THE news from the western side of the hemisphere is that a lot of our friends would like to see a negotiated end to the fighting. There are many reasons for the requests and not all of them are going to be practical in Sri Lanka's own unique situation. Worse, a negotiated escape or exile of the terror leadership would without a doubt be only the starting point of the next round of hostilities.
Sri Lanka has shown the world that it can carry a military campaign to a successful conclusion with absolute commitment. There's no doubt that a convergence of many advantageous situations contributed to the SLG's victory over the world's deadliest terrorist organization. The US's own war against terror was certainly one of the most significant among those contributory factors. Even though the US did assist SL upto a point and then seemed to back off -especially since the new administration came into power- training and other assistance provided to SLG and her armed forces did help Sri Lanka continue the humanitarian operations targetting the LTTE until now. This does put Sri Lanka in a situation where she needs to consider opinions and requests of nations such as the US.
Even then it would behoove the Sri Lankan leadrship to be cautious of deals that offer a way out for the tamil tiger leadership. Every criminal must face justice, and the LTTE's leaders are guilty of horrendous attrocities. To allow them escape would be a denial of justice for the thousands of innocents who died in vain. To bring in a lasting peace breaking the LTTE's military capabilities are not enough. The job isn't over until its leadership is brought to justice as well. In the end what matters is self interest. Diplomats learn this on day 1 in the business.
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