CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

Are politicians like Karunanidi, Vaiko and Nedumaran trying to get Man Mohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul blown up by the LTTE, to protect their own positions in Tamilnadu?

Sudath Gunasekara

It was a female LTTE suicide cadre dispatched by Prabakaran, in 1991, who assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the very Indian soils after placing a garland around his neck. This was how Prabhakaran showed his gratitude to Rajiv for providing the LTTE with arms and military training (and even his own bullet proof jacket presented to Prabha) within the South Indian State of Tamilnadu to fight against the Sri Lankan Army. This was the classic blunder committed by Rajiv and his mother against Sri Lanka and it was done on three grounds. Firstly, they wanted to hurt JR as he had made some irrelevant and unbecoming statements against the mother and the son during his elections by comparing them to a cow and a calf. Secondly, they wanted to appease Tamilnadu extremist communal politicians to maintain the majority at the centre. Thirdly, as usual, they wanted to demonstrate their power as the 'Big brother' of the SARC region. To me this appears to be cheap and dirty politics which a man like Nehru would never have resorted to.

What happened to Rajiv and how tragically he died and how dearly he had to pay for his foolish mistakes is now a part of history gone by? I am sure the present day Indian leadership which is less arrogant and more intelligent will never commit the same blunder for a second time.

Why I wanted to narrate this incident here is to remind the present day Indian Leaders the dangers of playing with the hair and running with the hound (in this case the tiger). If they have learnt a lesson from the above unfortunate incident, I don't think Man Mohan Sing, being a more seasoned and mature politician and Sonia Gandhi whose husband was brutally murdered by the very Tigers, will do the same mistake by listening to Tamilnadu communal politicians and want to get blown off by the Tigers, besides giving more muscles to Naxalites and other terrorists operating within India.

In this instance I would like to remind them a famous saying by one of their own sages of yore
'Avyaparesu vyaparah-yo narah kartumichchati
Sa eva nidhanan yati-kiilothpativa vanarah'

Every one knows what happen to the monkey who tried to meddle unnecessarily with other peoples affairs in this story. Therefore I don't think I need to elaborate on it. I only want the Indian leaders to fully understand the reality of this parable. What the third grade south Indian politicians like Karunanidi, who are playing to the gallery, are trying to do is nothing more than a futile attempt to safeguard their own positions at the next elections. They are only igniting the Tamil communal fire that will finally devour the whole of India. I wonder whether they are at least aware that Sri Lanka is an independent country over which India has no suzerainty rights.

In this instance it reminds me of a letter I wrote to Rajiv Gandhi the Indian Prime Minister on 4th July 1985 stating as to why he should not support the LTTE.
I quote below few sections from that letter to show our readers, how what I said 23 years ago became a logical forecast at that time. This letter was sent under the signature of the then Mahanayaka Thero of Asgiriya Chapter the Most Venerable Palipana Chandananda Thero. But unfortunately, apart from responding to the content of that letter, Rajiv did not have even the courtesy to acknowledge it. Rajive died a tragic death, exactly as forecasted by me in 1985.

The text of the letter under reference I give below.

" The LTTE is a fascist terrorist outfit of misguided Sri Lankan Tamils comprising a minor fraction of the Tamil population of the country (about 5%) who have taken to arms against the legally elected government of Sri Lanka with the object of establishing a separate State of Eelam, in the North and East of Sri Lanka covering 1/3 the total land area and 2/3 the coastal belt of the Island extending from Puttalam in the west through Jaffa-Trrincommalle-Batticaloa to Kataragama in the deep South East. Thereafter they plan to extend it to cover the whole Island. This they have named as the Home part of their imaginary Tamil Homeland-the EELAM-that included South India as well in the distant past according to them. It is a foregone conclusion that there was never a Tamil Kingdom in Sri Lanka either in Jaffna or anywhere else in known history (except for the four year period of rule over the Jaffna peninsula by a patricide called Sankili the usurper from 1556-1560 AD).

Having established EELAM in Sri Lanka they expect to extend it to Tamilnadu and then to the whole of Indian subcontinent and then to Mauritius, Maldives, parts of East Africa, Malaysia and finally to Fiji Islands to form their lost World Federation of Tamil EELAM, which they claim to be the first civilization on earth from where all the old civilizations like Syrian, Assyrian, Mesopotamian and Mohenjodaro-Harappa emerged."

Hon. Prime Minister, you may see this as daydreaming but the vicious thinking behind that dream should not be underestimated and ignored as a fairy tale. We Sri Lankans who know the Tigers, the carriers of the Chola emblem, and their mind better than the entire Indians do, are convinced that they will collaborate with you only to achieve their objectives. The day you say no or the day they are strong enough to deal with you they will definitely turn around you. Also you should not forget the fact that today they are the worst and the most dangerous terrorist outfit in the whole world claiming the largest number of trained suicide bombers. Perhaps they are the most savage and dangerous fascist gang known to us since Hitler's. They have very close connections practically with all the terrorists the world over like the Naxalites, PLO, IRA, Libyans, Hamas and Alkaida. The first step of their attack on India will begin with the unilateral declaration of EELAM in Tamilnadu after capturing the North and the East of Sri Lanka.

