'The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust.'

These lines of Shakespeare (from Sonnet 129) came to mind as I waded through that portion of the Starr Report covering the 'Nature of President Clinton's Relationship with Monica Lewinsky.' (Forty-two A4 pages in 10-point Courier font e-mailed by a friend in America.) 'Perjured, full of blame', and 'not to trust' appeared in italics before me, alongside the most-apposite opening line.

'The expense of spirit in a waste of shame' - could there be a more pertinent comment on the pathetic saga now unfolding in Wash-ington? From the time the curtain rose on it, the Bill and Monica Revue has been generating humour, satire and irony. Even 'The New Yorker', still preserving its reputation for good taste, carried a 'Shouts & Murmurs' piece early this year guying the confessions of another young female 'who did it with Bill Clinton.' Here are some snippets from it.

'I know I am not alone, but I am a member of a pretty special club. If we got organised, we would have to hold meetings in a good-sized hall. ... He gave me a copy of 'The Bridges of Madison County.'

I know it's not 'Leaves of Grass,' (Ed. Note: That's the book Clinton gave Lewinsky) ... but it's better than 'I, the Jury.' I know somebody who got that one...

'And what did we talk about when we were alone? Every-body asks that. Didn't you hear the word 'private'?

I mean, what didn't we talk about? He just knows so much about everything. ... NAFTA. Sri Lanka. Social promotion. The Nikkei. Human genomes.

The Dream Factory. Socks. Wislawa Szymborska. Medicare. Isaiah Berlin,

Compaq,... Medicaid, Java scripts. On and on like that. My Bill has a line you wouldn't believe.... 'Does talking count as oral sex? Need you ask?'

This is one sample, and probably a mild one, of the huge output of drolleries and jokes sparked off by the philanderer at the White House. Such comical productivity is to be expected since, as Shakespeare puts it, 'greatest scandal waits on greatest state.'

But, sadly, time may be past for such humour. For now William Jefferson Clinton is a confessed sinner, a contrite man who admits to having done wrong, and seeks forgiveness. Nobody laughs, pokes fun, at sinners. Besides, as one British commentator had it the other day, America loves sinners.

Even erring evagelists have been welcomed back by their once-dismayed congregations.

Will Clinton be treated leniently by his fellow citizens, or more accurately, by the representatives of the people? Or will he have to pay the ultimate penalty? While he struggles to save his presidency, Clinton also gives us a lot to think about, whether or not we belong to American Studies Associations. Most obviously, there are issues of public and personal morality raised by his reported and documented be-haviour. These are too deep for me to go into; anyhow, they have been around for a long, long, time - from the time organized society got into gear. As for myself, a simple-minded man, all I can say is that I don't care for people who tell lies or betray the trust placed upon them. I avoid such kind.

There are other considerations besides morality that beckon us as we contemplate the self-inflicted woes of Clinton. Take, for instance, the whole question of opinion polls.

I have been quite sceptical of them myself, but it would appear that in America the political machine cannot operate without the aid of opinion surveys. America treats opinion poll findings as infallible statistics. It was said that after the release of the Special Prosecutor's Report, Congressmen went home to assess reactions in their separate electorates.

Most probably all they did was to watch the opinion polls and try to make up their minds. Eventually, polls will decide what Congress does with Clinton. Fortunately, Sri Lanka is as yet under-developed enough to be free from the opinion poll affliction. I hope we will continue to be underdeveloped in this respect. The more significant matter highlighted by 'l'affaire Lewinsky' is the role played by communication media - especially electronic media - in the theatre of public opinion. Now that the Internet has joined the conventional vehicles of information and opinion, this role has grown much bigger. Think for a moment about release of the Starr Report on the Internet.

In pre-WWW days, the 420-page compilation could have reached the mass public only in printed form.

