[LINK] "'We Want to Finish It'"

[rfmcdonald]

Stewart Bell's "'We Want to Finish It'" is the latest in a series of articles chronicling the Sri Lankan civil war. Here, the central featuer is an interview with Lieutannt-General Sarath Fonseka, who speaks at length about his view on Sri Lanka's national question.

In an interview, Lt.-Gen. Fonseka talks candidly about the war, which he believes will be over in less than a year, and his views on the militant Tamil nationalism that has spilled from Sri Lanka into countries with ethnic Tamil diasporas, Canada included.

"The national leadership basically is determined to solve this problem," he says. "The task given to us is to eradicate terrorism … If we have the same commitment one more year, the LTTE's destination is, I think, decided."

In the general's view, the war is driven by Tamils who want a homeland and have chosen Sri Lanka as the place. But he says the country's ethnic Sinhalese majority will never allow the ethnic Tamil minority to break the island apart.

[. . .]

"I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people," he says.

"We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country.

"We are also a strong nation. They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things."

Fonseka and his government may well be able to crush the Tamil Tigers, but will they be able to do a good job of managing the aftermath?