6.End of LTTE will lead to emergence of long suppressed moderate Tamil leadership to guide Tamils in sri lanka towards ganing their rights
7.India and the International community should act as guardians to ensure that the GOSL will not renege on their promises for post war reconstructions/power sharing and intervene via sanctions etc..if they GOSL fail to live upto their commitments
8.The criminal Tamil diaspora who have blood in their hands for decades long material support to an brutal/fascist criminal enterprise that is LTTE, should be brought to justice…

Milthi,
I very much get your sarcasm. It stings,but you are entitled to your anger and your point of view. I agree with your point about UN / neutral observers in the "Safe Zones' and the world public opinion is getting around to that. All political parties here are calling for such an action. Unfortunately these kind of build ups take some time to fructify.

I don't believe there are only 600 fighters left. Such a small number can not hold back 250000 people by force. Nor will it take the army so long to clear the last 50 Square KM or so if that is the case. What the army is saying and the ground situation just do not seem to add up. Either the people are staying back willingly with a 600 strong rebel force, or the rebels' number is closer to 15000 – 20000 as believed by some analysts here, and they prevent the civilians from leaving, using them as a shield. We believe it is the latter case.

I don't know where you live, but if you have access to Tamil Magazines, read the analysis published in the Ananda Vikatan dated 4th March. As you may know, this is not a rag belonging to some fringe groups, but a highly reputed, popular publication.

Gansan,
I get your take on LTTE. As an Indian, you are entitled to be upset with the LTTE if you are convinced LTTE was responsible for Rajeev’s death. But your belief that somehow there will be peace if the Tamils just simply comply with the military agenda of the state is not justifiable.
Srilankan state is giving an ultimatum to a section of its population essentially saying if you stay where you are now, we won’t hesitate to kill you and If you come over to our side, we will put you in prison. If you are to argue, prison is better than death it might be so only for some. Many stuck in those areas, know that once they are in prison, they will be tortured, and many would be killed.
So it is not a simple question of going over to the other side. No one should be forced to make that choice under any circumstances by their own government. This is their homeland. No democratic government has the right to forcefully uproot a whole population.
Government is been saying there are only 600 of the LTTEers left. Does it make sense to kill 3000 people over the last few months and to put 250000 people’s lives in clear danger and also block medical and humanitarian aid over those 600 people you want to get to? What does it say about that government?
Your statement that the LTTE is preventing the people from leaving is also a convenient excuse.
600 LTTEers surrounded by 60000 armed troops holding 250,000 people who know they are about to die against their will. Does this add up?
No one knows what the people want to do because government does not allow anyone to go in and find out. Why not demand for a UN team to go in there and find out?
You say the same “ Tamils (in TN) who are observing extreme restraint now” when their brothers and sister are being killed in a mass scale, will “demand” and even “boil over” in the future if a solution is not implemented. I think you will get my sarcasm above.

Milthi,
I am sorry, I don't have a ready answer to your questions nor a ready solution to the problem. We don't have any sudden optimism about the government, except that we feel they too are tired of the war and want to move on. We don't just have an axe to grind with the LTTE, we simply don't want to have any truck with them. The spontaneous public support here does not reach pre 1992 levels only because of their past actions. They have killed far too many Lankan Tamil leaders and some of the killings took place here in Chennai. Killing of Rajiv was the last straw. Sorry, they have burnt all their bridges with India.

I am not well versed about the past implementations by the SL govt, and believe your views about that. My heart bleeds and the blood boils in my veins when I see the attacks on civilians, and their living conditions. I agree with you it is immoral not to do something. But the LTTE is making the matter " fait accompli" by not allowing the civilians to leave. What do you expect us to do? Invade Sri Lanka and liberate Eelam? That will not happen now, unless peace is first given a chance and India is convinced it is of no use.