Eliminating this cumbersome mode which involves time-consuming manufacturing procedures, the Internet facility has brought the Starr text to everyone who wishes to read it, young or old, black or white, rich or poor, etc., etc. What immediate and long-term effect will this have on society as a whole? The young computer engineer who downloaded the document from the Web, and e-mailed the choice bits to me (forty-two pages, as I mentioned earlier) inserted a warning. 'Uncle, this material is strictly for adults only. Please don't show it to Aunty.' I skimmed through the pages and then sent answer. While thanking him, I told him that the stuff couldn't be new to anyone with even a passing acquaintance of certain reputed works of literature written in English. The only difference was the difference between fictional characters and real-life characters. Another difference is that Judge Starr is not given to literary flourishes; stylistically speaking, it is dull, bland, very matter-of-fact reading. Mr. Starr eschews euphemism. Yet nobody will want to pass it by. To whet the appetite of my readers, herewith a few lines: 'As the relationship developed over time, Ms. Lewinsky grew emotionally attached to President Clinton. She testified: 'I never expected to fall in love with the President. I was surprised that I did.' Ms. Lewinsky told him of her feelings.

At times, she believed that he loved her too. They were physically affectionate: 'A lot of hugging, holding hands sometimes.

He always used to push the hair out of my face.' She called him 'Handsome'; on occasion, he called her 'Sweetie,' 'Baby' or sometimes 'Dear.' He told her that he enjoyed talking to her - she recalled his saying that the two of them were 'emotive and full of fire,' and she made him feel young. He said he wished he could spend more time with her.' ... ' 'We would tell jokes. We would talk about our childhoods. Talk about current events. ..' 'On ten to fifteen occasions, she and the President had phone sex.

After phone sex one night, the President fell asleep mid-conversation.'

Doesn't this sound as if it came straight out of a modern novel? Or like parts of a television soap-opera? I am sure my readers won't blush.

Ken Starr does have some literary abilities and one hopes that he puts them to good use in the coming years. A matter-of-fact style does have its merits.

Joseph Epstein, distinguished American editor and professor of literature, once wrote: 'Today it is apparently difficult to write a novel that is free of two or three hot and heavy sex bouts.

Especially does one find, I won't say vivid but certainly elaborate, sexual description in the work of academic novelists. The stakes here go up all the time, and the trend is to greater and greater elaboration.

A wag - I, actually - once wrote that the novels of the future are likely to be peopled with genitals sitting around discussing fashionable ideas.'

Given this scenario, it is possible to argue that, in addition to exposing a philandering President, Starr is actually feeding a major stream in modern fiction.

He shouldn't have apologized for including 'salacious material' in the Report.

In analysing the electoral stakes, I was on the verge of entitling this article as 'The PA's Advantages: The Minorities Issue'. But recent events have forced me to change the title of this article. I am not sure any more whether minority support can be counted on by the PA as a matter of course. Since 1994, the PA has always held the upper hand with regard to minority support. PA propaganda sought to portray itself as liberal and the UNP as chauvinistic and stubborn as they had shown no willingness to agree to the PA's so called constitutional package. Their whole attempt was to portray the UNP as an anti-minority party. The UNP was under a state of seige. If they agreed to that cockeyed political package, the people of this country would have held the UNP responsible for the anarchy that would inevitably have followed - because the decisive votes would have been the UNP's... On the other hand, by refusing to agree to the PA's package, the UNP was risking being branded as an anti minority party.

Not that the minority party bosses would have seen the package as being workable. They too are practical men, who would recognise what was workable and what was not. But they too had to play a game. In this political game, it is always politic for the minority party bosses to be seen to be aligned with the party that offers the most to the minorities. Whether what is offered is realistic or not is another matter entirely. The ethos of minority politics in this country is such is that what is offered is never refused, even if it is only an 'offer' but never translated into reality. This compulsion on the part of the minority leaders to play this kind of political game is a part of the ongoing tragedy of this country.

For the past four years, the PA clearly had the upper hand in this game. They were offering the earth (literally!) and the minority leaders felt constrained to wait in breathless anticipation even though the possibility of ever getting what was promised was never really in sight.

