Sri Lanka's war

Out of the Tigers' cage

The government is on the cusp of completing a famous victory against Sri Lanka’s Tamil rebels. Now it needs to avert a massacre, and make peace

See article

Readers' comments



Sinna Siththar...

Causes of terrorism = Failing the basic multiple-choice test given to the government by the terrorists.

Groth of terrorism = Appeasement of terrorists.

Drop it, mate...drop it. Today 20/4, 35,000 hostages escaped from the grips of Tamil terrorists, who suicide-bombed and killed many civilians and injured many, while they were running en masse towards the troops.

Go ahead... call those terrorists heroes!

It's futile to parrot that the sun rises from the West. There will be some idiots who will believe that for some time... but almost all of them would realize the truth one day.
Looks like you are not one of them!

Tamil terrorists have no place to run to now... except the MySE... the Mythical State of Elaam. Why don’t you hurry up and join them?

Sinna Siththar


The civilians who are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea definitely need more than our support, indeed a miracle to spring them out of that area. Here you are free to choose your own imagination to substitute LTTE and Sri Lankan state for either devil or treacherous sea.

Our opinions matter as people living in Sri Lanka do not have the luxury of freely expressing their dissatisfaction, opinion or opposition to the Sri Lankan state represented by the Rajabakse brothers and the LTTE dictated by Prabaharan.

How would you support the civilians?

Are those who shed tears in this forum for the civilians genuinely concern about them? I don't think so. Each of us have our own secret agenda, either some of us want to save LTTE under the pretext of caring for the trapped civilians or rest of us want to see the anihilation of LTTE even if it cost thousands of civilian lives.

If we are honest, we would have appealed to both brutal parties to hand the civilian over to ICRC or UNHCR.

Please lets not pretend otherwise.


I don't support violence as a means of change. However I am not Ganthi therefore I am incapabble of leading the people to freedom by non violent means. I expect neither Rajabakse nor Prabaharan to lead their respective people to freedom leave alone peace and prosperity.

Sri lanka is not a democratic state, although you might find some elements of democracy. Don't let the state and the ruling party to deceive you since they are the institutions which have the monopoly on violence apart from LTTE and former terrorist JVP. In the past 40 years of history violence is the main instrument to effect change or maintain status quo in Sri Lanka. Either way violence has been the only tool which has been in use without any restraint throughout the last 40 years during elections and in rebellion. Therefore, democratic elections in Sri Lanka should be considered as the necessary evil and not as an agent of change.

Sri Lanka is definitely not a Banana Republic but a Tea Republic. Please could you check your facts in Wikipedia about Banana Republic. The way Sri Lanka has been governed by its leaders does fit the bill.

The war has crushed more people in the hands of both LTTE and the State. Does it matter if you live or die?

I believe in "Truth is the first casuality of war" therefore, I am patiently awaiting for truth to come out. When that happens you will be the first dissapointed soul.

The word Liberation has been excessively used by both parties hence it has lost it meaning.

I still suspect you are a dissapointed secret LTTE supporter. You might need counselling for depression like many others who supported the LTTE.

You asked me "When are you going to be 'Periya' Sithtar?"

The day I stop responding to your comments.


[Phoenix, the 21 million Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka ]


It's a typo.

In Sri Lanka, Tamil speaking population is less than 1.7 million but.... Jeez... they are indeed PRIVILEDGED to live in every nook and corner of the country.

That’s why, as far as Sri Lankans are concerned, any ‘struggle’ for a ‘Tamil cause’ would be a bogus one and therefore a non-starter.


Sinna Siththar, the article describes Prabhakaran's skills as a manipulator of the international community. For all I know, India too was misled till a stage when it realised his true intentions. The so called liberation was not funded by India, but by extorting money from from SL Tamils living and working abroad - sometimes, by upto 50% of their disposable income. Willingly or unwillingly, the expat SL Tamils are as responsible for the current crisis that innocents find themselves in. Is it too much to ask for one man to surrender (or even shoot himself) in order to save tens of thousands from untold hardship? What sort of a demon is he?

Phoenix, the 21 million Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka didn't have a choice. Neither did the child soldiers, nor did the cadre who were executed if they fell in love. None seem to have had a choice except Prabhakaran. If he feels that "independence" must be won through sacrifice, let him be the first to do so.


