In a forceful dismissal of speculation surrounding the Easter Sunday attacks, a leading South Asian author insists the LTTE is permanently gone and warns Sri Lanka against chasing myths instead of confronting real security failures.
In a candid discussion on Sri Lanka’s militant history and its present national security challenges, acclaimed author M. R. Narayan Swamy, best known for his biography of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, categorically ruled out any possibility of an LTTE resurgence and rejected conspiracy theories linked to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. “It may be possible for the Buddha to come back, but mark me, LTTE cannot revive, that’s how that organisation is,” Swamy said, emphasizing that the group’s ideological and historical circumstances are irretrievably gone and cannot be recreated.
Swamy explained that the LTTE’s formation was tied to a specific historical, ethnic and moral context that no current group or individual can replicate. “The people who gave birth to the LTTE are all gone. Either they are gone ideologically, they are gone physically… You cannot revive it,” he said. He dismissed comparisons with other insurgent organisations and highlighted that movements like Hamas or India’s Maoists emerged from entirely different environments. “Hamas may have attacked Israel, but Hamas is a bacha, a child compared to LTTE… Maoists are a completely homegrown group and there can be absolutely no comparison,” he noted, underscoring the LTTE’s distinct evolution and its unmatched intensity during its peak.
Highlighting the LTTE’s moral decline in its final years, Swamy reflected on the organisation’s major transgressions, beginning with the Anuradhapura massacre. “Till Anuradhapura took place, the moral righteousness was there… Morally, morally,” he said, observing that the LTTE’s original ideological discipline collapsed as its violence escalated. Despite the sporadic survival of extremist ideologies worldwide, he insisted that the LTTE, as it existed, is permanently gone. “Some things that happen at a certain point in history, you cannot keep on repeating them… LTTE cannot be revived.”
Addressing the controversy and speculation surrounding the Easter Sunday bombings of 2019, Swamy dismissed conspiracy claims outright. “I don’t believe this… because I refuse to believe in conspiracy theories… Whatever you might say about Gotabaya Rajapaksa, there would have been no… No leader of any country would have stooped so low to create the killings of people so that he can come to power. Moreover, Gotabaya’s victory was inevitable,” he stated. Swamy maintained that actionable intelligence was indeed available before the attacks, but failures within the Sri Lankan security establishment paved the way for the tragedy, highlighting systemic weaknesses rather than hidden agendas.
Swamy also examined the broader pattern of global insurgency and the role of education in extremist movements. He noted that highly educated individuals have historically participated in militancy, referring to the Naxalites, the Khalistan movement and armed extremism in Kashmir. “Educated people always exist in insurgency movements everywhere… Now depending upon what is high education, it could be school pass out, it could be college pass out,” he explained, making it clear that extremist actors often represent fringe radical elements rather than mainstream communities.
Reflecting on post-conflict reconciliation, Swamy emphasized that societal mindsets evolve over time. “Things evolve over a period of time… I see the changes in their mindset… virtually they are saying we could have taken a different path,” he said. He extended this observation to ethnic harmony in Sri Lanka, insisting that Tamil and Sinhalese communities are destined to coexist. “The two communities… need to understand this, that they are destined to live together and they can live together. As friends, as brothers, as sisters or whatever,” he stated, reinforcing the importance of social healing and long-term stability.
Swamy also shed light on India’s role during the Sri Lankan conflict, particularly its intelligence contribution. He noted that while India’s military support was limited, intelligence assistance played a crucial role. “The intelligence help that India provided at that time was probably more crucial than any weapons they could have given… India itself would be coy of speaking about it because they don’t want to hurt sentiments here,” he said, acknowledging India’s strategic involvement and the sensitivity surrounding it.
Swamy reiterated the finality of historical events and the impossibility of their repetition. “Some things that happen at a certain point in history, you cannot keep on repeating them. There will be no more Adolf Hitler in Germany. It cannot be possible,” he said. Through this comparison, he offered a stark lens on Sri Lanka’s militant legacy and contemporary security threats, urging policymakers to focus on current realities rather than fears rooted in the past.
SOURCE :- SRI LANKA GUARDIAN
