RANJITH SOYSA

As reported in Sunday Island of 10^th instant former High Commissioner for India. Gopalkrishna Gandhi has subscribed to the view that a large scale killings (by the defence forces) have taken place during the last period of the war including the killing of Prabahkaran’s son. He has also advised Sri Lanka that war would not have been necessary if the Tamil grievances were assuaged and not to repeat same mistakes by not accommodating Tamils at different levels of the Government.

With regard to the large scale killings by the defence forces the statistics paint a different picture apart from Darusman report and the UNHCR report which was based mainly on ‘unlawful and questionable ‘ Darusman report itself. Mr Gandhi should have examined all the data pertaining to this vexed issue and should have been more cautious before jumping the gun as an experienced diplomat. When he says large scale killings the reader is interested to know whose figures he is trying to market in support of his opinion. Is it the figure of 140,000 of Jaffna’s catholic priest, or 100,000 of FNGOs’ or 40,000 of Darusman report etc? The official government census figures of course were around 7000 killed including members of all ethnic groups.

It is not strange at all that he conveniently forget to mention the fact that nearly 300.000 Tamils who were kept as a human shield by the LTTE ran towards Sri Lankan defence forces to deliver them from the tyranny and the violations they experienced. He also did not mention about the thousands of child soldiers who were used by the LTTE who were liberated. He did not care at all to touch on the speed and efficiency displayed by the defence forces in tackling IDPs, rehabilitation, reconstruction and redevelopment programs carried out in the war zones in the North and the East by the dedicated personnel of the SL defence forces!

While on the subject of  killings, one should also not forget the hundreds of Sri Lankan civilians killed by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces in the 80s and the tens of thousands of civilians killed in Kashmir,  the Golden temple massacre and the killings in the  NE frontier states by the Indian forces without any post investigation at all! Mr Gandhi’s exhortations to Sri Lanka and lamentations on Sri Lanka only adds insult to injury. He has completely ignored the rights of the Sinhalese who nurtured this nation in which many ethnic groups live in comparative harmony when compared to many countries in the world including India.

On the subject of Tamil grievances one should study the communal politics followed by the Tamil leaders from the time of Donoughmore commission in 1933, 50 – 50 demand, the proposals forwarded to the Soulbury Commission in 1947 ,, the formation of Illankai Arsu Kachch in 1949 i, the setting up of the Federal Party, Vaddukodai Resolutions to the armed struggle of the LTTE. One single theme going right through these events is not about grievances but about the aspirations towards a separate country based on the mythical demand that the North and the East of Sri Lanka is the traditional home- land of Tamils. Another interesting facet regarding the so called Tamil grievances is that none has been able to identify a single grievance specific to Tamil race because of their ethnicity. Some members of all groups in a developing country have grievances while others have nothing to complain as they are privileged irrespective of ethnicity and are well looked after. The issue is that grievances are not ethnic specific.

Gopalakrisha Gandhi should examine the recent history of India how the Indian Government tackled the issue of the demand for a separate country by the Muslims, the Tamils, the Sheiks, the people in the NE border states of India before opting to give a lecture on the treatment of the minorities in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan racist Tamil leaders will continue to agitate to wrest the control of 1/3 of the land and 2/3 of the coastal area in Sri Lanka even though less than 25%of the Tamils live in the Northern and the Eastern provinces. If the former High Commissioner was suggesting to Sri Lanka to give in to a federal state by subscribing to the little now more  later policy adopted by the communal minded Tamil leaders, it will only lead to the political instability.

An unstable Sri Lanka is the ideal expectation of the Indian establishment for various purposes including the geo-political objectives of India. Mr Gopalkrishna G is obviously steering Sri Lanka towards this Indian goal!

RANJITH SOYSA