I am all for eliminating the LTTE

The war in Sri Lanka is reaching its climax. LTTE appears to be in its last throes.

The Sri Lankan offensive is having a fallout in Tamil Nadu too, this being election time.

All the political parties there are trying to make mileage out of the war. Recently Karunanidhi termed Prabhakaran a non-terrorist. Then he went on a fast unto death (which lasted three hours, and from which he emerged quite hale and hearty) to stop the Sri Lankan war.

What should be a sane and rational attitude to this war in an average Indian?

While my full sympathies are with the Tamils being used as human shields by the LTTE, I am all for wiping out the LTTE once and for all.

Only after the LTTE is eliminated can international pressure be brought upon Sri Lanka to bring about an inclusive and democratic society there that respects the rights of the Tamils.

Eliminating LTTE has vital importance for the security of India. Close nexus exists between the LTTE, the Maoists and the ISI and perhaps the AlQuaida too. They all help each other in laundering drug money and in smuggling deadly weapons.

With the LTTE gone a crucial link in this chain will be broken and our security forces will have a better chance to defeat ISI and the Maoists violence.

We need to think beyond the LTTE, its defeat is imminent.

The real issue is what after the LTTE? If the Sinhala population in their moment of victory over their arch enemy, revert to repressing the Tamils again, which was the reason why LTTE and many other militaristic organization came up in Sri Lanka in the first place, it will all be back to square one.

At no cost should this be allowed to happen. Indian as well as international pressure should be brought upon Sri Lanka to make it forge a more inclusive society there, where Tamils have equal rights.

If we short-sightedly support the LTTE now, as the Tamil parties are doing, we will loose our influence over Sri Lanka and make way for other powers like China and the US to fish in the Sri Lankan troubled waters.

So the Tamil parties need to come out of their narrow political interests and start thinking strategically.

It is curious and highly distressing that the non-Tamil parties are silent on this vital strategic issue. I would have liked to know what the prime-ministerial hopeful like Mayawati, Lalit Paswan, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Mulayam Singh think about the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka, and how they will be tackling it if they come to power.

The Tamil politicians have axes to grind of their own, so their views carry little weight, as they can be seen to biased in this matter.

The non-Tamil politicians have the luxury of taking a non-biased approach to this problem and they can therefore contribute heavily to the resolution of the problem.

Lalu particularly can play a crucial role, because the Sinhala population in Sri Lanka are originally from his own homeland. They migrated to the island at the time of Asoka when the island nation embraced Buddhism.

So the million dollar question is will Lalu magic work in Sri Lanka!