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Dispute
and the disputed leader Karuna is challenging the leadership of Velupillai Prabhakaran even if it is not the leadership of the LTTE itself - at least the leadership of the eastern sector of the LTTE. His complaint of neglect of the east -the unequal distribution of resources and unjust appointments to the exclusion of easterners - shows what the Tamil leadership in Sri Lanka has long suffered. Northern (Jaffna) domination has been an issue of Tamil politics and national life in Sri Lanka for generations. Ask any Tamil and he will tell you the chronic differences in the community - Trincomalee Tamils, Batticaloa Tamils, Jaffna Tamils, Colombo Tamils and Tamils in the plantation sector who were not tolerated in Jaffna once upon a time. We will not talk of the Hindu caste hierarchy, which is something by itself. Mr Velupillai Prabhakaran was the central pivot, or the human magnet, around which these chronic divisions appeared to fade. This was particularly after the unfortunate ethnic violence of July 1983. For good or for evil, he had surpassed the legends of most Tamil leaders of the past. But now the cracks have emerged again. This time around, not in a Tamil polity where the fellow brethren brushed shoulders in politics. Instead, after joining hands in battles of life and death where those belonging to both cultural divides have lost life and limb. It would appear that neither the United People's Freedom Alliance nor the United National Front wants to disturb the status quo vis-à-vis Velupillai Prabhakaran. We are not advocating the need to side with one or the other, except to remind the parties that both Velupillai Prabhakaran and Karuna are mass murderers. And that the best option may be to leave the warring factions to leave them to their own devices to sort their differences. This need not be viewed as seeming indifference on the part of Colombo. But lending a helping hand to one against the other might needlessly precipitate a situation that is detrimental to the painful process towards peace in Sri Lanka. The Tamil lobby, both the local and among the diaspora on the other hand which has paid "pooja" to the Tamil Eelam project, has had a glimpse of what to expect should they ever get even an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) or a Federal Government - something both the UNP and the PA, precursors to the UPFA, are conceding in their campaign. The claimants to the title of being the sole representatives of the Tamil peoples of Sri Lanka seem to be speaking in different voices themselves. And while there is nothing really to crow about the split in the ranks of the rebel movement, there is a crucial need to see where the splinters end as well. |
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