Sir Lanka is all coastline. There are no borders with any other country 'directly' and they are south of India. The country is about the size of West Virginia, maybe a little larger. 70,000 people in a country that size is a considerable amount of people, a total populous of a little more than 23 million people. However, a country that size with an impressive terrorist element such as the Tamil Tigers is a direct threat to its sovereignty and a chronic danger to any citizen within its borders.
We know through experience with Indonesia that countries that are islands are very difficult to defend by a single sovereign military force. Island countries, by nature, are also easily exploited for all kinds of nefarious activities including weapons and drug trade. The issues that beset the Sri Lankan government were not just that of sovereignty or a 'safe' populous, but, there was always an issue of destabilization of the 'region' should it fall in a coup to a terrorist network.
The Sri Lankan government is a benevolent entity to its people. There is absolutely no indication this government ever wanted to annihilate its Muslim population. This is not an issue of genocide or ethnic cleansing, the Tamil Tigers are terrorists, murderers and treasonists. Part of the reason I think the EU makes such a 'big deal' of such government actions is because it is afraid of its own extremist Muslim population. But, that is another issue and will not be discussed here. The majority of the 'faithful' of Sri Lanka are Buddists, approximately 68% of the population, the Muslims are about 7%, the Christians about 6% and the rest are unspecified.
Needless to say, with such an extensive Buddist population one would anticipate a highly peaceful country concerned with every aspect of life and breath. I remember looking through pictures in the newspapers from 'The East' when the Christmas Tsunami struck (which are on this blog) and seeing a lonely Buddist statue surviving the complete wreckage that surrounded it. Also, with such a strong Buddist 'content' to the country, this conflict and carrying it to the end wasn't an easy decision. It took a great deal of fortitude of the government to make and reach this resolve.
We know for a fact that any country, when having chronic issues of security, sovereignty or turmoil in its populous or engaging in war; that the 'social content' of the people are the first thing to be sacrificed to commit resources to the military/police. In that, when one reflects on the tsunami and the relief efforts conducted afterwards, the millions and millions of dollars given to the effected countries, Sri Lanka should be further ahead in its improvements to the populous in regards to education, economy and health care.
The Tamils of this island country were afforded the same opportunities to improve their status and improve their quality of life along with the entire country. That didn't happen in the instance where the Tigers were involved. Instead, the population they effect were again disadvantaged and oppressed from achieving what should have been a modernization. Basically, the Tamil Tigers were 'refusing' to improve their status, which 'if a culture' is completely within their rights, but if an oppressor of the people seeking to rebel and destroy a sovereign government with a considerable Buddist content, it was simply a matter of 'hatred' of other cultures.
It has been four and a half years since the 2004 Christmas Tsunami and there was every effort afforded the Tamil Tigers to 'settle down' and be civil along with the rest of the people of Sri Lanka. They refused. The government wanted to stop the incidious threat to the country and in my opinion, it has been a long time coming. It is my sincerest hope the fiscal well being of Sri Lanka will be reviewed by all agencies of the global community and it will be assisted to rebuild and start an economy still waiting for such investment as tourism, including bastions of 'enlightenment.' We know for a fact, by improving an economy and returning dignity to people after such a conflict, the 'opportunity' for rebels to thrive or revitalize will vanish.
This was a completely avoidable civil war IF the Tamil Tigers were capable of compassion and peace. They were not and the region, as well as the global community, is more safe today for the actions of the Sri Lankan government. It is time NOW for every country shaking in fear at the resolve of this conflict to secure their sovereignty and protect their people if they have a population within their borders that ACTS as a threat. It is a shame there is such fear of such populations within the borders of 'supposedly free' countries. I mean honestly !!!!!!!
The region above is the war zone.
Needless to say, the Tamil Tigers are among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world. (click here) For more than three decades, the group has launched a campaign of violence and bloodshed in Sri Lanka, the island republic off the southern coast of India.
Its ultimate goal: to seize control of the country from the Sinhalese ethnic majority and create an independent Tamil state. Along the way, it has launched suicide attacks, assassinated politicians (including a government minister this week and even the Sri Lankan President), taken hostages, and committed all of kinds of crimes to finance its operations. The resulting civil war has taken the lives of nearly 70,000 Sri Lankans on both sides of the conflict since 1983 alone....
A woman fighter of the Tamil Tigers takes a shooting position in Sri Lanka in July 2007. AP Photo.
...Sri Lanka's army says the last LTTE (Tamil Tiger) fighters have been penned in a 1.5 square kilometre patch of jungle.
On Sunday the Tigers chief of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, said in a statement on the Tamilnet website: "This battle has reached its bitter end."
A later statement appeared to modify the rebel position, saying the LTTE was "prepared to silence its guns if that is what needed by the international community to save the life and dignity of the Tamil people".
The country's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already claimed victory, declaring on Saturday that Sri Lanka had been made free from "barbaric acts".
Europe 'appalled'
In Brussels the EU issued a draft statement ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, expressing a sense of outrage at the reports of civilian casualties on both sides....
