Colombo emboldened by international support - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 15:02 GMT]
Uncritical international support for the Sri Lankan government in its campaign against the Liberation Tigers contributed greatly to the collapse of the peace talks in Geneva last weekend, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its latest editorial. “When even the US publicly declares that it is backing Sri Lanka [against the LTTE], why wouldn’t Colombo have adopted the intransigent and belligerent stand it did?”

“The [Geneva 2] talks collapsed last weekend primarily because Colombo was simply not prepared to budge on the A9, irrespective of the suffering endured by the people of Jaffna or the implications its callous indifference made to the prospects for peace,” the paper said.

“The international community is also partly to blame for both the humanitarian crisis and the failure of the talks.”

“By reassuring and reinforcing the Sri Lankan state, even as it very publicly imposed embargoes on Tamil areas and prosecuted an undeclared war against the LTTE, the international community has devalued the Norwegian peace process and cheapened Tamil life.”

“Barely days before the Geneva talks, senior US officials publicly praised the rightwing administration of President Mahinda Rajapakse and launched a vitriolic attack on the LTTE. When even the US publicly declares that it is backing Sri Lanka, why wouldn’t Colombo have adopted the intransigent and belligerent stand it did?”

“The Sri Lankan government believes the international community wants talks mainly to give peace a chance before Colombo is given the go-ahead to militarily destroy the LTTE,” the paper said. “Last chance for the Tigers, so to speak.”

Warning that “Sri Lanka is about to escalate its war against the Tigers - with international backing,” the paper noted “the Tamils are once again at that familiar junction: war for peace.”

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Colombo emboldened by international support