CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

What India has to do to prove its Sri Lanka’s True Friend

R. Ranasinghe.

Dear Editor,

The situation in the country never varies from being either serious or very serious. There is a delicate balancing act the Government has to achieve if the country is not to slip back into war. Lets be clear about this, war is the preferred status for the Tigers. In the event war breaks out they will be able to claim the Government is acting partially in the interests of the Singhalese nationalists and by default against the Tamil community. Their objectives are simple and uncomplicated.

A multi-ethnic society is not possible in Sri Lanka and the Tamil people need to be ruled by a one party state where the LTTE is the only show in town. No matter how many times the Co-Chairs in their many guises rush off to Wanni the message they get back will be the same record. No peace without the creation of a totalitarian state under the thumb of Prabakaran. Peace talks can be held on the Moon if necessary but the result will be the same impasse and intransigence from Thamilselvam, Masters et al.

Why was Wickramasingha surprise to find his secret understanding with Prabakaran was not worth the cost of his trips to Singapore or the hot air expended in proposing and agreeing it? One has to question the judgement of a leader who cannot tell when a partner in negotiations can be trusted to stand by his word. Thank god he failed to win the Presidency. I dread to think what would be the situation now if he had won.

Having said that, the situation since Rajapaksa took on the reins of power has not been good. Some 80 odd people, including soldiers, sailors and policeman have been killed in the past six weeks. The assassination of a TNA politician has not helped lower the temperature and the noise from the doom merchants predicting the resumption of the war has grown ever louder.

In all the inches of news print I read today the headlines declare war is just moments away. I sincerely hope they are wrong. Especially since it takes two to tango, war is not inevitable and there is still time to preserve the semblance a ceasefire agreement.

The LTTE have not wasted time putting pressure on Rajapaksa, he has hardly got his feet under the table before he has had to face the biggest test of his political life. This is the moment when he has to do what no other Sri Lankan leader has ever achieved. Going to India was the most significant decision he made up to this point. It was the right move. Sri Lanka needs friends, not just the type who sits around and talks all day about what great friends they are, but the kind who will back up their words with actions. She needs just one friend to take an active part in turning a faltering peace process into a signed, sealed and delivered peace deal. The only nation capable of delivering that is not some distant European state but our great neighbour India.

The country with the most to lose if the LTTE were to were to achieve their goal will be India and it is in her interest to ensure these ruthless killers do not prevail. I read her political analysts are advising the Congress Government to keep out of the peace negotiations because it will hurt them in the coming elections in Tamil Nadu if they appeared to be taking sides against the LTTE.

No one, not even I suspect President Rajapaksa, will expect them to do that. Nevertheless, she cannot afford to sit on the sidelines any longer either. There are many ways to participate in the peace process without taking centre stage. At this critical point India must forget about its past mistakes and its rather clumsy attempt to turn Sri Lanka into some kind of vassal state. What they can do is put pressure on the Co-Chairs – particularly the Norwegians – to act decisively when the ceasefire agreement is violated by the LTTE and its proxy front organisations.

There seem to be no sanctions attached to any violation of the agreement. The Co-Chairs say there are “serious consequences if they (LTTE) continue to violate the peace accord”, and rightly the President has asked them to put their teeth where there tongue is flapping. No one is in any serious doubt the current state of tension is solely attributable to the actions of the LTTE and its numerous proxies. While the Western Powers prevaricate India is in the unique position of ensuring every clause in the current negotiated agreement is fully adhered to by the LTTE.

One other way they can play a positive role is by putting pressure on the LTTE to stop killing their Tamil opponents. Such a stance is hardly going to upset the concerned voter in Chennai. In fact it could play well with the many enemies the LTTE have made in Tamil Nadu.

By acting as a responsible partner protecting the democratic rights of the Sri Lankan Tamil voter India just might come out of the peace process with a lot more kudos than she has right now. At present she looks on behaving as though she were an unsuccessful suitor: too chastened by her recent rebuttal to be seen enjoying the festivities and too afraid to join in the fun and games.

India is not only a major regional super-power it is also a growing world power. If it wants to punch its weight on the world stage and take its place on the UN Security Council it needs to win respect of many more nations. India must prove it has come of age and act like a mature world power. By helping to bring about a resolution to the troubles in Sri Lanka she will win new friends and supporters for its cause.

