Sri Lanka - 4 months later

Sri Lanka & the LTTE – 4 months after

4 months after Sri Lanka’s proclamation of the LTTE’s defeat & the death of Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the Sri Lankan government seems to be shooting itself in the foot.

Trying to detain all LTTE cadres is pointless. As with any army, the lower level cadres/troops just follow orders, its the leaders that are responsible. In any event, the LTTE is so ingrained in the population that they might as well arrest large chunks of the population – which seems quite close to what's going on in the refugee camps.

The military doesn't seem to be held accountable - international observers are prevented from inspecting. Food, water, sanitation are lacking, and many disappearances - some allegedly at the hands of soldiers - are being reported.

Detaining journalists under wartime anti-terror regulations for writing “untrue” articles about the camps is stupid. Whether the claims are true or not, by arresting them the government has lost its credibility in the court of public opinion. While I do support censoring of information that might be militarily useful to enemies, there isn't any enemies left - hostilities are over. Why are these laws not repealed?

Of course, there is President Rajapaksa’s visit to Myanmar, but that easily opens another can of worms with regards to the international scene.

It's quite simple: Piss the Tamils off enough, and this victory might just turn into another ceasefire.......