I checked the Oxford Dictionary. This is what it had to say about intellectuals: "Intellectual; adj. of, relating to, or appealing to the intellect; having a highly developed intellect, i.e., the faculty of reasoning and understanding objectively". How can one be "objective" when one works for an organisation for whom "at-gun-point" is an article of faith? It is one thing to be dead scared of the LTTE, and something totally different to bend over backwards to ratify their outrageous claims, going to the extent of making them out to be tame pussy cats. I have little regard for such Sinhala "intellectuals". Fortunately they are a minority.

Last week I ran into an intellectual, a Tamil one this time, and made the following observation: "One of the most lamentable things about this conflict is the silence of the Tamil intellectuals with respect to the brutal and barbaric truth about the LTTE. With the exception of UTHR-Jaffna, of course." He responded thus: "Well, we don’t have the privilege of being underground like the UTHR, but do you blame us?" That was the first time I heard that being underground, politically speaking, was a privilege, but I let it pass. Instead, I elaborated on this matter of finding fault.

I told him that it is fashionable for "peace" (read Eelam in this context) lobbyists to say "If you are for a military defeat of the LTTE, then join the army" but that I don’t turn around and tell the Tamil community "If you are not against Eelam, then go live in your ‘traditional homelands’!" I don’t say this, because I know how helpless they are. I know that for all intents and purposes the Tamil polity has been murdered. True, the Sri Lankan armed forces, the IPKF, EPRLF and other non-LTTE Eelamists, all the sycophant Tamils who openly support terrorism, have all taken part in this gruesome murder to a larger or lesser extent. But all of their crimes against the Tamil community put together pales into insignificance when you consider the contribution of the LTTE.

The above Tamil intellectual who is an ardent supporter of the PoC (Process of Capitulation) which he believes will usher in peace said that he is for a non-Eelam solution within a united Sri Lanka. Now I know there is a significant difference between "united" and "unitary" and that the former is a code-word for confederation and de-facto separation possibly leading to secession, but again I let that pass. I just said, "Can you go and say this in Killinochchi?" His reply was simple: "no".

This is the truth about Tamil intellectuals: they are forced to leave their faculties of reasoning somewhere not too far from Vavuniya; their faculties of understanding objectively is hopelessly compromised by an understandable apprehension about the wrath of the LTTE if they were to "step out of line". And mind you, even "half a step" would be going too far. Rajini Thiranagama walked a couple of miles away from the LTTE. Neelan Tiruchelvam went less than one half of half a step. They were both butchered by Prabhakaran’s hit squads.

My sympathies are with the likes of the above "Tamil intellectuals". At least they are honest. I am also sorry that their intellect doesn’t allow them to reason that they will have to remain outside the "traditional homelands" until the Tamil polity is resuscitated and that such resurrection cannot take place until the LTTE is taken out of the equation. I say "taken out" because there is no chance in hell that the LTTE will decommission their weapons on a voluntary basis.

I am less patient with the sycophants, Sinhala and Tamil. Last week I came across Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu’s "Apology for Prabhakaran" column in the Sunday Leader. This was the blurb that decorated the article titled "Interim administration: skirting the core issues:

"It is clear that the LTTE is not going to wait upon talks to confirm the parameters of permissible political action. Nor should they. They operate from the perspective that political action is their right and the parameters of political action are best set before the talks commence, rather than at them. In this respect, they are operating according to an agenda for the maximisation of political advantage, which is quite natural for a political actor seeking to consolidate its position. This should not be seen as a mala fide."

Saravanamuttu has for a long time done his all to legitimise the LTTE and terrorism. Therefore it is not surprising that he is arguing for the government to look the other way when the LTTE goes about carving out half the island for a state called "Tyranny" and say nothing of, for example, a Sinhala people’s "agenda for the maximisation of political advantage". For the Sinhala people to be considered a "political actor seeking to consolidate its position" would be quite out of order, of course. I mean, in order to consolidate, they have to have attained something, no? When you have conceded, on the other hand, the only thing left is to recover. Obviously such things don’t interest Saravanamuttu, for the simple reason that such things don’t interest Prabhakaran.

