The end-game in the Vanni War is taking longer to end than expected. Earlier this year, towns and villages were being vacated and occupied even faster than the Peace Secretariat issuing polemical statements to counter-attack every criticism of the government’s operations vis-a-vis civilians. The civilians vacated the towns and moved into the north-east corner of Vanni, while the security forces simply over-ran and occupied these towns and villages, routing the LTTE cadres, who though putting up stiff resistance were no match for the vastly superior Sri Lanka security forces. But now the civilians are all holed up in the north-east corner and bearing the brunt of this brutal and now senseless war. Senseless because the LTTE has all but been defeated in conventional operations and it is only a matter of time before the security forces capture the remaining bit of territory. Brig Shavindra de Silva leading the 58th Brigade is right when he states that it is only the presence of civilians that is delaying the inevitable.

It is clear that the civilians are tragically caught up in a war not of their choosing. It is not material if there are only 70,000 of them as the government claims or 200,000 of them as some non-governmental agencies estimate. It is also clear that the LTTE does not want them to leave. If all the civilians are evacuated, the only people left would be the LTTE cadres and the security forces will simply bomb them out of existence – by sea, land and air. So the evacuation of the civilians is just not going to happen, without delicate negotiations with the LTTE. The present situation of the war is also untenable – soldiers, LTTE cadres and civilians are being killed or injured, with perhaps the largest number being among the civilians, because these innocents are the LTTE’s ‘first line of defence’. Civilians are also reported to be dying because they lack medical facilities and/or insufficient food. Delivery of food is delayed because the ICRC which handles this requires security guarantees from both sides. The same goes for the evacuation of the elderly and the sick.

The civilians, as indeed all the actors in this war, are our fellow-citizens. We simply cannot allow them to be suffer in this fashion. Their suffering will come to an end only if the actors in this war stop playing games with people’s lives. The LTTE will not let them go and the security forces will not stop artillery-fire because they state that the LTTE is firing shells at them from among or near civilians. So they refuse to let-up until the LTTE surrenders. A decision by the security forces to end the current standoff and wipe out the LTTE can only be carried out at the expense of thousands of civilian lives. It is a Catch-22 situation for these helpless and powerless civilians

Some of our religious leaders, some members of the civil society and some from the international community (whom we love to hate but to whom we now have to turn because of a severe financial crisis) have been urging a cease-fire to protect civilian lives. The government has refused to consider this, until the LTTE lays down arms. Lives of soldiers, LTTE cadres and civilians are being lost, all with the object of defeating the LTTE and bringing all territory under the writ of the government. Cannot that objective be achieved while protecting lives? To do so, we may have to think of what has been unthinkable up to now. We need to have a mediator or mediators who can talk both to the government and the LTTE and bring this war to a dignified end. The mediator/s must enjoy the trust and confidence of all the parties (the government, the LTTE and the Tamil civilians), preferably with experience in conflict resolution in similar situations. The unthinkable may be even to offer an amnesty to the LTTE cadres in return for a peaceful withdrawal from territory.

This column is convinced that only a settlement on those lines will bring lasting peace to our troubled nation. If it is coupled with a sincere implementation of the 13th and 17th Amendments, it will help us to re-unite and re-build our country, without further bloodshed. Nation building and national integration are priority needs for our divided nation. This can be achieved only if war is ended with dignity and less triumphalist rhetoric. Senator George Mitchell was the mediator who achieved the unthinkable in Northern Ireland. That is why the killing of two British soldiers and a policeman in a Catholic area this week has received condemnation from the political leadership across the religious divide. The indications are that Catholic residents are providing information that will eventually lead to the arrest of the dissidents responsible for this crime. Thousands from across the religious divide and from all parts of Northern Ireland have been holding vigils as a peace protest against terrorism from the dissidents.

Civil conflict in Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland and other countries grew because governments refused to address the grievances of a section of the community. Instead, grievances were allowed to fester and eventually militants within the community replaced democratic political leadership, because they felt that democratic protest was leading to a dead-end. History has repeatedly shown that there can be no long-term development in nation without democracy, nor can community grievances ever be addressed without democracy within the community. Democracy then is surely the only way to move forward. Only a free and vibrant media and an alert civil society can make a difference and ensure transparency and honesty in the political leadership. It is only the corrupt and the greedy who want to muzzle criticism. Pakistan is paying the price for corruption and lack of transparency in politics. The present Pakistani government, barely one year in office, has already begun stifling dissent and beating up opponents. Zimbabwe went down the same way.

We here need to learn the lessons from the tragedy of rgese other countries. Silencing criticism by violence against the media will always end up as counter-productive. The killing of Lasantha Wickrematunga revolted the nation. The perpetrators of that crime, as that of several journalists before, seem to enjoy immunity. That is why these crimes continue. The latest victim has been Prof. Ganganath Dissanayake, who was abducted from his home days after a state newspaper reportedly claimed, apparently without any foundation, that he was authoring a book critical of President Mahinda Rajapalsa. He has since been released. But apparently Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose media unit was headed by Prof Dissanayake, earlier telephoned and sought President Rajapaksa’s assistance in this regard.

Vidyatharan, editor of a Tamil daily, remains in custody on charges which are not known. The manner of his arrest at a family funeral showed the utter disdain the arresting officers had for decency and dignity. Tissainayagam, another Tamil journalist, was arrested and kept in detention for several months and has now eventually been ndicted on vague charges of bringing the government into disrepute by what he wrote some years ago in a weekly paper that is now defunct. The LTTE has been silencing critics by violence ever since it was established.

Jawaharlal Nehru, whom this column quoted extensively last week, once stated: "To crush a contrary opinion forcibly and allow it no expression, because we dislike it, is essentially of the same genus as cracking the skull of an opponent because we disapprove of him. It does not even possess the virtue of success. The man with a cracked skull might collapse and die but the suppressed opinion or idea has no such sudden end and it survives and prospers the more it is sought to be crushed with force. History is full of such examples.

"Long experience has taught us that it is dangerous in the interest of truth to suppress opinions and ideas. It has further taught us that it is foolish for us to imagine that we can do so. It is far easier to meet an evil in the open and to repel it in fair combat in people’s minds than to drive it underground and have no hold on it or proper approach to it. Evil flourishes far more in the shadows than in the light of the day."