By Charles.S.Perera

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Where are we with India ? India sure has a problem with TamilNadu. The question now is to what extent the Central government of India will go to satisfy the demands of TamilNadu politicians in order to preserve IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s unitary Status.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Central Government of India had not been circumspect in their intervention with the government of Sri Lanka on the fishermen issue in the manner it had done.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ TamilNadu politicians are politically immature . Karunanidhi the elder TamilNadu Statesman- the poet laureate for the terrorists of Sri Lanka, seems to have no political vision . So are the rest, like Vaiko the bellicose novice terrorist ardently following Prabhakaran , and Jayalalitha who does not know whether she is going forward or backwards,

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Their raison dƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢etre as politicians of TamilNadu seem to be derived from their almost religious interference into Sri Lankan issues complaining and demanding the Central Government of India to take forceful action for one thing or another.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ For thirty long years, they worshiped the terrorist Prabhakaran , and during the latter part of the military operations of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces against the terrorists, they harassed the Central Government to intervene with the Government of Sri Lanka to save the terrorist leadership. Their primary interest was the success and the safety of the Sri Lanka terrorists.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ They were never interested in the safety or the welfare of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka.

Because the TamilNadu Politicians would have liked the terrorists led by Prabhakaran to breakaway a part of the territory of Sri Lanka for a Tamil homeland which would have politically weakened India, and made it possible to create a greater TamilNadu State with North and east of Sri Lanka annexed to it.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Once that possibility was lost with the elimination of the bunch of terrorists, they moved away from the Tamil population of Sri Lanka. They still thought of investigating how much of the terrorists still survived in the refugee camps and made a much publicized visit to the camps. Thereafter there interest in the IDPs slackened. They did not even come forward to even sponsor any welfare projects to the 300,000 Tamil Civilians rescued from the jaws of the terrorists temporarily accommodated in the refugee camps.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ But now they are all back again. Karunanidhi, Pandian, Vaiko, and Jayalalitha are again up in arms against the Government of Sri Lanka. And this time on the issue of Indian fishermen alleged to have been killed by the Sri Lanka Navy.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Jayalalitha even asked the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to step down if he is unable to take effective action against the Government of Sri Lanka for the alleged killing of fishermen. This is despite the Sri Lanka NavyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s denial of the killings.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If the Indian fishermen had been poaching within the sea boundary of Sri Lanka, the Navy had the right to shoot to dissuade their fishing in the Sri Lanka seas within the specified boundaries. If by such measure the Sri Lanka government ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-killedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ a fisherman, there is no reason the Sri Lanka Navy should deny the shooting.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ But as it is when the Navy has denied such incident, the Tamil Nadu politicians not only repeated the accusation but exaggerated the method of the killing of one of the fishermen. The report from the Tamil Nadu fisheries department sources states that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦.The man, who had put out to sea with two others from Pushpavanam coastal hamlet, died after Sri Lankan Naval personnel allegedly tied a rope around his neck and pushed him into the water, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦..and thatƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦ is the second incident of the kind in less than a fortnight.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This itself shows that the fisheries department is making up an accusation based on what the fishermen had said. The Sri Lanka Navy need not have made it an obvious ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-killingƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ , by taking the fisherman on to the ship tie a rope round his neck and pushing him in to the water when the Navy could have easily shot him, without even having to take the fisher man into the ship and accepted that he was shot accidentally.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There is obviously no witness to the killing as reported by the Indian department of fisheries. Any body could have killed the fisherman the way it had been done to implicate the Sri Lanka Navy. The Central Government of India should have first made an inquiry before the matter was brought up with the Government of Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There is some ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- skullduggeryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ behind these allegations of killing of Indian Fishermen by the Sri Lanka Navy. Having failed to save the terrorists the Tamil Nadu politicians are trying other tactics to bring a rift between the Central Government of India and Sri Lanka. It appears the Central Government of India too is a party to the false allegation. Did the Indian RAW had a hand in the killing of the fisherman ?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This becomes evident from the following demands: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…- V Sivapunniyam (CPI) criticised the Centre for its “inaction” to protect Tamil Nadu fishermen. Ravikumar (VCK) demanded scrapping the Katchatheevu agreement.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Katchatheevu Island is a matter that had been settled long time ago, and why are the TamilNadu politicians now reclaiming the Island. Have they any ulterior motive. The terrorists have been eliminated in Sri Lanka, but their ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-rumpƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ remaining somewhere outside cannot be ruled out. Therefore the Government of Sri Lanka has to be vigilant specially over the seas around Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Central Government of India is aware of this necessity. Therefore it is up to the Central Government of India to intervene with the Tamil Nadu politicians and appraise them of the situation and request them to avoid embarrassment to the Central government forcing it to precipitate into make of it an unnecessary political issue that would affect the good relations between India and Sri Lanka.

With regard to the Katchatheevu Island, the Sri Lanka government had wrongly allowed the Catholic Church to put up a Church in the Island.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The government should make the Island a military out post to guarantee the safety of Sri Lanka from any intruders creating unnecessary political tension between India and Sri Lanka and also to avoid the possible terrorist motivated elements using the Island for their terrorist activities.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka which had gone through thirty years of terrorism, with considerable support the TamilNadu politicans contributed to terrorism in Sri Lanka , it is the Government of Sri Lanka that has the right of undisturbed use of the seas around Sri Lanka in terms of the boundary agreements entered into between Sri Lanka and India. We cannot forget that the terrorist of Sri Lanka used the Madhu Catholic Church as a safety Zone for their terrorist activities. Therefore we cannot afford to have the same scenario repeated once again in Katchatheevu.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The issue concerning the Indian fishermen poaching within the Sea boundary of Sri Lanka has to be settled early before it takes a more serious turn. The boats of the Indian fishermen and those of the Sri Lankan fishermen should be provided with distinctive identifications and the sea boundaries marked with special buoys, along with the seas within the Sri Lanka boundary kept under constant surveillance with a warning that any trespassing will be at their risk.

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