The external pressure you talk of for implementation will come from India. We Tamils who are observing extreme restraint now will DEMAND the Indian Government to guarantee implementation of a package acceptable to Tamils. If that does not happen and the killings continue, THEN Tamil Nadu will boil over and force the Central Government to act. Failing which people here will openly start extending political/logistical/monetary support to the freedom movement, whether it is the LTTE or someone else spearheading it at the time. For I am sure the movement will not die down if the legitimate aspirations are not met.

That is my take as an average guy on the street, on the view prevailing in Tamil Nadu and India right now. I know it sounds lame to a Lankan Tamil, but that is the ground situation here at present.

Gansan,
Your sudden optimism about Srilankan government’s generosity is puzzling. The callous disregard to Tamil civilian lives over the last few months is any indication of what is in store, it is not all that difficult to predict. We all understand why people have an axe to grind with LTTE but for anyone to just stand idle and watch innocents die is immoral. A government to say a certain section of its citizens is an acceptable collateral damage in its fight against LTTE, says lot more about the attitude of the government and the people who support it.
Somehow you have found hope that the Tamils haven’t been able to find in this mess. You may help the ignorant Tamils by answering the questions below? .
When was the last time any Srilankan government negotiated and IMPLEMENTED a solution to the Tamil problem WITHOUT external pressure?
After 50 years of trouble, why isn’t there a solution initiated outside of north and east that everyone can converge on?

Arul, our heartfelt sympathies are with the Eelam Tamils. I use the term Eelam as a synonym for Sri Lanka as used in Tamil Literature of olden times, not as a separate country for Tamils. The average Indian of Tamil Nadu state is not for a separate country called Eelam, any more than he is for an independent Tamil Nadu. We are happy to be part of the Indian union where everyone enjoys equal status, though there are thorny issues between states from time to time.

Similarly we do feel the SL government is now prepared to give autonomy and equal rights to the Tamils within the frame work of Sri Lanka, irrespective of what the Mahavamsa mindset wants. I may be wrong, but we must first believe what a sovereign government says and give them a chance. But if that turns out to be an empty promise and the nightmares you mention become reality, what I said in my previous post will become true. The flood gates will be opened and NOTHING can close them thereafter. The Indian Government will be forced to intervene militarily. When the entire state of Tamil Nadu speaks as one man, the central government will have to stop and listen. Failing which there will be thousands of volunteers for the Eelam freedom movement even from Tamil Nadu. As for monetary / political support, the sky will be the limit.

But that single united voice is not being raised now, mainly because of the ways of the LTTE. People here are totally disenchanted with them, and believe the SL government is sincere this time. Be optimistic, think of the millions of Tamils here who will come to your support if your worst nightmares turn to become reality. Whom do the other side have?

According to the religion I practice (Theravada Buddhism) that is NOT RIGHT.

Before trying to punish the LTTE, the Rajapakse government ought to open an international war tribunal, and punish the sez-crazed members of the state military.

Now this means that segments of the Sri Lankan military, the official armed force of a sovereign state, commits acts of violent crime on its citizens: they gang rape underage girls, beat their fathers, kill their mothers, – all this because those who suffer tend to be poor, often low-caste and most importantly TAMIL.

Now, the world can see what the Sri Lankan military is like. These are the 'special tasks' that they, sons of rural Sinhala Buddhist people, are capable of doing. Wonder if they have mothers, sisters, partners, wives and daughters. Just like Krishanti, 10 year-old Thenuka and Tharshini, this will also go unnoticed. I am a Sinhala Buddhist from a well-educated and very patriotic background, and I see the Sri Lankan military, its divisions such as the Mahasona Segment and the sex-crazed STF are the worst nightmare for a peaceful Sri Lanka. Those who blame the LTTE forget that the LTTE is way better than these elements of the State military.

Those diplomats and high-level officials who sing eulogies for the Rakapakse government and use their intelligence to justify anything and everything that government does, ought to pause a second to think what this little girl's life would be hereafter.