The PA's incapacity to deliver what was promised by them unilaterally, to the minorities, was then blamed on the UNP, saying that the UNP had the requisite number of votes, but were not willing to cast them in favour of their package. Having made a naive attempt to get Prabhakaran to commit political and physical suicide with their 'peace talks' during the early months of the PA regime, (1994-95) the PA was compelled into a military action when the Tigers re-commenced hostilities.

By and by, the government came to rely more and more on the military solution. They were unexpectedly successful in this especially in the capture of Jaffna, and the restoration of at least a semblance of civilian life in the Peninsula. This won them much kudos among the Sinhala voters and emboldened them to rely more and more on the success of the military campaign. But in conducting this war, the PA did not just go about their military matters. While relying more and more on the war effort they still continued to bash the UNP as an anti-minority party. They were able to use their very considerable political propaganda skills to keep the UNP in a state of seige continually even while pursuing the military option to the fullest.

The flashpoint came when the government used the War as the excuse to postpone the Provincial Council elections. Once the PC elections had been postponed on the pretext of the war, the PA was committed to one course of action. They could not run with the hare and hunt with the hounds as they had done earlier.

The expectation of the public now is that the government will FINISH THE WAR before holding elections.

The UNP which all this while had been portrayed as an anti-minority party saw its chance to get out of the strait jacket which the PA had forced on it. Ranil's call for 'unconditional talks' was a brilliant political move.

'Unconditional talks' mean that neither side is obliged to halt military operations. The Army continues its thrust into the jungles, and the LTTE continues to plant bombs in Colombo, but the two sides talk. Then again, it does not commit the UNP in any way because the call was only to TALK and nothing else! The best part of it is that the UNP suggests that the GOVERNMENT enter into the talks while the UNP watches.

This is tantamount to giving the PA rope to hang themselves. After having told the people that they were going to WIN the war and then hold elections, how can the PA conceivably enter into talks with the LTTE WITH OR WITHOUT conditions?

The people will ask them whether the elections were postponed so that they could MERELY TALK to the LTTE? Today, four years into the government, people are not as tolerant of the government's prevarications as they used to be.

Tempers are rising and patience is clearly beginning to run out. For the government to enter into any kind of talks after having postponed an election on the pretext of being pre-occupied with winning the war, will be political suicide.

Moreover they had been feeding the public with the propaganda that victory was virtually in sight.

If they go in for talks, the question they will have to immediately answer is why go in for talks if victory is in sight? Then they will have to admit that victory was not in fact in sight and that all that propaganda was just balony... The government is clearly in deep ordure over this call for unconditional talks.

Ranil had trapped the PA and they know it which is why they have reacted to this call for unconditional talks with almost hysterical fury. Now the tables are turned. Ranil has now become the 'accommodating liberal' while the government has got itself into the position of 'stubborn war monger' - the same kind of accusation they levelled at the Wijetunga regime. The government is completely dependent on the support of the minority parties.

All this while, they were able to rely on the support of the minority parties as the UNP was kept in a strait jacket, branded an anti-minority party. Now howerver in one astute move, the carpet has been pulled from under the feet of the PA. Now, nothing can be taken for granted. Ranil has issued the mating call to the minority parties.

The government knows as well as anybody else, that Ranil's call for unconditional talks was never aimed at the LTTE at all, it was aimed at the minority political parties - Thondaman, the Muslim Congress, EPDP etc etc. What interest would the Tigers have in talking to Ranil since he can offer nothing to them. Only the Government can give them something.

In fact Ranil's suggestion was also that the Tigers and the Government talk - not for the Tigers and the opposition to talk. As far as the UNP is concerned, the only practical result that this call for unconditional talks will have is to act as a mating call to the minority political parties.

The call for unconditional talks with the LTTE is a signal, a sign, a mating call made by the UNP to attract minority political parties who will now enter into a dialogue with them. The state of seige which the UNP was under all this while has been effectively broken. Already the peace lobbyists who had been nurtured and maintained by the PA, are speaking well of the UNP's attitude. The peace lobbyists, Thondaman, Ashroff, EPDP etc will be now drawn towards the UNP like flies to a bottle of honey or nails to a magnet.

