The Realities of the Indian Visiting Foreign Minister

January 10th 2006

It is a compelling need to repudiate the hand of the devil that will motivate the actions of the Sri Lankan Government where defending sovereign territory against marauding terrorist 'tigers' already dwindling in numbers and capabilities and something that will take precedence over all the rhetoric which springs from visiting foreign dignitaries, leaders of religious groups, sections of the international community as well as some of the world's superpowers who have done little or nothing to align to the reality that it is an armed insurrection that is unfolding and has been for three decades now and Sri Lanka will finally have to go it alone casting all the foreign shop talk about moderation to the winds as the issue appears to take on the air of a meaningless exchange between many confused pundits.

The International double standard is so rife that it even confounds many astute observers and qualified critics on the subject of defending sovereign territory with the need to put down terrorism around the world where in cases like the Mid East conflict there is now even talk of Israel albeit unconfirmed, taking to nuclear weapons to quell Iran, whereas the Bush administration is calling for some 20,000 more troops to Iraq but in the case of Sri Lanka the advice is not to seek a military solution but to bend over backwards and pay homage to the LTTE who are in fact currently being decimated in the North and East of Sri Lanka and very justifiably so from a military standpoint leaning towards the preservation of Sovereignity and Territorial Integrity and it would a hugely missed opportunity to rid the nation permanently of the LTTE menace when they have them on the run!!

Relative to the current state of affairs in Sri Lanka if the main objective of Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's 'courtesy call' to Sri Lanka is to sermonise the need to end the terrorist conflict and once again return to talking the usual meaningless 'shop talk' also known as a negotiated peace it would be a wasted effort given the Administrative as well as National Defence mood of Sri lanka which is an angered one at present! The People's National Party the JVP has gone a step further in suggesting that India stays out of the internal affairs of Sovereign Sri Lanka if this be the case to which it might be added "Mr Mukherjee maybe better off attempting to sort out the terrorist issues in Northern Kashmir and perhaps attempt a negotiated peace in that region which so far does not even appear to be a dot on the horizon and the Indian Armed Forces ever ready to defend Sovereign Territory in a trigger happy mood as the case may be and prepared to never back down to terrorist demands so what is the relative difference between India and Sri Lanka in this perspective and why the double standard?

With several devastating bomb blasts killing Services Personnel in the Eastern part of the Nation and unarmed Sinhala civilians near Colombo and in the Southern Region last week the last thing the Sri Lankan administration need is the pontificating of a visiting Indian Foreign Minister on the merits of negotiation at a time when sporadic LTTE attrocities continue taking a toll on life and limb despite being in the cross hairs of Army Firepower and hopefully will align his dialogue with the President of Sri Lanka relative to the reported objective officially that he has come to Sri Lanka for, to invite President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the SAARC summit in New Delhi in April.

If according to media reports he is also expected to express India's concerns about the direction the Sri Lankan terrorist problem is taking, especially resulting in the large-scale displacement of Tamil civilians and the de-merger of the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces perhaps he should on behalf of India offer undivided and concerted support towards ridding Sri Lanka of the tiger terrorist menace and alleviate the sufferings of the Tamil people in the oppressed regions where India should by now be well aware of the reality that the LTTE terrorists do not represent the Tamil community of Sri Lanka wholly, nor hold sway as dictators with any controlling interest beyond the fabricated myths of LTTE mouthpieces who cannot be granted any credibility beyond it being a concocted image created by diaspora promoted and agitated innuendo which in reality now points to a miniscule percentage.

Perhaps there needs to be a consensus taken on the reality of the percentage of Tamils within Sri Lanka who would wholeheartedly and sincerely opt for the LTTE to be their rulers and administrators outside a perimeter of death threats and intimidation where the farcial nature of this ludicrous concept will soon be exposed and any referendum on the issue in all probabilities a lost cause for the LTTE! case in point for the Indian Foreign minister to maintain a stiff upperlip if he is planning any related sermons as he too should begin to realise that the LTTE are surely on their way out and far removed from being any contending force within any administrative setup in Sri Lanka by virtue of their mendacious image, attitude and lack of perception that they are an isolated bunch of condemned terrorists awaiting their date with the long arm of the law for crimes against humanity not forgetting the assassination of India's much loved Rajiv Gandhi!

On the issues relative to the LTTE in Sri Lanka said to have begun attracting New Delhi's concerted attention particularly by way of their agitating the political parties in Tamil Nadu, it need to be put into perspective that Tamil Nadu is not a part of Sovereign Sri Lanka and if indeed such agitations have cropped up perhaps Tamil Nadu may be conciliatory towards the LTTE terrorist cause and invite them to take up residence in their neck of the woods. By this consensus alone it should not be difficult for India and her visiting Foreign Minister to ascertain that to get into a dialogue on why not to repel the LTTE terrorists within the present climate in Sri Lanka would perhaps be a waste of time and Sri Lanka's needs could be better served with some tangible support from India towards permanently eradicating the LTTE terrorist menace which will also play a major role in securing the safety of the entire Region of South Asia beyond any anticipated lip service to the contrary!