5th Column

The long distance call to the Wanni was from London. It was Bala on the line.
"Thambi, we lost that one too…"
"What do you mean, Bala?"
"It's now official, Thambi, the European Union has also banned us…"
"So what Bala? What do you expect me to do?"
"We will have to do something, Thambi, we will not be able to carry on in this manner…"
"Huh, Bala, I never trusted these talks of yours anyway…"
"But, Thambi, you are hiding in the jungle; we have to face the music…"
"So, you can't go on your many trips to Oslo, Geneva and Colombo…"
"That's not the problem, Thambi…"
"I don't see any major problem, Bala…"
"But Thambi, it is not just the ban itself that is the issue here…"
"What is it then?"
"Why, Thambi, they are freezing all the funds that we have in these countries…"
"That may be a problem to some extent…"
"And we won't be able to collect any more funds either…"
"Ah, but we can always have citizens organisations doing that for us, can't we?"
"Yes, Thambi, but it won't be as easy collecting funds directly…"
"Remember, Bala, even claymore mines were attributed to these citizens' organisations…"
"Ah, yes, why even the boycott of the presidential elections was done through the citizens organisations…"
"So, Bala there is no need for you to worry…"
"Do you mean we just carry on with business as usual?"
"Yes, a few claymore mines everyday and a few massacres of innocent civilians every now and then…"
"But, Thambi, that might earn us even more negative publicity…"
"Look, Bala, you manage the peace talks, I'll manage the war…"
"But, Thambi are you trying to start a full scale war all over again?"
"I can if I want to; it is not me who is not prepared for war…"
"But how can we say we want peace talks at the same time, Thambi?"
"Why are you so worried about peace talks now, Bala?"
"Why, Thambi, they are planning this meeting in Oslo and we have to tell them whether we are attending or not…"
"If you really have to send someone, you can…"
"I will, then, Thambi…"
"But make sure that we make a huge fuss about getting transport to Oslo and impose as many preconditions as possible on that…"
"But what will you do while we are talking peace, Thambi…"
"I have to plan my next attack of course. The last attack was not very successful, remember?"
"But Thambi, what about the peace talks itself?"
"Those talks are only about the ceasefire, aren't they?"
"Yes, but at some point we will have to respond to what the other side is offering…"
"Ah, don't you worry about that, Bala"
"Why is that, Thambi?"
"They won't be able to agree among themselves on what to offer us…"
"What makes you so sure about that, Thambi?"
"Why, now that chap will get some greens into his camp and then the greens will start sabotaging everything the blues and the reds are doing…"
"There's some truth in that, Thambi"
"And that is the lesson we have to learn, Bala…"
"What lesson is that, Thambi?"
"They may ban us in the entire world but as long as the greens, blues and reds in the South are divided among themselves, we have nothing to worry…"
Bala didn't disagree.