They will get drawn towards the UNP almost without knowing it. The call for unconditional talks with the LTTE has nothing to do with the moderate minority parties, but the political situation in this country has so evolved that any call for talks with the LTTE also acts as a powerful magnet for many other minority parties which have noting to do with the LTTE. In fact, these third parties are the first to turn up when the LTTE is invited.

The name invitee never turns up! Its funny, but that's the situation.

The important thing for the UNP was to start the dialogue with the minority parties. Once the dialogue has begun, it will be a very simple matter for the UNP to show these parties that any benefits that the minorities have received have always been under the UNP. The Provincial Councils system, equal status for Sinhala, Tamil and English, citizenship for estate labourers... the list is endless.

Since 1994, the PA has done a great deal of talking, but nothing has materialised. The UNP on the contrary, has done so much, that the minority communities vote for the UNP even independently of their political parties as was amply demonstrated in Colombo, Kandy and the up-country areas at the 1997 local government elections.

Hence, going into an alliance with the UNP will hardly be against the grain of the minority parties. Given the level of spontaneous support the UNP has had from the minorities even at a time when it was under seige as an anti-minority party, the UNP has the best chances of welding a fragmented polity together.

The UNP may not promise the earth like the PA, but what they promise has the assurance of being delivered. The minority leaders are hard headed enough to realise their advantage. Moreover, any government that has been in power for four years and failed on the economic front, is a sinking ship. The minority leaders who have been honeymooning with the PA can hardly be unaware of that fact. In fact I feel they were only waiting for the proper overtures from the UNP to start considering their options.

Then of course, there is the reaction to this call for unconditional talks among the Sinhala public. Some people are no doubt unhappy that Ranil has called for unconditional talks at a time when the government says victory is in sight.

The government too has sought to build up a campaign against the UNP on the grounds that the UNP's call for unconditional talks with the Tigers was part of a UNP-LTTE joint conspiracy to overthrow the government. But this sounds hollow to the general public who have for four years been bombarded with PA sponsored peace lobby propaganda calling for an end to war and for peace at any cost. 'Ranil Aanduwe malu aanduwema pite tiyala kepuwa' chortle one wag.

The UNP will remain immune to pro-Tiger accusations mainly because of the PA's own propaganda. Already scribes have started questioning if unconditional talks were good for the PA, why is it bad for the UNP? The PA has no answer to this other than to rave and rant about a 'conspiracy'. The fact is that their is no conspiracy. Ranil has beaten the PA at its own game.

Many of the rank and file of the UNP have the political savy to realise that the call for unconditional talks was not actually aimed at the LTTE but at the minority parties.

A connection with the minority parties means more votes. This is the time when the 'yakkos' get all worked up... 'Machang, den hari!... malla kare!... MALLA KARE!!' This has a bandwagon effect. Working with the minorities is nothing new to the UNP rank and file since this has been the pattern throughout their seventeen year term.

Those who were down in the dumps, not knowing when they would be able to get back into power have suddenly been rejuvenated by these overtures made by the UNP to the minority parties.

It will have a snowball effect. Talks with the minority parties will bring about a 'malla kare' kind of mentality among the Sinhala votes of the party as well, so that the UNP will end up with more minority votes as well as more Sinhala votes.

The smell of victory will also be a motivating factor in protecting the polling booths more actively at an election. Many of those vacillating on the fence will be convinced that this is the horse to back the next time.

Had old J. R. Jayewardene been alive today, he would have been proud of Ranil. With skill that would have put Houdini to shame, Ranil has managed to wriggle out of the strait jacket imposed on him by the PA and instead tied up the PA in knots. Had JRJ been around, he would have annointed Ranil as his rightful successor.

The recent events in Jaffna are a blood curdling reminder of the crisis in the country. While the two major parties bicker over political trivialities, the country is still trying to come to terms with the enormity of the problem facing us. The brutal random killings of politicians, civilians and armed soldiers without any humanitarian consideration must come to an end. The LTTE has to stop waging a 'no mercy' war. Yes, the country wants and needs peace. Cat's Eye fully supports any process that may lead to a political settlement. But we must remind ourselves that the peace we want is not the peace of the grave. Peace must highlight democratic processes that respect human rights. Every endeavour must be made to secure such a peace with justice, tolerance and human rights. We can settle for nothing less.

