War by terror

Sri Lankan refugees in Rameshwaram, the coastal village of Tamil Nadu

In a recent interview with NDTV, Anton Balasingam, the chief strategist of LTTE, termed the assasination of Rajiv Gandhi as a 'great tragedy' and asked Indian people (read government) to be 'magnonimous' enough to put it aside and move on.

He, however, did not mention about Padmanabha, Siri Saba Rathinam, Amirthalingam, and various other fellow Tamil leaders whom the LTTE has brutally killed in order to gain dominance over the ethnic conflict.

The questioner too, did not ask if LTTE will magnonimously put aside the Sinhalese atrocities on Tamils and go for peace in the region.

The questions and answers aside, the war in the region has broke off once again. Tamil Nadu started receiving the refugees in hundreds, which shall soon multiply into thousands. In them, we will also receive a lot of tigers who will intrude into the peaceful life of coastal Tamil Nadu, stealing drugs and fuel and boat engines. The refugees will lead a worse than a prisoner's life in those make-shift camps that will remain 'make-shift' forever. They can't even complain about the inhuman conditions in these camps because the authorities will tell them to be that they are alive.

In the midst of all this, the bloodthirsty Prabhakaran will continue to consolidate his dominance over the northern region by exercising his iron will and running a parallel government. The tigers will continue to collect 'taxes' from the Tamils and the same Tamils will be put to hardships by the Sinhalese authorities for acceeding to tigers' demands.

A few days before, the deputy chief of Army was brutally killed in a suicide operation and it featured in the sixth page in the newspaper. I, who doesn't watch TV, missed the news. As far the ethnic conflic goes, it appears like everybody, including the Sinhalese administration has resigned to the presence of LTTE and their continued atrocities. To the extent that the gruesome murder of the deputy chief of army isn't important or shocking anymore.

The Indian government, having adopted its non-interference policy since Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, is continuing to turn away from the ground reality. Barring some rabble rouse from the so-called LTTE supporters, Tamil Nadu too has become impervious to the developments at the down south.

Jaffna Tamils, the direct victims of the conflict, turned out to be the worst sufferers. Careers lost, assets devastated, societies ravaged, families torn away and survival at stake, they throng the coastal borders of Tamil Nadu in the hope that the link of the language will rescue them.

Somebody's mother is lost. For some, the father is in Australia, mother in London, brother joined the extremists and sister's whereabouts unknown. He reminisces his huge ancestral house back in Jaffna, its imposing facade adjacent to a historic cathedral. He talks absently about the huge gathering, after their Christmas mass, thronging to his house for tea. Suddenly his eyes wide open, he rues that the cathedral was destroyed in one of the bombings. And he doesn't know what became of the house.

For the authorities, he is mere statistics. For LTTE, he is the excuse for their fight. For media, he is no longer a news.

While talking to a friend, an ardent admirer of LTTE, I said the end of LTTE will be the only hope available for such people. 'What kind of a Tamil are you?', He retorted.

'A responsible one', I said.