I don't believe we need to stoop so low that we have to bring in the families of those who are involved. Prabaharan made a choice and that is it. His family allegedly has no connection, so let us leave it at that and focus at the matter at hand.
I believe the SL Army is making a genuine effort to win the war, in which civillians definetely are victims! On the other hand LTTE too is responsible for shooting, injuring civillians.
This has evidently become a power struggle nurtured by prejudice as clearly illustrated by the Sri Lankans in Melbourne..All those arguing out there needs to put away your differences for a moment, create a united front for those civillians who suffer. Your opinons matter but your support will matter more to those affected!


Sinna Siththar:

I don't support LTTE or GOSL or whatever. But I OPPOSE anyone trying to change systems in a democratic system through violence, because:

- It's bound to fail (might succeed in a banana republic)
- It needs to crushed before I become a victim
- The whole idea shows incapacity of the terrorists to compete
- The case has to be based on lies and fabrications. (read the
hilarious comments here by weeping Tamil terrorists'
- One day, the truth would come out.

In your rush to accuse me, did you overlook the ' ' between the word "liberating"?

BTW... When are you going to be 'Periya' Sithtar?

Sinna Siththar


I feel sorry for you. You wrote: Don't 'consume' the very people you were once 'liberating'.

Did you really believe what LTTE said. If you believe this you would believe anything. Wake up, how come a subtantial section of Tamil speaking never believed what LTTE promised. It is a pitty that you swallowed their lies. It shows how naive you are and I suspect that you might have been an ardent supporter/secret admirer of LTTE until the imminent fall of Killinochchi.

You seemed to be disappointed with what LTTE said and did. I am glad that even at this late stage you have identified the LTTE's true nature. Sooner you will also discover the true nature of the Sri lankan state. Don't wait until its too late.

Sinna Siththar


We meet again, good.

I have no intrest in Prabaharan's family as they have nothing to with the war. In some way they too are victims of Prabaharan. You say his family is living in a western country, may be so. When he was fighting IPKF his family was living in Sweden according to rumours circulating at the time. He was living in Muslim villages somewhere near Mutur in Sri Lanka.

I love to meet Prabaharan before he disappears into political wilderness. Can you or someone in this forum arrange a meeting for me to raise a number of unanswered questions? At least a phone in interview!

Probably he is longing for a confession and I am ready to listen to him. Please pass my e mail address to him in case he is already out of the country.

My guess is he will go to India or he is already there. Kao's boys will be happy to provide him santuary as his service to them is still highly valued and appreciated in a historical context. India promoted LTTE and Parabaharan at the cost of Tamil & Sinhala Speaking people and other Tamil militant organisations. We know he is a despot, but not ours, he is India's despot. Therefore its only appropriate that India should have him back. Further, LTTE is India's Taliban so India has a moral responsibility to protect them and should take good care of remaining cadres. It will free the Tamil Speaking people to continue their struggle to restore their democratic rights.


Tamil terrorist cannibals: Don't 'consume' the very people you were once 'liberating'. The escaped wounded civilians are asking what crime they did to be SHOT when escaping from grips of Tamil terrorists. The women, children and the sick have flesh and blood.

Tamil terrorists: Fight the army like a bunch of brave fighters without holding the civilians as a human shield.

Membership of the Tamil terrorist International lied once to Western governments to stay in the West... It seems they are hoodwinking the West a second time around in order to get more membership land in the West… by parroting 24/7 'genocide'.

Sri Lanka MUST continue to fight these Tamil terrorists using full and protect their beautiful country, while the West needs to save their tax payers’ money and prevent Tamil terrorist slowly growing up to be dangerous criminals or terrorists.

All signs point to dangerous escalations in the West.


One cannot but admire the Sri Lankan people and government for the restraint it has exhibited because of the beleagured civilians trapped by the terrorists. The total disregard that Prabhakaran has shown for the lives of those whom he professes to fight for indicates his despotism. If women, children and the aged die in the NFZ it is only the terrorists that have to blamed and should be tried for human rights abuses.

By the way, Sinna Siththar, where are Prabhakaran's wife and daughter? No doubt, in a western country, enjoying the comforts of a civilized life, whilst the population suffers.