A new book by Daya Somasunderam Scarred Minds-The Psychological Impact of War on Sri Lankan Tamils, is long overdue. Dr. Somasunderam is Professor of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine at the University of Jaffna. In his capacity as Consultant Psychiatrist to the General Hospital Jaffna, he has gathered information on the psychological effects of war in the peninsula. As reviewers point out, his book is perhaps the most powerful critique of violence with case-studies providing moving testimony to the sufferings of ordinary people. After reading this book, no one can speak of military solutions or the right of violent dissent without a sense of despondency or shame.

The book is a detailed analysis of the psychological costs of war. It begins the analysis with a discussion of the recent discoveries in the field of psychiatry with regard to the costs of war. He points out that as far back as World War one, psychiatrists were attempting to deal with mental illness that is a product of war. The arguments for shell shock or combat exhaustion were constantly debated among medical practitioners. It was reported that 10% of all the men who fought in World War two were suffering from some form of mental illness resulting from their experiences in war. It was only in 1980 after the Vietnam War in the U.S. that there was a serious attempt to study the mental health implications of waging war. The new concept of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that has been used to understand the health disorders of war veterans has assisted psychologists understand the dilemmas of persons are living in conflict or post-conflict societies.

Soldiers under stress
The major psychological victims of war are the soldiers themselves, regardless of the uniforms that they wear. Recent research done with war veterans is quite alarming. All war propaganda show gallant men walking into combat, standing tall with true grit reflected in their eyes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Steven Spielberg's latest film Saving Private Ryan takes romanticism away from violent death and forces the audience to come to terms with the brutality of war. In fact psychological studies of war veterans show that there is often the breakdown of adaptive functioning and a withdrawal from social activities. An Australian study on POW shows that 71% of these POWs had developed psychiatric disorders ranging from anxiety and depression to psychotic responses.

Somasunderam's book gives extensive case studies of the psychological impact of war on soldiers both from government as well as the militant groups. His case studies show the emergence of mental disorder among soldiers, as they become preoccupied with thoughts of death, torture and violence. He shows how many of them cannot adapt to civilian life and that many are anxious, and depressed for the rest of their lives. Many develop alcohol and drug dependencies to help them cope with the psychological pressure. Even if Sri Lanka's ethnic war ends tomorrow, the natural heal will take over two generations to restore normalcy. The need to deal with the psychological effects of war on a whole generation of young soldiers is one of the pressing question is Sri Lanka today and Somasunderam's book only highlights the enormity of the task.

Torture
It is not only on the battlefield that violence takes place. In insurgencies and ethnic wars, disappearances and violence in custody are also important manifestations. Ironically in describing the torture, Somasunderam does not make distinctions between the State and militants. All groups are heavily implicated in his study and it is quite extraordinary that the culture of torture is nearly as universal as the culture of human rights. Among the common strategies are being kicked and beaten senseless, hung upside down, deprived of food and water, electric shocks on genitalia, chilli powder rubbed on wounds, forcing victims to dig their own graves, etc.,

Rape is also an aspect that is discussed especially during the IPKF operations in the North and the East. Somasunderam himself witnessed a rape incident where the young victim pleaded with her tormentor saying 'please brother shoot me, but don't do this.' Due to the shame that attaches rape is rarely reported but it remains a central concern in situations of armed conflict around the world. As a result the latest statute for an international criminal court is quite expansive in its dealing with sexual violence against women and this is seen as a major offence.

Images of death
The actual experience of violence is horrifying enough but the images of death also have enormous psychological implications. Seeing friends killed and mutilated bodies are extremely traumatising events. Somasunderam reports how these images trigger anxiety, depression, nightmares, paranoia, destructive behaviour and impaired social relationships. His case studies are full of such instances.

