THE war was long over even before the first shot was fired. When the LTTE started preparing and began bragging about winning a seperate state in a "final war" and the Americans weighed in from the sidelines, the endgame was a foregone conclusion. The fighting left to be finished is only an epilogue.
Fortune certainly was on the side of Sri Lanka this time around. The Bush administration's pressure was on most other nations to turn a blind eye to the propaganda of the tamil tigers and their supporters in western nations. And then there were Sri Lanka's long term friends China and Pakistan ready to provide material support, with high tech surveillance being provided by Israel. That was the material side of the military campaign.
On the decision making side, the government and the military were headed by men who talk the same language and did communicate seamlessly. They all were connected, not only professionally but also from personal acquaintances which went far beyond in some cases into some individuals' school days. A virtual dream-team of political and military heads whose commitment to decisively defeating terrorism extending to a level unseen before in Sri Lanka. The skills they brought to the battle field is only matched by the political skills demonstrated by the President and his law makers when dealing not only with international interference, but also with domestic annoyances.
There is little doubt as to the debilitating effects of the punishing military campaign these men and women conducted with vision and valour, on the tamil tigers, who are no longer significant to any peace equation within Sri Lanka. Even then Sri Lanka must prosecute the military campaign until the last hostage is rescued from the civillian human shield, and ending only once the capture or elimination of the LTTE leadership has been accomplished. Letting Tamilnadu burn and making a few secret enemies such as the Norwegians into open enemies is an acceptable expense in that process. After all, those who attempt to stand in the way of our national defence should not be mistaken to be friends.
When this is all over, Sri Lanka will need assistace to re-build. But we do not need to beg from those who cannot even feed their own, and are facing literally unsurmountable economic hurdles. Sri Lanka instead needs to look inwards to her own sources, as much as to her staunchest of friends to rebuild our nation.
Instead of waiting for outside help, Sri Lanka also needs to utilize the opportunities the nation can offer her own expatriate children to become partners in the nation's growth. Sri Lanka's economic strength always lay in her vibrant and dynamic private sector. Without attempting to attract funds to the government in the form of high cost borrowings, Sri Lanka should invite investments in her stock market from expatriate Sri Lankans. Equity is always cheaper than debt and diversifies risk and increases pressure for sound business decision making. The presently depressed stock values and depreciated dollar-ruppee exchange rates offer plenty of lucrative investment opportunties which can easily pay off handsomely in a period of 15 to 20 years into the future for the investor.
Sri Lanka is the next economic miracle waiting to happen. Sri Lankans abroad should not miss the opportunity to benefit from her growth.
More information on investing in Sri Lankan stocks can be found here. http://www.cse.lk/welcome.htm
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