Many of us in Sri Lanka, will at this time when a massive military effort is being thrown to subdue the LTTE, now on its last legs after nearly three decades of brutal fighting, think of the famous Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero’s words inter arma silent leges - ``laws are silent in times of war.’’ The Sri Lanka government assured that no heavy armour or air power will be used in that tiny sliver of land in coastal Mullaitivu the LTTE still controls in the interest of the civilians yet held there by the Tigers as a human shield. Analysts agree that this assurance was in all probability given at the time Tamil Nadu’s octogenarian Chief Minister Muttuvel Karunanidhi had launched his death fast. Given that the Indian elections were ongoing and Tamil Nadu had not voted, it was obvious that New Delhi needed such an assurance to get him off the fast. That succeeded but the world outside our shores is not convinced that the civilians in the LTTE’s clutches are safe; nor, for that matter, are most of us. War is a bloody brutal business and for the protagonists, whoever they are at whatever time of history, the ends justify the means. Hence the flurry of international visits we have seen in the last few days beginning with India’s national security advisor followed by the British and French foreign ministers and Japan’s special peace envoy. Canada’s minister for international cooperation is due today and the Danish human rights minister later this week.

It is almost a maxim in practical statecraft that security takes precedence over liberty at times of national emergencies. This is true not only of countries of ours but also of those who pride themselves of being the world’s great democracies as evidenced countless times in recent and contemporary history. The thrust of the current military effort along the Mullaitivu coast is not to permit the LTTE leader and his key lieutenants, like intelligence chief Pottu Amman and Sea Tiger leader, Soosai, to get away. Enormous resources have been thrown into this and some of our leaders have candidly voiced the view that those who seek a ceasefire now only do so to give the LTTE’s leadership an eleventh hour lifeline. Hence the calls for the LTTE to surrender to ``independent third parties’’ and other rubbishy demands that even those who make them are well aware to be untenable. Would those who fought Germany in World War 2 have been amenable to such an arrangement for Adolf Hitler?

To borrow from America’s lexicon, ``collateral damage’’ in times like this is inevitable and we cannot delude ourselves pretending it is not happening in that patch of the Vanni still in Tiger hands even as you read this. Nobody can relish this unpleasant reality with the full knowledge that those civilians at the receiving end are people of this country who have already suffered untold hardship and will continue to do so until and unless they can get out to cleared areas controlled by the government or this nasty and brutal phase of the war to rid this country of terrorism is quickly accomplished. It would have been already done but for the civilians, the military experts tell us. The forces and indeed the government have not been unmindful of the civilian presence. Hopefully they have mitigated the damage as far as possible though not even an incurable optimist can believe that no damage has been done.

Sri Lanka has stood up to the pressure exerted by many world powers in recent days and this should be a matter of pride to all Lankans. But we cannot thumb our noses indefinitely to the viewpoint of others and have much to lose unless the war is quickly concluded, the internally displaced humanely treated to the best of our ability and a generous political package offered to the Tamil minority. It is clear that as in the time of the tsunami, Sri Lanka will need a lot of help from the international community to care for the over 100,000 IDPs already in government controlled areas. This number will rise once the fighting is over. Assistance for the IDPs has already been forthcoming but much more will be needed not only in terms of immediate physical support like food, accommodation, sanitation and medicine but also for rebuilding the infrastructure of the Vanni destroyed by the fleeing Tigers as well as de-mining the areas they have vacated. There’s a long haul ahead and that, in a world that is less able to be generous in the context of prevailing economic turmoil, may not be facilitated by foreign countries to the extent that is needed. A hung Lok Sabha in India will also add to our problems with both Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu already making noises about what they plan to do. But if the LTTE’s conventional military power is neutralized and Prabhakaran is taken, dead or alive as government functionaries are fond of saying, a major hurdle would have been cleared.