Indeed the vexed language issue is at the heart of Tamil sensitivities -
English had been the lingua franca before independance - a Bandariake govt. banned "colonial" english and thus Tamils - most of whom had not had formal education in Sinhalese - the new official language - felt relegated to second class citizenship -
and unable to qualify for the bountious civil service jobs for which the British had encouraged them
It seems forgotten that India - back when it was an ally of the Soviet Union -
encouraged and probably supported the first Tamil rebel movements -
Russia was interested in Trincomalee - the finest deepwater port in the east - with a friendly Tamil statelet beholden to India - this would have become a USSE naval base -


The west has now got a taste of the fanaticism of the tamils from defeacation in public sites in New zealand to starvation and self immolation. Not to talk about the vandalism of the Sri Lankan embassy in Norway. This is a taste of what is to be expected in the future . A sigh of relief for the battered Sri Lankans that these people who live on fabrication and lies have left there shores.

Sinna Siththar


At last year's UN General Assembly the president read out a message in Tamil. Whether he knows Tamil or not is the issue.

The pertinent question should have been whether the Tamil Speaking People have the rights in words and deeds to deal with the state machinery in Tamil. The evidence suggest dissapointingly no.

Almost all the government departments send out letters in Sinhala language knowing full well the recipients are Tamils. The Sri Lankan High Commission in the UK refuses to accept birth certificates issued in Tamil by Sri Lankan Department of Registration which is another arm of the Sri Lankan state even though the 13th ammendmend to the constitution states "Tamil Shall Also Be an Official Language".


An ewxcellent balanced article in contrast to anti government ,biased other media.
The next few days would be crucial in this long conflict.Lets hope the captive civilans are freed from the jackboots of the Tigers.


Sinna Siththar:

Are you suffering from Ostrich syndrome?

How can you continue to live in denial, feeding unsuspecting readers with loads of lies, accusations and fabrications... hoping that when you repeat a lie 300,000 times, the lie would become fact?

Sri Lankans' immediate need is not to engage in political dialog... but to catch or destroy the Tamil terrorists who are hiding behind a 50,000 strong human-shield and FIRING at army.

Are you seriously expecting any country to save those Tamil terrorist cannibals?

Sri Lankans are watching.

Sinna Siththar


Sri Lanka does not give fair chance to its people. Sri Lankan state power is owned by a few and run by families who are well connected, a handful of bureaucrats and powerful business people. If you care to look at the recent Central Bank Report, you will find Western Province is doing very well while the rest of the island is struggling. Western province is where most of the oligarchy live, prosper and control rest of the country. it seems to me that there are two states in Sri Lanka, one in Colombo and the second is outside Colombo divided by disproportionate wealth and power.

There were two JVP terrorism in the past, when rural poor and unemployed Sinhala Speaking youths were misled by Pol Potist, masquerading as revolutionaries, who killed tens of thousands of Sinhala Speaking people. This was the consequence of conditions created by the undemocratic brutal state. Therefore, you have to review your perception of the Sri Lankan state.

Sri Lanka is almost a failed state which cannot be fixed with battered old wheel, hence the progressive in all communities should take the responsibility and invent new wheel and oil it when necessary.

Sri Lanka has not been a paradise as the tourism brochures would deem us to believe. So is your analysis.

I have always opposed LTTE for its brutality, its undemocratic nature and its unrealistic objective. I knew then it was doomed to fail. I have also opposed Sri Lankan State for its brutality, its undemocratic nature and its unrealistic objective of creating a mono-ethnic, mono-religious state. I know the state is doomed to fail, at least it is partially true.

Rajabakse clan has taken it upon itself to protect the state and is trying its best to fix it and stabilise the state machinery. The only method the clan is accustomed to is using brutal state power as did the previous rulers. Every time the state power was forcefully used, the Sri Lankan polity became more fragile than before. The force that the clan uses now on Tamil speaking people as well as on its own Sinhala Speaking people, in order to sustain the undemocratic state, will bound to backfire. You are going to end up with a state akin to Peron’s Argentina. The way things are, you may be allowed to practice democracy at rigged elections, but in effect Sri Lanka will come under one party rule, accepting the services of brothers in succession. I don't like it, many people don’t like it. Do you?


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