Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict: Re-gaining Strategic Parity (1)
“Destroying the enemy's military assets and his/her will to fight is the defining aim of all wars. Victory in war therefore is best described in terms of the degree to which one has destroyed these assets and will.” Dharmalingam Sivaram, June 2004
“There have been only two instances in which the GOSL actually implemented 'solutions' - one was the District Development Councils, the other was the Provincial Councils. The former is an instance of the watering down the Tamil negotiating position to fit perfectly into the unitary state structure and the latter is an instance of responding to unavoidable military pressure.” Dharmalingam Sivaram, January 2004
Sivaram was right. Except under conditions of strategic parity, the South never implemented solutions to Tamil grievances - reforms only materialised when Tamil military power matched the Sri Lankan government’s power. With the LTTE’s demise, the burning issue that affects Tamils is regaining strategic parity. The process is surprisingly simple: military engagement is now unviable and hopes of international intervention are naïve. Therefore destroying the South’s military assets is impossible. Only one course of action remains –crushing the South’s will to fight against Tamil political aspirations. This fits well with the Tamil’s only remaining sources of potential strategic advantage, the Diaspora’s immense economic power and Tamil Nadu’s consistent concern for the fate of Sri Lankan Tamils.