Appeasement of separatists

Although Sri Lanka officially defeated the LTTE militarily in May 2009, global LTTE-affiliated groups continue to pursue separatist goals of creating an independent ‘Tamil Eelam’ through nonmilitary means.

- Sangadasa Akurugoda

After the change of governments in Sri Lanka in 2015, 2022 and 2024, the security presence of the state is being weakened by the withdrawal of troops and downgrading of intelligence agencies in the northern and eastern provinces’. At the same time, especially after 2024, severe pressure is also being placed on the existence of Sinhala Buddhist religious sites of archaeological importance in those regions. The aforementioned separatist goals and the change of governments and leaderships are not accidental or isolated incidents, but rather reflect external strategic political pressure and the pursuit of internal political and personal goals.

Here, it is worth considering the eventual fate of local and foreign leaders who sought to appease the LTTE separatists by making ‘prospective political deals’, just as Shylock demanded a “pound of flesh” from the merchant Antonio in the famous play “The Merchant of Venice” as collateral for a loan.

In 1987, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who exerted various pressures on the Sri Lankan government to sign agreements with India granting powers, including provincial councils and change of the status of official language, to the LTTE separatists was assassinated by the LTTE separatists in 1991. Gamini Dissanayake, a minister at that time who pioneered the signing of those agreements, was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber in 1994 while campaigning as a presidential candidate.