Children are particularly sensitive to these images. Somasunderam claimed that in a study of Vaddukodai, 43% of all the students in the sample appeared to suffer from trauma. Children respond to violence by having separation anxiety from parents, emotional disorders, sleep disturbances and other forms of psychosomatic disorders. They are prone to temper tantrums and have little powers of concentration. They need intensive therapy and there is really no location to get that type of therapy. 12% of persons in the Jaffna hospital psychiatric clinic are children.

The other group that experiences a high rate of psychological morbidity is the refugees and the internally displaced. Displacement often results in anxiety, depression, and loss of self-esteem, helplessness, dependency and a high degree of family violence. Somasunderam estimates that about 50% of Sri Lankan Tamils have left their homes and become part of the Diaspora. They take their problems with them to new locations. Though some states do have extensive programmes for victims of violence others do not. Recent research seems to imply that the impact of this violence will carry onto the other generation. For example grandchildren of holocaust victims are also susceptible to psychological problems. Given the widespread nature of the violence, it is important that governments begin to think about violence related trauma issues from a long-term perspective.

Another psychological problem that emerges in all case studies on armed conflict is what is termed as the survivor syndrome. Those who survive the war after the friends and relatives are killed suffer from guilt and other psychological problems. There is chronic anxiety, depression, social withdrawal, nightmares, fatigue and sexual maladaptation.

Sri Lanka's ethnic war is finishing its second decade. The reality of Sri Lanka reminds us of the story of the mustard seed and the Buddha - every house has experienced a tragedy, every person has been touched by the war, Daya Somasunderam's book reminds us of another reality. Long after the guns are silenced and a political solution is evolved the violence will continue in the minds of the people for many generations. It is time that we focus on these long term problems and devise strategies for society to deal with the enormous tasks before us.

The killing of the new Mayor of Jaffna, PonniahSivapalan, and the Jaffna town commander, Brigadier Susantha Mendis and several other senior civil and security forces personnel, should not have come as a surprise or as a shock. Too little has changed in the manner in which the war is being fought and too many of people like Mayor Sivapalan and Brigadier Mendis have died in the past few years for a more placid expectation of the war to be a reality. Many more persons on both sides of the divide are likely to die in a similar manner in the future as well unless, of course, the conflicting parties change their attitudes and strategies to resolve the conflict, without continuing on their present mutually destructive course.

This is where the Northern Ireland example can be inspirational. Not so long ago, it seemed that there was no way out of the violent conflict in Northern Ireland. The Protestant majority wanted to remain within the United Kingdom. The Catholic minority wanted to join with Ireland. The British wanted to defeat and disarm the guerillas on both sides, especially the IRA, and so they had sent their army in. But to no avail.

That is, until both the British and the IRA were prepared to openly admit that they could not solve the problem and achieve their aspirations through warfare. On the British side, there was a public acknowledgment that the army could only limit but not suppress IRA guerilla action. In turn, the IRA admitted that while they could fight on for another decade if need be, at the end of the decade they would be nowhere near pushing the British army out of Northern Ireland.

In the meantime the people on whose behalf they were fighting would be the losers. Unfortunately, we in Sri Lanka have still to come to this stage of realisation. For sure, the government has, on many occasions said that a political solution is necessary to end the conflict.

But it seems that in their heart of hearts, many government leaders continue to believe that a military victory is possible. And so, on and off we hear stories that the LTTE is on their last legs.

These stories may firm up the determination of the government decisionmakers to hang tough, to wait another six months, for the tide to turn decisively in the army's favour. So far, it never has. The constant feature of the 15 year war, is that the LTTE is around and remains able to hit targets especially in the north-east. As for the LTTE, they have never conceded that they might not be able to achieve Tamil Eelam by force of arms.

On the contrary, they keep alive the myth of the ultimate invincibility of themselves and of their leadership, to keep on going the way they are despite the major losses they have sustained. The LTTE war machine may continue to fight and die yet another day, but the people pay the price.

PERVERSITY The killing of military officers can be seen in the context of warfare betwen the armed forces of the state and the LTTE. The killing of civilian adminstrators may also be seen in this light by the LTTE and its supporters.