Hon. Prime Minister, yesterday it was a Sheik fanatic who brutally gunned down your beloved mother. Tomorrow could not it be a Tamil Terrorist suicide bomber from Sri Lanka who will gun you down as a mark of gratitude for all the help you have so generously and lavishly lent them. So even if you decide not to help the government of Sri Lanka to overcome this terrorist menace, at least in your own interest and the interest of future India, we request you to take the following steps very early for your own benefit.

1. Stop all assistance to this terrorist group and ban its operations within the Indian
Soils.

2. Direct the State of Tamilnadu to stop all such assistance to LTTE and not dig their own grave.

3. Leave us alone so that we will deal with them the same way we have done for
the past 2200 odd years.

4. Please stop entertaining Sri Lankan Tamil politicians on Indian soils and tell them that they are not your concern any longer as they belong to Sri Lanka and they should therefore settle their problems with the government of the country where they live and belong to.

In the event of your and your government failing to listen and comply with this request we would like to remind you that you will be the first Indian target of these brutal killers. Thereafter you and your mother will go down in history as the Indian leaders of the 20th century who are responsible for all the crimes committed by these fascist EELAM killers. We are also aware of the antagonism you harbour against the present government of Sri Lanka, which is more a personal issue. It is something that does not fall within the boundaries of statesmanship and honourable diplomacy. It actually transcends beyond all of them. But the course of action you are currently following, we warn you, will finally end up with your own demise if not cutting your own nose to respite your face.

It may also be noted that the present crisis in Sri Lanka is not a conflict between the Tamils and the Sinhalese as most outside people think. As I see it, it is an outcome of an externally manipulated international conspiracy by the Catholic Church to divide and destabilize the state of Sri Lanka. For example the architect of this separatist movement, the late S.J.V. Chelvanayagam himself was a born Christian who migrated to this country from Malaysia at the age of 11 years.

Contrary to the generally held notion that Sinhala majority are against the Tamils, it is unfortunate that your government do not realize that the LTTE is the biggest enemy of the Hindu Tamil people. They are only a group of savage murderers who have taken to arms to eliminate everyone including even those Tamils who hold different views. The devastation they have done over the past few decades and continuing to do even now against the country in general and Tamils in particular in the north and the east of Sri Lanka is enough testimony to prove this argument.

Talking about the much publicized, so-called discrimination against Tamils it must be clearly stated that today there is no minority in the whole world who enjoy better privileges than the Tamils of Sri Lanka. Freedom of movement, living, working, education, expression is all guaranteed. They hold the highest positions both in the public and private sector. Posts like the IGP, Chief Justice, and Attorney General had been and are being held by Tamils. More than half the Tamil population lives among the Sinhala people outside the north and the east. They intermarry, dine and wine together and work together with the Sinhalese. No one is subjected to any disability on the ground that he is a Tamil. Here all are equal before the law. If there are any restrictions on movement etc they are taken for the general security of the country and such restrictions apply to every one irrespective of whether they are Tamils or Sinhalese. When even with 6o million Tamils in Tamilnadu you have not recognized Tamil as a state language, we here in Sri Lanka with a mere 12 % have recognized it as an official language. . If not for the terrorist activities of these terrorists the need for such restrictions would not have been there at all.

Hon Prime Minister, lastly, we may also mention that we are the disciples of Gautama the Buddha, the greatest human being born to this world, the most proud heritage of India and the unparalleled champion of non-violence. We have never resorted to violence as a nation against any community or religion other than in instances of self defense. This is the land of the Buddha. We have offered it to him thrice and he has sanctified it with his visits and sacred relicts and objects. This is also the land where, he has declared that his doctrine will last for the next 5000 years. Therefore although we are a small country as compared with yours, it may be reminded that any one and every one who try to destroy this Dharmadveepa- the Land of the Buddha- or its people will finally have to pay their toll with dividends by the operation of the miraculous powers of that great Dhamma.

Therefore we strongly appeal to you to desist all anti Sri Lankan moves and at least not to interfere with our internal affairs, in the event you decide not to extend a friendly hand to the government of Sri Lanka for reasons best known to you and your government. We wish and hope that wise council will prevail over you and sanity and statesmanship will prevail over parochial domestic and regional politics and finally the actions you take at this crucial hour of the history of this country will enable Sri Lankans to admire you in the ages to come along with that list of illustrious sons of Bharathdesh like Lord Buddha, Asoka the Great, Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru your own Grand father."

Of course all these appeals fell in his deaf ears and Rajiv never paid any heed to our requests or the warning made even against possible threats to his own life. The whole world knows what happened to Rajiv in 1991 thereafter.

