'Terrorist' Prabhakaran is dead, Lankan army's terror lives on

"THOSE who live by guns, die by guns" is an age-old belief, which may be true in letter but not always in sprit as well. The extent of appeal of the cliche depends on who are "those" being referred to and what prompted this "those" to take up arms. A cold-blooded killer, a hardcore criminal, a roadside robber or somebody akin to a freedom fighter? They may all use arms, but their mens rea - the real intent - may just not have any similarity.

No, you got it wrong if you thought that I am here to defend the slain chief of LTTE Vellupillai Prabhakaran and what he stood for. Violence in any form must be condemned, as violence becoming the means of expression can only guide a situation to more violence.

But at the moment, the twin crucial questions raising their heads are: "Has the death of Prabhakaran also laid to rest the cause he had been fighting for over 25 years?" and "If he was a terrorist, what should theSri Lankan army be termed as?" Yes, the Lankan army has also indulged in genocide, and indulged to the hilt. In their obssession for Prabhakaran, they ran amok killing just anybody and everybody coming in the way of "Mission Prabhakaran", including thousands of innocent civilians.

Ever since the Lankan government went on an all-out offensive against LTTE in the northern part of our southern neighbour, the international community kept pleading for a ceasefire, not to save the "terrorist" but to allow the civilians to leave. But President Mahinda Rajapaksa simply turned a deaf ear to the global outcry against the massacre in the trouble-torn land.

So, in the present case, guns seem to have only changed hands ...earlier Prabhakaran used them in the name of creating Tamil Eelam, later the army used them on an ethnic minority for "liberating" a certain part of their land from the clutches of separatist rebels. Outcome in both cases was immense loss of life and property, which could have well been avoided. Now, "who was a worse terrorist?" is a question open to debate.

All these years, the fallen LTTE chief, rightly or wrongly, fought for a separate Tamil state - the Eelam, which has its roots in social discrimination of Tamils at the hands of majority Sinhalese. Journalists and other visitors to Lanka have time and again confirmed the second-rate citizen's treatment meted out to the Tamil population. One such representative instance is that of a policeman, who refused to take down a complaint because it was being made in Tamil and not Sinhala!

The answer to the question "Whether there will be more Vellupillai Prabhakarans in Sri Lanka?" will largely depend on what the government of that country has to offer to the Tamil populace in terms of socio-political inclusiveness, coupled with a drastic change in the attitude of the majority Sinhalese. That alone can pave the way for a new era of peace and harmony to follow.

Now, no more guns, no more bombs, please!