Ira de Silva Canada

The Editor
The Island
Colombo, Sri Lanka
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
Dear Sir:
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 
It is correct that the anti-Sri Lanka campaign is over in Geneva but those who carried out the campaign have got a taste for the “badgers” blood and it will be an impetus to go for a kill. While it is heartening that there are countries capable of standing up to the U.S. and acting on principle, the vote against Sri Lanka by India has once again shown that India will always sacrifice Sri Lanka for it’s own benefit.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ IndiaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was the only country in Asia that voted against Sri Lanka and expectsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ us to believe that it is doing so for Sri Lanka’s benefit. IndiaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  stated after the vote thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “as a neighbour with thousands of years of cordial relations with Lanka, with deep rooted spiritual and cultural ties, we cannot remain untouched by developments in that country”.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Therein lies Sri Lanka’s problem, that India believes that they cannot remain untouched by developments in Sri Lanka. Sri LankansƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  know thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ rather than remain untouched, India creates situations in Sri Lanka so that it can interfere.

ItƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ was India that wasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the root cause for the growth of LTTE terrorism because it was India’sƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ policy to destabilise Sri Lanka. To this end itƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ provided the LTTE withƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ training, bases in Tamil Nadu, political and financial support,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ then whenƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Prabhakaran was surrounded in 1987 it was India that rescued him so that he could return to kill thousands, than India threatened military action before forcing the Indo-Lanka Agreement on Sri Lanka because they sensed that the President was weak and even now want to force the country to abide by it even though India itself did not abide by the terms of that agreement.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

The same applies to the present.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ That is what they mean when they state that they can not remain “untouched”.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  IndiaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has once again acted only for it’s own benefit rather than on principle. Although it keeps talking about sovereignty, and non-interference, at every turn it is ever ready to interfere.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Rather than a neighbour with thousands of years of cordial relations with Lanka, it has been thousands of years of invasion, subversion, direct and indirect attempts to annex the country. Today once again India has shown the world that domestic politics trumps cordiality and good relations with it’s neighbours and thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ India’s guiding principle in dealing with Sri Lanka is to impose it’s will on the country as clearly called for by the leaders of Tamil Nadu who have even demanded that India invade Sri Lanka. The vote against Sri Lanka was the next best alternative that the Central Government offered the anti-Sri Lanka citizens of India.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is said in Sri Lanka that India’s vote against Sri Lanka was because of “domestic political compulsions”. When will Sri Lanka realise that rather than cordial relations and true friendship,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Indian Government ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ will at all times sacrifice Sri Lanka for it’s own internal, political benefit just as much as the western countries who are hounding Sri Lanka because of the pressure from their own citizens. While Sri Lanka must have cordial relations and dialogue with it’s neighbours it is foolish in the extreme that Sri Lanka does not take account of India’s attitudeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ deal effectively with the realization that Sri Lanka will at all times be sacrificed for the greater good of India. Only then will today’s defeat be as good as victory for Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yours truly,

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Ira de Silva