What South India should understand at least now is that this is a domestic problem of Sri Lanka and therefore India should not interfere with the present crisis in Sri Lanka and add fuel to fire. Instead of fanning a burning communal fire what really they should do at this critical hour is that they should help the Sri Lankan government to overcome the LTTE menace as it poses a greater threat to India than even to Sri Lanka in the long run.

A word may also be mentioned here on Tamil people who live in Sri Lanka about whom the Tamilnadu politicians shed so much of crocodile tears. The Tamilnadu politicians should understand that Tamils in Sri Lanka are our citizens and not theirs and Sri Lanka is an independent sovereign State and is not a part of India.

I quote here what Nehru had said about the Indians living in other countries in his conversations with Tibor Mende in 1955 for their information to put the issue in a broader perspective.

'So far as the policy is concerned, we have laid down very clearly-in regard to Africa, as well as in regard to other countries-that we do not want any rights or privileges in a country which, in any way, would come in the way of the inhabitants of that country. They should consider themselves as guests. If they are unwelcome they have no business to be there.'

I think this perception is equally valid even today to those who claim independent separate states on foreign lands like Sri Lanka and those cheap Tamilnadu politicians who attempt to intimidate the centre.

Also some of the recent actions and statements of the Indian central government in response to Tamilnadu agitations appears to be rather unbecoming. It appears that they still feel Sri Lanka should be governed the way India wants. They resort to all this gimmick to save their government. We do it to save our country. So which is more important is only common sense. They have little understanding that his type of blatant intervention by a foreign country in the internal affairs of another independent country is not warranted by any civilized international or diplomatic norms.
The irony is that none of them has the guts to blame the Killer Prabhakaran or his fascist outfit- the very cause of all these disasters and problems. Why can't India summon Prabhakaran or at least his proxies TNA and ask them to lay down arms and give up the Ellam struggle and settle the matter through negotiations if they are genuinely interested in their problems. Isn't it a shame for these Foreign Secretaries and others to behave like children on critical matters like this in any case which do not fall within their legitimate area of authority?

Now look at the following statements issued by the Indian foreign Secretary about two days ago.
'Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon Friday summoned Sri Lankan High Commissioner C.R. Jayasinghe and asked Colombo to "take steps" to stop the violence that has severely affected Tamil civilians in the island nation.

"India expressed grave concerns over the ongoing violence in Sri Lanka. He asked Colombo to take concrete steps to stop the military offensive in Sri Lanka,"

This is the third message from New Delhi to Colombo in the last three days 'External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee had sent a stern message to Colombo Thursday asking it to shun "military means" and pursue a political settlement that respects the human rights of minorities in the island nation. "It is essential that their rights be respected, that they be immune from attacks, and that food and other essential supplies be allowed to reach them," Mukherjee said. In a clear warning to Colombo, Mukherjee said the Indian government would 'do all in its power to achieve this goal and to ameliorate the humanitarian conditions in Sri Lanka'.

Why don't Mukherjee and others adopt the same stance to Kashmire where they have killed nearly 50,000 Muslims to keep that tiny fraction to India and against other terrorist groups within their own soil? Why is this duplicity? For us in Sri Lanka as a nation it is a struggle between life and death and we are not fighting against the Tamils. The fight is only against the LTTE terrorists and that is also to liberate the freedom loving Tamils form these inhuman brutal killers who keep the entire population there as hostages to be used as a human shield. Suffering and genocide to Tamils is only caused by the Tigers and not by the Sri Lankan government. We are also fighting to protect the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of this Island nation. Why are these political heavy weights so blind to see this logical scenario? We have no objection for their taking Prabhakaran and his killer gang to India and even if they want to enthrone him in Delhi. But they should not try to enthrone him here and bully us merely because we are a small a nation. We are also not a suzerainty of India for them to behave like this.

A mere 6 % of the population, waging a terrorist war, to carve out a separate state (Eelam), covering 1/3 of the country and more than 2/3 of its territorial waters. Isn't it that India is trying to light its cigar while our beard is in flames?

If we tell India to withdraw the military from Kashmir and allow militants there to have Kashmir I would like to ask Mukherji, Krishnamenan and ilk as to how they would react? Who are these people to lay down such undiplomatic, stiff and harsh conditions to us? The truth is all these guys who roar like lions to us are dead scared of Prabhakaran because they know very well that if they speak against him their days are numbered. We still remember what stiff security measures they resorted to when Man Mohan Singh attended SARC in Colombo.

Finally the only advice I can give to the power hungry and sycophantic Tamilnadu politicians and also the spineless people like Mukhejee is to mind their own business without interfering with ours. If they are so concerned about Lankan Tamils the best thing they should do is to get them down to Tamilnadau (of cause only those who want to go) as soon as possible and make Prabhakaran the King of their state so that they could kill all other Indian leaders with his help and capture the whole of India and establish their dream Eelam on their own soil. It shall never be allowed to see the light of the day on Sri Lankan soils as long as the last patriotic Sri Lankan is alive.

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