The Obama administration has shelved the idea of launching a massive military evacuation of nearly 200,000 Tamil civilians trapped in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam strongholds, sources have told Rediff India Abroad.
Sources acknowledged that the plan was for US Air Force and US Navy units attached to its Pacific Command (PACOM) to go into the rebel-held hold-outs and evacuate these civilians faced with the prospect of fast-declining food and medicine stocks in these areas.
But sources said that a US team that had gone out to these areas "to look at the possibilities for just this kind of thing (evacuation)," had concluded that "this is not likely in the current situation because that is not what the military calls a 'permissive' environment -- which means the two sides are not firing at each other and the two sides both agree to this."
"So, until there is that permissive environment," the sources said, it was highly unlikely "we'll see that kind of evacuation."
One source said that "in my view, this is not very likely," since even though the LTTE has been calling for a ceasefire, the Sri Lankan government has rejected this call, saying the only option left for the LTTE is for them to lay down their arms and surrender.
The situation in Sri Lanka permeated the 45-minute discussion on Monday (March 9) between United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, in the first high-level interaction between India and the Obama Administration in Washington.
Administration sources said "a discussion of one regional issue, in particular, was Sri Lanka -- the importance of trying to find a way to make sure that whatever happens in the armed conflict, that there is a political settlement in the future that both the US and India can create, and participate in."
Explaining why Sri Lanka took centre-stage during the discussion on regional issues, the source said, "The secretary is very concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka and there is a sense that maybe there are things we (the US and India) can do together."
Menon, according to the sources, "was quite positive," in terms of concurrence with the concerns expressed by Hillary, although there was "nothing specified" in terms of how this situation could be alleviated, but broadly "the idea that this is an area where we both have capabilities and interests and we'd like to be helpful."
In explaining the Administration's decision to shelve the plan to launch a massive evacuation of the Tamil civilians, due to the lack of 'a permissive environment,' the sources said that "it is only in that kind of (a permissive) environment that we can even consider doing something like that."
But sources said, "It doesn't mean, if we had, we'd do it," but reiterated that "it means that we can't do it, in the absence of that kind of an environment."
Last month, a PACOM team was in Sri Lanka to discuss the possible contours of such a possible plan with the Sri Lankan military officials, during which time the Deputy Chief of Mission in the US embassy in Colombo James Moore had been conducting an independent fact-finding mission in the island's northern areas formerly held by the LTTE and also the strongholds where the Tamil civilians were and had submitted a situation about their dire situation and the declining levels of food and medicines and other provisions.
Consequently, sources said that there was interaction between the PACOM and the State Department about the viability of conducting a massive evacuation mission with debate on the pros and cons of such a mission, but in the wake of the Sri Lankan government ruling out a ceasefire unless the LTTE surrender and lay down its arms, the administration had decided that in the absence of 'a permissive environment,' such a mission would pose grave risks.
There was also the pressing problem of where, even if there was such an evacuation, these civilians could be taken too, and while there were the so-called safety zones set up by the Sri Lankan government, there was some consideration of Tamil Nadu in India.
But it was considered rife with political undertones of an Indian involvement, although sources said that such a mission would have certainly been done only with New Delhi's acquiescence and could have been a joint operation, considering that the US and India had worked to together to bring relief to Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami that devastated the island a few years ago.
Sri Lankan diplomatic sources said "there is no we will accept" the LTTE's ceasefire offer, with one senior source saying, "we've been down that road before, and we are long past playing these games. We are not going to agree to their ceasefire offer, which is their age-old ploy to recoup when they are down and out."
"There's only one option left for them -- that is to lay down their arms and surrender," the source added.
Sri Lanka has also been peeved over New Delhi's call that it agree to the LTTE's offer, if only to call a halt to the fighting to evacuate the civilians trapped in the areas where hostilities are occurring.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said last week that even though the LTTE's ceasefure offer "may fall short of a declaration of willingness to lay down arms, it is our view that the government of Sri Lanka should seize the opportunity presented by the offer to bring about a pause in the hostilities."
Mukherjee's call has also been echoed by the UN's Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, who said that during a visit to Colombo he had urged the Sri Lankan government to do "all it could to make it possible for the civilian population to get out safely, including by means of agreement to a temporary halt to hostilities or humanitarian corridor to allow people to leave, if this could be arranged and agreed, and in general ensure a peaceful, orderly and humane end to the fighting."
Last week, the Obama Administration's point man for South Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, also acknowledged that "we had some people there (in Sri Lanka) to look at the situation to identify what the possibilities might be," and asserted, "We would do whatever we can to help these people."
But, he asserted that "it's not possible to do an evacuation until you have a permissive environment, until you have the parties not threatening these people, and then allowing them to leave."
So, he said what the US kept calling for "is that all the parties, especially the Tamil Tigers, need to allow these people to leave the conflict areas, need to allow these people passage out of the so-called safe zone, and need to let them find places of safety."
He was responding to a question when specifically asked if the US is going to be involved in the evacuation of civilians who are trapped in the Vanni region, in the light of reports that PACOM is involved in these plans.
Boucher, in a conference call with South Asian journalists said, the US has always maintained that "there needs to be opportunity for Tamils, there needs to be respect for Tamils and their place in society, and there needs to be political arrangements to have a stable governance situation on the island."
"But let's also remember that respect for Tamils means that they shouldn't be trapped in the middle of conflict zones," he added, and argued that "the Tamil Tigers, by trapping them, by continuing the conflict, are just increasing the suffering of the Tamil people. So it's very much time for them to allow safe passage, for them to allow these people to leave."
When pressed if Western countries, particularly the US, can apply pressure on the Sri Lankan government at least to order a temporary ceasefire to facilitate the evacuation of civilians, Boucher said, "We have made clear we think both sides need to stop the fighting."
"We've seen the government has allowed a safe zone. We've called on them not to fire into the safe zone even when they are fired upon. But we have also seen the Tamil Tigers to continue shelling out of that safe zone. We've seen them continuing hostilities in other places. So we believe it's time for them to stop fighting, to allow these people to go safely to other parts, to safe places, and then to be willing to discuss how to end the hostilities."
He said, "Making political calls and statements doesn't really count when you're still lobbing shells and shooting guns. So it's time to stop shooting the guns."
When asked if he sees the Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka spreading across to region into South Asia and having political consequences in India, Boucher said, "I don't see why it should. The situation in Sri Lanka is quite different."
