There are now gaping holes in the Tamil Tigers’ once impregnable fortress in northern Sri Lanka. With the Sri Lankan army’s capture of the last strategic sea-base of Pooneryn, just a narrow lagoon across the administrative capital of the Tigers, the holes get larger. Control of Pooneryn will enable the army to strike at Kilinochchi from three directions, besides laying open the land route to Jaffna after two decades. Kilinochchi, however, is said to be already a ghost town. The Tigers are supposed to have driven the Tamil population, over which they continue their vice-like grip, further into Wanni. And it is the inevitable future sacking of this town, a feat which the Sri Lankan government and its army are waiting to accomplish with bated breath to crown their military offensive, that is giving India nightmares. The Congress high command’s ability to drill practical sense into the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had averted a political showdown a month ago. M. Karunanidhi, the Tamil Nadu chief minister and DMK chief, has since then tried his best to steer the middle path on this highly emotive issue in his home state by putting the responsibility of a ceasefire as much on the shoulders of the Sri Lankan government as on the rebel Tigers. But he has already been forced to reaffirm his assent to a state assembly resolution passed recently on the demand for ceasefire. As his political adversaries — some overtly sympathetic to the Tigers — grow more restive, Mr Karunanidhi runs the risk of losing control over the situation.

The situation can be saved, both for Sri Lanka and for India, if the Mahinda Rajapakse government lives up to its promise of assuring full protection to the Tamil population. That is, of course, easier said than done. The government insists that all relief supplies meant for the areas under attack be routed through it. But there is no way it can guarantee that the supplies will reach the people and not the rebels. The withdrawal of neutral monitoring authorities under government orders has made things less transparent. The lives and the security of the Tamil population are the responsibility of the Sri Lankan government, and it has acknowledged that role. Tamil Nadu has to remember that it can serve as a sounding board for the government, but it cannot force the choice of a ceasefire on a sovereign power.