed any form of dissent were at the mercy of the LTTE's AK 47. The systematic elimination of the Tamil political leadership, be it political or militant leadership, resulted in a very long list of Tamil persons who were wiped off the face of the earth. The list is too numerous to be mentioned in this comment.

Mr. Anandasangaree's bold stance has sent shivers down the spine(less) TULF leadership, which till very recently needed Sri Lanka police protection to stave off LTTE hit squads.

But, in spite of this chilling effect, Mr. Anandasangaree has his supporters also (see opposite Editorial page.) Several Mayor's of Jaffna were shot dead by the LTTE, and in this context, it is noteworthy that India for instance has thrown its weight behind Mr. Anandasangaree's statement.

Indian involvement in Sri Lankan affairs has surely come full circle. From the initial bottle feeding of Tiger cubs during the infancy of the monstrous LTTE, to the Indian abetted usurpation of the traditional TULF leadership and now to the first political pronouncement of the Indian High Commissioner on Sri Lanka's domestic politics is a long journey -- and it surely signifies the re-entry of the Indian factor in Sri Lanka's domestic political scenario.

While serious objections were raised from all quarters of the Sri Lankan polity to India's hegemonic overlordship of this country in the initial stages of the separatist insurrection, the current political reversal in which India is supporting seemingly democratic forces needs to be appreciated, whatever the motives may be.

Needless to say, certain compelling forces have impelled the LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham to concede that the LTTE welcomes multi-party democracy at the local government election hopefully to be held in the North and East soon.

Suffice to say this turnaround comes soon after LTTE giving orders to the Tamil National Alliance to consult it at every given moment on how to conduct itself in Parliament (including instructions on opposing the vote of no confidence on the Minister of Defence while criticizing him in public) and destroying the EPDP offices in the peninsula, while also issuing edicts to cancel the scheduled opening ceremony of the Jaffna public library (the burning down of the Jaffna public library was an issue that the TULF took maximum advantage of in its global propaganda campaign.)

Indian backing of the TULF to regain its former role as the representative of the Tamil people is one thing. But it is another that the harsh hierarchical caste system in the Tamil polity has played its own part in promoting militant groups who had little or no say in the politics of that part of the country.

Now a whole new chapter comes to be written in the ongoing saga of Tamil political evolution. There is a challenge being thrown to the LTTE's self-anointed role as the 'sole representative of the Tamil people', and governments and non-governmental organizations all over the world which tacitly recognized the LTTE's supremacy will find it imperative to recognize this challenge.

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