Saravanamuttu pleads for an understanding between the government and the LTTE of the "core issues", which, according to him "pertain to the overall restructuring and reform of the state to meet the twin imperatives of democratic governance and conflict resolution". When I read that line, I thought he was planning to elaborate on free and fair elections, the much talked about Independent Commissions (police, elections, public service, judiciary, and perhaps even media) etc. I thought maybe he will say something about taking guns away from the most ruthless, anti-democratic outfit to walk the earth in recent times, the LTTE. No, he skirts the issue, saying they will ( mind you!) include "the issues of self-determination and homelands, pluralism and human rights among others".

It is no secret that these terms have been used to sanitise and as proxy for "secession", "Eelam", the notion of "one ethnicity, one vote" (which is patently anti-democratic) and "the right of the LTTE to murder, plunder and extort". Saravanamuttu knows this because he thinks it is okay for the LTTE’s demands to develop into a concrete ground reality before talks commence. And we all know what the LTTE wants. He seems to be so thrilled by all this, that he goes overboard: "Between the charges of presumption and desperation, the government for one, will have to take the responsible for the fall out". Very interesting.

All previous attempts at resolving the conflict through talks were shot to pieces by the LTTE. The rearming, regrouping and conscripting activities of the LTTE over the past few months and over a territory larger than anything they ever dreamed of controlling (all thanks to the benevolence and/or naivetŽ of the Sri Lankan government of course), indicate that the script will be played out as before. Saravanamuttu knows this. This is why, even before the fact, he has thought fit to point the finger at the government.

The government will have to take the blame, I agree. The problem is that this government, like the one’s before, are described as "Sinhala", which it is certainly not. It is a government that came into being because Rauff Hakeem fell into their lap And because of Arumugam Thondaman who has openly said "I make and break governments". The "Sinhalese" in this government are scared to speak on behalf of the Sinhalese. All this is true and yet, when Prabhakaran orders his guns to do the talking, the government would have been only an accomplice and not the principal culprit.

I am not a member of Saravanamuttu’s club, "Skirting the Issues on Behalf of the LTTE". Therefore, I can propose my "core issues". Here goes. All that the Eelam Tamil intellectuals propose is the further destabilisation of the country. They want the government to ratify the Eelam fairy tale about history which cannot be substantiated by any historical evidence. They want the North and East to be a de-facto separate state (in the very least for their "aspirations" encompass the entire island). They want the LTTE’s system of taxation to be allowed to continue. They will not dream of asking the LTTE to drop its guns. They do not want the aspirations of the Sinhala people to be an issue. They want to write the Sinhalese out of the equations (in the very least for they would much rather "prove" that the Sinhalese are really Tamils).

It is because none of these core issues are being discussed that no "negotiation" will be possible. The parameters of the possible have been set. Within these there is only one thing: capitulation. This is why it is silly to use the term "peace process". The only "political fait accompli on the ground" that is amenable to "peace" would be a total decommissioning of weapons by the LTTE followed by a deconstruction of Eelam myth making and bringing to justice all direct and indirect supporters of the LTTE for their acts of treason.

This is the pragmatic path. It is a path that the LTTE will not walk. It is a path that Saravanamuttu’s club have skirted and will continue to skirt. It is a path that has to be taken if all peace loving people in this country, irrespective of race, religious faith and political persuasion are not to be sold as sacrificial lambs to the LTTE’s murderous designs.

The Sinhala and Tamil Eelam "intellectuals" have skirted the core issues long enough. It is time that the core issues are poured over their collective heads. That might make them think. For a change. In any case, even if they think or refuse to do so, one thing remains. Yes, the real core issues. Capitulation or not, they will not go away. Even it if takes time, they will not be uprooted. Their seeds will break the ground and emerge into the political sunlight, again and again. There is a forest that is waiting to be reclaim the intellectual desert. It is a matter of time. That’s all.