LankaWeb Weekly Editorial

January 29th 2011

Does It really take Rocket Science to draw conclusions that the Indian Fisherman killing issue stinks of being a bold attermpt by the enemies of the Sri Lanka Government especially those in the region where the incident is said to have taken place to undermine its credibilities.

Those who have been fooled into believing that the Sri Lankan Navy was behind the killings need to re-think their conclusions as there isn’t a shred of tangible evidence that it was the SL Navy behind this where it seems quite easy for sources in Tamil Nadu particularly the obnoxious and obstreperous politicos with a chip on their shoulder against Sri Lanka( and then there are some!!) to finger point at thre SLN for obvious reasons and don’t think beyond their noses towards the rock solid protocols which have ensured good relations between India and Sri Lanka over the ages where it would take imbeciles or perhaps conniving skulduggery by criminal elements set up the task and when the Government of Sri Lanka vehemently denies the accusations levelled against the Navy they are very probably justified, plausible and know what they are talking about.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Rather than exercise diplomacy and give the Sri Lankan Navy the benefit of the doubt unless of course this was an isolated incident involving personal issues as there are ongoing tussles in te regin between fishermen of both countries, India has sent out Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to Colombo on Sunday to discuss the killing of an Indian fisherman allegedly by Sri Lankan security forces as though India truly believes the allegations when there is a greater need to look into the real details of the incident which seem to rest more on speculation and hearsay as well as give Sri Lanka the benefit of thedoubt which looms big in the eyes of many.

Hypothetically it seems a possibility that residual Tamil Tiger operatives who are known to still conduct surreptitious and clandestine operations in this region, trying to regroup with a little help from certain sympathisers in Tamil Nadu could well be behind the attack undermining the speculation about the SL Navy which probably needs to be trashed!

The greater liabilities and who the guilty party is? probably leans towards the criminal element known to be constantly lurking around the waters as well as on land where the SL Navy has a reputaion for conducting operations conducive to the good relationship between the two nations rather than create a confrontational situation between India and Sri Lanka and highly unlikely to overstep their metes and bounds.

It is all well and good terming the killing ” a human rights violation and tragic given the circumstances which are tatty according to local official sources,who have admitted that this was not an ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-open and shutƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ case of innocent Indian fishermen being targeted by the security forces of another country. They have been quoted as saying said that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the incident needs to be investigated. We don’t know what happened that night.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ and if this be the case it seems irresponsible on the part of the Indian authorities to make blatant accusations where sending the Foreign Secretary into the fray would merely compound the issue knowing her bipartisan mentality in favour of India in situations where she has been involved in the past with no reputation for being implicitly unbiased by any stretch of the imagination and at times highly controversial too!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ While the Sri Lankan Government has promised to probe the killing and maintains that its Navy was not involved in the incident it may be a tough ask for them to clear their name without help from India if this scenario was fixed to discredit them. especially when it has been established that the incident happened in their waters. It is upto the Indian authorities to conduct a fair and unbiased enquiry towards establishing who the guilty party is and its more than likely that if this is adhered to equitably more informations about the real culprits could surface towards precisely finding out who shot at the fisherman, who, both sides acknowledge, was in Sri Lankan waters which makes Sri Lanka’s task of name clearing as alluded to previously that much more difficult as there may have been nothing to prevent any subversives with criminal intent from slipping into these waters which appears to be the most likely scenario despite any hooing and haaing by Tamil Nadu et al!.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When New Delhi suggests that it cannot afford such killings to take place, especially because violent incidents involving Indian fishermen have repercussions in Tamil Nadu it truly is a reversible reaction applicable also to Sri Lanka in her defence of fishermen where Sri Lankan fishrmen in the past have also been intimidated not necessarily killed by the Indian Navy and there is anger in Sri Lanka that the Indian authorities often turn a blind eye on these.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It has also been established through many protestations that Sri Lankan Tamil fishermen have also faced incursions by Indian Tamil fishermen. encroaching on their waters by Indians.

Consequently there is strong lobby of fishermen from Jaffna and Mannar demanding that Indians should not be allowed to fish in their waters and the Sri Lankan Government should take steps in collaboration with the Indian Government to set in place legislation to outlaw this applicable to both entities of fishermen on either side of the divide rather than respond to what appears to be baiting by persons unknown towards setting up animosities between the two friendly neighbours as it would help the mendacious criminals behind this to acheive their objectives!

For the time being it seems as though the Indian Authorities including Foreign Secretary Rao have taken the bait and responded to the wrong sources with the wrong dialogue which could be harmful to the future relations between the two countries if not resolved amicably.

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