I am not too sure that India was right in pressuring the Lankan government to tone down their offensive against the LTTE. I am not being heartless. I am aware of the magnitude of the humanitarian problem. No one who watches TV or reads newspapers can help but feel saddened by it. But then there are certain things which got to be done so as to eradicate the problem once and for all. Who is to know if Prabhakaran won’t escape as one of the civilians who are being rescued from the LTTE zone? Whose responsibility is it if he manages to get away and regroup his people later? We will be making the same mistake that the Americans did in Afganistan when they thought that they solved the Taliban issue but they hadn’t. The result is for all to see in the Swat valley. The ghosts have come back to haunt all of us. None of us wants that to happen with LTTE.

What is needed is a clean surgical operation to root out the last of the LTTE with minimum possible civilian casualties and a huge efficient resettlement program for the affected civilians which will avoid the possibility that any resentment felt by them now will grow into future terrorists. The sooner we all realize this, the better it is for all of us.