But the perversity inherent in certain LTTE actions cannot be glossed over, especially where it concerns the impact on civilian welfare.

There is a ruthless logic that the LTTE employs-the people's welfare is secondary to the LTTE's primary goal of achieving 'self-determination' for the Tamil people under LTTE leadership.

The fact that bombing the municipality building and killing municipal officials will make the delivery of municipal services to the people more difficult seems to be a matter of little consequence to them.

As part of the LTTE's single minded belief that it alone, of all the Tamil parties, is on the right track, they have systematically been trying to eliminate any semblance of opposition to their programme within Tamil society. But the fact is that the war between the LTTE and the government has led to the greatest devastation of Tamil society ever in the history of this country.

Apart from targetting their Tamil rivals the LTTE have also been quite adept at destroying the basic economic infrastructure that undergirds the economic life of the Tamil people. There are many examples that can be given from the north-east.

About three months ago, Mannar island on which Mannar town is located, received electricity from the national grid for the first time ever. The fact that it took so long for a basic necessity such as electricity to come to the adminstrative capital of the Mannar district is, of course, yet another factor that can be seen as a cause of the ethnic conflict-the unequal development of Sri Lanka to the detriment of the people of the north-east.

Nonetheless, receiving electricity from the national grid, instead of from old diesel generators that frequently failed, is considered by the people as something of a blessing in the midst of the general adversity of the war.

But within days, the LTTE knocked down some of the pylons that brought the electricity to Mannar town. These were soon repaired by the government agencies responsible for maintaining the supply, only to be blown up again by the LTTE.

Finally, leading citizens of Mannar had to take their lives into their hands and appeal to the LTTE to leave their basic infrastructure alone. SIMILARITY But as the saying goes, it takes two to tango. The LTTE is not alone in its cavalier disregard of the interests of the civilian population. The government is guilty of similar callousness.

In the past the government has been praised for sending food to LTTE-controlled areas, and has been cited as a rare example of such benevolence But there seems to be a strong likelihood that governmental frustration at the slow progress of the Jayasikuru military offensive has also contributed to the policy decision to reduce the food rations.

It seems that military requirements have induced the government to go ahead with using food as a weapon of war to compel people to leave their home areas and move into government-controlled 'cleared areas'.

Today, in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts there is a virtual shut down of government administration and the food distribution network. For instance, out of approximately 70,000 internally displaced families in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts, food rations have been stopped to all but a third of this number from June this year.

Government servants have to implement this decision by denying food rations to needy families. While they have protested to the government, they have also been forced to close down their offices as they face threats from sections of the needy people. This uprising of 'the people' is a phenomenon that can develop in interesting ways.

As the area is under LTTE control, it is highly unlikely that the people who are protesting are doing so independently of the LTTE. There is every likelihood that the LTTE is encouraging the protests.

But when large numbers of people get together, and mobilise in their own interests, they soon begin to develop a dynamic and an integrity of their own.

Very often leaders appoint their personal friends and trusted confidantes to positions of authority only to find them acting with unexpected autonomy. It will be interesting to see how the LTTE deals with the leaders of the protests in the future. It has been pointed out that the bomb blast in the Jaffna municipality building occurred in the wake of President Kumaratunga's hardline speech rejecting unconditional talks with the LTTE.

Once again the cycle of escalation seems to have fed on itself.

As a starter, the government should give priority in its resource allocation to assisting the internally displaced people who are the most helpless and victimised section of the Sri Lankan population.

In addition, if budgetary constraints do indeed pose a few problems, the government should not hesitate to obtain the food it requires from international donor agencies which have expressed their readiness to provide the necessary rations.

It is crucially important in creating an environment conducive to peace talks that the government clearly asserts its humanitarian commitments that override any possible military requirements, such as using food as another instrument in the overall strategy of the war. Priority given to the welfare of the people will provide convincing evidence of governmental good faith in seeking a negotiated political solution. That is what the Tamil people are waiting so desperately for, and not even the LTTE will be able to ignore.

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