The Sri Lankan army is headed for a final victory over the remnants of the once formidable conventional forces of the Tamil Tigers. Unlike previous military successes for the government side in the quarter century of civil war which has both blighted and brutalised the island, this one seems likely to end by depriving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the LTTE, of any geographical base. The word “final”, of course, begs questions. A movement which can claim the grim distinction of having invented suicide bombing and other vicious techniques of modern terrorism, which retains a degree of popular support in the Tamil areas, and which still commands the allegiance of many in the Tamil diaspora, will not give up easily.