The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have renounced violence permanently (as reported by the BBC, hat tip to Doug Saunders in the Globe and Mail), and plan to pursue their goals of Tamil self-determination through democratic means.

Coincidentally, this change in strategy comes at a time when violence has proven to be a spectacular failure for the organization, but the statement does seem more categorical than, say, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams’ comments earlier this year regarding violence as tactic in the conflict Northern Ireland.

It may have taken not just complete military defeat, but also the death of LTTE founder and leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to make this permanent change in activities possible. Under Prabhakaran, the LTTE is reported to have absorbed, defeated or conquered pretty much any and all rival groups which sought to speak for Tamil rights in Sri Lanka. With the LTTE’s armed forces now crushed, there is a better chance that a variety of groups could emerge to lobby to protect human and civil rights for the ethnic minority — groups untainted by terrorism, that could be unambiguously  supported by the international Tamil diaspora, and maybe also by foreign governments (like Canada’s) and by non-Tamils around the world.

One would hope so, since the Tamil population in Northern Sri Lanka has been rounded up into displaced persons camps, and will not be freed until they have been “processed” – note the entirely proper use of scare quotes – by the Sri Lankan government, which apparently could take half a year or more. Calls to boycott Sri Lankan products will likely find wider popularity now that Tiger terrorism is apparently out of the picture. 

Over at Slate.com, Christopher Hitchens points out that the end of the conventional war phase of the Sri Lankan conflict could just mark the start of new phase of guerrilla violence in the North. An optimist might think that the LTTE leadership’s new strategy makes this less likely, but it may just mean that splinter groups will emerge (as they did in Northern Ireland) who are nostalgic for the old bloody way of doing things.

This sad story isn’t over by a long shot, but foreign governments now have an opportunity to put heavy political and  economic pressure on the Sri Lanka’s leaders without appearing to condone terrorism or militant separatism.