SRI LANKA

`Tamil nationalism is going nowhere'

Dharmalingam Sithadthan, 56, president of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), is a founder-member of the overseas branch of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in London. When Uma Maheswaran left the LTTE and founded PLOTE, Sithadthan joined him. Influenced by his father and parliamentarian V. Dharmalingam's active involvement in the Tamil national struggle, Sithadthan, who hails from Jaffna, entered Parliament in 1994 and has represented the Vanni district for two terms.

On the distance travelled by Tamil nationalism:

Tamil nationalism is going nowhere. After nearly 25 years of armed struggle, the Tamil national cause has not moved forward. The cause is still there, as the majority of the Sinhala leadership has not realised the true nature of, and the reasons for, Tamil nationalism. President Chandrika Kumaratunga understood it and wants to solve it through federalism. At Oslo, former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government also accepted it. But the Sinhala polity has not realised its implications.

In the beginning everyone who joined the Tamil movements was genuinely interested. That changed slowly. More than anything else the LTTE wants to be the liberators of the Tamil people. This is obvious now because the LTTE is active, but each of the other Tamil groups wanted to be the sole representative [of Tamils] at one point or the other, so internecine warfare is nothing new.

Rather than get recognition to the Tamil cause, the LTTE wants international recognition for it as the sole representative of the Tamil people. I think this is the main setback. In 1983-84, all Tamils were behind the cause. It is not so now because of the internecine warfare and the LTTE's intransigent attitudes towards the other Tamil groups and the people. I do not see light at the end of the tunnel now. I do not know if the tunnel is too long or if there is no light.

On the effects of the Karuna-led split in the LTTE on Tamil nationalism:

It is an internal matter of the LTTE; but it surfaced as a result of the pursuit of a wrong, fascist path. The LTTE's approach in Sri Lanka was unlike that of the African National Congress, which was formed after several forces came together. But, whether we like it or not, the LTTE is now a force to reckon with. If it goes on like this and does not take the peace process forward in a rational manner, Tamil nationalism will die a natural death. In any struggle, organisations can come and go, but the cause is there. The organisation is there to represent the people, not the other way round. If the LTTE does not realise this, there will be a lot of difficulties.

On what has been achieved by the armed struggle till now:

Compared to 1983, there is a setback. Because of the armed struggle, the whole world was aware of, even if it did not fully recognise, the Tamil plight. After the armed struggle, we had the world's sympathy. The late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was very helpful. Not only the LTTE, all the organisations maintained contacts with other liberation movements. Unfortunately, the attitude of `I must be the liberator' resulted in the branding and killing of others as betrayers.

Moreover, in 1983, when the boys joined us, a large number thought it would be a short operation. When it became a long-drawn-out one, frustration set in. Liberation cannot be achieved over-night; nowhere has it happened.

One drawback of a long-drawn-out struggle is that individual and parochial interests set in. The Jaffna Tamil community is very self-centred. The TULF's [Tamil United Liberation Front] second-line political leadership in Jaffna thought the war would only be fought in the border villages. Jaffna will want to keep the leadership, be it the non-violent struggle or the armed struggle. This is the main reason for the wrong path taken. It is this quality that has led to a downfall. The origins of nationalism were not pan-Tamil. It was Jaffna that started the struggle. `Sinhala Only' and standardisation affected Jaffna more than others. But when we started the armed struggle, all Tamils contributed and most of those killed were from Batticaloa and Wanni.

On the differences between the LTTE and other militant groups:

Prabakaran is single-minded; it is as simple as that. He is at it all the time; we were all confused. Basically we were all Tamil nationalists, but we used to speak everything else except nationalism. Before the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, when Prabakaran was in India, he did not mess around. He was very focussed on getting just what he wanted. All of us messed around.

If Prabakaran established links with politicians, it was with the clear focus of what he had to gain. Although we went with such intentions, we strayed. That was the basic factor. He never changed from Tamil nationalism. Balasingham wrote about Marxism, but that had no effects on the organisation. But we were proud to say that we were Marxist-Leninist. There was a dilution and we also created a certain suspicion among Indian officials. Prabakaran never strayed from his objective; he has never given it up and I don't think he will ever do so. Personally, if you ask me, he is dedicated to the Tamil Eelam cause. I think his dedication is unquestionable.

On the impact of militancy on the Tamil social structure:

There were no mass movements to change the social structure. Those who were considered by society as depressed classes have risen in status, but there has been no change in the mindset of the "high" castes.

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