The Conflict in Sri Lanka: Ground Realities - Ilankai Tamil Sangam

Introduction
The prospects for peace in Sri Lanka are decidedly grim.
There are good reasons to believe that the fragile Cease-Fire
between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam may not hold for much longer.
President Rajapakse has foreclosed all avenues for meaningful
resolution to the conflict by denying the existence of a Tamil
Homeland and a Tamil nation in the Island of Sri Lanka. Also, he
has strongly articulated his commitment to the preservation of
the unitary state and Sinhala hegemony.
The Tamil leader, Mr Velupillai Pirapakaran has acknowledged
this state of affairs by pointing out: “The Tamil right to selfdetermination
will never find space in the entrenched majoritarian
constitution and in the political system built on that constitutional
structure. Our people have, therefore, realised that they have
no alternative other than to fight and win their right to selfdetermination.
Self-determination entails the right to freely choose,
without external interference, our political life” 1
However, in a final attempt to bring about a negotiated political
resolution Mr Pirapakaran has called on the new government
to “come forward soon with a reasonable political framework that
will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people” At the
same time he has made it clear that this is the “final appeal”
and should the Government reject this appeal. “We will, next
year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for selfdetermination,
our struggle for national liberation to establish selfgovernment
in our homeland 2 ”
In the epilogue to his book ‘War and Peace ‘ in post Colonial
Ceylon, Adrian Wijemenne, a Sinhala historian concludes “The
Sinhala leadership is notably pragmatic when it eventually awakes
to the realities of the situation’ 3 .
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