Enforcing the current agreement and putting pressure on the LTTE to come to the negotiating table – preferably in India – will make a crucial difference to the outcome of the conflict. India is the most natural place for a conference to be held to bring a final closure to this painful chapter in Sri Lanka’s history. Is it not blinding obvious India should host the Talks? This is the point when they should be putting themselves forward as the venue for the negotiations between the Government and the LTTE.

In my view it is a win-win situation for India. If they stand up for the democratic rights of the Tamil people in the North and East, no one in Tamil Nadu could say they were biased towards the Singhalese. Surely, the Indian political system is mature and stable enough to manage a limited role such as this without falling apart? If nothing else is achieved by their involvement, just the reduction in the importance of the role played by those pompous and duplicitous Norwegians will in-itself be a good result and a massive step in the direction of a final resolution of this utterly self-destructive and pointless mass slaughter of human life.

Until the Indians participate in the negotiations we will continue to see the LTTE set the agenda. The LTTE have become, thanks to the Norwegians, the masters of brinkmanship. Not only do they determine the issues to be discussed at any future negotiations, they have also been able to press home their military objectives without fear of retribution, an advantage given to them by the poorly negotiated agreement Wickramasingha and the Norwegians concocted.

War is on the cards because LTTE are unfettered by the need to work within any sort of political or military constraints. They do as they please and have even managed to frighten the Colombo business community to such an extent they can affect a major change the price of stocks and shares on the bourse by detonating a few landmines. Something they had failed to achieve until now. I cannot recall any other terrorist movement ever being given, this is after having signed a peace treaty, a free hand to wreck a nation’s economy and social life anywhere else in the world. There seems to be an alliance of Colombo businessmen and anti-Rajapaksa pundits who are determined to talk up a war. These clarions of war are dangerous.

There is the very real danger of the Government being goaded into starting a war just by listening to the cacophony voices that includes a very vocal group of anti-Sri Lankan foreign journalists and anti-Rajapaksa financiers who, after Wickramasingha’s defeat, have been quick to move from arguing against war to clamouring for war. Having failed to manipulate the Sri Lanka electorate they now want war to prove they were right all along! Once war begins they will all sit smugly round the table in some gin palace shouting out “we told you so!” – just to spite an electorate that rejected their favourite.

I am sure President Rajapaksa knows war is the result of failed diplomacy; politicians are elected to find peaceful solutions to intractable problems. Leading a nation is Mission Impossible. The military can bomb and shoot but they cannot bring an end to our ethnic problems. Only an able politician can achieve the impossible and square the circle.

We have witnessed much worse ethnic conflicts being resolved by peaceful negotiations – not least - the overthrow of apartheid and the creation of the “rainbow nation” in South Africa. The key to ending the damage caused to the ethnic harmony of the nation by ethno-racist separatists can never be found in a return to all-out war. There will never be a simple military solution, no matter how powerful the SLA become.

The European powers think they can just waltz into Sri Lanka and tell us what to do. When they look at nations like ours they think a few promises to hand over large sums of money will unclog the ears of all the combatants. The West has always believed waving cheque books is all that is necessary to get bums on seats in some hastily arranged conference. What they do not understand is the motivations of the people involved.

Megalomaniacs are bullies, they want the attention of the world and enjoy being feared. Bullies like Prabakaran are only afraid of being bullied by guys bigger than themselves. When India flexes its muscles at the LTTE the Tigers will come to heal. The troubles in Sri Lanka are not just a defining moment in the history of our island nation but also our great neighbour. It is up to India to act responsibly and show it is capable of behaving like a mature world power.

The Second World War saw the Americans intervene to end a bloody European war and then afterwards they gave the nations of Europe interest free loans to kick-start their economies. Without them Europe would have sunk back into the Stone Age.

The Indian intervention in Sri Lanka’s problems does not need to be so radical to have the same effect. However, if India continues to do nothing they may yet find themselves ruing the day they made the biggest mistake since accepting a British engineered partition of their country. A peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka living in harmony and co-operating with India is Prabakaran’s greatest fear – lets make his worst nightmares come true!

BACK TO LATEST NEWS

DISCLAIMER